Tesla moments

[Pollux]

Cambridge Parking Garage

I am still stunned by how many people are interested in this car; wave to me; ask me about it. I feel like I have a duty to show the car to people, so that people learn that an electric car can be powerful, practical and even sexy, and one day may buy an electric car of their own. If I had bought a brand-new Audi A8L, I think I'd have really liked the car, but I don't think I'd've ever felt anything besides embarrassment at showing the car to people. I think in pretty much everyone's mind the A8L is a rich man's car and beyond that there may not be much to say. But everyone I've ever talked to immediately understands that an electric car is a different beast.

In the past 11 months, I have shown the car over a hundred times. During the summer months, I might have 5 "showings" like this per week. It falls way off in the winter, but still one or two a week. I'm not counting waves, thumbs-up, smiles and stares. Just conversations that last anywhere from a minute to an hour. Road workers, auto mechanics, grocery shoppers, cafe patrons, friends, passers by, kids, teenagers, three young men and an older drunken man standing outside a bar one night, car show models, a group of 70ish ladies departing a lunch spot, Prius owners, BMW owners, auto dealer sales staff, fishermen, and on and on.

I've decided to start taking photographs of these encounters whenever I can, and will share a few from time to time in this thread.

Here's one showing (of two) that took place yesterday. The security card smiled at me as I was driving into his Harvard Square garage -- yes, that's right, a Cambridge/Boston security guard *smiled* at me! -- and asked me what kind of car I was driving as I rolled by. I slowed to a stop and asked him if he knew about the Tesla Model S. He became quite excited about the car, so I hopped out and started talking to him. He occasionally had to stop to guide traffic around us. He asked me a ton of questions, and we inspected the car from many angles. One of his co-workers came along and joined the show, with his own set of questions, and with his mouth agape most of the time. Both men were awestruck by the vehicle. I reproduce their picture here with their consent.

Alan

 

[ACDriveMotor]

Nice! The TMS is becoming increasingly less rare here in the greater Seattle metro area so I no longer get to experience this as often as I had anticipated.

 

[Pollux]

Not Quite a Car Thief

Yesterday, after "showing" my S at a Cambridge parking garage (see previous posting), I wound up taking my son to visit his pediatrician. As we came into the medical area's parking lot, I had many choices of parking spots. I was stunned to see a dark green Model S already parked -- a dead ringer for my car! I *HAD* to park next to this car, there simply wasn't any other reasonable course of action. So we had two S's in a row. The one on the left was the one already there when I arrived. My car is the one on the right, with my son standing in front of it in the foreground.

My son had been asking me about parking sensors as we drove into the parking lot. I don't have them on my car, as they were introduced a couple of weeks after I ordered. But my son remembered them from a Service Center loaner we had had. We began to inspect the parking sensors on a Range Rover parked *in front* of my car. As we were doing so, a nice man smiled at us as he walked by.

This man calmly seated himself in my car -- the handles on my door were extended! -- and began to make himself ready to drive off!

My son and I burst out laughing and rushed over to him to explain that there were TWO dark-green Model S's parked together. He was very apologetic yet good-humored about the whole thing.

He couldn't believe that there were two dark green S's in a row, and of course had naturally assumed that any Model S with its handles extended was responding to his key fob.

We fell into a good-natured conversation about the Model S. He had owned his for about a month, having traded in his BMW 325. We talked cold weather packages, parking sensors, and many other things besides. My son, who in recent months has become a Tesla showman himself, took it upon himself to show our new friend the Easter Egg hiding under the Tesla "about" screen.

I realized later that if my son and I hadn't been quick enough, our new friend could have driven my car for a looooong time before finally stopping and not being able to restart it. Although he should have noticed the "missing key fob" messages pretty quickly...

Alan

P.S. I reproduce the photographs of this gentlemen with his kind consent.

 

[CatB]

I love this thread
Due to some personal circumstances, I have missed too many chances for Tesla moments in my hometown of DC, (after a year of looking out for other Teslas, I ended up between 2 at a stoplight, unfortunately, in my Prius, so good news is that market is hitting critical mass) but am enjoying what I can in Baltimore County while helping my parents out.

So yesterday, at MOM's when the nice young man was carrying out my groceries, I asked "hmm, frunk or trunk?" Since he didn't know what I meant I opted for frunk. "Whoa, where's the engine?" "No engine, it's all electric." "Is this a Tesla? Omg I've never seen one!" He got a good look (quick tour of touchscreen, trunk and charging port), then an older gentleman nearby asked (somewhat derisively) "so, can you drive it from here to California on a single charge?" And I answered "no, but I can drive it to CA for free"
By the time I explained that, the first guy had run into the store and brought out a friend to see it.
And at the end of his tour, he thanked me for getting one. To me, that is the most amazing: the younger generation "gets" the car, "gets" the company and "gets it" that every consumer transaction is an economic vote for the future of the company.

 

[zwede]

I've had people stopping to ask about the car like everyone else, but one of the more amusing ones happened a couple of months ago.

I was at Home Depot and had bought some fertilizer. As I was loading it into the trunk (hatch open) the fellow in the car next to mine said "excuse me". I smiled and thought "here we go again", getting ready to talk about the car.

He says "I've just moved here from Colorado and my house has grass I've never seen before. What kind of fertilizer should I get?"

So that threw me off a bit, but I explained to him about bermuda and st augustine grass, and the need for ironite and all the jazz. So after a few minutes he thanks me and gets ready to leave. I close the hatch and his eye go wide. "Oh man, you got a Tesla? I can't believe I didn't notice that!".

And we spent the next 20 minutes talking about the car.

 

[beun]

The wife and I were shopping for some new furniture and we ended up at Rooms to Go. Somehow we got to the fact that I drove a Tesla and the sales guy was dying to see it and even ran into the back to get another car nut. So what does a good hubby do ... he leaves the wife in the store and takes the sales guys out for a test drive. I did the obligatory acceleration demo and left them thoroughly impressed. When the wife got back into the car she asked me what I had done to them because she smelled fear.

 

[brianman]

I was hoping my dashcam would get a picture, but alas that video was "rolled over" (I neglected to switch the SIM card). Oh well...

Driving on the 4th of July, I happened upon a Jeep with the American flag for a roof. After some maneuvering (two lanes each directory but some traffic), I managed to have him pass me and held my speed to match. As he was about to pass, I made a gesture out of tapping my roof, pointing to his Jeep, and giving a thumbs up to him. He smiled. Held his position and made a very clear point gesture back at me, thumbs up, a smile, and a head nod.

Tesla awareness is spreading... quickly.

 

[scaesare]

This may be a "reverse Tesla moment'...

Driving South on I-95 heading away from DC the other day, I came up behind a lifted and modified full-size Tundra pickup with the license plate "ECO EATR".

So, I pulled up in the lane next to him, and gave him a friendly nod and smile. He nodded back, although with an expression in his face that looked slightly confused.

I then smoked him.

Providing education on the performance envelopes of ecologically friendly vehicles is just one of the services I offer...

 

[GoBlue88]

This may be a "reverse Tesla moment'...

Driving South on I-95 heading away from DC the other day, I came up behind a lifted and modified full-size Tundra pickup with the license plate "ECO EATR".

So, I pulled up in the lane next to him, and gave him a friend nod and smile. He nodded back, although with an expression in his face that looked slightly confused.

I then smoked him.

Providing education on the performance envelopes of ecologically friendly vehicles is just one of the services I offer...

That is tremendous.

 

[ACDriveMotor]

I am sure that guy will decide he just needs a bigger truck. Maybe a turbo diesel.

 

[caddieo]

I am sure that guy will decide he just needs a bigger truck. Maybe a turbo diesel.

.......maybe even with rolling coal mods.:wink:

 

[Kraken]

Currently, I am working night shift on base. They close the gate that is the most direct route to the house for a few hours, and of course it ends right about the time I get off of a full shift. I had driven a little extra the other day, so I didn't really want to go the long way, or I might find myself having to slow way down to make it home. So I initially stopped and waited for the direct route to open (and eventually gave up on it too..).

Other people wait in the same dirt parking lot. There was one semi there when I pulled up. While we were waiting, 2 more semis pulled up and I started to hear something out of the CB radios that were blaring as they were talking to each other to kill the time.

"That's one of those Teslas. They get 400 miles per charge, and can charge in 20 minutes. What a beautiful car."

I got out and invited them over to see the car (and get a proper education on the true capabilities of the car).

 

[andydoty]

Well Estonia is a non-core market and the amount of Model S's just reached 15 a couple of days ago. I was the first owner so I've been driving around about 7-8 months and only this Tuesday was the first time I happened upon another Model S (a red one) in traffic in a way that wasn't planned (I've met with all owners, but those were all planned). And a couple of hours later drove past a green one So seven months without a single random sighting and then two in a single day Guess we're getting a population going here So for me that was a Tesla moments day

Oddly, I never saw a single Tesla until I put the deposit down on mine. Then one right after another...

 

[Ugliest1]

We pulled into Hamilton Township NJ a couple of days ago to charge and left for the bookstore. I realized I forgot something in the car and went back for it. By that time a mom was there with her 10 year old son; the boy was checking out our car. I later learned he was Cameron with mom Alyson.

So of course I asked if they had any questions. Then I tried to get Cameron with a few leading questions e.g. "have you ever seen an engine?”. He replied "these are electric aren’t they?“. Well that took the wind out of my sails a bit. But I was still able to start the engine search by opening the frunk and surprising him. “Aha! Rear engine!” he chortled. I then showed him the luggage in the trunk and the body cavity under the trunk, before I relented and explained about the watermelons between the rear wheels. Then I had him open the driver’s door and sit in the driver seat while I went over the basic things and let him explore the few buttons and the 17” screen. He was quite excited. I had to stop him though when he was interested in how to put it into drive.

While all that was happening, another Tesla pulled in. A couple of guys got out and they also began chatting with Alyson while I was busy with Cameron. A supercharger area does seem to be a place for conversations. The funny thing was the other Tesla owner went to his car, rummaged in the glove compartment, and came back with his original, if slightly outdated Tesla pamphlet book. We weren't trying to sell the cars, honest! Although Alyson and her husband are not in the market for a new car at the moment, she now knows about the Gen III coming out and of course Cameron got an eyeful for when he starts driving. He sounded depressed that that would be a whole 6 or 7 years away. Finally my wife came back from the bookstore, and I had Cameron unplug our car, hang up the charging cable, shut Sparky’s port, and we were off.

 

[xhawk101]

This may be a "reverse Tesla moment'...

Driving South on I-95 heading away from DC the other day, I came up behind a lifted and modified full-size Tundra pickup with the license plate "ECO EATR".

So, I pulled up in the lane next to him, and gave him a friendly nod and smile. He nodded back, although with an expression in his face that looked slightly confused.

I then smoked him.

Providing education on the performance envelopes of ecologically friendly vehicles is just one of the services I offer...

Love it! Reverse is sometimes the fastest way forward

 

[artsci]

I'm grocery shopping today and loading all of my goodies into the frunk. A couple comes over exclaiming what a beautiful car mine is. The man says, "it's a Telsa, right?" I correct him. Then they ask the usual questions -- range, top speed, where I charge, and "is it really all electric?" As they walk way they keep saying how beautiful the car is. Out of the corner of my eye I see them get into a white Mercedes SLK. They man shouts to me as gets behind the wheel, "Your Tesla makes my car look like a Chevy."

 

[cgiGuy]

The man says, "it's a Telsa, right?" I correct him.

Rick, just out of curiosity, what's the correction?

 

[caddieo]

Rick, just out of curiosity, what's the correction?

TeLsa vs. TeSla

 

[brianman]

Oddly, I never saw a single Tesla until I put the deposit down on mine. Then one right after another...

You got your implant when you put your deposit down, right? Note that some of the early adopters also underwent a "treatment" so they don't remember getting theirs.

- - - Updated - - -

I met a nice couple charging in Vegas, and then went off to go gamble some time away. When I returned, my car was ready (successful time killing!).

At my next stop in Kingman, I found them again and had some time to talk.

A fire truck showed up (on break getting a milkshake), so we had a 3 on 3 (3 firemen) Tesla Time gathering. Also, I got offered a trade of the $400k firetruck for my Tess. Immediate no from me and the other driver, but his passenger said yes. I cannot confirm that she got to ride around the block and make noise in a shiny red vehicle toting 500 gallons of water.

 

[artsci]

TeLsa vs. TeSla

Yes, he said Tellsa.