Model S Western US Tour

[stevezzzz]

Nice to have met Honeybug. You have some great pictures in that album - looks like a wonderful trip.

Your car clearly did stop with charge left; but perhaps lack of charge was not why it stopped? It could have been some problem that made it take the car out of gear and keep you from putting it in gear. That would explain why you didn't get any messages about the car shutting down, as well as why it couldn't be reproduced by low charge.

Frustrating either way, I know - the car still wouldn't go when it should have. But it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to start worrying about the accuracy of the rated miles display.

By the way, when my car was fairly new I once lost power going up a hill - very disconcerting. It turns out I was going for the windshield wipers that are on the other side in my other car, and brushed the gear selector and put it in neutral. I know that's not your problem though, as in my case it went right back in to gear when I asked it to.

So what would keep the car from going in to gear? That doesn't leave any errors on the screens or in the logs? And doesn't get fixed after a reboot, but does fix itself after some time and a charge? This smells like a flaky sensor issue, but it seems most sensors giving readings bad enough to keep the car from going in to gear should result in a message of some kind.

All of which prompts me to wonder: since the Model S has only one gear (and isn't it the same gear for Drive and Reverse?), what actually happens when you 'put it in gear'? Is 'freewheeling' in Neutral just a software fake job so that the motor provides no discernible torque or braking, or does it actually disconnect the motor from the rest of the drivetrain?

 

[Bugeater]

Wowza, Bugeater! I'm more impressed that you made that trip on those 21" tires without a spare!!! We did Yellowstone a couple years ago in our ICE and it was pretty brutal!

TommyBoy,
We didn't have any problems with the tires. However, we didn't travel very far from the main loop through Yellowstone. We only had 1 full day to tour around there.



Bugeater

 

[Bugeater]

Yesterday, driving home from a trip, we drove the car down to 24 miles left with no problem. Makes me feel a little better about running low on range.

 

[toto_48313]

toto_48313, Great trip! We'd all like to hear details when you get a chance! I did the charging locations in Google Maps Lite. Was pretty easy actually to get them from Google maps and then share them.

Wow, 7K miles plus! How long do you expect it to take altogether? Ours took 21 days. In my case it was just my wife and I. How many on your trip?
If you take I-70 to Kansas City, don't stop at the KOA in Goodland Kansas. They told us to "Get Out Now!" However Shady Grove Campground and High Plains Camping were very happy to see us!

So we did it in 30 days.
I have the full story in French for now here, and will translate it soon.
http://media.wix.com/ugd/5de3d1_bceded6b8b710c2c21817faea4c9975f.pdf

You can see the charging point on the picture, but making a google map is a good idea.

Overall kampground are usefull but not always friendly as you said. We always need to negociate the rate, but overall we were able to charge from 0 to 10 $ when sleeping on site and 7 to 15 $ when charging during the day.

regarding Kansas, we went to Topeka and it was great.

 

[Bugeater]

Toto_48313, what a great trip! Looking forward to the English version. My year of French in college, just doesn't cut it.