Tesla moments

[Pollux]

I salute you, sir! Nicely done!

My latest moment happened in one of the most unlikely places: deep in the hills of coal country (Southwest Virginia). I am out at a local community college providing some IT consulting this week and I took 3 of the IT guys out to lunch today. They are mainly "truck" guys and very being very polite about the car until I punched the accelerator to pass a very slow moving construction truck in the right lane. The rest of the ride was "I can't believe how much torque this thing has" and "was that really 0-60 in about 4 seconds?!" and "I had no idea electric vehicles were this good!" I was grinning ear to ear. Back at the school, the head of engineering spotted the car in the parking lot and sought me out to go out to take a look. We then had 3 more guys go out to take a look and one of the faculty drove up in her Mercedes and commented on how nice the car was. I always enjoy talking about the technology and showing people the car. One of the guys took a picture and sent it to his wife joking that he had traded in his truck (if that's not a compliment coming from a truck guy, I don't know what is!). Needless to say, seeing (and riding in) is believing, even for folks whose community's livelihood is in coal mining. I hope I've started something good out here

 

[swengl]

The funny thing is: it just happened naturally, I didn't have to hype it up at all. I mentioned that I had an EV and would drive to lunch. After that, the secret was out! Haha....

I salute you, sir! Nicely done!

 

[eloder]

I actually had a Tesla moment, even as a non-owner.

I was punching it through city traffic with a couple friends on my Leaf (first time EV ride for one of them) and my friend noted how quick the pick-up was. I mentioned "Yea, and it's still the slowest EV out there! A Tesla can hit 60 mph in that same timeframe", and a few seconds later we passed a parked Tesla which is still kind of rare in my city.

I loved the timing!

 

[eyespii]

Had a woman offer to trade me her 3-yo child for my 85D today, straight up. I'm pretty sure she would have come out ahead in that deal, so I turned it down.

 

[!S4]

Had a woman offer to trade me her 3-yo child for my 85D today, straight up. I'm pretty sure she would have come out ahead in that deal, so I turned it down.

I had a middle aged guy with his family come up to me and say, "Can I have your car?". I wasn't sure how to respond to that other than laugh.

 

[bmah]

Had a bunch of mini Tesla moments yesterday at my department's BBQ / picnic.

We had to carpool to the park where the BBQ was. My seats filled up pretty fast when one of my coworkers called to me down the hallway "Are you driving to the picnic? And did you bring your Tesla?" Lots of technology questions on the way over (we're a bunch of network and high performance computing geeks).

Complete bafflement from another coworker who pulled in next to me, while I was unloading food from my frunk, and wondering why my hood was up. "Oh, it's a rear-engine car?" Then even more bafflement when I popped open the trunk too.

Seeing the light come on in the eyes of a future Model X owner (we've been talking about the Model S and Model X for awhile, and he just put in a reservation) when I pulled out my bag o' charging accessories and showed how they all work together.

We had an interview candidate that day, and we invited him along to our picnic. He'd never seen a Model S before (maybe not even heard of Tesla Motors...not too many Teslas in Greece I imagine), and he was so blown away that he asked if we could take some pictures of him with the car (we obliged of course).

I only regret not washing my car before the picnic...it was filthy.

 

[bvrothe]

Sorry, but I don't have one of those......

Recently, out in the Inland Empire in California, they've been having smog check points (apparently there are a lot of folks removing the catalytic converters on their vehicles).

So, the CHP officer waves me into the parking lot where they're doing the checking and when I roll down my window he says, "Just pull into a spot and they're going to put a sensor in your tailpipe".

To which I reply, "That's going to be difficult, as I don't have a tailpipe."

He glances at the car and says, "Oh, right. This is a Tesla. Now I'm embarrassed. Get the heck out of here." and he waves me through.

 

[Cyclone]

Recently, out in the Inland Empire in California, they've been having smog check points (apparently there are a lot of folks removing the catalytic converters on their vehicles).

So, the CHP officer waves me into the parking lot where they're doing the checking and when I roll down my window he says, "Just pull into a spot and they're going to put a sensor in your tailpipe".

To which I reply, "That's going to be difficult, as I don't have a tailpipe."

He glances at the car and says, "Oh, right. This is a Tesla. Now I'm embarrassed. Get the heck out of here." and he waves me through.

Love it!

 

[beeeerock]

So, the CHP officer waves me into the parking lot where they're doing the checking and when I roll down my window he says, "Just pull into a spot and they're going to put a sensor in your tailpipe".

To which I reply, "That's going to be difficult, as I don't have a tailpipe."

He glances at the car and says, "Oh, right. This is a Tesla. Now I'm embarrassed. Get the heck out of here." and he waves me through.

I think I would have kept my mouth shut and timed how long it took the guys with the sensor gear to figure out the mistake... LOL

Although I guess in California Tesla is well-known enough to make that experiment MUCH less fun than it would be up here... I could probably string our inspectors along for 10 minutes or more

 

[Max*]

I think I would have kept my mouth shut and timed how long it took the guys with the sensor gear to figure out the mistake... LOL

Although I guess in California Tesla is well-known enough to make that experiment MUCH less fun than it would be up here... I could probably string our inspectors along for 10 minutes or more

Side note: Your avatar has the custom license plate that I tried to get here in VA, but someone [else] already took it.

 

[beeeerock]

Side note: Your avatar has the custom license plate that I tried to get here in VA, but someone [else] already took it.

LOL, I've often wondered how 'original' my plate actually was... now I know! I did searches, went through this forum, looking for ideas. I had a running list on the bedside table and EVOLVD came to me in the middle of the night. Seemed unlikely nobody else would have thought of it, even though I thought I was pretty clever and original...

 

[mikeash]

Complete bafflement from another coworker who pulled in next to me, while I was unloading food from my frunk, and wondering why my hood was up. "Oh, it's a rear-engine car?" Then even more bafflement when I popped open the trunk too.

This is one of my favorite things. Pop the trunk. "Oh, where's the engine? In the back?" "Let's see." Then I pop the trunk. I have the rear-facing seats, so that just adds to the confusion. It's extra fun if I have a stuffed animal or two strapped in back there.

 

[Max*]

LOL, I've often wondered how 'original' my plate actually was... now I know! I did searches, went through this forum, looking for ideas. I had a running list on the bedside table and EVOLVD came to me in the middle of the night. Seemed unlikely nobody else would have thought of it, even though I thought I was pretty clever and original...

I tried EVOLV, EVOLVE, EVOLVED, EVOLVD <-- all taken. The only one available here is EVOLVES (maybe without the 2nd E?), but it's not as... interesting

 

[Shaggy]

Texans are a lot smarter and more rational than the politicians we (for some mysterious reason) keep electing.

It's called gerrymandered districts...

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah. The dealers there are really integrated into the political system and seem to advertise heavily. You can tell just by being behind a car bought at a Texas dealer: there is usually a giant metal plate riveted to the car advertising the dealer it came from. I've seen this one a lot, even out here in California:

View attachment 51970

That would bug the hell out of me. They wouldn't sell me a car without making sure I get one without that big ugly dealer advertisement on it. Best the dealers out here can do is license plate frames, because they know their customers would revolt if they tried anything like mounting an advertisement to your trunk lid.

- - - Updated - - -

The last two new cars I've bought had the rider "No dealer branding on vehicle" as a deal breaker. They were fine with it. I cannot say I'll make the same stipulation on a Tesla.

 

[Shaggy]

TeLsa vs. TeSla

Could just slip in, "no that's in Oklahoma..."

 

[beeeerock]

Pulled off the highway into an Esso station near the little town of Bassano Alberta at around 11:30 PM on Tuesday last week. We'd driven through a swarm of something and the windshield had transitioned from 'bad' to 'simply too messy to keep going safely'. Pretty quiet place at that time of night.

I rolled up to the pumps and got out to borrow the windshield squeegee when along came a guy and his son from their car, looking quite concerned. They asked if I was OK and I said "Yeah, just need to clean the windshield".

Their response: "Oh, that's good! When we saw you pull in to a gas station we figured there must be something wrong with your car!"

Not sure if I was more impressed with their concern for a fellow traveler or their quick recognition of the car - in the dark - where there just aren't many of them!

 

[brucet999]

Pulled off the highway into an Esso station near the little town of Bassano Alberta…

You still have ESSO there?
Then the old joke about the swarm of bees can still work up there. A swarm of bees descend on a Shell station and start to build a hive, but one bee flies across the street to the ESSO station, proving the old adage:
"There's an ESSO bee in every group."

 

[Hugh Mannity]

You still have ESSO there?
Then the old joke about the swarm of bees can still work up there. A swarm of bees descend on a Shell station and start to build a hive, but one bee flies across the street to the ESSO station, proving the old adage:
"There's an ESSO bee in every group."

I think only the states has exxon, the rest of the world has esso stations :wink:

 

[beeeerock]

I think only the states has exxon, the rest of the world has esso stations :wink:

Which means there can be no ESSO bees in the USA...

 

[TI Sailor]

I actually had a Tesla moment, even as a non-owner.

I too have yet to join Tesla ownership, at least if you ignore my TSLA holdings. Nonetheless, I had a memorable Tesla moment while driving from FL to Blowing Rock, NC last December.

At precisely the time my teenage son and I were passing Apple’s solar farm on Hwy 321 near Maiden, NC, a white Model S met us traveling in the opposite direction. I was immediately consumed calculating the probability of that happening, what with it being a secondary road and all. I exclaimed out loud the odds were probably better for hitting the Powerball.

My son made a near silent grunt and quickly resumed playing games on his PS Vita, thus killing any chance he had of getting a Model 3 for graduation. I hope he likes his new XBox whatever…:biggrin: