This weekend we took our first real day trip in our Model S 60 and thought I would share as I had a lot of trepidation about range on the highway, into the mountains and wanted to add to the growing pool of personal experiences here on the forum.
We decided to take our Model S 60 from our Calgary, AB home out to Banff for the day, something we enjoy doing several times a year. We live in the NW so according to google maps our drive to the Gondola parking lot was going to be 133km which which meant a 266kkm round trip and not a problem for a 350km rated car.
The morning before we left I topped the battery up to 100%, leaving the house with 384 ideal kilometers showing. I set the cruise to 110km once we got out onto the highway and relaxed to to they sounds of despicable me which my daughter was watching on the ipad. The morning was 20C so there was no need for HVAC on the way out. The Model S is fantastic on the highway compared to any other car I have driven before and is so quiet compared to the escape hybrid the Model S replaced. When we got to the Banff Gondola parking lot we had 220km of ideal range showing, having driving 138km. Although we had gone through 164km of ideal range to travel 138km, we were doing highway speeds and gaining elevation so I was thrilled.
We spend a couple hours at the top of the mountain enjoying lunch, some ice cream and enjoying the incredible views.
After we came down the gondola we decided to stroll around downtown. There is a recently opened Sun Country 40 EV charge in the Bear Street parkade that we had previously scoped out so decided to try our luck. We started looking for the charge on the 3rd level as mentioned on the sun country map but eventually found it tucked away on the ground floor where parking is only for an hour. We decided to give it a shot but it appears there was no power to the charger and gave up after about 10 minutes. Was not to worried as we had lots or range left but it was disappointing for our first public charging attempt. (Note: I contacted the City of Banff on this and they got back to me first thing the next day saying they were having an electrician sent out immediately to look at it, very impressed by the support they are offering it. Additionally there are a couple of hotels that offer chargers as well so there are backup options in addition to the numerous campgrounds.)
After wandering around Banff we started our drive home full of chocolate and candy. Having been very conservative on the drive out and feeling much more confident about range in the car I decided to keep up with the fast flowing traffic. The weather in the afternoon was a little warmer so we did use the AC on the way home set to a comfortable 21C in range mode. We took a slightly shorter route home and ended up driving a total of 264 km with an average of 170wh/km. Our total energy usage was showing as 45kwh with 94km of ideal kilometers left. Even better, the car outlasted our 5 year old
Our only real complaint on the whole trip was the XM reception in the Tesla is just not very good compared to other cars we have driving the same routes in. I am not sure where the antenna is but I suspect it contributes a lot to the problem.
Overall it was a fantastic trip, a great confidence booster for the highway capabilities of the car. Next weekend we are likely going to head out again and do some hiking.
We decided to take our Model S 60 from our Calgary, AB home out to Banff for the day, something we enjoy doing several times a year. We live in the NW so according to google maps our drive to the Gondola parking lot was going to be 133km which which meant a 266kkm round trip and not a problem for a 350km rated car.
The morning before we left I topped the battery up to 100%, leaving the house with 384 ideal kilometers showing. I set the cruise to 110km once we got out onto the highway and relaxed to to they sounds of despicable me which my daughter was watching on the ipad. The morning was 20C so there was no need for HVAC on the way out. The Model S is fantastic on the highway compared to any other car I have driven before and is so quiet compared to the escape hybrid the Model S replaced. When we got to the Banff Gondola parking lot we had 220km of ideal range showing, having driving 138km. Although we had gone through 164km of ideal range to travel 138km, we were doing highway speeds and gaining elevation so I was thrilled.
We spend a couple hours at the top of the mountain enjoying lunch, some ice cream and enjoying the incredible views.
After we came down the gondola we decided to stroll around downtown. There is a recently opened Sun Country 40 EV charge in the Bear Street parkade that we had previously scoped out so decided to try our luck. We started looking for the charge on the 3rd level as mentioned on the sun country map but eventually found it tucked away on the ground floor where parking is only for an hour. We decided to give it a shot but it appears there was no power to the charger and gave up after about 10 minutes. Was not to worried as we had lots or range left but it was disappointing for our first public charging attempt. (Note: I contacted the City of Banff on this and they got back to me first thing the next day saying they were having an electrician sent out immediately to look at it, very impressed by the support they are offering it. Additionally there are a couple of hotels that offer chargers as well so there are backup options in addition to the numerous campgrounds.)
After wandering around Banff we started our drive home full of chocolate and candy. Having been very conservative on the drive out and feeling much more confident about range in the car I decided to keep up with the fast flowing traffic. The weather in the afternoon was a little warmer so we did use the AC on the way home set to a comfortable 21C in range mode. We took a slightly shorter route home and ended up driving a total of 264 km with an average of 170wh/km. Our total energy usage was showing as 45kwh with 94km of ideal kilometers left. Even better, the car outlasted our 5 year old
Our only real complaint on the whole trip was the XM reception in the Tesla is just not very good compared to other cars we have driving the same routes in. I am not sure where the antenna is but I suspect it contributes a lot to the problem.
Overall it was a fantastic trip, a great confidence booster for the highway capabilities of the car. Next weekend we are likely going to head out again and do some hiking.
