Checked 8×
Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Redwood City, CA to San Diego, CA?
Take the TeslaYou keep
$193
In the car
8h 52m
Car is calmer by
49%
Car 27 · Flight 53
4h 46m by air, only 1h 30m of it flying. 1 in 5 run late.
How this was priced
Redwood City, CA to San Diego, CA is 481 mi by road — 8h 52m of driving and 3 Supercharger stops — against 4h 46m door to door by air. Driving is cheaper: taking the Tesla costs $109 against $302 to fly, a saving of $193. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 27 and the flight 53.
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 3 October 2026.
Checking the route…
Check this yourself
- 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: redwood-city-ca-to-san-diego-ca.json
- Last recalculated 2026-10-03 · checked 8×. Costs are modelled estimates, not quotes.