Checked 4×
Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Pittsburgh, PA to Chicago, IL?
Take the TeslaYou keep
$190
In the car
8h 17m
Car is calmer by
52%
Car 26 · Flight 54
4h 40m by air, only 1h 24m of it flying. 1 in 5 run late.
How this was priced
Pittsburgh, PA to Chicago, IL is 462 mi by road — 8h 17m of driving and 3 Supercharger stops — against 4h 40m door to door by air. Driving is cheaper: taking the Tesla costs $106 against $296 to fly, a saving of $190. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 26 and the flight 54.
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 1 October 2026.
Checking the route…
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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: pittsburgh-pa-to-chicago-il.json
- Last recalculated 2026-10-01 · checked 4×. Costs are modelled estimates, not quotes.