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Second Christmas this year !

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The first Christmas was of course when my MS was delivered. Two weeks ago we drove down to Ft Myers to test the new super charge. I have never been at one before and I can only say "wow", it was like second Christmas ! At first I was not expecting to see any Tesla there as the charger was just opened and we have far less MS'es in Florida. But to my surprise, two cars where charging. We started from Tampa with a standard charge and Vampire loss with 230 miles and arrived at the charger with 44 miles left driving constant 80 mph. We used 346 watts per mile. As great as this was for us, it is bad news for the 60 KW cars. There is not enough capacity to drive to the SC at 80 mph, even not with range charge IF you have headwind !

Arriving there I plugged the cable in and chatted with the Tesla owners on our side. As we where hungry we did not talk to long and before heading to Carrabbas I took a quick look at my range and could not believe it, 100 miles ! I just gained 55 miles with a small talk ! The moment we got our check I was at 265 miles max range. I charged to max range as we planned to drive a little around to Ft Myers beach. What a WISE decision ! To my surprise on our way back at that same 80 mph the car now showed 400 Wh/mile ! So it's all about the wind ! Makes sense, if the wind is 5 mph on the driving direction you have a 10 mph difference in speed between those two legs. Again, with 60 KW battery AND wind, one has to reduce speed significantly. We arrived back on our starting point with 23 miles left and 372 Wh/mile average energy use.

I am not sure what you guys think, but after using a super charger I am even more convinced that Tesla's future looks bright ! It really only needs a few superchargers at strategic locations and there is no range anxiety at all. But also from my experience, until there are more SC's, people who do frequent trips >100 mile should not buy the S60.

(sorry for the duplicated and big picture, if I hit edit they do not appear !)
 

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I drove my 60 from Seminole in Pinellas to the Ft Myers SC for the ribbon cutting with no problem, and I had the cruise set at 78-80 nearly all the way. I did have the car set at range mode, which was perfectly comfortable. I also did a range charge before leaving, so had 206 rate miles showing when I left home. I still had 55 rated miles showing when I pulled in and started charging.

My w/mi was much less, on the way there early in the morning I averaged barely over 300. I had lunch with the club members there, hung out talking a while, topped back up (gave a test ride to a prospective owner), and left around 3pm. As the HVAC had to work harder, and possibly more headwind, I used about 330 w/mi on the way back. I had 35 miles left when I pulled into my driveway.

So, it is definitely doable in a 60. I will be driving my 60 to Ft Lauderdale Labor Day weekend now, since I can stop at the Ft Myers SC. I have the whole weekend to let the car charge once I get to Ft Lauderdale. That is the longest distance I'd really ever drive any car. Any longer, I'm flying.

All other driving I do is well below the range I have with the 60. So, it just depends on how each individual will use the car. 60 works perfectly for me!
 
You can't do a direct comparison with watts/mile in an 85 assuming it will be the same in the 60. The 60 is a lighter car and is more efficient per kWh than the 85. Also 21" wheels loose efficiency. I have made numerous 300 plus mile road trips and logged 9500 miles in my S. Just takes planning and knowing what the car can and can't do.
 
Yes, seeing or experiencing is believing. The vast majority of pundits out there have no idea what will hit them in two years when the supercharger network is built out. The supercharger network in arguably the biggest game changer is the whole Tesla package.
 
I drove my 60 from Seminole in Pinellas to the Ft Myers SC for the ribbon cutting with no problem, and I had the cruise set at 78-80 nearly all the way. I did have the car set at range mode, which was perfectly comfortable. I also did a range charge before leaving, so had 206 rate miles showing when I left home. I still had 55 rated miles showing when I pulled in and started charging.

So you had 10 miles more left than me and your location is 10 miles closer. As you started with 208 you have a brand new car and you did a range charge. If your battery is older and with more head wind you would have not made it unless slowing down. So yes, it is doable with a 60, but not without planning and adjusting, and not if you drove just a little in town before or after charging. The conclusion IMO is that the superchargers should be 100 miles away not about 150.

Also I had a 60 loaner for the last days which I drove at 80 mph to Orlando. I did not see any big difference in Wh/mile, do you have the 19 wheels ? The 60 I drove had the exact same wheels and suspension.
 
So you had 10 miles more left than me and your location is 10 miles closer. As you started with 208 you have a brand new car and you did a range charge. If your battery is older and with more head wind you would have not made it unless slowing down. So yes, it is doable with a 60, but not without planning and adjusting, and not if you drove just a little in town before or after charging. The conclusion IMO is that the superchargers should be 100 miles away not about 150.

Also I had a 60 loaner for the last days which I drove at 80 mph to Orlando. I did not see any big difference in Wh/mile, do you have the 19 wheels ? The 60 I drove had the exact same wheels and suspension.
Yup, my full config is in my signature. I have the 19s. My car has nearly 5,000 miles on it, not brand new. Can't say what the wind condition was that day, it was windy but I don't remember out of which direction. Certainly not going to argue about SC's being 100 miles apart!
 
I am not sure what you guys think, but after using a super charger I am even more convinced that Tesla's future looks bright ! It really only needs a few superchargers at strategic locations and there is no range anxiety at all.

I had exactly the same giddy "this is the future moment" the first time I used the Gilroy supercharger in early March.

But the last several times I visited Gilroy, it was really crowded, I had to wait a while for a charge bay, and then it charged slowly until the car I was paired with finished charging. I had a similar experience when I visited Hawthorne on a Saturday afternoon. But Hawthorne has the added annoying feature of having one of the five charging bays inoperable. But it's not just inoperable- there is a jagged hole in the fiberglass where the button to access the charge cord used to be and there was a spider web and a bunch of dead bugs on the cover that is supposed to slide open to reveal the charge cord.

As long as Tesla keeps adding charge bays to meet demand and properly maintains existing superchargers, things will be great. But I think the longer term solution will be to license the technology so that many privately run gas stations will have superchargers and charge a small fee to use them. I've never seen cobwebs and dead bugs accumulate on an inoperable gas pump at a gas station that was still in business . . .
 
Did you inform Tesla of the broken bay?


I had exactly the same giddy "this is the future moment" the first time I used the Gilroy supercharger in early March.

But the last several times I visited Gilroy, it was really crowded, I had to wait a while for a charge bay, and then it charged slowly until the car I was paired with finished charging. I had a similar experience when I visited Hawthorne on a Saturday afternoon. But Hawthorne has the added annoying feature of having one of the five charging bays inoperable. But it's not just inoperable- there is a jagged hole in the fiberglass where the button to access the charge cord used to be and there was a spider web and a bunch of dead bugs on the cover that is supposed to slide open to reveal the charge cord.

As long as Tesla keeps adding charge bays to meet demand and properly maintains existing superchargers, things will be great. But I think the longer term solution will be to license the technology so that many privately run gas stations will have superchargers and charge a small fee to use them. I've never seen cobwebs and dead bugs accumulate on an inoperable gas pump at a gas station that was still in business . . .
 
Did you inform Tesla of the broken bay?
Did you inform Tesla of the broken bay?


I'm pretty sure they know since it's about 50 feet from the front door of the Tesla design studio- and the supercharger page now only lists 4 charging bays. I knew it as well from reading this forum. I was just annoyed that I was one of four cars waiting for a spot and I had to go on a bit of a hike down Crenshaw blvd to find a bathroom since the Tesla design studio doors were locked. It seemed like the least they could have done was clean off the cobwebs and put an out of order sign over the jagged hole in the fiberglass. My experience at most of the other superchargers has been MUCH better. And I still absolutely love the car. But sometimes Tesla's attention to detail is a bit lacking.