DELIVERY CONFIRMATION & INFO ON DRIVE FROM FREMONT TO SO. CAL
P813, Vin 2399 is home and is absolutely amazing. Performance 85, Blue, Tan, Sound, 21’ silver (19’ on loan), Air suspension, Sound, Pano, Parcel, 4.0 software & cubby. We flew up to the factory Saturday morning from the OC for a 9am pick up. When we arrived, we were told our car was in final stages and would be delayed about 2 hours. No worries on our side, we were finally at the finish line and seeing the workings of the factory and the other people arriving for pick-ups was a joy. We took the factory tour and on a Saturday morning the factory was moving a lot of cars thru the line. It is amazing to see the changes from October, when we went to the Test Ride event, to today. Didn’t get close enough to see any Vins, but there were cars everywhere you see. We made it back to the delivery center and all the employees were very excited and in great moods. It seems the delivery of a Model S is infectious. While we waited we were offered another private tour of the factory to other parts that are not cover in the standard tour. Of course we immediately accepted. All I can say is the factory if buzzing. The entire factory is just overwhelming. To see the new taking over the old is surreal, given the relatively short time frame Tesla has gone from design concept to a fully functioning manufacturing plant with plenty of room for expansion. I highly recommend a factory pick up. It is one of those historical points in time that you will reference in later years. Go 1st adopter!!
We had a well planned out route & time line to get back to Southern Orange County. Because of the delay in delivery that got pushed back. The funny thing is normally this would stress me & my husband out but we didn’t have a care at this point. The long wait (3 yrs 7 months) was over and all the stress, anticipation, etc was gone. I felt like I had just received a nice long massage and was just relaxed. We quickly went through our walk thru by our DS, about 30 minutes (we are computer people, so we caught on quickly). Totally forgot to take lots of pictures but did get some. Our due bill had the parcel shelf and 21’ silver wheels. They loaned us some 19’s until the 21’s are shipped to our local service center. We let our DS know we were driving back, so she made sure we had a Full Range Charge. We packed up and hit the road with a full charge of 265 range. Our plans was to do some spirited driving to Gilroy and have lunch but it was raining so didn’t want to crash the first hour. So we took it easy and just did normal driving. The whole drive home we didn’t baby the car but did dive a consistent speed between 70 and 80 mph. We still stopped at Gilroy and no one was at the charging station. We arrived with 220 range left. We charged for about 30 minutes while we had lunch and left with 270 range. It took us 1 hr and 40 minutes to get to Harris Ranch and arrived with 112 range. We knew there was only one charging station working at Harris Ranch and was really hoping no one would be there, but as our luck had it, there was one S charging and one waiting in line to charge. After a few minutes of our arrival the two cars switched and we started charging after about a 40 minute wait. We charged for exactly 30 minutes and left with 196 range. It took us 1 hr and 35 minutes and arrived at Tejon Station with 42 range. We arrived just a few minutes after the other two S’s that were at Harris Ranch. ARRRGGHH!! If we had only driving a few miles faster….. Tejon charging stations UPDATE: There was a crew there at 7pm when we arrived adding more stations and another Super Charger. Currently there are only 2 bays working. Our fellow S owners started there simultaneous charging and came back 30 minutes later to find out that the recharging wasn’t going as fast as it should. A quick call to Tesla, we found out that there is only one Super Charger currently installed and if two cars charge at the same time the charge splits between both cars. So a quick 30 minute charge being split took almost an hour to charge both cars. Tesla stated as soon as they get the 2nd Super Charger installed, this should get better. Again, this normally would have stressed us out but we just sat in the car with stupid grinds on our faces and got to know our new baby. Just a litter over an hour and 10 minutes waiting for the charges, our new friends left and we started our charge. Since this station is at the base of the Tejon pass, we wanted to make sure we had a full charge to get all the way home and not have to stop at Hawthorne, since that station was closed due to an event that night at the design center. We left just under an hour later and with 230 range. This was with just one car charging. It was a 136 mile stretch to home and we finally arrived with 66 range left. Note to all driving this route, use the 405 or other freeways other than the 5 fwy at night. We got caught with an hour delay in traffic due to a freeway closure that started at 10 pm and of course we hit this area just after they shut it down. But the S handles traffic with ease as well…. It was a very long day that started at 4 am and we got home at 11:30 that night but again not a care, since we finally are now driving the most innovated, exciting electric car ever. Just knowing this is the car that will revolutionize the car industry and we get one of the first 2000 or so is outstanding. Oh yeah we even got our first thumbs up from a driver somewhere around downtown LA. Tesla Ambassadors is what we are now…. Let spread the word.
