Can you actually do Route 66 in an EV?
Yes. I have handed the keys over for this trip more times than any other route we run, and the honest answer is that charging is the part people worry about and the part that turns out fine. What actually catches people is different, and nobody writes about it.
So this is the version I give guests in the parking lot, not the version that reads well.
2,448 miles. Chicago to Santa Monica. Eight states. Fourteen days if you want to enjoy it, ten if you are stubborn.
The charging question, answered once
The Tesla Supercharger network covers the entire route. Not "mostly." The whole thing. Your longest gap is Flagstaff to Needles at roughly 150 miles, and you will be doing that stretch with a full battery because Flagstaff is where everyone stops anyway.
What that means in practice:
- You charge while you eat. Twenty to thirty minutes, twice a day. The stops line up with lunch and with the point where you want to get out of the car regardless.
- You will not plan charging after day three. Everyone starts with a spreadsheet. Everyone abandons it by Oklahoma.
- The desert is the one exception. Between Needles and Barstow in July, run the A/C hard and do not arrive at 8%. Heat slows charging and the Mojave does not care about your schedule.
Range anxiety on this route is a week-one problem that solves itself. I have never had a guest run out of charge. I have had plenty tell me they stopped checking the battery around Amarillo.
What actually goes wrong
The road is not continuous. Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985. It exists in pieces, sometimes as frontage road beside I-40, sometimes as cracked asphalt that dead-ends at a fence. First-timers expect a single ribbon of highway and get frustrated when the navigation dumps them onto the interstate. That is not a failure. That is the road.
Days 5 and 6 are boring. Missouri into Oklahoma is flat, and the attractions thin out. Guests who plan a big day here regret it. Guests who plan a short day and a good campsite do not.
The rooftop tent changes your parking. With the tent mounted, a Model Y is taller than most garage clearances, which run around 6 feet 6 inches. In Chicago and Santa Monica that matters. Street parking or open lots only, and I give every guest the exact height at handover.
Cadillac Ranch is muddy. Bring shoes you do not care about. This is the single most common thing guests text me about.
The 14 days, compressed
Week one, Chicago to Oklahoma City: Start at Adams and Michigan. Two nights in Chicago, then Pontiac for the murals, Springfield, St. Louis for the Arch, and across Missouri. Oklahoma City is your rest day and you will want it.
Week two, Oklahoma City to the Pacific: Amarillo and Cadillac Ranch at sunset, Tucumcari for the neon, Santa Fe if you want the detour and you should, Albuquerque, the Petrified Forest, Flagstaff. Then Seligman, Oatman with the wild burros, and the drop into the Mojave. You finish at the Santa Monica Pier.
One correction on the ending: the pier has the "End of the Trail" sign, but the actual historic terminus is a few blocks inland at Lincoln and Olympic. It is emptier and it is the real one. Go to both.
Camp Mode is the reason this beats a gas car
A night in Camp Mode costs 8 to 10% of the battery. In exchange you get climate control all night, interior lights, and USB power, without an engine running.
The comparison that matters is not Tesla versus rental car. It is Tesla versus the RV parked next to you, whose generator starts at 6am. You will notice this on night two and you will not stop noticing it.
When to go
September and October. Mild temperatures, thinner crowds, and the light in Arizona in October is the reason people become photographers.
April and May work, with the caveat that tornado season is real in Oklahoma and Texas. June through August is doable but the desert runs past 100°F, so plan your charging around the heat, not the clock. November through March is quiet and cold, and Flagstaff gets snow that surprises people every single year.
What we hand you
A Tesla with camping gear, insurance, and Supercharging included, from $119 a day. Pickup is in the Los Angeles area, a few minutes from the airport rather than at a terminal counter, because a 30 minute handover in a parking structure beats a rental desk. We walk you through the tent, Camp Mode and the route app in person.
If you want the full package with the rooftop tent, that is the Model Y Camping Package at $216 a day. All rates are on the pricing page.
The thing I would tell a friend
Do not try to see all of Route 66. You will not. Somewhere around New Mexico you have to decide whether you are collecting landmarks or taking a road trip, and the people who come back happy picked the second one.
The road rewards driving slowly through places that look like nothing.