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From Scandinavia to Arabia - Part 1

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TLDR; the world’s fastest accelerating and coolest 4-door sedan is en route to Abu Dhabi.

Like many of you I have been following Tesla for many years. In 2010 I first saw a Roadster parked in the basement at Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA). At first I thought it was a Lotus but then I noticed it was plugged in and had a rather large cable leading to a very large red plug. After fawning over this unique automobile for a few minutes and noticing the considerable available range I thought to myself how cool it would be to have something like this driving around making space age sounds and emitting no pollution.

I have been following the incredible Tesla story since then and with the advent of the Model S Alphas and Betas and I can safely say that absorbing Tesla information has been a part of my daily life. I test drove my first Model S, a P85+ in Switzerland, then a P85 in Las Vegas, and finally an 85D in Portland Oregon.

First Attempt: 2014 P85

I came to within 1 click of ordering a P85 in 2014 but decided against it at the time due to lack of available insurance. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/31151-Importing-a-Model-S-into-a-Non-Tesla-Country

Second Attempt: 2015 85D

Early this year a very well connected friend managed to get insurance for his just imported P85D, and after receiving the necessary assurances that I would get insurance, I then proceeded to order my own 85D from Tilburg in the Netherlands. I settled on European spec because it is more compatible with the 3-phase electricity supply of this region, which is closely modelled on that of the UK. Unfortunately, exactly 5 days before delivery, Tesla removed my order agreement and invoice, and posted new ones with a 21% increase in price. They said in a few cases they had to pay Dutch tax because some owners had not sent them the correct paperwork and that it was now my responsibility to get the VAT back from the Dutch government. Unfortunately when I contacted the Dutch tax authorities they did not agree and made it very clear to me that I would not get this money back if Tesla paid the tax. Tesla was not very helpful at the time, they were not willing to consider options like retaining the tax themselves until all the necessary documents were received. In the end I did not take delivery and Tesla refunded my deposit. I posted about my troubles at the time on the Tesla Motors forum. https://my.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/21-vat-cost-increase-5-days-delivery

Third Attempt: 2015 90D

I then contacted our famous friend, Mr. Bjorn Nyland to see if I could get a car through Norway. First of all let me say he is a true gentleman, a magnificent ambassador for the brand, and is fully deserving of the Model X he won recently (congratulations Bjorn). He put me in touch with a friend of his who had previously worked in Dubai and we worked out a deal whereby we use his referral link and he takes delivery of the car in his name, then immediately transfer them to mine. Bjorn’s friend did not ask for a penny despite having to take two days of his time off work to help me receive, transfer, and ship the car. Because the exchange rate was so low to the Norwegian Kroner, because of the fact that EV’s are sold tax free in Norway, and thanks to the discount from the referral scheme, I ended up upgrading from a 90D to a Ludicrous P90D. In addition, we ordered 1 more car (a 70D) for a friend here. Both cars were ordered in August with Late November / Early December delivery. We received the cars on December 8th after installation of dual chargers.

So in the end I was able to receive my car in Norway, drive it for 2 days with proper Norwegian registration and insurance (we went as far as Sweden), transfer ownership to my name (a very simple procedure), and deliver the car to the shipping agent. Both cars were put in a single 40 foot container and they are now en route to Abu Dhabi; ETA mid January.

First Impressions of the P90DL

Disclaimer; I have not yet tried a Ludicrous launch considering the cold wet surfaces and summer tires I was very careful not to push my luck. It is a very large car, more beautiful in real life than in pictures, those 21” wheels are stunning. The car seemed more luxurious and solid when compared with any previous Model S I have been; I loved the beige next generation seats, piano black wood decor (matching the exterior) and black Alcantara headliner. The suspension was very comfortable, the ride was smooth and I didn’t notice any whining coming from the front motor. I tried autopilot on the motorway and it freaked me out a little at higher speeds as it drifted to the edge of the lane. Overall incredible and much improved over other assist systems I have tried. It was fun using the navigation system and superchargers (both of which will not be available to me in Abu Dhabi). The grip this car has seems unreal. I will need to recalibrate my driving to match the car. The UHFS system had an issue when playing from internet sources - only static was playing through the right speakers - this could be ‘corrected’ by moving the balance to the left. To remedy this problem I got to experience Tesla’s wonderful service. They took it in and within 20 minutes returned it to me fixed - they had loaded an update (2.9.12) which completely resolved the issue. The onboard technology made driving long distance between superchargers easy to manage. I must say that energy app is really useful, and it is lovely to see the satellite view and rear camera as you travel long distance. Autopilot is something I am still learning to trust but I must say it is a nice backup when you are playing with all the technology. After 2 days I tried driving with regen switched off because I realised I had not used the brakes (they would be left wet before shipping). Having to switch between the brake and throttle all the time was REALLY annoying…how quickly we adapt.

Anyway I am writing this as part 1 because the real fun begins when the car arrives in Abu Dhabi and I have to take it for registration and emissions testing - lets see where they are going to stick that probe. Some delivery pictures below:

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I can see you using as much electricity to cool the car as it uses for driving! At least you will be help Tesla make its mind up whether to open up a shop in Dubai or not. Not so much 'coals to Newcastle' as 'garlic to Transylvania'. What's the plan if something needs fixing? Have fun! MW

We have other Model S's here and they run just fine. In fact we get good range. If they can handle Death Valley and summer in FL they should be ok. When I have more confidence I will expose it to 50C / 122F heat for which I would have to use an internal road crossing the desert (say Abu Dhabi to Al Ain) and only few a few weeks in the whole year we can get the temperature that high. If something breaks I will have to ship the car to the nearest service center - hopefully this will be in Jordan so it won't be so bad, and in 2016 they may open in the Gulf Arab states.

This is just super cool. Take an EV right into the heart of the oil industry! Super cool, nice.

Are you an expat in Abu Dhabi? Were you born there?

I'm an expat in Abu Dhabi.
 
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Awesome write-up Ames! And thank you for the kind words. For a nice guy like you I would do it again :biggrin: Actually, I just might have to when the X becomes publicly available? Hoping for a local service center by that time though.
Snug fit in that container. Bet they where happy that the car had a rear hatch they could use!
 
@scarlet. Just got it today. It's parked in the garage awaiting registration and insurance, so probably a couple of days before I can actually use it. A couple of interesting observations:
- the European SIM card works in the UAE so I have internet radio and google maps without connecting to wifi.
- somewhere between Norway and Abu Dhabi, the car updated itself to 7.1 (2.9.154). I left Norway with the car on 7.0 2.9.12. So now I have Spotify and Perpendicular Auto-Parking.
- Rangers can visit the UAE to perform all sorts of warranty work, service, and upgrades. We have one scheduled to install a UAE sim in the car (not sure I want that now that I have the European one working).
 
The P90D had 135 rated km left. The 70D had 0, I was scared we would not be able to load it onto a flatbed but luckily there was enough to get it on and then off and onto a much needed charge. We later looked at the energy app and noticed a huge spike on the 70 D. It seems that somebody was testing it and using the remaining energy. The cars were in the container for about 6 weeks and then another week outside awaiting customs clearance. The cars were loaded with about 70% charge as they were driven to Oslo from Drammen where they were charged before leaving.