I live in Boca Raton florida and wanted to go to the sun and fun air show in Lakeland florida in the morning and coming back the same day at night. Checking the map and counting miles I saw that from home to port st lucie supercharger was 78 miles, no sweat! But from port st lucie to Lakeland was 128 miles..Humm. No way I could make it back to port st lucie on one charge I though.......what would be the plan then? I checked out other charging stations and there were not many in that area, saw one at Kohl's Lakeland, only 2 miles from the air show location. One of my friends told me: I have a cousin in Lakeland, we could leave the car in his house charging in his dryer plug while we watch the show! ok, so I have "two cards" in my hand, but something on my head kept telling me: take hour wife's car for this trip (gasoline engine). My friend told me: let's go and try your car on a long trip, it will be an adventure, so out we went!
We were five friends in the car plus 5 portable chairs a cooler with water and ice and a couple of small bags. This will be a real test for the Tesla as a travel machine! I drove aggressively to port st lucie as I knew I had all the energy available there, I had never supercharged my car before. I arrived and was pleased with the location. I was amazed when I hooked up the charger and saw 240 miles per hour charge! Wow!. I "filled up" to 262 rates charge and in 30 minutes I was driving at 75mph towards Lakeland. We enjoyed internet music from all over the world and even made bets: whoever guessed the closest number for the rated range at which will have the car at arrival at Lakeland will not pay for the event ticket. Well, it happened that we were talking and making jokes and we missed the exit to route 60 and there was no way to turn around for 32 miles! What?!!!! How could this be possible! Well, we had to drive all the way to Orlando and then go down to Lakeland a 45 min detour and of course "burning" precious energy. We arrived to our friend house at Lakeland at 12:30pm and I happily took out all the adaptors that I just have bought at the Tesla store in Dania beach. Guess what? none was the correct one for the receptacle at the dryer! Now what? Well, let's go to the kohl's EV charging station that I've found out previously (plan B), we went there just to find I needed a card (Chargepoint) but apparently at kohls they will give you one. spoke with the manager at customer service and they didn't find any card. One of my friends came and told me: don't even bother, the charging station says: repair or service needed. Now what.? I could hear the airplanes above...the air show was going on and I didn't even know how I was going to go back home. We decided to go to Home Depot and buy a receptacle that will fit one of the tesla's plugs. We did, but at first we were getting only 6mph charge! I was freaking out! We finally figured it out and finally got 21mph charge which sounded about right for that kind of setting. It will take about 6.5 hrs to charge it enough to get back to port st lucie. We arrived in our friend's car at the air show late 3:30 but had a wonderful time, then at 8:15pm we had managed to get our batteries charged to the magic number:150 miles rated range!, GPS distance to port st lucie was 128 miles. I drove towards the supercharger with a/c off, all unnecessary items off (even the radio) and held a steady 62 mph speed, watching with one eye the road and the other the energy monitor, well, we arrived to our "oasis" of energy with only 9 miles to spare. We had dinner and the car charged beautifully at the supercharger. After that, no more anxiety! Cool A/C, all lights on, music, and speed! That day we drove 450 miles in total, and it was a great experience!
To end up: When you plan your trips, take more energy (rated miles) 15% minimum (20% to be comfortable ) than the actual mileage that your trip requires and always try to have have several options for charging where you go.
Maybe this car it is not meant to be for the absent minded driver, as you need a "pilot" approach when planning a long trip. I use my tesla every day (100-120 miles), but has always come home easily to my 60mph charging station. Today after my experience, I feel comfortable going far. Best car ever! Love my tesla!
We were five friends in the car plus 5 portable chairs a cooler with water and ice and a couple of small bags. This will be a real test for the Tesla as a travel machine! I drove aggressively to port st lucie as I knew I had all the energy available there, I had never supercharged my car before. I arrived and was pleased with the location. I was amazed when I hooked up the charger and saw 240 miles per hour charge! Wow!. I "filled up" to 262 rates charge and in 30 minutes I was driving at 75mph towards Lakeland. We enjoyed internet music from all over the world and even made bets: whoever guessed the closest number for the rated range at which will have the car at arrival at Lakeland will not pay for the event ticket. Well, it happened that we were talking and making jokes and we missed the exit to route 60 and there was no way to turn around for 32 miles! What?!!!! How could this be possible! Well, we had to drive all the way to Orlando and then go down to Lakeland a 45 min detour and of course "burning" precious energy. We arrived to our friend house at Lakeland at 12:30pm and I happily took out all the adaptors that I just have bought at the Tesla store in Dania beach. Guess what? none was the correct one for the receptacle at the dryer! Now what? Well, let's go to the kohl's EV charging station that I've found out previously (plan B), we went there just to find I needed a card (Chargepoint) but apparently at kohls they will give you one. spoke with the manager at customer service and they didn't find any card. One of my friends came and told me: don't even bother, the charging station says: repair or service needed. Now what.? I could hear the airplanes above...the air show was going on and I didn't even know how I was going to go back home. We decided to go to Home Depot and buy a receptacle that will fit one of the tesla's plugs. We did, but at first we were getting only 6mph charge! I was freaking out! We finally figured it out and finally got 21mph charge which sounded about right for that kind of setting. It will take about 6.5 hrs to charge it enough to get back to port st lucie. We arrived in our friend's car at the air show late 3:30 but had a wonderful time, then at 8:15pm we had managed to get our batteries charged to the magic number:150 miles rated range!, GPS distance to port st lucie was 128 miles. I drove towards the supercharger with a/c off, all unnecessary items off (even the radio) and held a steady 62 mph speed, watching with one eye the road and the other the energy monitor, well, we arrived to our "oasis" of energy with only 9 miles to spare. We had dinner and the car charged beautifully at the supercharger. After that, no more anxiety! Cool A/C, all lights on, music, and speed! That day we drove 450 miles in total, and it was a great experience!
To end up: When you plan your trips, take more energy (rated miles) 15% minimum (20% to be comfortable ) than the actual mileage that your trip requires and always try to have have several options for charging where you go.
Maybe this car it is not meant to be for the absent minded driver, as you need a "pilot" approach when planning a long trip. I use my tesla every day (100-120 miles), but has always come home easily to my 60mph charging station. Today after my experience, I feel comfortable going far. Best car ever! Love my tesla!