A team of drivers from Edmunds.com used a Tesla Model S to drive from Redondo Beach, Calif., to New York, N.Y. in 67 hours and 21 minutes, setting a record for cross-country driving.
The team made a total of 23 stops at Tesla's charging stations over the course of the 3,331.9-mile trip, according to Fox News. The vehicle was stationary for a total of 14 hours and 40 minutes throughout the trip.
The car-shopping website said it broke the previous record set by a driving team from Tesla, which was 76 hours and 5 minutes, the Detroit Free Press reported. There was no backup or support team provided for the drivers, who had to depend on there being enough charging stations to keep the trip going.
The car was driven by Edmunds' director of vehicle testing Dan Edmunds and photo editor Kurt Niebuhr, who documented their trip on the company site. They said Tesla was not completely confident the run would be performed to completion, since they were using a charging corridor that the electric car company believed was not finished.
Edmunds made the run under the rules of the original Cannonball Run outlaw race. However, the company started at the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach and finished at the Red Ball Parking Garage in Manhattan, the opposite route of the race, Fox News reported.
1.06 Megawatt-hours of electricity, one-tenth of the amount consumed by the average home, were need for Edmunds's drive. Owners of Tesla's cars can use the company's charging network for free, so Edmunds didn't have to pay for the electricity.
The Model S has a driving range of over 200 miles. However, a long recharge is needed for the car to store that much energy. As a result, rather than recharging the vehicle in multiple hours, the charging stations fill the batteries with high power in just around an hour, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The team drove at an average speed of 63.2 miles per hour throughout the trip, often arriving at the next charging station with just a few miles of range left in the car. The drivers took turns sleeping in the car and ate while the car recharged.
