Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Los Angeles to Boston?
Don't buy the stress score? Switch it off and the numbers still stand.
Fly it. 2,983 mi is more road than this trip is worth.
Los Angeles to Boston is 2,983 mi by road — 43h 32m of driving and 17 Supercharger stops — against 9h 5m door to door by air. Flying is the better call: the flight costs $997 against $290 to drive, and it saves 34h 28m of travel. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 100 and the flight 77.
Checking the route…
313 city pairs, run through the same math
Sometimes the car wins. Sometimes the plane does.
Real driving distances from Google, the same cost and stress model your trip gets. Blue lines are the ones where the Tesla won.
Car wins
227
Average $315 kept on those trips, in US dollars at fixed rates.
Plane wins
79
Long enough that the road stops making sense.
Too close to call
7
Either choice is defensible. Your call.
Biggest money wins
Where flying costs the most.
Just fly it
Long enough that the plane wins.
Closest calls
Within a rounding error either way.
108 of these have been checked by a person. Latest: McGhee Tyson Airport → Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Knoxville → Phoenix, Sacramento → San Diego.