Tesla Motors Club
took my first actual trip this weekend from Boston to NYC area. I charged to 95% and drove between 65-75mph. When traveling 65 I was averaging well under 300, and when traveling 75 was low 300s. Was amazed at how less stressful this car makes long trips. I arrived wide awake and refreshed.
A few odd things happened on the trip which alarmed me, however:
First, I used autopilot 95% of the trip. In the beginning I kept not touching the wheel and missing the little box that says to place hands on wheel. Therefore I didn’t notice until the white box was flashing. Even though I caught it before ever receiving a single audible warning, I was suddenly locked out of auto steer for remainder of trip about 20 minutes into the start of the trip. I pulled off highway, put car in park, got out and back in, and was more careful going forward. Made it rest of trip without a repeat of this.
Second, I pulled into the Greenwich CT southbound supercharger. I plugged in (first time supercharging woooo) and watched in amazement as I got some stupid fast charge rate. Then suddenly I heard clicking and charging stopped. My screen said that it could not charge, and to Unplug and replug cable to try again. I Did just that, plus tried the three other stalls. Began to panic - was this inventory car set up wrong? Called Tesla and shockingly was connected to an English speaker at 2am ET. Tesla told me the “health” of the supercharger was 33%, but if I could make it to the NB side it was 66% health. 9 miles further in the direction of travel was Tarrytown supercharger, which had 10 open bays and had health of 99%. Went there and super charged without issue, although there was nothing open at that hour to let me go to the bathroom (the Greenwich location I came from was a 24-hr rest stop but didn’t think to go while there)
I would have hoped that if a supercharger wasn’t working, it would tell me on my screen so I could plan accordingly. Now I know that doesn’t happen, so you can’t rely on a single super charger location. This makes certain trips impossible because there is only one supercharger stop in range.
A few odd things happened on the trip which alarmed me, however:
First, I used autopilot 95% of the trip. In the beginning I kept not touching the wheel and missing the little box that says to place hands on wheel. Therefore I didn’t notice until the white box was flashing. Even though I caught it before ever receiving a single audible warning, I was suddenly locked out of auto steer for remainder of trip about 20 minutes into the start of the trip. I pulled off highway, put car in park, got out and back in, and was more careful going forward. Made it rest of trip without a repeat of this.
Second, I pulled into the Greenwich CT southbound supercharger. I plugged in (first time supercharging woooo) and watched in amazement as I got some stupid fast charge rate. Then suddenly I heard clicking and charging stopped. My screen said that it could not charge, and to Unplug and replug cable to try again. I Did just that, plus tried the three other stalls. Began to panic - was this inventory car set up wrong? Called Tesla and shockingly was connected to an English speaker at 2am ET. Tesla told me the “health” of the supercharger was 33%, but if I could make it to the NB side it was 66% health. 9 miles further in the direction of travel was Tarrytown supercharger, which had 10 open bays and had health of 99%. Went there and super charged without issue, although there was nothing open at that hour to let me go to the bathroom (the Greenwich location I came from was a 24-hr rest stop but didn’t think to go while there)
I would have hoped that if a supercharger wasn’t working, it would tell me on my screen so I could plan accordingly. Now I know that doesn’t happen, so you can’t rely on a single super charger location. This makes certain trips impossible because there is only one supercharger stop in range.