-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Awesome! Nice that you can enjoy it this year!
- - - Updated - - -
Well here's something a little different... Just home from being yelled at by two workmen for having parked in the "EV only" car spot.
They were in a small Mitsubishi truck (that I also hadn't realised was an EV)... I had been waiting about 45 mins for a CHAdeMO port to become available. They arrived about 30 mins later, also waiting to charge.
When the charge point became available and I got out of the car they were very annoyed saying I couldn't park there! I explained that Model S is 100% EV, although I don't think they believed me as they kept asking about it (not in a very friendly way) and saying "EV only" a few more times...
I guess this is an unexpected downside of owning such as sexy and stylish EV
Awesome! Nice that you can enjoy it this year!
- - - Updated - - -
Well here's something a little different... Just home from being yelled at by two workmen for having parked in the "EV only" car spot.
They were in a small Mitsubishi truck (that I also hadn't realised was an EV)... I had been waiting about 45 mins for a CHAdeMO port to become available. They arrived about 30 mins later, also waiting to charge.
When the charge point became available and I got out of the car they were very annoyed saying I couldn't park there! I explained that Model S is 100% EV, although I don't think they believed me as they kept asking about it (not in a very friendly way) and saying "EV only" a few more times...
I guess this is an unexpected downside of owning such as sexy and stylish EV
Haha very funny story, I'm sure they were checking their cell phones after that trying to figure out what it was you were driving. :biggrin:
Further down, saw the post about just speeding up to get it back to normal. I wish there was an option to specify a radius it would be active, ie 25 meters for instance.
About small parking spaces - yes, it is definitely a problem in Hong Kong as well.
One of our users keep a map based Good/Bad parking list. It is not as much about charging as it is about space. I don't have any problems fitting into a spot - the problem arises when you want to open the doors and get out! With three mirrors, sensors and a backing camera, I feel quite confident in parking. What I want to have is a small camera mounted on the side mirror in the passengers side - looking forward/down, with a small monitor inside the the car where that mirror is. That way I can see how close I am to the curb. I have driven many different cars, and never before have I found it so hard to judge how close I am to the curb. Both passenger side rims have curb rash on my car, and I just passed 2500 km only.
You can see the thread - including link - about the parking spot list here [On-Going] Best Car Park List
I agree, it's hard to tell how close to the curb you are in Model S. I have managed to avoid curb rash so far, but only 900 km here... I found the reversing guides on all the other Japanese cars we have owned or hired to be very helpful for judging the distance. While small camera would work very nicely to solve this, that's extra hardware to add and maybe not seen as necessary for some big markets such as US where space is less of a problem. The advantage of the parking guidelines on the reversing camera (once you are used to them) is that it should be just a simple software update to the existing reversing camera system.
It's not when reversing there is a problem, then you have the mirrors to look down, and the camera to look back. It's when going forward - how close can you get to the curb, without hitting it?
"My" camera would be a very small camera, similar to the reversing camera, looking from the passenger side mirror towards the front wheel. Yes, for going forward. It could also be a mirror, I just don't think it will work from inside.
In the old days, Mercedes cars had a figure of the Mercedes star sticking up on the front of the hood.
For some odd reason, looking through that as it was the crosshairs of a weapon aim, that point would magically be the extended line of the passenger side wheels trajectory. I am surprised I cannot find an illustration of this online - a well kept secret (until now)?
Anyway, I am not putting any crosshairs on my Model S hood, however, I was thinking of making some contraption to put on the dashboard that would aim exactly at a point where the outside edge of the wheels will cross (if going forward - straight, obviously). That way, when it's narrow, all I gotta do is look at the aim to know how close my wheels (and rims!) will be to that dreaded curb.
As for places like Hong Kong and Japan, it tends to get quite narrow. In my regular parking garage, I am using the backing camera to align the car with the outlined parking spots. The Model S will take up every single inch of length, leaving only a minute amount of space on the sides (and the doors are long!). The car is awesome, but sometimes I wish it were a model X with those upwards opening rear doors.
Another incident today at a CHAdeMO station where someone in a Leaf got angry I was parked there because he didn't think Model S is an EV. There was only one charging point, and he was using it, so it wasn't even that I was taking up "his" charging point, he just objected to me being there. Since this has now happened twice within a week, I am thinking to make up a little note in Japanese I can hand to people, like:
"Congratulations, you just met an EV so special and gorgeous that you didn't realise it's 100% electric! This is a Tesla Model S, find out more at tesla.com"
I suggested to my wife that I should write "It's just like your Leaf only way more sexy and cool and functional and goes further and faster and ..." but she thought that was taking the idea a bit too far
On the topic of CHAdeMO, I was quite amazed again to charge tonight and get 125A at 400V. Having driven a bit over 2 hours today, I still had a lot of charge left but thought why not topup a bit while driving past. Added back the day's driving very quickly (about 15 mins) at a charge rate over 220 km/hr. I'm really excited some of the CHAdeMO stations are that fast since it feels almost as good as having a Supercharger next door for me, just no pretty Tesla logo on it and the very minor inconvenience of having to hook up the slightly heavy and clunky CHAdeMO cable.
"Congratulations, you just met an EV so special and gorgeous that you didn't realise it's 100% electric! This is a Tesla Model S, find out more at tesla.com"
I suggested to my wife that I should write "It's just like your Leaf only way more sexy and cool and functional and goes further and faster and ..." but she thought that was taking the idea a bit too far
On the topic of CHAdeMO, I was quite amazed again to charge tonight and get 125A at 400V. Having driven a bit over 2 hours today, I still had a lot of charge left but thought why not topup a bit while driving past. Added back the day's driving very quickly (about 15 mins) at a charge rate over 220 km/hr. I'm really excited some of the CHAdeMO stations are that fast since it feels almost as good as having a Supercharger next door for me, just no pretty Tesla logo on it and the very minor inconvenience of having to hook up the slightly heavy and clunky CHAdeMO cable.
Another incident today at a CHAdeMO station where someone in a Leaf got angry I was parked there because he didn't think Model S is an EV. There was only one charging point, and he was using it, so it wasn't even that I was taking up "his" charging point, he just objected to me being there. Since this has now happened twice within a week, I am thinking to make up a little note in Japanese I can hand to people, like:
"Congratulations, you just met an EV so special and gorgeous that you didn't realise it's 100% electric! This is a Tesla Model S, find out more at tesla.com"
I suggested to my wife that I should write "It's just like your Leaf only way more sexy and cool and functional and goes further and faster and ..." but she thought that was taking the idea a bit too far
On the topic of CHAdeMO, I was quite amazed again to charge tonight and get 125A at 400V. Having driven a bit over 2 hours today, I still had a lot of charge left but thought why not topup a bit while driving past. Added back the day's driving very quickly (about 15 mins) at a charge rate over 220 km/hr. I'm really excited some of the CHAdeMO stations are that fast since it feels almost as good as having a Supercharger next door for me, just no pretty Tesla logo on it and the very minor inconvenience of having to hook up the slightly heavy and clunky CHAdeMO cable.
Tesla.com is currently owned by a domain shark it seems. Better if you write teslamotors.com
I took two Tesla Motors brochures, cut out the interesting parts and plasticised it. When I park, I put one in each side of the dashboard, so people can read about the car when I am not there. You could do the same in Japanese - are there Japanese brochures?
I also keep a stack of brochures in the car, which I got from Tesla Motors (same as the plasticised ones). When someone seems interested, I hand it out. And some times when people have ICEd a charging spot, I put it in the windshield wipers for them to read.
Today I was waiting for my family, about 15 meters from my car. There was a group of tourists (from China) waiting just next to the car. For about 10 minutes, I had fun with the fob and the phone, operating sunroof, door handles, trunk, lights, horn ... and when they walked around it, I even popped the frunk! Finally I walked over to them and showed them "the engine" - which was full of trash for recycling. No-one spoke much English, all they could ask was "How much?"
I think they understood it was electric, and I motioned something about an engine and pointed between the rear wheels. We all had a good laugh and they seemed to enjoy the demonstration although we didn't have many words in common.
Seems the Japanese are not very much aware of the Tesla Model S. I heard you guys discuss the way social media and internet word-of-mouth works differently in Japan.
Great story about your car today and the Chinese tourists, and yes thanks for spotting my URL typo
I will ask Tesla Japan about brochures... in general I don't think they have anything so far but I think I can put together something simple that would serve the purpose.Also, I fully understand now about your forward-parking against the curb issue. I hadn't experienced that here since nearly all parking spots are reverse-in, and also many of our nearby streets don't even have curbs (lucky in a way I guess, and yes I do kind of live in a small town, relatively speaking). I can imagine if I was driving this car in Australia, where it is mostly on-street parking, with curbs, and windy roads, and tight spaces, this would be really hard to do :/ I guess HK must feel a lot like that.
Great story about your car today and the Chinese tourists, and yes thanks for spotting my URL typo
Also, I fully understand now about your forward-parking against the curb issue. I hadn't experienced that here since nearly all parking spots are reverse-in, and also many of our nearby streets don't even have curbs (lucky in a way I guess, and yes I do kind of live in a small town, relatively speaking). I can imagine if I was driving this car in Australia, where it is mostly on-street parking, with curbs, and windy roads, and tight spaces, this would be really hard to do :/ I guess HK must feel a lot like that.
Those two times I hit the curb wasn't while parking, but just going down the road. It's just hard to judge! First time I simply hit the front wheel against the curb when it was getting more narrow, around 70 km/h, the second time I came out of a parking lot and made a too narrow turn so the rear wheel hit the curb. Ouch!
And btw, today my passenger side mirror hit a taxi's mirror. My mirror folded in, and I just toggled the mirror switch and it popped back out. He was honking quite vigorously, but when we were abeam again, I opened the side window (we were in a traffic jam), I asked if he was OK, and he said yes - and it ended there. Later I found some black plastic from his Toyota Crown side mirror - couldn't even see any scratches.
I made a candid video of those tourists, it's almost 4 minutes long. I cut out the first and last section for the essentials, will upload it to youtube and cross post in the "Tesla Moments" thread Tesla Moments as soon as the videos are done uploading. I only realised now that my timing of opening the trunk was perfect - a guy is just positioning to take a picture of it, when it opens (the first of the two videos)
Thank you for the rep credit (why doesn't it say who it's from? Silly forum)
EDIT: Here is my "Tesla Moment" Tesla Moments - post #672 including video
Last edited:
I found another incompatible CHAdeMO charging station last weekend. It was at Osaka Sakurabashi parking. On the other hand, similar one at Kyoto Oike parking worked perfectly. I feel Hasetec yellow charger has more issues with Model S than other chargers.
Hey Dborn, I guess you have your answer now - 9 December is the official launch party in Sydney. I'm supposed to be there but already have travel planned for that date and don't think I can make it ;(
JayInJapan
Member
I finally got a 2nd estimate for the wall connector, this time from the company Deguchi San recommended: Charge PRO. They want ¥380,000. That's twice as much as the first guy asked!
I range charged at my office, then drive down Tomei and Shin Tomei expressway. Charged for one hour at Hamamatsu SA, then 21 minutes at Gozaisho SA and arrived at Osaka with 132km Rated left. Both chargers were 50kW.
During the stay I charged twice, once in Osaka and another in Kyoto, where I range charged again.
On return, I started with 334km and went thru Nara (some sightseeing), charged at Iga SA 25kW, Kariya PA 44kW and Surugawan-Numazu 50kW, back home with 69km left. Too many slow chargers.
I usually plan three charge points, and use two of them. Ideally I only drop by at one charger, but sometimes CHAdeMO is occupied so I use NEXCO's Web site to see usage. Skip the charge if occupied. Also most chargers automatically stop in 30 minutes so I have to restart every 30 minutes. That's why I plan two or more stops. When you try to restart charging after the first 30-min session and if a Leaf was waiting, it is customary for us Japanese to give the plug for him.
Thank you very much for the information, will be useful!
Also reading on another thread came across a new video on the Model S, How it's made! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9yZeGmz8jRja1hiSTl4RDF2ODg/view
