Charging outside different situations

[modelx007]

Can someone walk me through the following situations in dealing with charging. I am waiting to get what I need installed once I confirm my model x and 2nd goal is to order a model s sometime in 2016.

1. I have to park outside my garage. Should I get some type of outlet outside? I am going to get a high power adapter for inside.

2. I am visiting a friend. How do u handle charging? Bring a long extension cord and as him to plug into a regular outlet?

3. Staying at a hotel.

Would love to hear also how you have handle other situations with your tesla or planning to handle them with the model x.

 

[evp]

Can someone walk me through the following situations in dealing with charging. I am waiting to get what I need installed once I confirm my model x and 2nd goal is to order a model s sometime in 2016.

1. I have to park outside my garage. Should I get some type of outlet outside? I am going to get a high power adapter for inside.

2. I am visiting a friend. How do u handle charging? Bring a long extension cord and as him to plug into a regular outlet?

3. Staying at a hotel.

Would love to hear also how you have handle other situations with your tesla or planning to handle them with the model x.

1. I plug in and feed the cable under the door if I park outside the garage. It's thin enough that the door doesn't crush it.

2. I bought a 20-amp 50-foot extension cord for road trips. Again, you can usually plug in somewhere in the garage and feed it under the door. 4-mph charging pace is less than perfect, but if you're staying somewhere a couple of days that'll get you close to 200 miles of range.

3. Some hotels have destination chargers. Push the gray icon on the map page to display those. Many superchargers are in the back lots of hotels; it's nice to stay there just to thank them for their support. In other cases, I've asked the proprietor if there was an outlet I could charge at overnight, and almost always got a positive response.

also:

4. A friend that I visit regularly was having some electrical work done on her house. I had the electrician install a NEMA 14-50 plug in the garage while he was there. Since the electrical panel was actually in the garage, it took him about 15 minutes and 2 feet of wire to install, cost less than $100.

 

[FlasherZ]

1. I have to park outside my garage. Should I get some type of outlet outside? I am going to get a high power adapter for inside.

The wall connector can be mounted outdoors as well. You should consider where you will charge the most and place your wall connector so that it is the best suited for normal charging use. A NEMA 14-50 ("RV" or "range" outlet) will work, but will require you to get out your portable UMC cord set to charge the car.

As for evp's recommendation to run it under the garage door, this only works if you can adjust the garage door to maintain a 1" gap, or you cut a groove in the floor. Most doors don't have 1" of rubber seal, and even if so, it leaves room for small wildlife (snakes, mice, etc.) near the cable (first-hand experience with this one, although it wasn't a cord but rather some other stuff). Allowing the door to even rest slightly on the cable will deform it and eventually may cause failure. While some people have used this method for a while, I just don't recommend it.

2. I am visiting a friend. How do u handle charging? Bring a long extension cord and as him to plug into a regular outlet?
3. Staying at a hotel.

With the availability of superchargers, this is what I do. I have a small box of adapters where I can use various receptacle types I find in the wild, but my need to use them has declined over time. 120V will get you enough miles to get back to the nearest supercharger in most cases.

As noted by evp, if they're a really good friend that you'll be headed to frequently, paying for an install of a 14-50 isn't the worst thing in the world. Who knows, they might use your referral link.

 

[Lyon]

So one of the things that I normally tell people who ask were I plug in around town is that I don't plug in around town. I think you'll find that if you park outside once and a while you can also probably get away with not plugging in that night.

Unless I'm visiting an out of town friend, I generally don't worry about plugging in while I'm there. Otherwise, I would probably try and use Supercharging or other fast charge option so that the plugging in at the friend's house would really only be necessary in order to keep the battery from draining.

Hotels are more challenging and I would highly recommend checking out Tesla's "find us" page and stay at a hotel with destination charging. Click Me.

 

[PeterK]

1. I have an HPWC in the separate garage behind our house and another parking spot by the front of the house near the street. In anticipation of two Teslas and in conjunction with a rooftop solar installation I put a NEMA 14-50 outlet by the front spot. If your outside parking is far enough away adding a NEMA 14-50 might be useful.

2. I paid a few hundred $ (mostly wire and trenching) for my mother's contractor to put a NEMA 14-50 at her cabin in the mountains. Very few charging options and no Superchargers nearby - a good investment. If I really need it I'll plug into 120v in someone's garage.

3. In addition to above suggestions, use Plugshare to find hotels with chargers or public chargers nearby.

Plan ahead for real trips, but no need to be anxious on short trips. That's the benefit of 200 mile range.

 

[modelx007]

That's the issue I have with trip battery anxiety. I panic when my current gas tank is at a quater of a tank... not sure how I'm going to deal with 200 mile range charging issues...?

I'm getting rid of my 2015 Suburban for the model x...

 

[PeterK]

That's the issue I have with trip battery anxiety. I panic when my current gas tank is at a quater of a tank... not sure how I'm going to deal with 200 mile range charging issues...?

I'm getting rid of my 2015 Suburban for the model x...

2015? That will be a short relationship.

Get the 90D for longest range. Play around with EV Planner on the web to understand how to make your most frequent trips. Put Plugshare on your smartphone just in case and use the car Nav and trip graph while driving. Trip graph is pretty accurate but question the recommended Supercharger stops because sometimes they don't make a lot of sense.

And put your weekly (or more) gas station stops in the rear view mirror. It's nice waking up every day to a full (or whatever amount you specify) tank.

 

[modelx007]

Ironically the suburban has been the only large vechile that fits all 6 of my family which includes a baby with stroller. I figure I'll get the cargo carrier for trips and use the front trunk and whatever room in the back to try and make up for the loss of space with Suburban trunk.
I was actually planning on. P90d in hopes to get it sooner vs lager. Thanks for all the tips. I've downloaded the plugshare app to learn more about everything.

 

[FlasherZ]

Ironically the suburban has been the only large vechile that fits all 6 of my family which includes a baby with stroller. I figure I'll get the cargo carrier for trips and use the front trunk and whatever room in the back to try and make up for the loss of space with Suburban trunk.
I was actually planning on. P90d in hopes to get it sooner vs lager. Thanks for all the tips. I've downloaded the plugshare app to learn more about everything.

For what it's worth, my Model S replaced my 2004 Suburban for my family of 6. We haven't looked back. I sold the Suburban and bought a cheap Chevy 2500 to haul trailers and other farm work. Around town, we don't worry about plugging in at all. On road trips, we have superchargers.

 

[modelx007]

How do you get 6 in model s? Plus if you have a car seat that makes room worse even with 5...

 

[goneskiian]

How do you get 6 in model s? Plus if you have a car seat that makes room worse even with 5...

With the rear facing jumper seats the S can hold 7. ;-)

 

[FlasherZ]

How do you get 6 in model s? Plus if you have a car seat that makes room worse even with 5...

Rear-facing seats. Currently, my 9- and 7-year-olds ride there, my 15- and 3-year-olds ride in the second row, and my wife and I in the front. That leaves the frunk, one entire seating position in the second row, and the space around the kids in the back for carrying our goods.

Sometime this next year we'll have to swap the 3 and 9 year olds... but still the same room. Most of the time we'll be driving the X, though.

 

[modelx007]

Will stroller fit in frunk?

 

[jerry33]

Will stroller fit in frunk?

Check out this list.

 

[FlasherZ]

Check out this list.

And keep in mind the Model X frunk is a bit bigger, but slightly different dimensions. I'm guessing we'll see the same thread for it.

- - - Updated - - -

Will stroller fit in frunk?

We do have a few strollers that fit. I prefer umbrella strollers, and I still have the Model S with the "microwave", so my stroller fits front-to-back; that's not available with the new dual-motor Model S's. The wife loves the big strollers, and we can manipulate ours in there as well. When we're on trips we prefer to use umbrella to give us more room for bags.

 

[kf93]

Rear-facing seats. Currently, my 9- and 7-year-olds ride there, my 15- and 3-year-olds ride in the second row, and my wife and I in the front. That leaves the frunk, one entire seating position in the second row, and the space around the kids in the back for carrying our goods.

Sometime this next year we'll have to swap the 3 and 9 year olds... but still the same room. Most of the time we'll be driving the X, though.

What's the upper height/age recommendation for the rear facing seats? I thought it was under 7? I have 6, 9, and 12 year old kids and didn't think we would get any use out of the third row in an S because they are too old.

 

[FlasherZ]

What's the upper height/age recommendation for the rear facing seats? I thought it was under 7? I have 6, 9, and 12 year old kids and didn't think we would get any use out of the third row in an S because they are too old.

86 lbs. is the official weight I was told. As for height - when head hits ceiling is what I'm using.

 

[PeterK]

86 lbs. is the official weight I was told. As for height - when head hits ceiling is what I'm using.

I recall 3-10 years as the guidance. My 11 year old has to slump if I need her to ride in the back - and I have to bribe her. With five kids ages 7-20 we often have five or six in the car, and now a small dog. I avoid taking the minivan as much as possible. Hence my X reservation.

 

[kf93]

thanks. I think I'll stick with either three kids across the back seat in an S or get the X. We also have a big dog that will need to take up the hatch space or the third row seat in an X.