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Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Chicago, IL to Austin, MN?
Take the TeslaYou keep
$393
In the car
6h 27m
Car is calmer by
66%
Car 20 · Flight 58
4h 34m by air, only 1h 18m of it flying. 1 in 5 run late.
How this was priced
Chicago, IL to Austin, MN is 379 mi by road — 6h 27m of driving and 2 Supercharger stops — against 4h 34m door to door by air. Driving is cheaper: taking the Tesla costs $95 against $489 to fly, a saving of $393. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 20 and the flight 58.
Priced with fast charging at $0.50 per kWh and 3.7 miles per kWh, airfare from a $95 base plus $0.13 a mile per person, one $35 bag and a $30 ride at each end. Airfare is modelled from flight distance, not a live fare quote, so treat it as a typical fare rather than today's price. Rates last reviewed 14 September 2026; this trip last priced 11 October 2026.
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- Distance and drive time come from live road routing, not straight lines.
- Every rate used is listed on Cost analysis and sourced on Sources.
- This trip as raw data: chicago-il-to-austin-mn.json
- Last recalculated 2026-10-11 · checked 1×. Costs are modelled estimates, not quotes.