It’s a weird one, too.
Automotive history is full of strange races started for no real reason in particular. The Cannonball Run is a great example. What kind of lunatic engages in a cross-country spring from New York to Los Angeles to make a point about speed limits? This one is another one of those weird races. Tesla owners across the US are participating.
The goal? Get your Tesla Model 3, Model X, or other T-branded EV to as many Superchargers as possible. It gets weirder. There’s no real prize for winning, other than bragging rights. There isn’t an end in sight either. It’s a perpetually running contest.
Per The Wall Street Journal, Tesla owners like Dr. Andy Hall have been engaging in the contest. He’s one of the more die-hard contestants. In his time since starting, he’s hit 1,504 Superchargers across the US and Canada. He managed a good chunk of those on a trip from Big Horn, Wyoming to Washington DC to attend his daughter’s commencement ceremony.
On the trip, Hall covered around 10,000 miles over15 days and hit more than 80 Superchargers along the way. It is, of course, a good deal of effort to keep ahead in the standings. “You’re only winning temporarily. When you stop, you’re gonna lose,” Hall told WSJ. Despite the huge tally of stations Hall has hit, someone even more devoted has managed to do more.
A Seattle-based participant has 1,620 Superchargers under their belt. However, there’s a little bit of an asterisk to the figure. Only 1,493 of those chargers were hit in North America. Per the rules of this contest, that’s where the line gets drawn. So, there’s a bit of a debate going on as to whether our Seattle-based friend counts as the winner.
Either way, it’s impressive. It’s also great free marketing for Tesla. What better way to highlight both the reliability and size of your proprietary charging network while also showcasing the reliability of the cars themselves? No matter how you dice it, it’s certainly interesting, and the commitment to the game is admirable. We wish we had the free time to road trip EVs all day, but we only get to do that every so often.
