First some facts: Model S 85, 2013, 109000 miles, running V9 still (they haven't sent my car V10 yet). No recent software changes, but the charging behavior of the car has definitely changed (see below about "Three Zeros" behavior).
This is my account of my trip home from LA on Friday 10/18. It starts at the Redondo Beach supercharger.
Redondo Beach.
The first thing was the left rear window. I'd just left the Redondo Beach supercharger and noticed I couldn't yet the window to close. I had to pull over in traffic, get out when the coast was clear, and manually pull up the window while using my left hand to reach to the driver's door area to pull the rear left window's button UP. That got it closed. Then I stuffed some paper napkin into the button area to remind me not to open the left rear window on the 1000-mile drive home. Why this window decided to fail at this particular moment, no idea. Then I headed out into heavy Friday traffic east on highway 91 for Riverside. . .
Riverside
Battery starting to get low, I found the Riverside supercharger location in a downtown parking garage. All "urban" 72kW chargers. I plugged in, and noticed what I now call The Three Zeros: 0 mi/hr, 0 mi, and 0 kW. And things just stayed that way for 10, 20, maybe 30 seconds. (This long pause during The Three Zeros is an entirely new phenomenon I've not seen in 6+ years of ownership.) Then after about 30 seconds the car said "Unable to charge." I tried again. Same thing. I drove to a different charger in a different parking spot. tried again, same thing. My range was low, not high enough to get to Palm Springs. So I decided to go to the San Bernadino location which was closest.
San Bernadino
I get there, notice the chargers are at the edge of a shopping mall's parking garage. I back in, plug in, get the Three Zeros, and wait 30 seconds. "Unable to charge." I move car to another spot and try another charger. Same thing. Now it is all starting to set in: it's a Friday afternoon in LA, I am supposed to be well on my way home to New Mexico by now, and I am stuck in San Bernadino unable to charge the car. I call Tesla Support. "Your wait time is . . . greater than one hour." I look up the number for the Palm Springs / Cathedral City Tesla Service Center. I get through, tell them what's going on, they aren't too keen on helping, tell me they can take a look maybe but I need to get there soon they close at 5. No way I can get there by 5. They tell me to call the Pomona service center who stay open later than 5. Pomona? Totally wrong direction--I'll be heading west when I need to get to Arizona. Anyway, I fire up Tesla's "Find Us" web page using my phone, and there is no Pomona service center listed! I google it and there it is (Tesla? why don't you list it?). I call, get through. Tell them the situation. Long story short, I'm told there's nothing they can do to help. I was basically turned away and it seemed like the last thing they wanted to deal with was a stranded Model S customer on Friday evening. Desperate, I called an old friend who's a manager at another service center far away. Told him the situation; he suggested I try yet another charger so I moved car to another spot, plugged in, pushed the plug in tight, wiggled it a bit, got the Three Zeros for 30 seconds, and, CHARGE! A slow charge though: capped strangely at 36kW. Took a lonnnngg time to get to 90%.
Cabazon
I decided to drive to Cabazon on the way to Palm Springs, figuring, if Cabazon fails, I'm stuck in Palm Springs and will have to find a hotel for the night and then visit the service center in the morning. The traffic on I-10 East is so awful I crawl along for like 2 hours to Cabazon. Finally get there. Plug in, get the Three Zeros for 30 seconds again, and "Unable to charge." Total nightmare. So I move car to another charger, plug in, and presto, charge!
Indio
I decided to stop again at nearby Indio, in the hopes that if the charger worked there too, I could load up and get to Quartzite just across the AZ state line. Indio turns out to be like Cabazon: several failed attempts and then it worked. So I charged enough to get to Quartzite with plenty of extra.
Quartzite
It's now like midnight or something. I arrive at Quartzite (located in a darkened fast food burger joint parking lot) and plug in. It starts charging at 20kW even though I am nearly empty. Then about 2 minutes in, screen says "Charging Stopped." About 30 seconds later, it resumes, at an achingly slow charge rate. Then a few minutes later, "Charging Stopped." So I get out of the car and notice the red color around the charge port. I move car to another charger. Nothing. No charge or anything. Dead. I move to a third charger. This time I get 51kW but that dwindles over time so it's a long charge. I see another Tesla owner has moved his S from one charger to another--probably experiencing same problem? Anyway I charge enough to get all the way to Buckeye AZ where I figure I'll stop for the night.
Buckeye
2am I get to Buckeye. I figure I will charge in the morning. I drive around and discover all the hotels sold out. So I drive 7 miles away from the interstate and find the Bates Motel-like "Buckeye Motor Hotel" where I sleep for 4 1/2 hours and then go to the Buckeye supercharger. Plug in, get the long wait with the Three Zeros, then "Unable to Charge." I try again. Same thing. I try a third time. It works this time -- and I charge. Then I am on the road heading for the Tempe service center which opens at 9am.
Tempe Service Center
I pull in around 9:30am, no appointment, and tell them the nightmare charging situation I've been having since LA. They tell me they're on a skeleton crew on Saturdays, no diagnosticians available, nothing they can do. But they do offer to check the logs and the logs show scrolling screenfuls after screenfuls of errors, faults, and alerts, many having to do with charging. So they take my car and offer to test it for a half hour on their inside service-only supercharger equivalent. Later, I learn that it charged fine, they charged it up to 90%. My choices were, stay in Phoenix for potentially a week or longer waiting for an appointment, or risk driving home. I risked it.
Rest of trip.
Every other supercharger worked the first time. Payson, then Holbrook, then Gallup, then Albuquerque -- all worked. So I got home around 10:30pm Saturday night.
QUESTIONS.
So, like, anyone experienced anything like this ever? I now have an appointment for El Paso service center set for Nov 13th -- the earliest date. Will the log files still be available for the Oct 18th incidents?
This is my account of my trip home from LA on Friday 10/18. It starts at the Redondo Beach supercharger.
Redondo Beach.
The first thing was the left rear window. I'd just left the Redondo Beach supercharger and noticed I couldn't yet the window to close. I had to pull over in traffic, get out when the coast was clear, and manually pull up the window while using my left hand to reach to the driver's door area to pull the rear left window's button UP. That got it closed. Then I stuffed some paper napkin into the button area to remind me not to open the left rear window on the 1000-mile drive home. Why this window decided to fail at this particular moment, no idea. Then I headed out into heavy Friday traffic east on highway 91 for Riverside. . .
Riverside
Battery starting to get low, I found the Riverside supercharger location in a downtown parking garage. All "urban" 72kW chargers. I plugged in, and noticed what I now call The Three Zeros: 0 mi/hr, 0 mi, and 0 kW. And things just stayed that way for 10, 20, maybe 30 seconds. (This long pause during The Three Zeros is an entirely new phenomenon I've not seen in 6+ years of ownership.) Then after about 30 seconds the car said "Unable to charge." I tried again. Same thing. I drove to a different charger in a different parking spot. tried again, same thing. My range was low, not high enough to get to Palm Springs. So I decided to go to the San Bernadino location which was closest.
San Bernadino
I get there, notice the chargers are at the edge of a shopping mall's parking garage. I back in, plug in, get the Three Zeros, and wait 30 seconds. "Unable to charge." I move car to another spot and try another charger. Same thing. Now it is all starting to set in: it's a Friday afternoon in LA, I am supposed to be well on my way home to New Mexico by now, and I am stuck in San Bernadino unable to charge the car. I call Tesla Support. "Your wait time is . . . greater than one hour." I look up the number for the Palm Springs / Cathedral City Tesla Service Center. I get through, tell them what's going on, they aren't too keen on helping, tell me they can take a look maybe but I need to get there soon they close at 5. No way I can get there by 5. They tell me to call the Pomona service center who stay open later than 5. Pomona? Totally wrong direction--I'll be heading west when I need to get to Arizona. Anyway, I fire up Tesla's "Find Us" web page using my phone, and there is no Pomona service center listed! I google it and there it is (Tesla? why don't you list it?). I call, get through. Tell them the situation. Long story short, I'm told there's nothing they can do to help. I was basically turned away and it seemed like the last thing they wanted to deal with was a stranded Model S customer on Friday evening. Desperate, I called an old friend who's a manager at another service center far away. Told him the situation; he suggested I try yet another charger so I moved car to another spot, plugged in, pushed the plug in tight, wiggled it a bit, got the Three Zeros for 30 seconds, and, CHARGE! A slow charge though: capped strangely at 36kW. Took a lonnnngg time to get to 90%.
Cabazon
I decided to drive to Cabazon on the way to Palm Springs, figuring, if Cabazon fails, I'm stuck in Palm Springs and will have to find a hotel for the night and then visit the service center in the morning. The traffic on I-10 East is so awful I crawl along for like 2 hours to Cabazon. Finally get there. Plug in, get the Three Zeros for 30 seconds again, and "Unable to charge." Total nightmare. So I move car to another charger, plug in, and presto, charge!
Indio
I decided to stop again at nearby Indio, in the hopes that if the charger worked there too, I could load up and get to Quartzite just across the AZ state line. Indio turns out to be like Cabazon: several failed attempts and then it worked. So I charged enough to get to Quartzite with plenty of extra.
Quartzite
It's now like midnight or something. I arrive at Quartzite (located in a darkened fast food burger joint parking lot) and plug in. It starts charging at 20kW even though I am nearly empty. Then about 2 minutes in, screen says "Charging Stopped." About 30 seconds later, it resumes, at an achingly slow charge rate. Then a few minutes later, "Charging Stopped." So I get out of the car and notice the red color around the charge port. I move car to another charger. Nothing. No charge or anything. Dead. I move to a third charger. This time I get 51kW but that dwindles over time so it's a long charge. I see another Tesla owner has moved his S from one charger to another--probably experiencing same problem? Anyway I charge enough to get all the way to Buckeye AZ where I figure I'll stop for the night.
Buckeye
2am I get to Buckeye. I figure I will charge in the morning. I drive around and discover all the hotels sold out. So I drive 7 miles away from the interstate and find the Bates Motel-like "Buckeye Motor Hotel" where I sleep for 4 1/2 hours and then go to the Buckeye supercharger. Plug in, get the long wait with the Three Zeros, then "Unable to Charge." I try again. Same thing. I try a third time. It works this time -- and I charge. Then I am on the road heading for the Tempe service center which opens at 9am.
Tempe Service Center
I pull in around 9:30am, no appointment, and tell them the nightmare charging situation I've been having since LA. They tell me they're on a skeleton crew on Saturdays, no diagnosticians available, nothing they can do. But they do offer to check the logs and the logs show scrolling screenfuls after screenfuls of errors, faults, and alerts, many having to do with charging. So they take my car and offer to test it for a half hour on their inside service-only supercharger equivalent. Later, I learn that it charged fine, they charged it up to 90%. My choices were, stay in Phoenix for potentially a week or longer waiting for an appointment, or risk driving home. I risked it.
Rest of trip.
Every other supercharger worked the first time. Payson, then Holbrook, then Gallup, then Albuquerque -- all worked. So I got home around 10:30pm Saturday night.
QUESTIONS.
So, like, anyone experienced anything like this ever? I now have an appointment for El Paso service center set for Nov 13th -- the earliest date. Will the log files still be available for the Oct 18th incidents?
Last edited:
