Ran out of juice, 12V and main pack drained, need info.

[dsm363]

After reading through this thread, as a prospective future buyer of a Model E and a road trip enthusiast, I'm now thinking that I might be better off getting a Volt. It seems like too much hassle to have to McGyver up every conceivable adapter for every conceivable emergency scenario and have to use advanced computer simulation software planning my trip just to make sure I won't get stranded anywhere. This thread has brought up memories of a time that my fuel level got very low in a rough part of Detroit late at night coming back from a trip, due to me misestimating how much gas I had left in the tank. At least I was able to find a well-lit station, pay at the pump, put in a few gallons, and get the heck out of there.

Look at other threads too. Many more people run out of gas on a daily basis than in an EV. Yes it can happen but it doesn't take more than your UMC cable and 3 adapters that fit in the recessed area underneath the floor of the trunk you take a road trip. Bonnie has 30,000 miles and I have over 25,000 miles of EV driving and while I've gotten down to 10 miles one time I knew I was stretching the limits and was near charging outlets.

If someone is the type of person who has run out multiple times in a gas car and basic planning for a trip isn't a strong suit then even a gas car might not work out. If they've never come close to running out in a gas car then an EV would work too.

Of course the Model E won't be out for three years or so. A Volt lease would be an excellent step to EV driving.

 

[ecarfan]

After reading through this thread, as a prospective future buyer of a Model E and a road trip enthusiast, I'm now thinking that I might be better off getting a Volt. It seems like too much hassle to have to McGyver up every conceivable adapter for every conceivable emergency scenario and have to use advanced computer simulation software planning my trip just to make sure I won't get stranded anywhere.

Take a look at the Tesla Supercharger map page at Supercharger | Tesla Motors and move the slider bar to the 2015 setting. Now imagine how many more dots will be shown by 2017. Tesla is going to keep building out the charging network for years to come.

Concerns about running out of battery charge are overblown. There is no need to use any kind of "planning software", a little forethought is all that is required. The cars work great right now and the onboard nav is only going to improve, and very soon will include route planning to chargers including information telling you which chargers you can make it to safely. Tesla is constantly evolving their cars. In three years we are going to have useful features that we can't even imagine right now.

If this topic has demonstrated anything it is that it takes very little planning to drive a Tesla safely right now.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

The charging network and the Supercharger network are going to increase by leaps and bounds in the next 3 years. Don't give up on the Model E yet!

The projected 200 mile range for the Model E (the same as I have in my Model S 60) is going to be plenty for roadtrips at that point if not much sooner.

 

[Chipper]

Take a look at the Tesla Supercharger map page at Supercharger | Tesla Motors and move the slider bar to the 2015 setting. Now imagine how many more dots will be shown by 2017. Tesla is going to keep building out the charging network for years to come.

Concerns about running out of battery charge are overblown. There is no need to use any kind of "planning software", a little forethought is all that is required. The cars work great right now and the onboard nav is only going to improve, and very soon will include route planning to chargers including information telling you which chargers you can make it to safely. Tesla is constantly evolving their cars. In three years we are going to have useful features that we can't even I imagine right now.

If this topic has demonstrated anything it is that it takes very little planning to drive a Tesla safely right now.

Although I mostly agree with you, I think planning software or greater care has to be taken for those of us not in the SuperCharger zones. It's one thing if you live in Sam(???) Mateo, it's another thing altogether if you are not even within driving distance of a supercharger and won't be for a while.

 

[bonnie]

After reading through this thread, as a prospective future buyer of a Model E and a road trip enthusiast, I'm now thinking that I might be better off getting a Volt. It seems like too much hassle to have to McGyver up every conceivable adapter for every conceivable emergency scenario and have to use advanced computer simulation software planning my trip just to make sure I won't get stranded anywhere. This thread has brought up memories of a time that my fuel level got very low in a rough part of Detroit late at night coming back from a trip, due to me misestimating how much gas I had left in the tank. At least I was able to find a well-lit station, pay at the pump, put in a few gallons, and get the heck out of there.

To give you a feeling for how often I actually have to look at my state of charge, I was driving my Jeep a few weeks ago when I heard a strange 'ding!'. My passenger said, "Bonnie, you're almost out of gas." I started laughing (which they thought was an odd response), because I am so used to NOT looking at fuel that it hadn't even occurred to me to check how much gas I had. And yes, I stopped and filled up.

The point here is that with daily driving, range just isn't an issue. Roadtrips you should plan a little and not just take off without knowing where you'll be stopping to charge. The infrastructure is changing rapidly**, so that will change. But if you don't like to take 5 minutes (literally, the sum total of planning that I do) & you take a lot of roadtrips, then it's worth thinking about.

(**When I bought my Roadster three years ago, there was literally ONE public J1772 30amp charger in SF that I could use. Now, too many to count. They're everywhere. I usually just plug in wherever I stop in the city and by the time I leave, I'm fully charged for the drive home. And the last place I plugged in, they told me that the city was talking about swapping out some of the electric street meetings to include plugs. Things are changing.)

- - - Updated - - -

Although I mostly agree with you, I think planning software or greater care has to be taken for those of us not in the SuperCharger zones. It's one thing if you live in Sam(???) Mateo, it's another thing altogether if you are not even within driving distance of a supercharger and won't be for a while.

Roadster owners will never be within driving distance of a supercharger. And this just hasn't been an issue for us.

 

[jerry33]

After reading through this thread, as a prospective future buyer of a Model E and a road trip enthusiast, I'm now thinking that I might be better off getting a Volt.

Not even remotely. Although I'd like mobile charging as as backup, in reality I doubt I'd ever use it. I've been on several road trips and never even come close to running out. The Model E will likely be even better because: 1) There will be a lot more Superchargers and other EVSEs by then and 2) The batteries will be improved. All it really takes is a bit of planning. Actually I've come closer to running out in an ICE than I ever have in the Tesla because like Bonnie says, "Stopping to [fill up] slows you down. ... So you rationalize about how far you can go, you push the edge. And that's the mistake."

 

[Kraken]

After reading through this thread, as a prospective future buyer of a Model E and a road trip enthusiast, I'm now thinking that I might be better off getting a Volt. It seems like too much hassle to have to McGyver up every conceivable adapter for every conceivable emergency scenario and have to use advanced computer simulation software planning my trip just to make sure I won't get stranded anywhere. This thread has brought up memories of a time that my fuel level got very low in a rough part of Detroit late at night coming back from a trip, due to me misestimating how much gas I had left in the tank. At least I was able to find a well-lit station, pay at the pump, put in a few gallons, and get the heck out of there.

Like Bonnie said, the only time is is an issue is on road tips or long days of driving. That is going to be less of a concern in the future as more superchargers are developed.

the reason why it isn't a concern (not nearly as much as an ICE) for daily driving is that you always leave home with a full charge, unless you forget to plug it in (which you get the habit of plugging in really quick). With an ICE, you never leave home with a full tank (you always have burned a little). A lot of people leave home with less than a quarter tank at times. That gives them less charge than a tesla leaving home.

 

[Chipper]

Roadster owners will never be within driving distance of a supercharger. And this just hasn't been an issue for us.

Really Bonnie? You have never had to plan where you were going to get a charge? That's interesting.

 

[bonnie]

Really Bonnie? You have never had to plan where you were going to get a charge? That's interesting.

Where did I say I never had to plan? I've stated that I've planned for roadtrips multiple times.

I just said it wasn't an issue not having a supercharger on every corner. It isn't.

 

[Chipper]

Where did I say I never had to plan? I've stated that I've planned for roadtrips multiple times.

I just said it wasn't an issue not having a supercharger on every corner. It isn't.

Yup...that's what I was saying too...that if you are not on the SC highway you just have to plan a bit more carefully. I guess my point was not as clear as I thought it was when I typed it. I thought YOU were saying that planning has not been an issue. No harm...no foul.

 

[Robert.Boston]

It would be nice if Tesla would prevent the battery heat from kicking in automatically when the battery is nearly exhausted. It would be nice if drivers could override the battery heat in such circumstances.

If you set the HVAC to "Range Mode" then the battery heater will not kick on. This requires the driver to be thoughtful, which is apparently not something that can be assumed.

 

[Chris Naps]

Tesla should add a feature for people who purchased the Tech Package that would allow for a more intuitive warning / avoidance system.

For an example: Lets say you are taking a roadtrip and your battery indicator goes from green to yellow, a platform should appear that presents a little animation where it shows the location of the car, then bubbles a circle around the car and locates the charging stations within the bubbled region. The warning will disappear after X amount of seconds. The user may accept the notification or deny it.
Once the indicator light goes from yellow to RED, the platform will pop a warning screen that must be exited by the user or if the user agrees to the notification, the navigation will locate the driver to either the closest charger or most effcient charger (rather than directing you to a 120, if possibly a 240 is available it would direct the driver to that location) within the bubbled area. Obviously the car cannot take control of the vehicle, but it will give users a sense of awareness.

It is just an idea. I do not know what everything else thinks, but I believe it is a good idea.

 

[bonnie]

So what would you like to see delayed in order to enable? We have soooo many ideas and each one is a good one. But to implement any of them means something else is delayed.

Better not be my X.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

In theory, Tesla could make a box cabled with two Model S charge port connectors. It would essentially be a modulated direct battery-to-battery emergency charging system. eMotorWerks did a test where they CHAdeMO charged a Leaf directly from a RAV4 EV battery - no grid power input at all. RAV-2-LEAF - charging a Leaf from a RAV via CHAdeMO using one of our chargers - YouTube

brilliant!

 

[cwerdna]

The Model S can't currently do that.

That's a bummer.

The emails I get from Carwings have the subject: Nissan LEAF update: Plug-in Reminder and have content like this (but formatted better):

NISSAN
LEAF

LEAF™ status update
(time and date)

plug-in reminder

Blue Leaf is currently parked near a preferred trickle/normal charging station but not plugged in to charge.
...

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Some thoughts after reading this:
1) It would be nice if Tesla gave us the ability to monitor battery temp with a status of the battery heating/cooling systems. Thresholds could be shown on the display as an indication of when the heating/cooling will kick in.
2) Car 2 Car charging seems worth pursuing if it is easy-ish to do like with the box and two charge port connectors mentione earlier
3) There could be an opportunity for AAA and other towing companies to find new revenue by having a decently high output generator they can slap on a truck (or something like it) for charging EVs in distress..

 

[wycolo]

> If you set the HVAC to "Range Mode" then the battery heater will not kick on. [Robert.Boston]

So that makes at least two separate places where user needs to choose RANGE MODE:

1. the charge duration scale on the Charge Screen.

2. somewhere on the HVAC popup screen (?).

Maybe that's why the OP thought he was safe from a Battery Heating attack.

Since Battery Heating is for driving convenience, i.e. to avoid further cutbacks in 'launch power' or regen, it might be a good idea to announce this if SOC is already below GREEN (and into that pale sickly umber shade*). Announce with a dialog box giving a choice to waive such heating if battery is critically needed to complete a journey. Waiving this will further impress upon the user that SOC is indeed dwindling and seriously slowing down is indicated.

* Wouldn't Blood Red be a better choice?
--

 

[andrewket]

> If you set the HVAC to "Range Mode" then the battery heater will not kick on. [Robert.Boston]

So that makes at least two separate places where user needs to choose RANGE MODE:

1. the charge duration scale on the Charge Screen.

2. somewhere on the HVAC popup screen (?).

Maybe that's why the OP thought he was safe from a Battery Heating attack.

Since Battery Heating is for driving convenience, i.e. to avoid further cutbacks in 'launch power' or regen, it might be a good idea to announce this if SOC is already below GREEN (and into that pale sickly umber shade*). Announce with a dialog box giving a choice to waive such heating if battery is critically needed to complete a journey. Waiving this will further impress upon the user that SOC is indeed dwindling and seriously slowing down is indicated.

* Wouldn't Blood Red be a better choice?
--

Don't confuse range drive mode with range charge. The model S no longer uses range to describe a 100% charge.

 

[Nathan Smith]

Bonnie,

What do you define as a *roadtrip*? Without SCs a 500 miles in 1 day effort requires ALOT of planning (and a bit of luck, which is why I haven't tried to take my S to my parents yet - though with recent buildout It is now on my todo list)-- and even with SCs it requires some...

 

[bonnie]

Bonnie,

What do you define as a *roadtrip*? Without SCs a 500 miles in 1 day effort requires ALOT of planning (and a bit of luck, which is why I haven't tried to take my S to my parents yet - though with recent buildout It is now on my todo list)-- and even with SCs it requires some...

I've taken two *long-ish* trips. The first one was from my home near Sacramento to So Cal, as far south as Newport Beach. The real trick was fitting not only all my stuff into the Roadster, but also one of my sisters & all of HER stuff into the Roadster. I'm proud to say we did it! And we had a great time. The second one was up to Seattle. I blogged about that one here on TMC (Seattle Roadtrip). I had no charging issues, but because of some weird error messages, the Seattle service center kept my car and I flew home. I documented it all.