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Palo Alto to Tahoe winter trip on Snow Tires without charge stop!

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lucid_owner

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I know I was curious about this so thought I'd post my experience:

New Gravity GT 20"/21" Michellen CrossClimate 2 tires. These are severe snow rated (snowflake symbol) so qualify for no chains required. Carrying snow socks to comply with Caltrains "traction devices required to be carried at all times"

Left Palo Alto at 100% charge. Got to Ikeda's in Alburn with 54% Charge. Top of Donner Pass 23% charge (that climb kills range). Tahoe City Roundabout 20% charge. It was ~40 degrees out not super cold. I was driving in flow of traffic entire time without trying to hypermile. Lots of traffic in the bay area so below speed limit which definitely helped range.

If there was a snow storm on the pass I think I'd still stop to top up charge a bit as I'd hate to be stuck on the pass due to an accident and run out of charge in the cold. When there is no storm I'm going without stopping.

For those not from the Bay Area it is a 7200' elevation gain to the top of Donner pass and then about 1200' back down to Tahoe City.

For ride home I didn't bother charging past 85% or paying attention to charge.
 
Did a trip from South Bay Area to Kirkwood, had 30% left. Travelled back and had estimated -3% so charged for 5 mins. With original 20/21 tires, 7 seater.
 
Really good to hear. I just had a great trip from Walnut Creek to Redondo Beach. Charged 1 time when we stopped for lunch at In and Out, Kettleman city.
Interesting thing is there is no extra charge on Tesla chargers to go past the 80%. So we charged to 100%. Took less time than our Model Y took to get to 80%.
Great road trip car. I bought the emergency spare and it fits vertically in the slot behind the 2nd seat. I have the 5 seater. It did act out and needed to be reset once but was no problem otherwise. Best I got was 2.6Kw/m on the meter.
 
How fast were you driving with "flow"? Was it 65 mph or 80 mph? (80 mph is fairly flowy for some segments of 80)
 
lucid_owner said:
I know I was curious about this so thought I'd post my experience:

New Gravity GT 20"/21" Michellen CrossClimate 2 tires. These are severe snow rated (snowflake symbol) so qualify for no chains required. Carrying snow socks to comply with Caltrains "traction devices required to be carried at all times"

Left Palo Alto at 100% charge. Got to Ikeda's in Alburn with 54% Charge. Top of Donner Pass 23% charge (that climb kills range). Tahoe City Roundabout 20% charge. It was ~40 degrees out not super cold. I was driving in flow of traffic entire time without trying to hypermile. Lots of traffic in the bay area so below speed limit which definitely helped range.

If there was a snow storm on the pass I think I'd still stop to top up charge a bit as I'd hate to be stuck on the pass due to an accident and run out of charge in the cold. When there is no storm I'm going without stopping.

For those not from the Bay Area it is a 7200' elevation gain to the top of Donner pass and then about 1200' back down to Tahoe City.

For ride home I didn't bother charging past 85% or paying attention to charge.
Click to expand...
Did you swap out the OEM tires while they were still new? I'm considering doing that because I don't trust my OEM Hanooks to handle the snow, but I hate to throw away new tires. Sadly, it hasn't been an issue since I picked up my Gravity the first week of January... Maybe I'll head up gingerly at the tail end of Wednesday's storm and see how bad they are -- before pulling the trigger on CC2s.
 
slidingmike said:
Did you swap out the OEM tires while they were still new? I'm considering doing that because I don't trust my OEM Hanooks to handle the snow, but I hate to throw away new tires. Sadly, it hasn't been an issue since I picked up my Gravity the first week of January... Maybe I'll head up gingerly at the tail end of Wednesday's storm and see how bad they are -- before pulling the trigger on CC2s.
Click to expand...
Apparently they're great on snow: https://lucidowners.com/threads/gra...-evo-suv-tires-snow-performance-review.11392/

They're not snow tires so don't go storm chasing blizzards, but they evidently do just fine.
 
Well, I do go chase blizzards, and have been running studless snow tires on my previous cars/SUVs full time for the last 20 years -- I'll find out later this week how these actually handle mountain snow.
 
slidingmike said:
Well, I do go chase blizzards, and have been running studless snow tires on my previous cars/SUVs full time for the last 20 years -- I'll find out later this week how these actually handle mountain snow.
Click to expand...
Well then yeah maybe snow tires :p
 
Nokians are awesome but they are dedicated winter tires (not so good in warmer temps if you drive up from the Bay Area)
whereas CC2

and Vredestein Quatrac Pro+

are A/S tires that carry the 3PMSF snow rating and handle the lower elevation drive up/home a bit better.

The Michelin's are rated to wear longer but the Vredesteins have a better traction rating
 
"(that climb kills range)" -- every month I drive my Air over >5,000' mountain passes, from sea level (Seattle) over the Cascades into valley floors >2,000' above sea level. It helps a lot to think of elevation exactly the way you think of your vehicle battery -- potential energy. It takes me more energy to go over and end up higher than to return ending up lower. Altitude / elevation of your vehicle IS potential energy affecting your range. You invest it going up, you reap it going down. The elevation of your vehicle is energy affecting your range. Most people don't welcome that complexity but I'm geeky and I love it. Understanding it helps predict and not freak out. I love going ~20 miles with a net GAIN in battery charge very predictably!
 
hwy17er said:
Nokians are awesome but they are dedicated winter tires (not so good in warmer temps if you drive up from the Bay Area)
whereas CC2

and Vredestein Quatrac Pro+

are A/S tires that carry the 3PMSF snow rating and handle the lower elevation drive up/home a bit better.

The Michelin's are rated to wear longer but the Vredesteins have a better traction rating
Click to expand...
Yes, with the limited options for the Gravity, the Michelin CCs are my future (at least until I have space to store a second set of rims/tires). I didn't encounter any snow this weekend, but it will be pretty much guaranteed next weekend -- so I'll be able to see whether I can limp through this winter with the Hanooks.
 
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