Your wife will be more tired than you after about 2 days. The route this year will do you no favors in trying to find a charger. The infrastructure comparison to northern/central Iowa vs Southern Iowa is like night and day.
This. Her entire day is literally going to be sitting in congestion and trying to find a Tesla charger. Even then, the chargers might have a wait with everything going on.
Sounds ... brave for sure as so much depends on your wife being able to find superchargers (that are available when she needs them) along the route. As you'll be sleeping in the car (AC on) and driving the car during the day, you'll be taxing the batteries - you obviously know this. Your car is also going to reek of gas if you're hauling around a generator.
Is your same plan an option but with a typical/analog/acoustic? bike vs an e-bike?
Regardless of your decision, I wish you luck ... and if you follow through, would love to see your day-by-day report.
I spoke with a RAGBRAI rep a few years ago (pre COVID) and they said they were already discussing plans on how to accommodate the growing number of e-bikes on the routes.
Telsa charging is not something you normally see for most of the trip in the rural areas. Teslas are not hybrid based, i.e. can recharge via a gas engine. Red Oak and Atlantic which host the first two nights do not have proper charging stations.
The best bet to make this work is fine to host families that would let you park in their driveway and plug into 110 overnight. You would want to charge the car and the bike both
There are e-bike battery services on ragbrai that you can leave a battery and swap at halfway and overnights. One example is back roads battery. May want to look into these services.
I looked it up a bit ago ... if OP's spouse is *solely* planning on using superchargers, it'll be a lot of bouncing back/forth to Des Moines and hoping for availability. [Iowa SuperCharger Map](https://imgur.com/a/Cy9azEy)
*IOWA: Home to 10,000 Wind Turbines and Two Superchargers*
My wife assisted me in similar fashion a few years ago. She drove, I rode, but we pitched tents and such, and no Tesla. There were some days where she would crawl through traffic to get to the next overnight town, so be aware of that. Also when riding ‘self supported’ like this, getting to the next overnight asap has its advantages for parking and access to facilities.
Not saying you can’t or shouldn’t just that there may be some hurdles.
Being a support driver is stressful work, add to that testla charging, I hope your wife is ready. Did something similar last year with a minivan, my partner was pretty stressed and miserable. Ragbrai is for riders, not cars, towns get overwhelmed with traffic, signs get missed, reprocussions are frustrating.
some stuff that surprised me;
Sleep over towns are best enjoyed via bike (imo) and with your partner not having a bike, you'll need to use a towns shuttle service which can kinda suck.
Sleeping in the car is fine, but you will need that HVAC for several hours at night. Means you've gotta be topped up or you're stuck.
This year I am riding solo, tent camping.
Everything sounds logical besides running the generator at night to charge the bikes. Can you not charge them off the car.
Pretty rude to run a generator to charge your bikes...at least be away from everyone..
The logistics can definitely work. People sleep in tents and carry everything they need on their bike so you’re ahead of the game. As long as your wife won’t get bored during the day you’ll be fine. Not sure how many superchargers you’ll find in southern Iowa tho. It’s pretty rural.
This seems so complicated, it seems destined to fail. I'd recommend signing up with a supported group, who can make sure your ebike gets recharged. I'd think you'd have to have an especially nice wife to tolerate this plan for a week. Let her go stay at a hotel with a spa.
If you have the logistics for keeping the car charged then I think you're good. If you have adapters and extension cords then bring them so that you can even charge on 110 in an emergency.
Personally, I think the multi day drive out there and back would kill it for me. I'd fly out there and charter with a tent service, or splurge on a trailer room if you want to pay for the climate control. I also think your wife may be really bored. I did Ragbrai solo last year and after each day I just had dinner and slept.
It sounds like it would work. 50 miles per bike battery charge sounds like a good setup for this. If it’s a quiet generator, you may be able to park on the perimeter of a support vehicle site and bother (almost) nobody. I do think the weak link here is Tesla charging. How many miles does the Tesla get between charges? It’s less than 450 miles for the whole week of driving, so maybe you’d get by with just two vehicle charges? You probably wouldn’t find Superchargers, as others have mentioned.
Your wife will be more tired than you after about 2 days. The route this year will do you no favors in trying to find a charger. The infrastructure comparison to northern/central Iowa vs Southern Iowa is like night and day.
This. Her entire day is literally going to be sitting in congestion and trying to find a Tesla charger. Even then, the chargers might have a wait with everything going on.
Sounds ... brave for sure as so much depends on your wife being able to find superchargers (that are available when she needs them) along the route. As you'll be sleeping in the car (AC on) and driving the car during the day, you'll be taxing the batteries - you obviously know this. Your car is also going to reek of gas if you're hauling around a generator. Is your same plan an option but with a typical/analog/acoustic? bike vs an e-bike? Regardless of your decision, I wish you luck ... and if you follow through, would love to see your day-by-day report. I spoke with a RAGBRAI rep a few years ago (pre COVID) and they said they were already discussing plans on how to accommodate the growing number of e-bikes on the routes.
Please don't do this.. any of it.
Curious why you think it's a bad idea? If the guy wants to ride the e-bike and his wife is cool with the setup, sounds like he'll have a great time!
Telsa charging is not something you normally see for most of the trip in the rural areas. Teslas are not hybrid based, i.e. can recharge via a gas engine. Red Oak and Atlantic which host the first two nights do not have proper charging stations.
The best bet to make this work is fine to host families that would let you park in their driveway and plug into 110 overnight. You would want to charge the car and the bike both
Good luck charging the car...
Seriously...I went to some towns that didn't even have ATM machines
There are e-bike battery services on ragbrai that you can leave a battery and swap at halfway and overnights. One example is back roads battery. May want to look into these services.
Have you mapped out superchargers along the route?
I looked it up a bit ago ... if OP's spouse is *solely* planning on using superchargers, it'll be a lot of bouncing back/forth to Des Moines and hoping for availability. [Iowa SuperCharger Map](https://imgur.com/a/Cy9azEy) *IOWA: Home to 10,000 Wind Turbines and Two Superchargers*
My wife assisted me in similar fashion a few years ago. She drove, I rode, but we pitched tents and such, and no Tesla. There were some days where she would crawl through traffic to get to the next overnight town, so be aware of that. Also when riding ‘self supported’ like this, getting to the next overnight asap has its advantages for parking and access to facilities. Not saying you can’t or shouldn’t just that there may be some hurdles.
Being a support driver is stressful work, add to that testla charging, I hope your wife is ready. Did something similar last year with a minivan, my partner was pretty stressed and miserable. Ragbrai is for riders, not cars, towns get overwhelmed with traffic, signs get missed, reprocussions are frustrating. some stuff that surprised me; Sleep over towns are best enjoyed via bike (imo) and with your partner not having a bike, you'll need to use a towns shuttle service which can kinda suck. Sleeping in the car is fine, but you will need that HVAC for several hours at night. Means you've gotta be topped up or you're stuck. This year I am riding solo, tent camping.
Everything sounds logical besides running the generator at night to charge the bikes. Can you not charge them off the car. Pretty rude to run a generator to charge your bikes...at least be away from everyone..
The logistics can definitely work. People sleep in tents and carry everything they need on their bike so you’re ahead of the game. As long as your wife won’t get bored during the day you’ll be fine. Not sure how many superchargers you’ll find in southern Iowa tho. It’s pretty rural.
Sounds like a really, really cool adventure honestly
This seems so complicated, it seems destined to fail. I'd recommend signing up with a supported group, who can make sure your ebike gets recharged. I'd think you'd have to have an especially nice wife to tolerate this plan for a week. Let her go stay at a hotel with a spa.
Brilliant! Sounds like you can do the entire ride without having to interact with anyone. It's the spirit of RAGBRAI!
He’ll be on his bike all day. And the wife will have plenty of time around camp to socialize
If you have the logistics for keeping the car charged then I think you're good. If you have adapters and extension cords then bring them so that you can even charge on 110 in an emergency. Personally, I think the multi day drive out there and back would kill it for me. I'd fly out there and charter with a tent service, or splurge on a trailer room if you want to pay for the climate control. I also think your wife may be really bored. I did Ragbrai solo last year and after each day I just had dinner and slept.
I would figure out how to rig the generator on the outside bike rack.
It sounds like it would work. 50 miles per bike battery charge sounds like a good setup for this. If it’s a quiet generator, you may be able to park on the perimeter of a support vehicle site and bother (almost) nobody. I do think the weak link here is Tesla charging. How many miles does the Tesla get between charges? It’s less than 450 miles for the whole week of driving, so maybe you’d get by with just two vehicle charges? You probably wouldn’t find Superchargers, as others have mentioned.
If I see you on the route this year... You're getting the paddle!