Just 67 hours and 21 minutes after setting off from Redondo Beach, California, in a Tesla Model S, the driving team, made up of Edmunds.com Director of Vehicle Testing Dan Edmunds and Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr, arrived in New York City, some 3,300 miles away. The record-breaking drive shattered the previous EV cross-country record of 76 hours and 5 minutes set by a team of Tesla employees.
The cross-country trek was made possible by Tesla’s nationwide Supercharger infrastructure, which lets Tesla owners charge up for free.
“The key to breaking the record wasn’t to drive fast; we had to drive smart,” said Dan Edmunds. “Fast, aggressive driving will only succeed in sucking down an EV’s battery. We had to drive responsibly to make sure we had enough juice to get from one charging station to the next. And we saved time by charging only a little more than what we figured was necessary to get to the next Supercharger.”
The driving duo spent a total of 14 hours and 40 minutes plugged into the Supercharger network, consuming 1.06 Megawatt-hours of electricity. Each stopped averaged a quick 38.3 minutes.
The team returned back to California in the Model S, but the return loop was a little more leisurely. The entire road trip was completed in just under seven days.
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