Just wondering if anybody has miscalculated and ran out of power in the middle of the road between two cities. Does Tesla help you out and come and charge the car for you? Would be curious to hear of anyone's experience since it what happened.
Anyone have a stranded experience? What did your do?
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I arrived once in Flagstaff with 4% left. There was really little chance of getting stranded. If you look at the projection and it's border line or negative, you just slow down as much as you need to until the projection comes back up.
I suspect you'll here more stranded stories do to DU failure than actually running out of juice.
I suspect you'll here more stranded stories do to DU failure than actually running out of juice.
Unless you're completely not paying attention, or you're being foolish, you're not going to run out of power between cities. There are RV parks between cities and places with 120V outlets if you're really desperate.
Lloyd
Well-Known Member
75K miles of electric driving and never been stranded. The first day I owned my first car bring it home from the factory I almost ran out. I had ~185 RM for a 165 mile trip to the supercharger in make it home, with the supercharger in Atascadero as a stop 20 miles before should I need a little more. It was raining hard, cold, and a 40 knott headwind the whole way home. Uneducated I began the trip at 75 mph. My battery said 0 about 1 mile before getting to Atascadero. I made it, but just barely. I learned a lot on that first trip, and can now especially with the predictions the car gives arrive at my destination comfortable with the charge I have .
bridaus
Member
I did in my Leaf once. Annoyingly the miles left disappears when you go below a certain number (8 I think). I was a mile from home. It was like 10 degrees out. Cold is tough on range.
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
My wife and I have both been driving BEVs since 2009. We probably have close to 150k electric miles and have never run out of electricity.
The instrumentation is good about letting you know what you have left; though as alluded to above, you can't simply count miles of range - that's based on standardized testing for a situation that is most likely not the one you are driving in. (Which is why I don't think BEV OEMs should use it, as mentioned in my blog HERE). Instead, watch the trip prediction app, and leave some buffer (like you would in a gas car). That's easy and good enough for most, though if you want more details on what affects range, there are many more in THIS thread.
If you were to run out (likely by not leaving a buffer; in which case you've likely run out of gas before for the same reason - fuel usage varies in any car) Tesla offers a tow service, though I think it's only free the first time you run out of charge. Or AAA doesn't cost much. In a few cities AAA has trucks that can theoretically give you a small charge if you have a CHAdeMO adapter - I have not heard of any Tesla owners actually trying that.
Like sorka said, other things are more likely to strand you - like a flat tire. I carry a patch/gunk/inflator kit.
The instrumentation is good about letting you know what you have left; though as alluded to above, you can't simply count miles of range - that's based on standardized testing for a situation that is most likely not the one you are driving in. (Which is why I don't think BEV OEMs should use it, as mentioned in my blog HERE). Instead, watch the trip prediction app, and leave some buffer (like you would in a gas car). That's easy and good enough for most, though if you want more details on what affects range, there are many more in THIS thread.
If you were to run out (likely by not leaving a buffer; in which case you've likely run out of gas before for the same reason - fuel usage varies in any car) Tesla offers a tow service, though I think it's only free the first time you run out of charge. Or AAA doesn't cost much. In a few cities AAA has trucks that can theoretically give you a small charge if you have a CHAdeMO adapter - I have not heard of any Tesla owners actually trying that.
Like sorka said, other things are more likely to strand you - like a flat tire. I carry a patch/gunk/inflator kit.
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I just had this conversation with one of my employees on Friday. We had to drive out to a small town in eastern Oregon for a brewery project we're working on, and the drive back was, um, close.
We started talking about "rescue" options. It seems to me that one possibility would be to rescue a dead electric vehicle (especially one that is capable of DC quick charging) would be to have a truck with a large battery pack on it, like 3 or 4 Tesla packs. You could then quick charge the dead car from those packs and get enough juice to get the car to a proper charger. This idea goes on the concept that if you connect a low charge battery to a fully charged battery, the two batteries will want to equalize their charge. This would effectively make a mobile supercharger or Chademo charger.
Of course, you wouldn't need to charge the dead car fully, just enough to get you home or to the closest charging option. Seems like an easier deal than flatbedding a dead car. Of course, such a truck would be expensive to just have sitting around, but I think in places where there are a lot of EVs, it could make sense for a roadside service provider to have something like that.
We started talking about "rescue" options. It seems to me that one possibility would be to rescue a dead electric vehicle (especially one that is capable of DC quick charging) would be to have a truck with a large battery pack on it, like 3 or 4 Tesla packs. You could then quick charge the dead car from those packs and get enough juice to get the car to a proper charger. This idea goes on the concept that if you connect a low charge battery to a fully charged battery, the two batteries will want to equalize their charge. This would effectively make a mobile supercharger or Chademo charger.
Of course, you wouldn't need to charge the dead car fully, just enough to get you home or to the closest charging option. Seems like an easier deal than flatbedding a dead car. Of course, such a truck would be expensive to just have sitting around, but I think in places where there are a lot of EVs, it could make sense for a roadside service provider to have something like that.
Driven 1-5 between LA and Sac 6 times in 3 of those have seen Model s on side all within 20 miles of Harris Ranch, coming from North need to drive a little slower as SC are at least 165 miles
hybridbear
Member
We've had a number of very close calls with our Focus Electric, particularly in the winter as the HVB can't store as much energy when cold. Our reason for getting a Tesla would be to get completely away from having this concern/issue.
Tyl
Member
Supercharger Indio ------- posts 495 and 498!!!! It's been a while, but getting caught short is a little nerve racking!!:crying:
efusco
Moderator - Model S & X forums
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I think an adapter for the plug end of the UMC that enables it to simultaneously connect two Teslas together would be cool. Then, any MS or MX could rescue a stranded Tesla by "charge sharing." While I think it would rarely be used, potential customers would likely be comforted knowing that if they ran out of charge they could get a "jump start" from any other Tesla.
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