Checked 2×
Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Santa Clara, CA to Chicago, IL?
Book the flightFlying is cheaper by
$355
In the car
36h 38m
Flying is calmer by
28%
Car 100 · Flight 72
7h 32m by air, only 4h 16m of it flying. 1 in 5 run late.
How this was priced
Santa Clara, CA to Chicago, IL is 2,162 mi by road — 36h 38m of driving and 12 Supercharger stops — against 7h 32m door to door by air. Flying is the better call: the flight costs $482 against $837 to drive, and it saves 29h 6m of travel. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 100 and the flight 72.
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 12 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: santa-clara-ca-to-chicago-il.json
- Last recalculated 2026-10-12 · checked 2×. Costs are modelled estimates, not quotes.