Tesla Motors Club
I've had my Model S since Nov 5, 2013 and had accumulated about 3500 miles doing my 60 mile daily round trip to work and various errands near home. I had already committed to a family event in Tampa in January, so when I learned that the final SC needed for the trip was complete just a couple days before I was to leave I decided to take the Tesla.
Now I had never charged my Tesla anywhere except home and I wasn't exactly sure how the Superchargers worked, but I headed out on faith. I left home in Germantown, MD with the temperature hovering at 4 degrees F and a 260 mile charge.
A couple hours later we were in Glen Allen VA. The Supercharger is as simple as plugging it in! At 20 degrees F however, that big thick cable gets pretty stiff. My wife and I had a cup of coffee at the Panera, and off we went again.
Next stop was Rocky Mount, NC. It was still hovering near freezing, but there was no more snow on the ground. We got lunch at the Texas Roadhouse, then off again
At Lumberton, the Texas Roadhouse was tempting, but we were not hungry, so we went shopping nearby for 45 minutes.
It was dark when we arrived at Santee SC. I plugged into the supercharger and we headed over to the nearby restaraunt. I checked on my pnone after 15 minutes and discovered that I was NOT charging! I walked back to the car and just as I arrived another car whipped in next to me, the driver got out and announced that she is the property manager and had been alerted by Tesla that there was a problem. Ten minutes later the problem was solved and we were charging. We were shortly on our way to Savannah.
We arrived in Savannah about 8:30 pm. We checked into a hotel, got some dinner and charged up the car at the airport. I was a bit impatient, so I only charged the car to 220 miles. Early the next morning we were on our way.
Heading to St Augustine with just over 170 miles to travel and a rated range of 220 miles and a starting temperature of 31 degrees F, I was a little anxious about range. I turned on cruise control and set it to 65 mph. We arrived in St. Augustine with 22 miles of range left. The charger is in a big outlet mall, so we shopped for 40 minutes before heading out on a short leg.
It was a quick trip to Port Orange and as we were hungry for lunch we were happy to have a choice of several restaurants. We chose the Japanese restaurant and when we were done with lunch we were ready with a max charge of 260 miles. We headed across the panhandle for Tampa.
I was a little anxious about the availability of chargers at my hotel, so I called ahead to the Tesla Service Center in Tampa and they said they would be happy to give me a little boost. By the time we arrived we only had a half hour to spare, but we plugged anyway. The Tesla service crew even washed the car for us (Thank you so much!). Then we headed over to Best Western Yacht Harbor in Dunedin. We were happy to find that the ChargePoint chargers were readily available and easy to use. They aren't free, but they are an extremely good value.
So tomorrow its time to head back North, just as a new snow storm is heading our way. The adventure continues.
Now I had never charged my Tesla anywhere except home and I wasn't exactly sure how the Superchargers worked, but I headed out on faith. I left home in Germantown, MD with the temperature hovering at 4 degrees F and a 260 mile charge.
A couple hours later we were in Glen Allen VA. The Supercharger is as simple as plugging it in! At 20 degrees F however, that big thick cable gets pretty stiff. My wife and I had a cup of coffee at the Panera, and off we went again.
Next stop was Rocky Mount, NC. It was still hovering near freezing, but there was no more snow on the ground. We got lunch at the Texas Roadhouse, then off again
At Lumberton, the Texas Roadhouse was tempting, but we were not hungry, so we went shopping nearby for 45 minutes.
It was dark when we arrived at Santee SC. I plugged into the supercharger and we headed over to the nearby restaraunt. I checked on my pnone after 15 minutes and discovered that I was NOT charging! I walked back to the car and just as I arrived another car whipped in next to me, the driver got out and announced that she is the property manager and had been alerted by Tesla that there was a problem. Ten minutes later the problem was solved and we were charging. We were shortly on our way to Savannah.
We arrived in Savannah about 8:30 pm. We checked into a hotel, got some dinner and charged up the car at the airport. I was a bit impatient, so I only charged the car to 220 miles. Early the next morning we were on our way.
Heading to St Augustine with just over 170 miles to travel and a rated range of 220 miles and a starting temperature of 31 degrees F, I was a little anxious about range. I turned on cruise control and set it to 65 mph. We arrived in St. Augustine with 22 miles of range left. The charger is in a big outlet mall, so we shopped for 40 minutes before heading out on a short leg.
It was a quick trip to Port Orange and as we were hungry for lunch we were happy to have a choice of several restaurants. We chose the Japanese restaurant and when we were done with lunch we were ready with a max charge of 260 miles. We headed across the panhandle for Tampa.
I was a little anxious about the availability of chargers at my hotel, so I called ahead to the Tesla Service Center in Tampa and they said they would be happy to give me a little boost. By the time we arrived we only had a half hour to spare, but we plugged anyway. The Tesla service crew even washed the car for us (Thank you so much!). Then we headed over to Best Western Yacht Harbor in Dunedin. We were happy to find that the ChargePoint chargers were readily available and easy to use. They aren't free, but they are an extremely good value.
So tomorrow its time to head back North, just as a new snow storm is heading our way. The adventure continues.