Okay, so a short excerpt from my trip this week. Nashville to Orlando to Charleston and then back to Nashville, tonight. (Just got home)
All was well in Charleston, rainy, but not bad. Expected snow as I got further north, but I was not prepared for the mess I ran in to... This was my first time taking the Model S through snow, so don't laugh too much!
I was just passed Spartanberg when I started to hit the snow/rain mix, and it didn't start out too badly. About 15 minutes later, there was visible snow accumulation on the ground, but I still had good traction and the car wasn't floating or anything. I did slow down to about 10 under the speed limit, just so I wouldn't be flying down the road passing other traffic constantly. After about 10 minutes, the energy prediction updated. I went from arriving with 29% to arriving with 19%. Ouch.
Okay, so still good, kept going, thinking it would probably drop and settle around maybe 9% or 8%... and it did, but after about 20 minutes it dropped AGAIN to 3%, and for the first time ever, I actually started to feel a bit of range anxiety. Went ahead and slowed down to about 45MPH as road conditions were worsening a lot, and it was difficult to find the lines. Settled in behind an 18 wheeler and followed him most of the way up the mountain that comes before the Asheville SuperCharger, while watching my energy consumption increase instead of decreasing, even though I had just hacked 20MPH off my speed. I had also begun to look at places I might be able to stop and charge for the night, as my "ultra high performance all season tires," as expected, SUCK in the snow and I was quickly getting uncomfortable. I decided that if the road got any worse, I'd stop at the next hotel I found and stay there the night.
I didn't have to, though, as I made it to Asheville and got off the ramp at 1% SOC... Eeked my way over to the shopping center the SuperCharger was at and rolled into the parking lot with the "Battery very low, climate reduced" message.
Here is the "Crap" moment: The roads in the area were being cleared, as were the main arteries through the parking lot the SC was at, but not the pathway in front of the SC or the spots that they were in. Okay, that's fine. I can just drive through the snow drift (I did) shift into reverse (I did) and then back into the spot. Wait, why isn't the car moving? Maybe I need more power... Nope... It's on a hill... and there's a foot(ish) of snow on the ground, and my "Ultra high performance all season tires" have roughly zero traction. I thought for sure I was either going to not be able to get up the hill, or that I was going to get the "Car shutting down" message as I'm within 50ft of the SC.
THANKFULLY, there was a spot near the SC that a car had been parked in recently, and it was completely clear, so I was able to park in that spot, and then accelerate enough to make it up the hill. I ended up double parked, but as no one was there, I didn't worry about it for the 45 minutes that I was there.
I did, however, give myself a nice 30% buffer to get to Knoxville, only to find that the snow ended about 20 minutes north of Asheville. All in all, I didn't lose much time to charging to that buffer, as I now only had to stop in Knoxville for 20 minutes instead of 40.
Live and learn, right?
I did call Tesla and ask if they could have the property/city please clean out those little spots as well. Hopefully they can/will, as I wasn't the only set of tracks that led into the SC.
(Please don't bug me about not being properly equipped for the snow. As I stated, my trip was originally to Orlando and I didn't expect the snow to be so messy. Plans changed a lot through the week, and I just went where I needed to. I made sure to be safe and keep the car under control and I knew what my limits were.)
All was well in Charleston, rainy, but not bad. Expected snow as I got further north, but I was not prepared for the mess I ran in to... This was my first time taking the Model S through snow, so don't laugh too much!
I was just passed Spartanberg when I started to hit the snow/rain mix, and it didn't start out too badly. About 15 minutes later, there was visible snow accumulation on the ground, but I still had good traction and the car wasn't floating or anything. I did slow down to about 10 under the speed limit, just so I wouldn't be flying down the road passing other traffic constantly. After about 10 minutes, the energy prediction updated. I went from arriving with 29% to arriving with 19%. Ouch.
Okay, so still good, kept going, thinking it would probably drop and settle around maybe 9% or 8%... and it did, but after about 20 minutes it dropped AGAIN to 3%, and for the first time ever, I actually started to feel a bit of range anxiety. Went ahead and slowed down to about 45MPH as road conditions were worsening a lot, and it was difficult to find the lines. Settled in behind an 18 wheeler and followed him most of the way up the mountain that comes before the Asheville SuperCharger, while watching my energy consumption increase instead of decreasing, even though I had just hacked 20MPH off my speed. I had also begun to look at places I might be able to stop and charge for the night, as my "ultra high performance all season tires," as expected, SUCK in the snow and I was quickly getting uncomfortable. I decided that if the road got any worse, I'd stop at the next hotel I found and stay there the night.
I didn't have to, though, as I made it to Asheville and got off the ramp at 1% SOC... Eeked my way over to the shopping center the SuperCharger was at and rolled into the parking lot with the "Battery very low, climate reduced" message.
Here is the "Crap" moment: The roads in the area were being cleared, as were the main arteries through the parking lot the SC was at, but not the pathway in front of the SC or the spots that they were in. Okay, that's fine. I can just drive through the snow drift (I did) shift into reverse (I did) and then back into the spot. Wait, why isn't the car moving? Maybe I need more power... Nope... It's on a hill... and there's a foot(ish) of snow on the ground, and my "Ultra high performance all season tires" have roughly zero traction. I thought for sure I was either going to not be able to get up the hill, or that I was going to get the "Car shutting down" message as I'm within 50ft of the SC.
THANKFULLY, there was a spot near the SC that a car had been parked in recently, and it was completely clear, so I was able to park in that spot, and then accelerate enough to make it up the hill. I ended up double parked, but as no one was there, I didn't worry about it for the 45 minutes that I was there.
I did, however, give myself a nice 30% buffer to get to Knoxville, only to find that the snow ended about 20 minutes north of Asheville. All in all, I didn't lose much time to charging to that buffer, as I now only had to stop in Knoxville for 20 minutes instead of 40.
Live and learn, right?
I did call Tesla and ask if they could have the property/city please clean out those little spots as well. Hopefully they can/will, as I wasn't the only set of tracks that led into the SC.
(Please don't bug me about not being properly equipped for the snow. As I stated, my trip was originally to Orlando and I didn't expect the snow to be so messy. Plans changed a lot through the week, and I just went where I needed to. I made sure to be safe and keep the car under control and I knew what my limits were.)
