Tucson to Flagstaff via Globe and Payson (~285 miles)

[SpaceEVDriver]

We recently completed a working vacation in Tucson and decided to drive home via Globe and Payson rather than Phoenix. One of our reasons was that there are massive potholes on the interstate freeway between Phoenix and Flagstaff. It's also a far, far more pleasant drive than the freeway.

We left Tucson with about 98% state of charge. The 275 mile drive took us about 6 hours. We stopped in Payson (185 miles from our starting location) to stretch our legs. While we were in Payson going for our bio-breaks and etc, we plugged in to the EA DCFC chargers there and added about 31 kWh (from about 40% to 72% state of charge). The entire stop took about 17 minutes. We then continued on up the Mogollon Rim and headed home. We didn't need to charge in Payson; the 40% state of charge we had when we arrived would have easily taken us the final 90 miles. We arrived home with around 40% state of charge.

The total elevation gain was about 4530 feet, though we had several elevation losses and regains during the trip.

Our average speed was 45 mph, but that included a stop in Globe for lunch and a bio-break and the stop in Payson. It also included the 35 mph zones in several of the small towns along the route, several traffic lights, etc. The maximum speed limit was 65 and we kept up with traffic.

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[azerik]

rather than Phoenix. One of our reasons was that there are massive potholes on the interstate freeway between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

And the 17 exchange north from the 101 is closed. The potholes really arn't 'that' bad (going up to Flag) if you watch for them and switch lanes at the right time. But at night, it's a gamble. Leaving Flag to PHX is a war zone. They've been blasting mountains as well so it's choked to 1 lane from time to time. All good things to avoid.
I'm headed back up this weekend.

You had a nice trip and it really is a lot nicer view, I'm going to look into taking the BeeLine up

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

And the 17 exchange north from the 101 is closed. The potholes really arn't 'that' bad (going up to Flag) if you watch for them and switch lanes at the right time. But at night, it's a gamble. Leaving Flag to PHX is a war zone. They've been blasting mountains as well so it's choked to 1 lane from time to time. All good things to avoid.
I'm headed back up this weekend.

You had a nice trip and it really is a lot nicer view, I'm going to look into taking the BeeLine up

I'm always a week or so behind in my road trip reports... I believe the 17 was open up by the 101 at that time, but I can't remember.

They've been filling the potholes on 17, but some of them are still pretty bad. And it's only possible to avoid them if nobody else is on the road with you.

We would have been going through the worst area at about the same time as all the PHX escapees would be going up the mountain, so it just made more sense to avoid the traffic. And, yeah, it's a far more pleasant drive.

There are some rough patches on the Beeline and north as well, but overall speeds are lower so it's not as bad.

 

[BMT1071]

Google Maps quotes 5h 16m, so you made great time. So much for "EV road trips will take forever".

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Google Maps quotes 5h 16m, so you made great time. So much for "EV road trips will take forever".

I've been told (by members on this forum) that it's impossible for me to make a road trip in the same time in my Mustang as in an ICE.

My experience over the 18,000 miles we have on the vehicle is that I spend around 6-16% more time on a road trip with the Mustang compared with an ICE for the very long (500+ miles) trips. But my road trips are far more pleasant in the Mustang than in our ICE vehicle.

For the shorter trips, there's essentially no difference. The stop in Payson would have been a stop for the same ~15-20 minutes whether we were driving the Mustang or the Tacoma...actually, we would have had to stop for gas in Globe as well as Payson if we were driving the Tacoma, and that would have added time because the lunch stop in Globe would have been a separate stop from the gas stop.

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