Last week, I spent several days at a conference in Aspen. The drive from Boulder to Aspen and back was wonderful. The route is 165 miles taking US-6 from Golden and over Independence Pass into Aspen. I arrived in Aspen with 79 miles left in the battery, and back to Boulder with 109 miles in the battery. I drove moderately aggressively both ways, and a little more aggressively home. The difference between 5,280 feet altitude in Boulder and 7,900 feet in Aspen was the difference in remaining battery after a full range start both ways. The photo below shows the stats as I arrived home. The "A" trip is the round trip, and the "since last charge" the drive from Aspen to Boulder.
I stayed at the Aspen Square Hotel near the gondola. The hotel is very nice, and they were very accommodating helping me charge my car.
I arrived at about 9:30pm. The bellman that helped my with my luggage, walked around their two basement garages with me looking for outlets. We found a quad 5-15 outlet on the south side of the "B" building garage. I was going to be there for a few days and even at 75 miles per day on a 5-15, I would be able to get home. The bellman put a cone in front of the outlets while I went to get the S from in front of the hotel. As I was moving the cone out of the way to park, one of the maintenance guys walked by and asked if I needed help. I told him that this outlet would work, but that I would really like to find a 240 Volt outlet. He said that they had an outlet in their maintenance shop that they used to use for a welder. We went to look at it, and it was an old dryer, 10-30 outlet. I had my 10-30 to 14-50 adapter and extension cord with me, so I was good to go. I plugged into the 10-30, ran the extension cord out to the parking spot just outside their door, so that he could lock up (It was 10pm), set the current limit to 24 Amps, and plugged the UMC in. It was a 3-Phase, 208 Volt circuit and it drooped to 201 Volts during charging. Still, the resulting 14 mph charge rate was almost 5 times faster than the 3 mph that I would have gotten from the 5-15.
I had a chat with their head of maintenance and recommended that they put a 14-50 in one of the garages. He liked the idea and said that he would talk to the hotel manager about it.
If you are driving your S to Aspen, consider the Aspen Square Hotel. All the staff were helpful and cooperative, they did not charge for parking or for my charging. I highly recommend this hotel as an EV friendly place to stay!
I stayed at the Aspen Square Hotel near the gondola. The hotel is very nice, and they were very accommodating helping me charge my car.
I arrived at about 9:30pm. The bellman that helped my with my luggage, walked around their two basement garages with me looking for outlets. We found a quad 5-15 outlet on the south side of the "B" building garage. I was going to be there for a few days and even at 75 miles per day on a 5-15, I would be able to get home. The bellman put a cone in front of the outlets while I went to get the S from in front of the hotel. As I was moving the cone out of the way to park, one of the maintenance guys walked by and asked if I needed help. I told him that this outlet would work, but that I would really like to find a 240 Volt outlet. He said that they had an outlet in their maintenance shop that they used to use for a welder. We went to look at it, and it was an old dryer, 10-30 outlet. I had my 10-30 to 14-50 adapter and extension cord with me, so I was good to go. I plugged into the 10-30, ran the extension cord out to the parking spot just outside their door, so that he could lock up (It was 10pm), set the current limit to 24 Amps, and plugged the UMC in. It was a 3-Phase, 208 Volt circuit and it drooped to 201 Volts during charging. Still, the resulting 14 mph charge rate was almost 5 times faster than the 3 mph that I would have gotten from the 5-15.
I had a chat with their head of maintenance and recommended that they put a 14-50 in one of the garages. He liked the idea and said that he would talk to the hotel manager about it.
If you are driving your S to Aspen, consider the Aspen Square Hotel. All the staff were helpful and cooperative, they did not charge for parking or for my charging. I highly recommend this hotel as an EV friendly place to stay!
