Tesla moments

[Denarius]

I just drove from Tucson to Denver and back on a 2 week roadtrip for business.
I have a P85+ and have racked up 12,00 miles in 3 months, none of them slow.
On the way home I made it to Moab supercharger and found that all hotels in Moab area for more than 150 miles were full.
Angry and tired, I drove south toward Blanding supercharger and made plans to stay in Farmington New Mexico that night, arriving at 2 am.

While driving through Monticello Utah, a one street type town, I saw a police car chasing me from quite a ways back, I let him catch up hoping he was on a call and not after me, but quickly realized I was the target. I stopped andhe came up to the car.mit was about 11 pm so late and dark and quiet. I lowered the window and he stuck his head in, asking in a giddy-like voice "What the hell kind of car is this"?
He then told me he clocked me doing 61 in a 30 mph zone through town! He spent a while back in his car running my documents, then came back and made me show him all the navigation and systems for at least a half hour. He then told me to slw down and be safe and careful of many deer on the road, said it was the coolest car he had ever seen, and let me go.
30+ mph over the speed limit he cold have taken me to jail!
Tesla's cockpit saved my ass this time.

That's a miracle in Montecello!

 

[Ugliest1]

My miracle in Monticello is the espresso bar/restaurant on main st, since we couldn't find one in Blanding, anywhere, for our habitual morning travel coffee jolt a couple of months ago, on a trip. It was great coffee made by friendly staff, too.

 

[Kraken]

Yeah thought of that; but FAA requirement you have to have the yellow flashing lights on top and be under positive control of the tower, which I could have met with the hand held.

That's what a removable one is for.... though the one's I've used are magnetic to stick... and I haven't tested them out much past 70.. have been in a Camero and Pontiac doing that speed on the RWY though chasing planes. They had fixed lights though....

 

[Johann Koeber]

Last night 10 PM at the Supercharger near Frankfurt (Germany):

A dark Model S was next to mine and the driver looked a little helpless. Superchargers are super easy, even if you aren't an engineer (he was). He asked me for help. In my head I went: What can be so complicated about using a SC? He couldn't get the cable in.

To my surprize this poor lad had an US spec Model S. He told me he got it for test drive purposes from his company (hint: German car maker, think panamera). Unfortunately he wasn't intruduced to the car and knew too little about it.

He did have a level 2 charging cable that fit. I was able to locate a nearby level 2 charging station, get an RFID card to open it and get him started with charging. Whem I showed him my iPhone APP that showed my car charging at 587 km/h he was surprised that level 2 charging only gave him 60 km/h - about 10%.

How can his company be so foolish and let this guy go with no idea about how the charging works, where to charge etc. His navigation in the car didn't work (I suspect the SIM card was not activeted - US car in Germany). And he had no internet access on his mobile.

We had a small dinner together, chatted a lot on Tesla. In the end he said, he might just get a Tesla for himself

I'm wondering: How did this German car maker get an US spec'd Model S? Why didn't they just get a German one for testing? Why do they let their employees take it out for the weekend (today is holiday in Germany) without showing them the ins and outs of the car, charging especially.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Poor guy, and what a weird decision to bring a us spec car over here. Was it a very early vin (from the time no EU cars existed yet) perhaps?

 

[T B]

So they managed to put it back together again? :wink:

Obviously it was an early Tesla they bought for "engineering evaluation" meaning buying a competitor's car and dismantling it to pieces to see how it was made.

 

[mhpr262]

German supercharger plugs differ physically from the ones in the US? That is news to me.

 

[point1]

I'm wondering: How did this German car maker get an US spec'd Model S? Why didn't they just get a German one for testing? Why do they let their employees take it out for the weekend (today is holiday in Germany) without showing them the ins and outs of the car, charging especially.

It's pretty standard in the automotive industry that you can borrow cars or trucks from the company to increase the product knowledge of the engineers, both of competitors and the manufacturers vehicles, without showing them the ins and outs. I wouldn't be surprised if it was as simple as he just sent a request to borrow it and then he could just pick it up, there probably were written instructions somewhere which most people don't read

 

[thimo]

German supercharger plugs differ physically from the ones in the US? That is news to me.

Yes, Euro Tesla's can be charged 3-phase and therefore need a different plug. They choose, wisely, the standard Type 2 or 'Mennekes' plug on the car. The Supercharger plug needs to fit this connector.

 

[brianman]

How can his company be so foolish and let this guy go with no idea about how the charging works, where to charge etc. His navigation in the car didn't work (I suspect the SIM card was not activeted - US car in Germany). And he had no internet access on his mobile.

This smacks of "boss X said I need to do ___ but my heart's not really into it". Kind of like compliance cars (where the "boss" is the government).

 

[Vip]

Wife and I were driving around the roadster today. (Trying to get as much roadster time as possible before the winter hits). Stopped by the mall and hung out for about an hour. When we returned there was a 13 year oldish boy standing by the car and taking pictures. He asked if the roadster was our car and when I said yes his eyes lit up. He was talking up how awesome the roadster is. He was even at the local Cars and Coffee earlier that morning. This guy was a car enthusiast. Then I asked him if he wanted to sit in the car. He looked at me like I was crazy but wasn't going to pass up on this offer. Took a few pictures with his phone with him in the car. We talked for awhile about Tesla and how he has an instagram account that profiles exotic car. He even said that Tesla is the future! Great to hear young kids are aware.
While I was talking to the young boy another family parked next to us and came out to look at the car. My wife ended up spending some Tesla time with them.
The other family left and then I offered the kid if he wanted a ride. At first he was hesitant about wasting my time. I told him it wasn't a problem, he quickly jumped in the passenger seat. He was amazed with the intant torque. That first run down the road all I heard was "oh my..oh my...". After the second run he said that he has never felt anything like that before.
When he was leaving you could see the excitement in his eyes. Pretty sure that this made his day if not his year!

 

[brianman]

Wife and I were driving around the roadster today. (Trying to get as much roadster time as possible before the winter hits). Stopped by the mall and hung out for about an hour. When we returned there was a 13 year oldish boy standing by the car and taking pictures. He asked if the roadster was our car and when I said yes his eyes lit up. He was talking up how awesome the roadster is. He was even at the local Cars and Coffee earlier that morning. This guy was a car enthusiast. Then I asked him if he wanted to sit in the car. He looked at me like I was crazy but wasn't going to pass up on this offer. Took a few pictures with his phone with him in the car. We talked for awhile about Tesla and how he has an instagram account that profiles exotic car. He even said that Tesla is the future! Great to hear young kids are aware.
While I was talking to the young boy another family parked next to us and came out to look at the car. My wife ended up spending some Tesla time with them.
The other family left and then I offered the kid if he wanted a ride. At first he was hesitant about wasting my time. I told him it wasn't a problem, he quickly jumped in the passenger seat. He was amazed with the intant torque. That first run down the road all I heard was "oh my..oh my...". After the second run he said that he has never felt anything like that before.
When he was leaving you could see the excitement in his eyes. Pretty sure that this made his day if not his year!

Neat story. Suggestion for next time you have such an occurrence....

Point the Tesla enthusiasts at TMC and let them know your forum handle to reach you. You might end up with a fun follow-up story from the brother, sister, parent, or other relative that ends up buying a Tesla.

 

[Pollux]

Great story, @Vip!

I'm normally not particularly self-protective but thought I'd mention that when I give rides to kids under, let's say, 18, I always first check with their parent. Sometimes the parent wants to come along, which in my book is a double win. It's a funny, hyper-sensitive society we live in, and an act of kindness could rebound in a troubling way.

I've even let kids as young as about 20 *drive* the car, but only after first checking for alcohol consumption (ask, look, check breath) and taking a quick picture of the kid and his driver's license. So far, everyone has been *very* respectful... but there's another thread on this forum about a NH driver who has behaved similarly, and was badly taken advantage of by his landscaper.

Alan

Neat story. Suggestion for next time you have such an occurrence....

Point the Tesla enthusiasts at TMC and let them know your forum handle to reach you. You might end up with a fun follow-up story from the brother, sister, parent, or other relative that ends up buying a Tesla.

 

[Pilot_51]

but there's another thread on this forum about a NH driver who has behaved similarly, and was badly taken advantage of by his landscaper.

A sad cautionary tale of poor judgement

I haven't even let my dad drive my car yet, and he's a safer driver than me. When I do feel ready to offer test drives, he'll probably be the first. I'm not sure if I'll ever give test drives to people when I don't know their driving style, especially after reading the landscaper story.

 

[sandpiper]

My first moment came when I placed the order. My 11 year old son is wildly technology obsessed, and he whoops with excitement whenever we see a Tesla on the road.

I snuck up to our upstairs office one evening and selected the various options and such. When everything was complete I called down to him that I had a small job for him. He came around to see the the monitor, I handed him the mouse and told him that I'd like him to press the "ORDER" button for me. His face almost exploded. I'll remember the expression on his face forever. :biggrin:

 

[shelbri]

I handed him the mouse and told him that I'd like him to press the "ORDER" button for me.

I did the exact same thing with my 15 y/o when it was time to confirm. He happily hit the Confirm button. The whole family loves the car, which have now had for 2 weeks!

 

[DrGuest]

I live in a small college town in Montana. Today the Autumn colors were so amazing I grabbed my camera and took "Inspiration" , my Model S up Beautiful Hyalite Canyon, South of Town. I walked for a while, took some pix and coming back to my car, a guy approached me with California Plates. He asked if the Tesla was mine and how I liked it. I said yes and said it was a Dream come True! We Talked and I asked him if he would like to take a spin. It turns out it was John Alexander from Auto Blog and Top Gear. https://www.media-match.com/usa/profile.php?uid=1354600 I drove him up the canyon and switched drivers letting him drive it back down. He was very excited and when the ride was over and he returned to his Partner, he was talking a million miles an hour! She said, Thanks for making my Husbands DAY! I will have to see if he does a video about his First Model S Test Drive and in Montana of all Places! I tell ya this car keeps giving me these "Rock Star Like" experiences, on Quite a regular basis!

 

[ACDriveMotor]

Now that is pretty cool!

 

[Rockster]

Not nearly as cool as giving John Alexander a ride, but...

This weekend we took a rather impromptu trip from McKinney (north of Dallas) to Houston to visit a friend. On the way down Saturday evening, we charged at the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana. Upon pulling in to the lot, we noticed one other S charging. After we parked, we stopped and chatted with the owner, a younger guy who got his black P85+ just three weeks ago. He was on his way from Houston to Dallas to drop his parents off for a visit with his brother. We exchanged pleasantries for a bit, stepped into CSB for a bathroom break and a quick snack, and were on our way in about 20 minutes.

Sunday night, on the way back from Houston, we again charged at Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana. When we pulled into the CSB lot this time, who did we see? The same guy, on his way back to Houston from Dallas.

We were amused that our 20 minute charging stops coincided on both days.

There was some serious rain north of Houston Sunday afternoon/evening. I hope that this fellow was okay with his factory 21" tires. They can be a bit challenging in heavy rains, from my experience.

 

[RileyCPA]

I’ve had my car for three weeks to the day and have had a few minor Tesla moments that left me with a smile but today had me laughing and smiling throughout my commute this morning. If you’re a child of the 80’s you’ll understand this but when it happened this morning it reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard. Watching Luke Duke hanging out the side of the General Lee while going what looks like to an impressionable five year old boy, highway speeds, was a favorite Friday night pastime for me.

This morning, driving to work, I notice a Ford pick-up pass me to the left. It pauses for 5 seconds at my 10 O’clock while the passenger hangs his entire lower body out the window, points his iPhone at the front of my car to take a few pictures….all at 65 MPH on the freeway. After he’s satisfied with the pictures taken the truck speeds off. I started laughing uncontrollably and continued to laugh for the next 30 minutes until I got to work.

Yeehaaa!