Is it cheaper to fly or drive a Tesla from Washington to San Francisco?

Don't buy the stress score? Switch it off and the numbers still stand.

Fly it. 2,812 mi is more road than this trip is worth.

Washington to San Francisco is 2,812 mi by road — 41h 34m of driving and 16 Supercharger stops — against 8h 42m door to door by air. Flying is the better call: the flight costs $947 against $274 to drive, and it saves 32h 52m of travel. On the 0-100 stress scale the drive scores 100 and the flight 76.

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

Long enough that the road stops making sense.

Too close to call

Either choice is defensible. Your call.

Biggest money wins

Where flying costs the most.

New Orleans → Birmingham$397 saved·70% less stressful·343 mi driveTesla it Des Moines → Milwaukee$391 saved·68% less stressful·376 mi driveTesla it San Jose → San Diego$384 saved·57% less stressful·459 mi driveTesla it Colorado Springs → Omaha$383 saved·52% less stressful·609 mi driveTesla it Charlotte → Knoxville$383 saved·77% less stressful·230 mi driveTesla it Boise → Spokane$383 saved·66% less stressful·421 mi driveTesla it

Just fly it

Long enough that the plane wins.

Miami → Seattle55h 57m in the car·3,307 mi of roadFly it Portland → Miami55h 6m in the car·3,260 mi of roadFly it San Jose → Boston52h 51m in the car·3,131 mi of roadFly it Fresno → Boston52h 30m in the car·3,107 mi of roadFly it Tampa → Seattle52h 30m in the car·3,099 mi of roadFly it Boston → San Francisco52h 36m in the car·3,095 mi of roadFly it

Closest calls

Within a rounding error either way.

Spokane → Reno13h 50m in the car·789 mi driveFly it Denver → Tulsa11h 28m in the car·693 mi driveFly it Seattle → Reno13h 8m in the car·704 mi driveFly it Austin → Denver15h 58m in the car·911 mi driveFly it Austin → Albuquerque12h 32m in the car·1,122 km driveFly it Spokane → Salt Lake City12h 4m in the car·721 mi driveFly it

108 of these have been checked by a person. Latest: McGhee Tyson Airport → Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Knoxville → Phoenix, Sacramento → San Diego.

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