So first big trip in our new Model 3, leaving from Austin, TX headed to McAllen, TX for an extended weekend and then back. Total ride was about 640 miles round trip.
Charged to about 95% at home before leaving and then used the Supercharger at Three Rivers, TX. No sweat making it to Three Rivers and we took a brief break at the Love's center. The charge power ramped up to only 49kW at the start of charging which was lower than I expected (on the return trip it was over 100kW at the start of charging but in a different bay).
While at those superchargers we witnessed the oddest thing. When we arrived one bay was occupied with an ICE vehicle, a van. It was what that ICE Op was attempting to do with the supercharger connector that struck us as unusual. He was desperaetly trying to inflate his tires! This really happened and is not a joke.
At first I didn't realize what he was attempting to do until my wife, who was laughing, pointed at the guy. I really wanted to video him but I felt bad especially since his van had a Mexican license plate and obviously he had never seen a supercharger before.
Now that should have been the end of the story but it wasn't. Even though I had used Superchargers before on my Model S I started thinking maybe this guy knew something I didn't. I grabbed my connector and start examining the end of it in case there was an air valve present in there that I had never noticed before. In that brief moment however I thought to myself what an idiot I must have looked like. I think the entire event could have been a TV funny video!
While in McAllen the world wide Tesla system went down and that worried me that maybe I wouldn't be able to charge at the McAllen Convention center Superchargers for the return trip, this was not the case. By the way the McAllen Supercharger went almost all the way up to 120kW at the start of charging.
On the return trip we went back to the Three Rivers chargers but this time there were three Model 3's already there, wow! A bunch of people were around looking at them and talking to the drivers. It turned out these drivers were not the owners of the three cars, they were hired by a test company to try three different tire pressures on the three cars and then switch tires! I assume Tesla had commisioned the tests? Anyway, made it home in a little less than 6 hours including a few bio breaks and about 45 minutes of charging in Three Rivers. We could have shortened the trip if we had needed to. Most of the time we were driving at about 77 miles per hour using TAC. All in all a successful trip.
Charged to about 95% at home before leaving and then used the Supercharger at Three Rivers, TX. No sweat making it to Three Rivers and we took a brief break at the Love's center. The charge power ramped up to only 49kW at the start of charging which was lower than I expected (on the return trip it was over 100kW at the start of charging but in a different bay).
While at those superchargers we witnessed the oddest thing. When we arrived one bay was occupied with an ICE vehicle, a van. It was what that ICE Op was attempting to do with the supercharger connector that struck us as unusual. He was desperaetly trying to inflate his tires! This really happened and is not a joke.
At first I didn't realize what he was attempting to do until my wife, who was laughing, pointed at the guy. I really wanted to video him but I felt bad especially since his van had a Mexican license plate and obviously he had never seen a supercharger before.
Now that should have been the end of the story but it wasn't. Even though I had used Superchargers before on my Model S I started thinking maybe this guy knew something I didn't. I grabbed my connector and start examining the end of it in case there was an air valve present in there that I had never noticed before. In that brief moment however I thought to myself what an idiot I must have looked like. I think the entire event could have been a TV funny video!
While in McAllen the world wide Tesla system went down and that worried me that maybe I wouldn't be able to charge at the McAllen Convention center Superchargers for the return trip, this was not the case. By the way the McAllen Supercharger went almost all the way up to 120kW at the start of charging.
On the return trip we went back to the Three Rivers chargers but this time there were three Model 3's already there, wow! A bunch of people were around looking at them and talking to the drivers. It turned out these drivers were not the owners of the three cars, they were hired by a test company to try three different tire pressures on the three cars and then switch tires! I assume Tesla had commisioned the tests? Anyway, made it home in a little less than 6 hours including a few bio breaks and about 45 minutes of charging in Three Rivers. We could have shortened the trip if we had needed to. Most of the time we were driving at about 77 miles per hour using TAC. All in all a successful trip.
