With the MS's regen, if you have charge enough to make it up, you'll have no problem making it down!
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Mt. Washington Auto Road in a Tesla?
- Thread starter mdelpin
- Start date
-
- Tags
- New England USA
I imagine we'll start collecting some data on how much power is needed for the assent shortly after they open since we intend to make a trip up there sooner than the potential club visit.
I've updated the WhenIsGood page, filtering it down to only the 6 Saturdays that Mt. Washington currently has available for sunset club assents. We only have three responses so far, and of those three, August 3 is the best fit.
Please try to get more people to come and fill it out quickly. I'd hate to miss a good reservation date because someone else books it before we can.
I've updated the WhenIsGood page, filtering it down to only the 6 Saturdays that Mt. Washington currently has available for sunset club assents. We only have three responses so far, and of those three, August 3 is the best fit.
Please try to get more people to come and fill it out quickly. I'd hate to miss a good reservation date because someone else books it before we can.
Five responses, and Aug 3 still looks like the best date. 
http://whenisgood.net/mtwashtesla/
http://whenisgood.net/mtwashtesla/results/qhy5ic
http://whenisgood.net/mtwashtesla/
http://whenisgood.net/mtwashtesla/results/qhy5ic
Treeva's husband, Chris, here -
We just posted our availability to the WhenIsGood. So far it looks like Aug 3rd is winning. We're pretty interested in attending and can help out with planning.
I can start calling KOAs if we're settling on a date. However, I think it might be more effective and fun to coordinate with a prominent hotel/restaurant/tourist stop to use their parking lot for a meetup. Presumably they wouldn't have a couple hundred amps of worth of juice to run out to the cars. So I called around to some equipment rental shops and 60-80kW mobile generator can be had for $250-$350/day. If everyone brings their wall connector we should be able to charge at least 6 cars at 40A simultaneously. So with a couple hours of hanging around we should be able to get everyone up the mountain and probably back to more established EV infrastructure. I can handle the particulars of creating an ad-hoc multi-car charge point. I would probably also yank my HPWC off the wall to put in an 80A option.
I know a generator isn't all that EV sexy but we could use it as a teaching moment when we document only burning a few gallons of fuel to get cars from all over NE up the auto road and back home.
I also might be able to improve on things by getting the folks at Maine Solar Power, Massachusetts, New Hampshire Solar | ReVision Energy to help out for the publicity. I'm developing a relationship with them after parking the Model S at their Portland charge point.
Chris
We just posted our availability to the WhenIsGood. So far it looks like Aug 3rd is winning. We're pretty interested in attending and can help out with planning.
I can start calling KOAs if we're settling on a date. However, I think it might be more effective and fun to coordinate with a prominent hotel/restaurant/tourist stop to use their parking lot for a meetup. Presumably they wouldn't have a couple hundred amps of worth of juice to run out to the cars. So I called around to some equipment rental shops and 60-80kW mobile generator can be had for $250-$350/day. If everyone brings their wall connector we should be able to charge at least 6 cars at 40A simultaneously. So with a couple hours of hanging around we should be able to get everyone up the mountain and probably back to more established EV infrastructure. I can handle the particulars of creating an ad-hoc multi-car charge point. I would probably also yank my HPWC off the wall to put in an 80A option.
I know a generator isn't all that EV sexy but we could use it as a teaching moment when we document only burning a few gallons of fuel to get cars from all over NE up the auto road and back home.
I also might be able to improve on things by getting the folks at Maine Solar Power, Massachusetts, New Hampshire Solar | ReVision Energy to help out for the publicity. I'm developing a relationship with them after parking the Model S at their Portland charge point.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Slightly off topic, but...I charged at a Nissan dealer in So. Portland a few weekends back instead of ReVision Energy.
Was the spot "out in the open"? I thought the dealership would be more obscure, although it was farther from where I wanted to be.
/Ed
Looks like a fun drive! I drive a LEAF and live in the California mountains where we routinely do 5000' climbs to return home from the Valley. At 32K miles the LEAF is holding up fine. Climbing Mt. Washington in a Tesla should be a piece of cake. :smile: With very, very careful driving, my sense is an 85 kWh 'S' could do it on a full range charge from Boston.
Agree and thank you for taking the lead on this idea. RV parks are an unrealistic solution for that time of year (they're usually full). And it would be a lot more fun to hang at a nicer destination. Try to find a hotel/restaurant/tourist stop that is receptive to considering the installation of one or two 70A chargers. The more positive they are, the more I'd like to give them my business.
I'm worried about the generator. Noisy and smelly. Will cast our cars in bad light. Is the output regulated enough to work? But I can't think of a better solution.
You should check with Tesla to make sure those machines can safely charge both the Roadster and Model S. The Roadster is more finicky but many generators will not charge a Model S. Ask the rental company about kW rating - is that for continuous duty cycle? Do we have to stay under 80% rated capacity except for short bursts? Is it 2-phase 240v? Might be tricky balancing 3 phase loads to prevent problems? I can help you work on a distribution box with NEMA 14-50 receptacles and also a couple of 70 or 80A options.
I'm also worried about the noise. Hate to diminish such a nice quiet EV event with the dull roar of a large diesel generator next to us. I like the idea of inviting solar power vendors, even if they only have a couple kW on display.
The generator will burn slightly more fuel than the same number of gas cars would to go the same distance. But supplementing the generator with power from a solar vendor would be great.
I agree, I think we should probably go ahead and book that date at this point. Even though we don't have a lot of responses yet, I'd rather not lose the date due to delay when it works well for the most interested early responders.
This all sounds great. Please feel free to dig in further on any of it. I'll PM you with my contact info if you want to reach out for anything specific.
Thanks so much for the info. If you know of any non-Tesla EV owners that would really like to tag along, I would personally be happy to include them in this, even if we still call it a "Tesla Climb". Anyone else feel differently?
- - - Updated - - -
These are all good points regarding the generator. I think we should try to see if we can find an on-grid charging solution as our first priority. If we find one, then we could work the PR angle much harder. If we do have to go the generator approach, then I would probably try to keep the attention of the event only on the climb itself rather than the lead-up. I think some reporters might like to make digs on the angle of having to go to extraordinary measures just to get the cars up the road. :/
We need better data (which we'll try to collect on a trip soon after the road opens.
but I think it might be very possible to just have people plan on driving into the area the night before and put it on any sort of charger overnight, even 110v, in preparation for the climb.
all i remember from this drive, (i was 8 or so) is coming back down and having the brakes literally smoking. seriously smoking. oh and that the model s, obviously was inspired by the car i was in, well the "back back" as we used to call it,before running to sit there.
If we're all going to gather at the same place, it will require a lot of power. Maybe Robert.Boston has an idea how to use the grid but 60 - 80kW requires a serious transformer. You're not going to find that much extra capacity at your average restaurant or hotel in the White Mtns. The only idea that comes to mind is a ski area. They would have extra capacity in the summer although many of them supplement their power in the winter with some co-gen. We can't afford to pay them to start up their generators, but they might have enough without that. We could all stay overnight somewhere... but I personally don't want to make this a 2-day affair. Too much time and money.
I think you're right the press would misconstrue the fact that we really don't need much to get up and down the mtn. In fact due to regen we'd need far less power than a gasser. We just need charging to drive 100+ miles home again.
mitch672
Active Member
Maria,
I might tag along, if you still have space. I have a friend in Portsmouth, and I'm going to install a 6-50 at his house, so I should be able to top off in both directions, possibly. The auto road is 177 miles each way from my house. If I don't go, I know "Dolphin Grey" will be represented
. Hope that rear footwell all weather matt is working out, thanks for coming down to pick it up.Mitch
Maria,
I might tag along, if you still have space. I have a friend in Portsmouth, and I'm going to install a 6-50 at his house, so I should be able to top off in both directions, possibly. The auto road is 177 miles each way from my house. If I don't go, I know "Dolphin Grey" will be represented
Mitch
We would love to have you along! As far as I know there is no upper limit to how many can come
. The rear footwell matt is working great, I know I will definitely appreciate it even more when soccer season starts. Thanks so much for making it available!Maria
toto_48313
CAN P #5
I requested that they reserve August 3 for us. They need to know the Group Name and the official contact person.
Should I make a specific group name for this event or can we actually call it the Tesla Motors Club? If we call it TMC, does someone else such as the owner or a moderator need to be the official contact person or can I continue to do that?
Should I make a specific group name for this event or can we actually call it the Tesla Motors Club? If we call it TMC, does someone else such as the owner or a moderator need to be the official contact person or can I continue to do that?
Similar threads
- Article
- Article
- Article
