Model S roadtrip: From Germany to Israel and Jordan

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Border @ King Hussein Bridge, Israel-side

Jordan-side. We're being asked whether we are diplomats. That might have been because many Teslas in Jordan belong to the government. Everything was unproblematic here. We had to pay around 40 USD in local currency for the local car insurance. The company the car is insured with in Germany/Europe fortunately added Jordan to the list of insured countries, just for this car, just for this particular trip, as an exception. So the local insurance was of no value to us, but required to enter the country. Also, at this point I'd like to thank Tesla employee Mrs. F. K. at Tesla Frankfurt, because without her sending all the docs over via E-Mail we would surely still be sitting in the Ashdod customs office today.

Cheering! We're in Jordan.

Elon is happy, too. By the way, less than 5 km into Jordan I already saw the first Nissan Leaf. I almost couldn't believe it.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

To get an better idea, this is the Tesla Supercharging + Destination Charging infrastructure in Jordan as of 05/2018:

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Supercharger Al Noaymah/Irbid - arrived with 35 km typical left:

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Amman, Jordan. Also called "City of Stairs". Yeah, the direct way is not always the easiest way.

And there are ups and downs all the time.

A Ford Electric charges with "flying wiring" - no one seems to care.

Prius Owners Jordan! Cool! While we're at it: I saw a lot of Hybrids/Plug-Ins in both Israel and Jordan. In Jordan also fully electric vehicles: 6-7 Nissan Leafs in a single day in Amman, one i3, several Teslas at the Service Center - pictures will follow afterwards - one Tesla in the wild in Jordan and one Smart electric drive near Petra. Fascinating, to me. In Israel I did not see a single fully electric vehicle, but plenty of Hybrids/Plug-Ins. Olaf explained: At least in Israel the import tax gets lowered from 110% to 42%. The owners are not actually charging the Plug-Ins, they're just being purchased because of the lower tax and then being driven with gasoline only. In Jordan it's probably also related to a lower import tax, but the difference is that there's a actually an EV driver scene in Jordan. Oh yeah: There are Hyundai IONIQs in both countries, especially plenty of them in Israel, but only the "Hybrid" version.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Ok, that wasn't entirely fair towards Israel. There is indeed an EV scene in Israel, consisting of a few hundred Renault Fluence ZE, a dozen or so Nissan Leaf and a handful of i3's. This is the information I got from a Fluence driver in Israel. For those who are interested in how a few hundred Renault Fluence ZE came to be popular in Israel, here's the story: Better Place (company) - Wikipedia

And here some first-hand data from the Israeli Fluence driver: "Yes, I drive a Fluence ZE 100% EV in Israel. I love the car and the concept. I am one of several hundred who have the car here. EVs have not gained popularity in Israel, as the government provides little to no incentive (the government's revenue from gasoline tax is very, very high), and most people live in multi-family apartment blocks where it is difficult to charge a car, etc. Also, in contrast to the Model S, our range is very limited. Since the battery of the Fluence ZE is the original Better Place battery, most of them have deteriorated to the point where we get between 80-100km of range on a full charge. And we do not have fast-charging capabilities. The EV charging infrastructure here is not great (yet). There is one company which provides the public charge spots (which they bought from Better Place), but many of them are not maintained well and do not work. Also, most of them are in parking lots in which you have to pay per hour. The name of the company is Gnergy. Most of their charge spots can be found on plugshare, but they maintain their own map as well: Gnrgy . (Their charge spots charge at 16 amps.) And yes, their charge spots do require a card. The card costs about 50 shekels, and the charging costs about 6 shekels per hour of charging. But you might need an Israeli credit card to subscribe. When I subscribed, they could not take my American credit card, so I had to subscribe with my son's Israeli credit card. You can phone Gnergy at +972-xxx. They usually don't answer the phone, but they usually call you back if you leave a message (although their voicemail might be only in Hebrew). There is a single fast charge spot (CHAdeMO) in the center of the country at present (which the dozen or so Nissan Leafs in the country can use), which you can find at PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You . I don't know if that needs a card. If your car can use a regular electric outlet (up to 16 amps), what many of us do is just find an ordinary electrical outlet when we need to charge. Some malls have outlets in their parking lots (we just ask the guards or attendants for permission to charge). Some gas station and car wash attendants are nice and will let you use their outlets, especially if you give them 10 shekels. Also, I've used plugshare to find people who have charge spots at their homes and let other EV owners use them. To my knowledge, we are using Type 1 connectors here. There are two big experts here on electric vehicles, who are very helpful when we have questions. M. C. has a small company called Memtec. He makes portable charging cables and knows his stuff. His phone number is +972-xxx. He speaks English somewhat. The other is D. C., who has an automobile-electricity lab, and is the only independent technician for EVs. His number is +972-xxx. You will be one of the first Model S' to drive in Israel! Just make sure that the country will let your car in as a tourist, being that your car is not approved in Israel. You can connect to the EV driving community in Israel (a few hundred who drive the Fluence ZE, and a dozen who drive the Leaf, and a small handful who drive the BMW) at the facebook page: Renault Fluence ZE owners/drivers בעלי/נהגי רנו פלואנס חשמלי . They will be very excited to hear about your car's visit to Israel! I hope this was helpful. Safe travels!" --- Addendum: The only CHAdeMO charger in Israel has been out of order for several years, as of 05/2018.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Amman...

Sugar cane juice - a true miracle cure ;-)

Roman Theatre:

Pizza Roma Cafe / Amman Pasha Hotel - a very special place!

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Yep, that's a squirrel in the restaurant. Being fed by the guests. A few meters away there's a dwarf rabbit hopping around. On the roof there's turtles and on the car in front of the place there are 2 geese living there permanently.

No Peking Duck BBQ.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Tesla Store & Service Center Amman

It really does exist. Somehow I wasn't 100% sure whether this Tesla Store and SeC actually exist, but, in fact, they do! I'm running into the store, totally excited, like I'm delivering the best news of the whole century... "Hello, we came here all the way from Germany with our Model S !!! -excited-" --- Response: *calm silence* Ah? Good for you. --- Haha, ok ok, they didn't actually say that but there was really no one who seemed impressed by our accomplishment.

No one was like "Cool, I want to take a picture of your car" either, but they did invite us for lunch, but we passed, wanted to continue on our trip. According to a store employee there are 500 Model S+X in Jordan (as of 05/2018). And according to a Jordan Model S driver which I met at a SuC there are even 800 Teslas.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

univ · Jan 17, 2020

German Model S in Jordan:

Then we continued towards the Dead Sea...

Destination Charging @ Holiday Inn Resort Dead Sea
On this trip, we booked our accommodations on the same day or the day before. We planned to visit the Dead Sea and there were several hotels with DeCs available. We didn't really need the juice but since we're there already, why not use the existing infrastructure. We chose the most affordable hotel: Holiday Inn. In retrospect it was an awesome choice, I would even say it was the best hotel experience in my life until that point. Direct beach access, very few guests, silence, authentic friendly staff, a perfect buffet, floating in the Dead Sea, 4 pools, and again: very few guests - great relaxing atmosphere. Highly recommended! When we arrived and the car park manager realized we're travelling by Tesla he wrote "Top VIP" on our parking ticket.

The DeC at first didn't work: "It just doesn't work!" until 4 people of the staff were standing right in front of it and then suddenly it started working magically. However, only with 6A 1-phase because the Tesla employee who was responsible for taking the DeCs into operation was on sick leave the week and the DeC had just been installed and not yet configured properly. But 6A were just enough to get fully charged until noon the next day.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Jordan DeC situation as of 05/2018:

Mud bath - recommended.

univ · Jan 17, 2020

Amazing: You're really floating. I expected that maybe the salty water will make you not sink that quickly/strongly, but no way, diving is impossible because there's 0 chance to go below the water. Most casualties in the Dead Sea happen because they lose their balance, flip over and swallow the salt water. That's the story we were told, at least.

Real swimming isn't even possible. Incredible.