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Thank you for the support- I wouldn't have considered owning a Roadster without such a committed and knowledgeable group of owners. I plan to fly out to California when I return from a work trip.
A couple of questions:
Does anyone have experience with shipping companies?
Oops their closing the airplane doors
Talk soon!
A couple of questions:
Does anyone have experience with shipping companies?
Oops their closing the airplane doors
Talk soon!
hsull8915
Member
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
pharma5
Roadster F#25, Model 3 #36xx
I used Plycar to ship my Roadster from Chicago to central NJ in early 2012 - fully-enclosed transport. They were recommended by folks at Tesla. No complaints.
hurd300403
Member
Just used plycar from San Diego to Baltimore. Car came from Hawaii via pasha and I flew to San Diego for the pickup and exchange to plycar. I highly recommend both companies!
Rotarypower
Member
[B][SIZE=3][COLOR=rgb(255, 128, 0)][I](A few images of my car delivery in June, guy in blue was the truck driver)[/I][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
@TigaFF congrats!!! What a cool color, and as @DeedWest mentions, a truly rare car. Awesome!
As for shipping, I had my 2.5 Sport shipped from California to North Carolina this summer. Took about 8 days, but lots of delays in the pickup of the car. I would urge you to use an enclosed shipment. One key point that I did no think about but the seller did, is to make sure whatever the configuration of the shipping truck design is, is to make sure that your car is placed on the truck in a position that will guarantee it doesn't have to be backed off then put back on as the driver delivers other cars across the US. The trucking service that was set up by the seller for my car used independent truckers, so you don't really know who or what type of truck will be used (I would not do this again). In my case, it was a huge truck that required offload from the back. This required reconfiguring the cargo during delivery. I was grateful that my seller had dealt with this before and was present during truck loading and demanded that my car be in the front (never needing backing off). As my car was delivered, the driver did have to back off a Chevy Bronco which he almost ran off the ramps, and he had a difficult time starting it then getting it back on the truck! Bottom line, ask lots of questions and make sure you know all details of the truck you select for delivery. Good luck and congrats, these cars are absolutely awesome!
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Thank you all for the help. One further question: My wife and I have considered driving the car home across the country. (Crazy - I know). I assume that 200 -300 miles per day might be possible if we can string together Tesla destination chargers and recharge once during the day then find a place to charge each night. I would think a minimum of 2 weeks, assuming nothing goes wrong. Probably will end up shipping but would appreciate your experience trying long distances without supercharging.
dhrivnak
Active Member
With the original battery over 250 miles in a day is challenging and you need to have both the CAN SR and CAN JR. My experience is high speed charging (>30amps) is still hard to come by. Destination charging helps a LOT but I have found many holes in coverage or access. Hence the reason I sprang for the 3.0 battery.
My wife and I do a lot of long trips in my Roadster. We enjoy the adventure. We haven't tried to cross the country (yet). I have a lot of charging "tools" that help a lot. You need to have a plan A, B, and C for each charging stop. We usually stay with Airbnb hosts. Before reserving we ask if they have a dryer or stove or another 240v outlet we can plug into overnight for an extra fee of $25. We have a 50' extension cord so we also ask if it's possible to park within 70' of the outlet. You'd be surprised - about half the hosts qualify. Some are excited to see the car. Some just want the extra $25. To prevent problems we charge at the slowest rate that will get the car full by morning.
Several people have traversed the country. If you hurry it can take as little as a week. I had a Roadster stop at my house for a charge and went on to circle the globe in under 80 days.
Congrats! That is a gorgeous car in green with all of the accents.
As for shipping, I shipped my Roadster last week with Car Shipping & Vehicle Transport | Montway Auto Transport and have shipped a few other cars including my old Model S. Very easy to work with and very competitive in pricing as well. Good luck!
As for shipping, I shipped my Roadster last week with Car Shipping & Vehicle Transport | Montway Auto Transport and have shipped a few other cars including my old Model S. Very easy to work with and very competitive in pricing as well. Good luck!
DeedWest
2008 VP & 2011 2.5 Sport
I drove from Dallas to Durango, CO (800+ miles) in my previous Roadster 2.5 utilizing RV parks and the Universal Mobile Connector. I was able to do it in 38 hours. I planned ahead using the internet (plus the help of some kind friends) and ensured that each RV park had a 50A hookup. This allowed me to charge at a consistent 40A using the UMC and usually only took 3-5 hours each stop. It's not always perfect, however. Some of the stalls they'll put you at have electrical issues, so you'll need to keep an eye on the car and make sure it's charging consistently. I checked on mine every 30-60 minutes after losing two hours of time at a stop that I didn't check on the car (it had stopped charging one hour into its session).
The key is to plan stops in the threshold of 120-180 miles of each other. I didn't go further than this on one charge, due to the extra time it takes to charge from lower states-of-charge and also the stress it puts on your battery to frequently drive in the below 10% and above 90% ranges. In planning those smaller strides, you cut down charging time as well as strain on your pack. The furthest leg I did was 188 miles, and that's the only one that I did a full Range Charge for. I typically charged to full on Standard Mode but switched the car into Range Mode when driving, which unlocks the bottom 25 miles or so of the pack. In your car with your amazing CAC value (yes, I found out), charging to Standard and switching to Range while driving should give you over 205 miles each time.
I called ahead to each RV park and made sure it would be okay. Most of them only charged me $5 to $10 for use of electricity, but one of them wasn't so kind to the idea and charged me the full $38 nightly rate for "loss of business".
The best thing to pack for this trip? Patience. Me? I'm probably a little more insane about these cars than most, so I enjoyed every moment. You might too! Most RV parks have nice lobbies with A/C and snacks, drinks, etc., so it isn't that hard to relax or explore the area while the car charges. I stupidly did my trip in the middle of July, so the temperatures were very rough in Albuquerque and west Texas. This time of year is likely perfect for you.
Ideally, if you had a Can Sr., you could plan the same type of trip using Destination Chargers - or, a combination of both those and RV parks. If you don't mind taking your time and spending more money, Airbnb's are awesome as @hcsharp noted.
It would also be important to perform an annual service beforehand, just to ensure the car's PEM is in the best shape.
Hope this helps! I'm traveling and on my phone, so I can't include the old thread to my adventures (which I didn't even finish because I'm a horrible person), but perhaps my friend @Roadster could include that link for me?
The key is to plan stops in the threshold of 120-180 miles of each other. I didn't go further than this on one charge, due to the extra time it takes to charge from lower states-of-charge and also the stress it puts on your battery to frequently drive in the below 10% and above 90% ranges. In planning those smaller strides, you cut down charging time as well as strain on your pack. The furthest leg I did was 188 miles, and that's the only one that I did a full Range Charge for. I typically charged to full on Standard Mode but switched the car into Range Mode when driving, which unlocks the bottom 25 miles or so of the pack. In your car with your amazing CAC value (yes, I found out), charging to Standard and switching to Range while driving should give you over 205 miles each time.
I called ahead to each RV park and made sure it would be okay. Most of them only charged me $5 to $10 for use of electricity, but one of them wasn't so kind to the idea and charged me the full $38 nightly rate for "loss of business".
The best thing to pack for this trip? Patience. Me? I'm probably a little more insane about these cars than most, so I enjoyed every moment. You might too! Most RV parks have nice lobbies with A/C and snacks, drinks, etc., so it isn't that hard to relax or explore the area while the car charges. I stupidly did my trip in the middle of July, so the temperatures were very rough in Albuquerque and west Texas. This time of year is likely perfect for you.
Ideally, if you had a Can Sr., you could plan the same type of trip using Destination Chargers - or, a combination of both those and RV parks. If you don't mind taking your time and spending more money, Airbnb's are awesome as @hcsharp noted.
It would also be important to perform an annual service beforehand, just to ensure the car's PEM is in the best shape.
Hope this helps! I'm traveling and on my phone, so I can't include the old thread to my adventures (which I didn't even finish because I'm a horrible person), but perhaps my friend @Roadster could include that link for me?
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shrink
Member
Hope this helps! I'm traveling and on my phone, so I can't include the old thread to my adventures (which I didn't even finish because I'm a horrible person), but perhaps my friend @Roadster could include that link for me?
I can help, too.
Clementine Goes To Colorado!
One other thing to consider is the space for a cross-country's worth of luggage. There isn't much, especially for two people. Charging cords and adapters can eat into that capacity, too. It can be done, of course, but takes a bit of planning (and a healthy relationship). Could be quite the adventure, actually.
Thanks, once again, to everyone who responded re. shipping and thoughts about long distance travel. I plan to inspect/drive 1038 next week. I have all the service records from early 2012 when the car was acquired. It was the NYC demo. The car was serviced yearly without fail and the last complete service was on month ago. The C.A.C is 157 according to the current owner. A couple of questions:
1. Does that fact that this was "demo car" raise concerns?
2. Given the the recent service that showed no issues, is there anything else to check when I am there?
3. My greatest concern is the PEM given all the threads related to failure. I do not know if the fan upgrade was done and the current owner does not know. Is it possible to see the fan by looking through the gap behind the rear wheel and the underbody cover? Would you have the upgrade done now if it hasn't been done.
4. Hopefully @hcsharp is still make both cans.
Thank you, Jeff
1. Does that fact that this was "demo car" raise concerns?
2. Given the the recent service that showed no issues, is there anything else to check when I am there?
3. My greatest concern is the PEM given all the threads related to failure. I do not know if the fan upgrade was done and the current owner does not know. Is it possible to see the fan by looking through the gap behind the rear wheel and the underbody cover? Would you have the upgrade done now if it hasn't been done.
4. Hopefully @hcsharp is still make both cans.
Thank you, Jeff
First off... a 157 CAC...!!!? That is amazeballs for any OE Roadster.
1. No, IMHO, because there would have almost always certainly been a salesperson with the demo driver. That also means it would have been religiously cared for while in demo service since its job was to represent the best the car had to offer and get people to buy them.
2. Test all the charging cables to ensure you have a working connector of any kind. You will need it and will be very unhappy without a way to charge your sled. Also, get a hold of the actual logs and review them yourself. Even though she has a clean bill of health, parsing the logs can also reveal things that may not have been captured in your service reports. Finally, check your records to see if the TPMS has been serviced and, more importantly, had the sensors replaced recently.
3. Sadly, it's a concern for all of us. You have a 2.5 so I'm fairly certain you have the upgraded fan. If you want to be sure, the rear belly pan is simple to remove.
4. I'm pretty sure he does. Hopefully he still has some in stock.
That is amazeballs for any OE Roadster.1. No, IMHO, because there would have almost always certainly been a salesperson with the demo driver. That also means it would have been religiously cared for while in demo service since its job was to represent the best the car had to offer and get people to buy them.
2. Test all the charging cables to ensure you have a working connector of any kind. You will need it and will be very unhappy without a way to charge your sled. Also, get a hold of the actual logs and review them yourself. Even though she has a clean bill of health, parsing the logs can also reveal things that may not have been captured in your service reports. Finally, check your records to see if the TPMS has been serviced and, more importantly, had the sensors replaced recently.
3. Sadly, it's a concern for all of us. You have a 2.5 so I'm fairly certain you have the upgraded fan. If you want to be sure, the rear belly pan is simple to remove.
4. I'm pretty sure he does. Hopefully he still has some in stock.
hsull8915
Member
For determining your fan setup, on my 2.0 you can just look through the mesh of the rear bumper and see the fan/fans. The original was two separate units, one motor/fan setup to the right and one to the left of the space. The upgrade is a single motor turning two fans mounted on either side of it, and is positioned in the middle of the space. Please forgive me for being dense if you can't do this with the 2.5 bumper...
@ion_1 contributed a great description and photo of it when I was trying to determine what my setup was:
0543 is not feeling well...
Since you mentioned the PEM... My opinion is definitely colored by the fact that I had a complete PEM failure less than a week after taking delivery of my 8 year old, 5k mile Roadster. It was painful but it's water under the bridge now and I don't regret adopting #543, I absolutely love owning and driving it. I don't want to give the impression that it is likely that you will encounter a PEM issue, but it is certainly a possibility and something you should consider. There's been a lot of talk about the useful life of the electronics in the PEM and I am inclined to believe that 8-10 years is probably going to be the norm. IMVHO if I were buying another Roadster with an original PEM, I would seriously consider spending the money having it remanufactured/refurbished as long as doing so came with a warranty so that I could drive relatively care-free.
@ion_1 contributed a great description and photo of it when I was trying to determine what my setup was:
0543 is not feeling well...
Since you mentioned the PEM... My opinion is definitely colored by the fact that I had a complete PEM failure less than a week after taking delivery of my 8 year old, 5k mile Roadster. It was painful but it's water under the bridge now and I don't regret adopting #543, I absolutely love owning and driving it. I don't want to give the impression that it is likely that you will encounter a PEM issue, but it is certainly a possibility and something you should consider. There's been a lot of talk about the useful life of the electronics in the PEM and I am inclined to believe that 8-10 years is probably going to be the norm. IMVHO if I were buying another Roadster with an original PEM, I would seriously consider spending the money having it remanufactured/refurbished as long as doing so came with a warranty so that I could drive relatively care-free.
Just to reinforce what a good deal you got, my Roadster had a CAC of 158 when new. It migrated up to 159 for a year, so 157 is exceptional for any Roadster with its original pack.
It's funny that was a demo car in NYC because I was in that store several times and they always had a very orange demo. As a demo it probably underwent a lot of hard accelerations but there might be some benefits. Probably no long trips that would have heated the battery up a lot for long periods, and timely service. I wouldn't worry about that.
I don't know where the car went after NYC but they did the fan upgrade on all the Roadsters in harsh winter climates first. If you look in the rear of the car and see the snow dam then you know it's been upgraded. If you can see the fans and motor (no snow dam) then you have to look to see if there is only one fan motor in the middle, or two motors. Both configurations have two fans. The upgrade has only one motor.
Good luck!
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