Road Trip!

My car is a 2025 Tesla Model 3 RWD Long Range, and this is my first long road trip with Full Self Driving version 14.3.2. My objective in writing this post is not so much about FSD, which many influencers have already written and spoken about. It’s more about the navigation and charging experience. Having made this >2000 mile round trip several times in a gas vehicle, I have that experience (and cost) to compare with driving the same route in the Tesla.

Another reason for driving the Tesla this time is elevated fuel cost for ICE cars. The analysis below, thanks to AI, provides a convincing argument for EVs vs ICE for this kind of trip:

For a road trip from Philadelphia PA to Columbia, MO—a distance of approximately 1,002 miles—you can expect to save about $54 on fuel by choosing the Tesla over the Subaru, based on current May 2026 rates.

Trip Cost Breakdown

Factor	Subaru (Gas)	Tesla Model 3 (Electric)
Fuel Efficiency	32 MPG	200 Wh/mile (5 miles/kWh)
Avg. Fuel Price	~$4.54 per gallon	~$0.40 per kWh (Supercharger)
Total Fuel Used	31.3 gallons	200.4 kWh
Total Fuel Cost	$142.10	$80.16

Estimated Savings: $61.94

Note: While the pure fuel savings are approximately $62, typical road trip factors like non-ideal battery temperature and highway wind resistance usually reduce real-world EV efficiency. Accounting for a 10-15% buffer for these variables, a realistic saving is closer to $54.

Current Market Data (May 2026)

• Gasoline: Prices along the I-70 corridor have seen a significant uptick recently. While Philadelphia averages around $4.53/gal, prices in Ohio and Indiana have jumped to roughly $4.80–$4.90/gal. Missouri remains the most affordable stretch of the trip at approximately $3.98/gal.
• Supercharging: Rates along this route currently average $0.40–$0.43/kWh.
  • Pennsylvania: ~$0.43/kWh
  • Ohio: ~$0.42/kWh
  • Indiana/Illinois: ~$0.42–$0.44/kWh
  • Missouri: ~$0.32/kWh (notably lower than the eastern leg)

Travel Considerations

• Tolls: Both vehicles will encounter approximately $75 in tolls (primarily the PA Turnpike) unless you choose a non-toll route, which would add about 2 hours to the 15.5-hour drive.
• Charging Stops: With an 80 kWh pack and your high efficiency (200 Wh/mi), you have a theoretical range of 400 miles. However, for highway speeds, you will likely stop 3–4 times for 15–20 minute Supercharger sessions to maintain the optimal “charging curve” (staying between 10% and 80% battery).
• Destination Charging: If you can charge at your destination in Columbia using a standard outlet or Level 2 charger, your return trip costs could be even lower, as Missouri residential electricity rates are currently among the lowest on your route (~$0.12/kWh).

That’s it for now. More about our trip once it’s complete…

Well, our road trip is only half completed and here are my inital observations:

• Miles traveled to our destination: 1,112
• Starting charge was 90% and ending charge was 27%.
• Cost of supercharging along the way: $93.67
• Using a conservative fuel cost of $4.50/gal, our ‘fuel cost savings’ was $62.71.

In my opinion, even considering the high price of gas these days, this difference is not significant enough to choose the Tesla over the Subaru for long road trips.

But WHAT ABOUT FSD you might ask?

Here’s the thing. FSD is a miracle! Navigation, lane keeping, speed control, safety, etc. – it does it all. Until it doesn’t… let me explain.

The version of FSD that I’m using is v14.3.2. And unlike the previous release, the turn signal nudge no longer works to tell FSD I’d like to use a different lane than it has chosen, and it seems to really like the left lane even whent he right lane is clear. And yes, I can knock the FSD level down a notch (standard to chill for example) and that will usually move back to the right lane, but the car also slows a bit when selecting the next FSD level down which can be disconcerting for the person tailgating you. And I guess I understand why the turn signal nudge was taken away (because the car knows better), which brings me to my next point.

So I have been ‘driving’ for 8 hours today, mostly in FSD, and I’m getting close to my destination. I know where I want to go, but the car’s navigation has a different idea, so I take over. Easy enough. BUT there’s a problem. I’m tired and FSD has been in control mostly, and my brain hasn’t been doing much of the heavy lifting I would normally be expected to do if I were doing ALL the driving. So I take over and nearly side swipe the car next to me. Why did this happen? Here’s what I think…

Under FSD, I’m monitoring, looking for the edge cases the computer might not be aware of. I’m not taking in the whole picture because the computer’s doing that. So if I decide to take over because the car’s not making the correct turn I expect it to do, then I don’t have all the information I need to make sure this is a safe thing to do. The car knew it wasn’t, but I don’t have that information. This is the problem and one that we humans need to learn how to handle when we turn more of the control over to the computer. And I expect I’m not alone in needing to learn how to deal with this new man vs computer problem (so I wrote another post available here which confirms my suspicion).

So, our road trip is only half over, and I have to say FSD just works really well. We even drove through some heavy rain storms in the mid-west where I could barely see what was happening ahead of us but all FSD displayed was that it was ‘limiting driving speed due to conditions’ but drove on nonetheless. That’s incredible! And for the most part, I trusted the car to do what was necessary to keep us safe. That said, I, the driver, am still part of the equation. I need to trust the system, but verify it decisions, and yes, take over when necessary. But as was mentioned previously, when taking over, be sure to assess the ‘complete situation’ so your actions improve safety versus degrading it. I’m still learning, and if you’re reading this, you are too…