[Trip Report] - A Vacation quality drive - California Hwy 1 in Spring of 2026

[daveo4EV]

Undeniably one of the great drives in the world is Hwy 1 on the west coast of North America. This legendary Hwy stretches from San Diego, CA all the way up to Northern most section of Washington state. One can do this drive in 2-3 days or 2-3 years given how much there is to see and do along the way…

I feel fortunate to live in California, and in particular on the coast of California and I drive Hwy 1 almost every day during my normal daily routine, but when I go beyond my routine it is still special and brings a smile to my face and my family.

For those not up to date Hwy 1 North/South between Monterey, CA and Morro Bay, CA is one of the great stretches but until recently was closed due to the ever changing California coast line, and it's sometimes very rude and thoughtless landslides. Many Landslides are routine and cleaned up in an hour or two or a few days at most by CalTrans. But in the past year or so one landslide was so incredibly rude as to shut down Hwy 1 for more than a year due to the bold and assertive nature of the coast line remodel Mother Nature engaged upon…

https://abc7news.com/post/highway-1-big-sur-reopens-3-years-damaging-landslides/18403556/

With Hwy 1 between Monterey and Morro Bay reopen my wife and I both agreed we'd love to do the "day trip" and enjoy the scenery. We had our requirements:

• it had to be a week day to avoid tourist congestion as much as possible
• it had to be nice weather
• we had to have time on our schedule so that we were not "on the clock"

April 27th turned out to meet all the above criteria, so we packed up the Macan Turbo EV, our dog Zola and headed out to Morro Bay…but not before stopping for my wife's mandatory morning coffee beverage - ok that's done so we can begin…

we had a lovely time and the whole 322 mile drive ended up being 7 1/2 hours drive time, and 9 1/2 hours travel time with some simply lovely weather, breathtaking scenery and some much needed mental relaxation enjoying the ever changing California coast line…

the Macan Turbo EV on this particular stretch of road is a magical car with its quiet but powerful drive train and superb handling making the best of Hwy 1 even better…the only vehicle I'd rather have taken is potentially our 911 Convertible, but then we'd not have brought the dog…

Highlights of the trip included but were not limited to:

• morning coffee
• lovely drive through the redwoods of Big Sur - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur
• light traffic
• Bixby Bridge - https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/bixby-bridge/
• stop/walk/relaxation @ Pfeiffer Beach - https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570
  • including a stream crossing to get to the parking area $15
  • magical dog time on the beach - don't know what it is about dogs + beaches, but they always have a lovely time together!!!
• picnic lunch overlooking the stunning Pacific Ocean coast line
• Elephant Seals - https://highway1roadtrip.com/things-to-do/elephant-seals-san-simeon/
• Hearst Castle from a distance https://hearstcastle.org/
• Morro Bay Rock - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morro_Rock
• Paso Robles wine country - https://pasowine.com/
• Arrival back home in Santa Cruz, CA
• leave home at 09:00
• arrive home at 18:30
• all in all a lovely day - and our dog Zola was worn out and slept all evening!!

Vehicle Stats

• 2024 Macan Turbo EV
• 18,xxx miles
• 322 miles total
• 3.8 miles/kWh driving south on Hwy 1 (slower pace, slow speed limits and frequent stops for scenery)
• 3.3 miles/kWh overall
• a brief 14 min charging session in Paso Robles - 28% -> 71% to get home with 22% buffer
  • 221 kW max charge rate - 3 of 4 EA statins working in Paso Robles
• grrr - plug&charge didn't work so I had to use the myPorsche app to start the charging session…
• Battery stats were
  • start the trip at 88% SOC
  • charge in Paso Robles at 28% (didn't want to push to king city with 3% estimated)
  • depart Paso Robles at 71%
  • arrive home in Santa Cruz at 22%
  • single 14 min charging stop did the trick for the entire day!!

This is an easy trip for an EV and highly recommend any time on Hwy 1 if you ever find yourself in the area…

here is the route - https://maps.app.goo.gl/i4AikmaF7V9RFcXb7 - see picture below … easy drive for the Macan with one charging stop along hwy 101 where charging is easy peasy…

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[Fun TC Driving]

What a fun and informative thread. Thank you daveo4EV. Sure was a great road trip you had.

 

[PrudentOcean]

One tip for anyone planning to do this drive: go north to south. This gets you a view of the ocean instead of oncoming traffic, and you also don't have to look into the setting sun at the end of the day.

 

[AlanH]

Thanks for the lovely description of your trip. I know this route well and we always stopped at Napenthe in Big Sur for the lunch and the view.

 

[daveo4EV]

Thanks for the lovely description of your trip. I know this route well and we always stopped at Napenthe in Big Sur for the lunch and the view.

Napenthe's was "overflowing" as we drove past it - I don't normally stop but have over the years - but it was particularly busy on Monday…

 

[craz8]

The first time I ever paid $6 for a gallon of gas in the US was in Big Sur. Good Times!

 

[ckfilm]

Thank you for post and details of your drive. As an owner of the Turbo version myself, did you have any issues with range and charging between Monterey and SLO? Also, was Re-Gen on or off on PCH? Curious to know. I tend to keep re-gen on with city driving and heavy traffic and off on long highway stretches. Many thanks.

 

[PrudentOcean]

The first time I ever paid $6 for a gallon of gas in the US was in Big Sur. Good Times!

Just visit anywhere in California today and you can have that wonderful experience again.

 

[daveo4EV]

Thank you for post and details of your drive. As an owner of the Turbo version myself, did you have any issues with range and charging between Monterey and SLO? Also, was Re-Gen on or off on PCH? Curious to know. I tend to keep re-gen on with city driving and heavy traffic and off on long highway stretches. Many thanks.

regen off - we arrived in morro-bay/slo at like 35% battery after starting at 88% percent - no range issue for that highway 1 segment given winding roads, vista points, and slower speed limits and other drivers ;-)

NOTE: the segment in question was not Monterey to Morro Bay - it was Santa Cruz to Morro Bay - which is another 30-40 miles - if one was to stop in Monterey and fast charge before heading south the segment from Monterey to Morro Bay is _TRIVAL_ in terms of battery consumption - the segment in question is 153 miles from EA charger in Aptos, CA to Morro Bay Rock - that is simply trivial for the Macan EV for this highway segment - if you were to stop at the last fast charger in Monterey/Carmel it's an even more trivial 121'ish miles…to get to the fast chargers in Morro Bay…

charging in Monterey or Morro Bay before starting the Hwy 1 segment either north or south would give you ample battery to make it to the other end even with many many detours…

charging options are limited between Montery and Morro Bay - although there are fast chargers in Morro Bay - but on the return trip from SLO back to SF Bay-area/Santa Cruz - Hwy 101 is littered with fast charging options - south of Carmel and North of Morrow Bay there are _NO_ fast chargers - there are some L2 EV chargers mostly at the rare inn/lodge/motel - but there is excellent charging at either end of the trip - just not in the middle of that segment

Cambria has a large number of lovely hotels/motels/inn/lodges and many of them have EV chargers for their guests - so you can drive to Cambria, stay overnight and charge your EV while you sleep…but there are no fast chargers along the segment - only at the end points as mentioned.

Once you're made it to Morro Bay/SLO _OR_ Monterey/Carmel you have both Tesla and non-Tesla fast charging options - so make sure you have sufficient battery when exiting the one of the two end points of this trip…

 

[Hangpilot]

Ouch! $26 for 42kWH!? So much for California going Green

 

[daveo4EV]

Ouch! $26 for 42kWH!? So much for California going Green

still cheaper than gas per-mile vs. 28 mpg costs for a gallon of gasoline…\

trip overall was 3.3 miles/kWh

$0.61 / kwh @ 3.3 miles/kWh = $0.18 / mile

Costco gas today is $6.24 @ 28 mpg is $0.22 mile… and 28 mpg is not the typical efficiency of a Macan ICE ;-) so that's a generous comparison.

also I gave up years ago caring about fast charging costs on a per-kWh basis - when you're fast charging you're not paying for kWh's - you're playing for "time saved" - it was a 14 min session - 42 kWh at a "slow charger" would've been 42 / 9.3 kW = 4.5 hours…

$26 to save 4.5 hours is cheap cheap cheap time for money swap…IMHO

my home per-kWh costs are $0.23 / kWh off peak - so 3.3 miles @ $0.23 / kWh = $0.069 per mile vs. $0.22 mile for gasoline @ 28 mpg…

over 90% of my driving is covered by off-peak home charging - so the occasional fast charging $26 charge to save 4.5 hours is simply not an issue IMHO…YMMV my $0.02…

 

[Hangpilot]

still cheaper than gas per-mile vs. 28 mpg costs for a gallon of gasoline…\

charging $26 charge to save 4.5 hours is simply not an issue IMHO…YMMV my $0.02…

Your $0.02 goes a long way!
I'm paying 61/2 cents kWH off-peak in Georgia. Doing my 1st epic road trip (Atlanta to Niagra Falls) next week. Planning on AC charging at the hotels every night. Will be fun to see what my cost/mile after 2,000 miles is!

 

[PrudentOcean]

Public DC charging in my area is $0.64/kWh at Electrify America and $0.68/kWh at a Tesla Supercharger. It's nearly as costly to drive an electric car in California as it is to drive an ICE car with some of the highest gas prices in the nation.

This state is incredibly mismanaged.

 

[rcomeau]

One tip for anyone planning to do this drive: go north to south. This gets you a view of the ocean instead of oncoming traffic, and you also don't have to look into the setting sun at the end of the day.

North to south also means a predominant tail wind, so better range! I remember cycling from Vancouver to San Fran (decades ago) and the advice was to go north to south otherwise the wind would take the fun out of the trip.

 

[rcomeau]

Public DC charging in my area is $0.64/kWh at Electrify America and $0.68/kWh at a Tesla Supercharger. It's nearly as costly to drive an electric car in California as it is to drive an ICE car with some of the highest gas prices in the nation.

This state is incredibly mismanaged.

To be fair, a L3 charger costs hundreds of thousands of $ while a L2 costs a few hundred $. Most of the cost is to pay for the twitchy equipment that probably needs a lot of maintenance to keep running. If you average all your L2 & L3 charging you are still likely ahead the game. Hopefully they wil make more reliable gear and the costs will come down. I once stayed at a hotel whose charger (supplied by a 3rd party called Kiwev charged something like .60/kWk for a L2 charger (a crapopoy one at that!) rip off!

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