Random Model S sightings

[rlpm]

Are there any people in that town?

That would be Albuquerque. And I'm here. So that's at least one.
Seriously, though, that was early on a very cold Sunday morning in a mostly commercial part of downtown. So I wouldn't expect too many people to be out.

Based on this picture, New Mexico should be the Land of Entanglement instead of Enchantment! :wink:

 

[jcadman22]

I met Peter (Bluetinc) at the Rockville, MD service center today. After just 3 weeks his green beauty has over 5,000 miles. I would have taken a pic, but they whisked his car inside the spotless service bay while we were chatting.

 

[kevincwelch]

@MikeK: Why do you consider it a big mistake? Are there more chargers associated with parallel parking spots than perpendicular spots? Around where I live, I see nothing but the latter. Additionally, I park on the left side of the garage and the plug is on the left wall.

Sent via Tapatalk HD

 

[MikeK]

@MikeK: Why do you consider it a big mistake? Are there more chargers associated with parallel parking spots than perpendicular spots? Around where I live, I see nothing but the latter. Additionally, I park on the left side of the garage and the plug is on the left wall.

Fair question! Before the Model S, I drove a RAV4-EV. Before that, I drove an EV-1. I've been driving EVs and using public chargers since 1999. A port in the front of the car works wonderfully, in my 13 years' experience:

• In a perpendicular spot, the port is right next to the charger.
• In an angled spot, same thing.
• In a parallel spot, the chargers are typically positioned towards the front of the space, so this is also a very easy connection.
• You can mount a charger to the back wall of your garage, similar to where it would go in a perpendicular parking spot. If you have two vehicles, you can mount it in the center and use one charger to service both cars, provided that they don't both have to charge at the same time.
• If your charger is to be mounted on the left wall, just mount it near where the front of the car will be. Walk to the front, grab the connector, and plug it in. So long as there's enough room to walk around the front of the car, this is simple.
• If your charger is to be mounted on the right wall, same thing. I did this for the last six years with my RAV4-EV -- just jumped out of the car, walked to the front, grabbed the paddle from the wall and plugged it in, then walked into the house.

Meanwhile, if you put the port where Tesla's is:

• In a perpendicular spot, you have to walk the whole length of the car dragging a dirty and invariably tangled cable, and hope that it reaches. Model S is a really long car, so it might not reach. Or, you back in, which is not something that most people do when they park.
• In an angled spot, it's very difficult to back in, if not impossible. So you're left with dragging the cable all the way to the back.
• If your charger goes on the right wall, you can mount it near where the back of the car will be. To plug in, walk around the back of the car, grab the cable, and then walk it back around to the tail light. This probably works well for some people, but it's a lot of extra steps in my garage anyway, since my entry door is on the back wall of the garage. Or, you back the car into the garage and put the charger closer to the back wall (or on it). That's my plan for my garage with Model S.
• If your charger goes on the left wall, and you can put the charger near the back of the car, you win! Very easy.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Yes, this applies in other situations too. In my new digs (Electronic Arts), apart from a few L2 charging stations, there are several parking spots inside parking structures where there are pairs of L1 110V outlets sitting on the front pillar between two spots.

If I don't get the right spot (happily occupied usually by LEAFs with their nose cone charge ports), I'll have to do precisely this cable-over-the-car thing as I don't quite trust my skills at reversing safely into the left spot.

 

[brianman]

@MikeK: Why do you consider it a big mistake?

If doing ports on the side, my intuition was that a LHD vehicle (RH roads) should have a charge port on the right and a RHD vehicle (LH roads) should have a charge port on the left.

Front port seems even simpler and works for both LHD and RHD.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Good discussion, folks, but this is the Random Sightings thread. If you want to continue a discussion on charge port location, the thread is here: Model S Charge Port Location Poll

 

[Doug_G]

I was heading out to my car at the local Starbucks, and had to do a double-take:

There were TWO Model S's in the parking lot. And they were 100% identical! This was my very first sighting of another Model S "in the wild", and it was just a few minutes from my house.

We hung around for a few minutes and met the owner. It turns out I knew who he was, even though we'd never actually met. He works with a friend of mine, and is one of the three Roadster owners in Ottawa. He recently moved nearby so we'll probably see him more often.

We compared notes and determined our cars are indeed identical except for the summer wheels. Mine are grey and his are silver. With the winter wheels installed the cars are exact duplicates.

 

[Zapped]

How about the keyless access ?

 

[Doug_G]

Uh, no issues there... the cars are encoded differently!

 

[mknox]

I've seen a few Roadsters over the years, but no Model S in the wild yet. :frown: I did see a "Tesla" vehicle on the road today, but it was a white van pulling a large box trailer both emblazoned with a very large Tesla logo. Ranger, I assume.

 

[Doug_G]

Most likely that was a "Mark" sighting - yes, your friendly neighbourhood Tesla Ranger.

 

[linaser]

My sister took this short video a few days back:

 

[sublimaze1]

.

Snake it under ....

 

[TheAustin]

While I have yet to see a Model S in the wild (I've heard of a couple of people on here that live near me, but no sightings yet), it may be time to retire this thread...Or, at the very least think about excluding California sightings. With all the Model S deliveries, it's becoming less and less of a rare thing to see one in the wild, at least in San Fran/Silicon Valley area and Los Angeles.

But then again, it's still fun to read about and see the photos

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Finally saw my first Model S in the wild, not counting the one at the Supercharger in Harris Ranch.

Parked in the food court/Staples shopping center on the corner of Loker Avenue here in Carlsbad. I think it was black, or perhaps blue (it was parked in the shade), without license plates. I was pulling out of the lot, and almost didn't see it, except a gawker was walking around the car, and looking in it's windows. He looked very interested in the car, and for a moment, I thought about honking to let him know there was another one 30' away from him, just to see what kind of reaction that would get.

 

[Mike_Schlechter]

My father called me today and asked what I was doing in Greenwich, CT. I replied I wasn't in Greenwich.

He said my car was.

I assured him it was in my garage and that it was another green Model S.

Not sure if it qualifies as a sighting or a report of a sighting, but I got a good laugh. He was genuinely offended I hadn't called him to have lunch, and seemed much happier after finding out it wasn't me.

He also said it made his BMW 5 series look like a "f*&king jalopy" which I got a good laugh out of.

 

[Florent]

I have seen one model S so far. There must be 5 of them in a 100 miles radius so, I consider myself lucky.

 

[ddenboer]

People at work have been commenting that the Model S is not as special anymore because there are so many of them here. My parking lot has around 5 every day, and we are not even a main building... I believe there are over 25 here now.

 

[artsci]

People at work have been commenting that the Model S is not as special anymore because there are so many of them here. My parking lot has around 5 every day, and we are not even a main building... I believe there are over 25 here now.

That perhaps is the only disadvantage of living in your part of California:wink:

Here in Maryland I've yet to spot one live and there can't be more than half a dozen in the entire state at this point.