After Driving 1,600 Miles From Nevada to Illinois, a Tesla Model Y Owner Says Supercharging Cost $160, “About the Same as a 20 MPG Gas Car”, and Frequent 30-Minute Charging Stops Made Gas Feel More Practical

Road-trips have a way of exposing the difference between spreadsheet logic and lived experience, and few recent posts illustrate that better than a Tesla Model Y owner’s 1,600-mile trek from Nevada to Illinois. After tallying the receipts, the owner reported spending about $160 on Tesla Supercharging for the trip. That number alone might sound reasonable, even efficient, until it is framed against the comparison that really stuck with readers: it worked out to roughly the same fuel cost as driving a 20-mpg gasoline car, with none of the five-minute fill-ups that make long days on the interstate flow smoothly.

The owner broke the math down plainly. Supercharger rates averaged around $0.32 per kWh, and the Model Y consumed about 0.3 kWh per mile. That translates to roughly ten miles per dollar, or about ten cents per mile. Over 1,600 miles, the total landed right at $160. By contrast, a basic gasoline car returning 35 mpg at $2.30 to $2.60 per gallon could have completed the same trip for closer to $105 to $115, while stopping whenever and wherever fuel was convenient.

“I finished this 1600-mile trip today with $160 total spent on Tesla superchargers.

It’s like 10 miles per dollar at the Supercharger's rate at 32 cents/kwh.

My Model Y was doing around 0.3 kWh/mile.

It would only be $105.14 to $115 if I drove on cheap gas. My 2026 Toyota Corolla (it has an adapter crushing too) reaches 35 mpg city and highway combined, with today’s gas price at $2.3 to $2.6 gallon. Plus I won’t need to worry about range and recharging every 2 hrs throughout this journey (+ 30 mins each charge stop).”

Cost, however, was only half the frustration. The other half was time. The Model Y required charging roughly every two hours, with each stop taking around 30 minutes. Over a multi-day drive, those pauses added up, not just in minutes but in mental load. Planning stops, waiting for charging to taper, and watching progress bars replace the simple ritual of pump, pay, and go changed the rhythm of the trip. What might feel manageable on a shorter journey became wearing when repeated again and again.

Tesla Model Y: 

• The Model Y’s compact crossover shape emphasizes interior efficiency, offering generous passenger and cargo space relative to its exterior size.
• Suspension tuning skews firm, contributing to stable handling but transmitting more road texture on rough or uneven pavement.
• Most vehicle functions are consolidated into the central touchscreen, simplifying the cabin layout while increasing dependence on software for routine adjustments.
• Efficiency is a consistent strength, with aerodynamic design and relatively low mass supporting a strong real-world range in mixed driving.

This is where the owner’s conclusion sharpened. The argument was not that electric vehicles are inherently more expensive, but that on trips this long, public fast charging erodes the traditional EV advantage. 

Highway Supercharging is priced as a premium service, and when electricity costs approach gasoline on a per-mile basis, the trade-off becomes one of convenience rather than ideology. In that light, gasoline starts to feel practical again, not because it is cheaper in absolute terms, but because it is easier.

The comments quickly filled in the missing context. Several owners pointed out that focusing on a single road trip can be misleading. Over tens of thousands of miles, home charging dramatically lowers average energy costs. One commenter noted an average of under five cents per mile over 80,000 miles of ownership, far cheaper than any gasoline car they had owned. Another reminded readers that most EV savings are realized at home, not at highway chargers designed for speed and turnover rather than economy.

Others pushed back on the comparison itself. A Corolla and a Model Y are not the same class of vehicle, they argued, and few people would choose a compact economy sedan for a 1,600-mile road trip if comfort, power, and driver assistance mattered. Some also noted regional differences, pointing out that gasoline prices in the United States are unusually low by global standards, making EV road-trip economics look worse than they would in places like Canada or Europe.

Still, the original post resonated because it captured something numbers alone cannot. Road trips are about momentum. Gasoline infrastructure is built to preserve it, while electric infrastructure still interrupts it. Thirty-minute stops can be pleasant once or twice, but they feel very different when they define the cadence of a long journey. Even drivers who love their EVs often admit that this is where the experience remains compromised.

What makes the discussion useful is its honesty. The owner did not claim regret over buying a Model Y, nor did they argue against EVs as daily drivers. The advice was narrower and more practical: if you regularly do very long highway trips and value flexibility over everything else, a gas car may still be the better tool today. That is not heresy. It is situational awareness.

The broader takeaway is that EV economics are no longer a simple binary of cheap electricity versus expensive gasoline. Public fast charging has matured into its own category, with pricing, congestion, and trade-offs that resemble premium fuel rather than a bargain alternative. As that reality sets in, buyers are learning to separate daily efficiency from road-trip practicality.

The Model Y completed the journey without drama, which itself says something about how far EVs have come. Yet the owner stepped out with a quiet, uncomfortable truth: sometimes the advantage you expect does not show up when you need it most. Until charging is faster, cheaper, or both, there will still be trips where the gas pump, for all its faults, feels like the simpler answer.

Image Sources: Tesla Media Center

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.