A PCH Tesla Run to Neptune's Net With SoCal TeslaRuns

I started this PCH Tesla run genuinely nervous, and it had nothing to do with the drive. The memory card I use for most of my recording was in a weird state that morning, so I spent the first hour of a twelve car caravan quietly wondering whether any of the footage would survive. It did. But if you shoot anything on the road, that feeling is a good argument for keeping a spare Samsung PRO microSDXC card in the bag, because a card you cannot trust turns a fun day into a stressful one.

Andrew, who runs SoCal TeslaRuns, put this one together. I showed up fresh off an overseas trip with jet lag still hanging on me, which is its own kind of preparation for a full day on the road. The route was Santa Monica up Pacific Coast Highway to Neptune’s Net, then the dunes north of Malibu, then gelato in Camarillo. Roughly a full day, entirely along the coast, and cloudy enough that nobody cooked in a parking lot.

Starting the Tesla Run at Santa Monica

We met at the Santa Monica Superchargers. This is one of the few Supercharger sites that has an actual building attached to it, with a vending machine and restrooms inside. It stays locked, and the code is in the Tesla app and on your car screen. I wish more of them were built this way. Standing in a parking lot for twenty minutes is fine. Standing in a parking lot for twenty minutes with nowhere to use a bathroom is a different experience.

I left home at 80% state of charge and pulled in with 58%. Not bad for the run down, and it left plenty of room to top off before a long coastal day. If you are shopping and want free Supercharging or an FSD trial, my Tesla referral link is there.

This was not our first time starting here. Last time this group met at this same Supercharger we ended up going all the way to Oxnard, which turned into a whole day of its own. That one is written up in the coastline run in the Model Y.

Neptune’s Net, the Fast and Furious Diner

If you have seen The Fast and the Furious, you have seen Neptune’s Net. It is the beach restaurant where Paul Walker and Vin Diesel raced the Supra against the Ferrari. I had never actually been, only seen it on screen, so pulling up to it with a caravan of EVs was a strange kind of full circle.

A word of warning about parking. There are a lot of police and a lot of tow trucks around this stretch, and they do not mess around about where you leave a car. The posted restriction is no parking from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. The lot itself runs $5, and honestly just pay it. Being inside the lot instead of scattered along PCH is worth five bucks, and it let the whole group park together. I counted about twelve cars once everyone pulled in.

That Bolt in the last shot is one of ours. These get called Tesla runs, but that is just the name on the group. All EVs are welcome and nobody is checking badges at the door, so if you drive something electric and you want to come out, come out.

Neptune’s Net on a weekend is busy regardless. There were motorcycles, bicycles, joggers, and a few other car clubs sharing the same stretch, so not everything parked around us that day was with us.

The food is where I have to be straight with you. I ordered fish and chips because everyone else ordered fish and chips, which is the worst reason to order anything. It was okay. Actually, less than okay. It was not good. The place is a genuinely fun stop and the location is unbeatable, so go for the view and the history, and set your expectations accordingly on the seafood.

The Dunes Stop North of Malibu

Next was the sand dunes area along PCH, just north of where we ate. This is the stop that photographs better than anywhere else on the route, big rock formations right off the road with the water behind them.

One of the guys climbed up the rocks and immediately regretted it, because that is how sand works. I stayed at the bottom. Last time this group came out here it was brutally hot, and the overcast day we got this time was a real upgrade. Cloudy is underrated for a car meet.

Gelato, a Supercharger Badge, and an FSD Streak

The last stop was Tifa Gelato in Camarillo. Toasted coconut, caramel fudge, pistachio milk. After a mediocre lunch this went a long way toward fixing the day.

There is a Supercharger nearby, and I stopped at it even though I did not need the charge. I wanted the badge. Tesla has started gamifying these things, and I am apparently exactly the kind of person that works on. I am not proud of it.

The other thing that landed that day was a 100 mile FSD streak achievement, which popped while we were driving. We had been using FSD for most of the run, so watching the counter finally tick over at the end of a coastal day was a decent way to close it out.

How to Join the Next PCH Tesla Run

Andrew organizes these regularly and they are free to join. The best way to hear about the next one is his YouTube channel, SoCal Tesla Runs, or Instagram at @SoCal_TeslaRuns. He posts the route and meeting point ahead of time.

If group EV drives are your thing, the Lake Arrowhead run was another one of his, and the 2026 Zero Emissions Run is the much larger version of the same idea if you want to see a few hundred EVs on PCH instead of a dozen.

Have you been to Neptune’s Net, and did you have better luck with the food than I did? Let me know what you think in the comments.