View attachment 265119 On Thanksgiving day my wife and I started our long Journey from Las Vegas, NV to St Matthews, SC to pick up and tow home our new 2 person 18' travel trailer. The journey took us across the USA on I-40 and we ended up returning on I-10 out of Jacksonville, Florida to Baton Rouge, then we angled NW through Alexandria, Louisiana and Shreveport, through Texas, back to Oklahoma City, and finally returned home on I-40. We had to follow the Superchargers that were spaced no more than 125 miles apart. Towing reduces your range (about) in half. Our MX has a fully charged range of 259 miles.
We happened to arrive about dinner time in Alexandria, LA and they had a huge December 1st Christmas celebration going on. We were not prepared for what happened next.
The superchargers are located downtown, in the parking lot of a large hotel. The downtown area was packed with cars/pick up trucks and pedestrians trying to find their way to the celebration through the hotel parking lot. Five of the eight Tesla Superchargers had ICE cars parked in them and three had "No Parking Floor Stands". With the hotel's permission we unhitched the trailer and backed our MX into the reserved Supercharger spot. Immediately we could tell the Supercharger was not working properly barely giving us additional battery supply. After about a half hour we got on the cell and called Tesla and explained the situation and Tesla said they would get someone there to find and repair the problem (we were able to get an almost full charge after 5 hours and no repairman showed up that night).
What did happen is why I am writing this. About half way through our charge a large man walked up to the two parking spaces with orange "No Parking" floor stands and began to cuss and physically throw them back into the parking space.
I said, "Whoa Mister, please don't do that." He immediately confronted me (I was standing outside the vehicle). He cussed at me and called me a MF...er and confronted me. I am 73 years old, he was in his mid 30s, stood about 6'4" and weighed well over 200 lbs. I kept my distance but asked him to stop harassing us. He went to our MX and leaned over the drivers door (my wife was sitting in the driver's seat). He told her to move the F...ing car and got within 6 inches of her face. She called him a "big bully" and later said he smelled of alcohol. We both explained that we needed the space to charge our car, much like you have to fill your car at a gasoline pump. He had none of that, and being the well educated man that he was, said our car was not a Tesla. Thankfully another bystander with his wife and young child joined our crusade to protect our vehicle and parking spaces. This bystander pulled out a large curved blade knife and stuck it in the man's face. Told him to back off you MF....er and leave these poor people alone.
This is where it gets good. The man than said, "I have a disabled daughter, they let other people park here, why am I being denied the right to park here?" I could not give him a rational explaination why other vehicles were parked in Tesla supercharger parking spaces, but they were there when we arrived. I offered, "What would you do if you wanted to put fuel in your vehicle and someone was blocking your fuel pumps?" We need the supercharger to continue our journey. He would not stop harassing, cussing and threatening us. He did back up from the knife but would not leave. Our bystander kept him at bay and I proceeded to the hotel front desk (which was quite a distance away), and asked them to call the police. Of course by the time the local police arrived the man had walked with his wife and child toward the multi-story parking garage to get his vehicle and we lost site of him.
We desperately tried to explain to the police what had happened. One of the policemen had no idea what a Tesla Supercharger and a Tesla are. They said if the man returned to please contact them again. We sat there charging for another 3.5 hours waiting for the faulty Supercharger to fill our battery, and needless to say were quite apprehensive. Finally, about 9:00 P.M they had a fireworks display (think large small city display) and the downtown crowd began to disperse. We were able to hitch our trailer and leave Alexandria in our rear-view mirror around midnight that night.
We are both traumatized by the incident. I called Tesla that night and told them this story. I also explained how many of the
supercharger sites we visited late at night were not well lighted and were inviting disaster. The Tesla representative assured me they would discuss it at their next meeting.
I must add, many of the fine people of Alexandria, LA were genuinely interested in our Tesla and it's falcon wing doors and large center display. Many young boys and girls will never forget seeing their first Tesla model X that night. One 12 year old boy asked if this could out run a Bugatti? "How can you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"
We happened to arrive about dinner time in Alexandria, LA and they had a huge December 1st Christmas celebration going on. We were not prepared for what happened next.
The superchargers are located downtown, in the parking lot of a large hotel. The downtown area was packed with cars/pick up trucks and pedestrians trying to find their way to the celebration through the hotel parking lot. Five of the eight Tesla Superchargers had ICE cars parked in them and three had "No Parking Floor Stands". With the hotel's permission we unhitched the trailer and backed our MX into the reserved Supercharger spot. Immediately we could tell the Supercharger was not working properly barely giving us additional battery supply. After about a half hour we got on the cell and called Tesla and explained the situation and Tesla said they would get someone there to find and repair the problem (we were able to get an almost full charge after 5 hours and no repairman showed up that night).
What did happen is why I am writing this. About half way through our charge a large man walked up to the two parking spaces with orange "No Parking" floor stands and began to cuss and physically throw them back into the parking space.
I said, "Whoa Mister, please don't do that." He immediately confronted me (I was standing outside the vehicle). He cussed at me and called me a MF...er and confronted me. I am 73 years old, he was in his mid 30s, stood about 6'4" and weighed well over 200 lbs. I kept my distance but asked him to stop harassing us. He went to our MX and leaned over the drivers door (my wife was sitting in the driver's seat). He told her to move the F...ing car and got within 6 inches of her face. She called him a "big bully" and later said he smelled of alcohol. We both explained that we needed the space to charge our car, much like you have to fill your car at a gasoline pump. He had none of that, and being the well educated man that he was, said our car was not a Tesla. Thankfully another bystander with his wife and young child joined our crusade to protect our vehicle and parking spaces. This bystander pulled out a large curved blade knife and stuck it in the man's face. Told him to back off you MF....er and leave these poor people alone.
This is where it gets good. The man than said, "I have a disabled daughter, they let other people park here, why am I being denied the right to park here?" I could not give him a rational explaination why other vehicles were parked in Tesla supercharger parking spaces, but they were there when we arrived. I offered, "What would you do if you wanted to put fuel in your vehicle and someone was blocking your fuel pumps?" We need the supercharger to continue our journey. He would not stop harassing, cussing and threatening us. He did back up from the knife but would not leave. Our bystander kept him at bay and I proceeded to the hotel front desk (which was quite a distance away), and asked them to call the police. Of course by the time the local police arrived the man had walked with his wife and child toward the multi-story parking garage to get his vehicle and we lost site of him.
We desperately tried to explain to the police what had happened. One of the policemen had no idea what a Tesla Supercharger and a Tesla are. They said if the man returned to please contact them again. We sat there charging for another 3.5 hours waiting for the faulty Supercharger to fill our battery, and needless to say were quite apprehensive. Finally, about 9:00 P.M they had a fireworks display (think large small city display) and the downtown crowd began to disperse. We were able to hitch our trailer and leave Alexandria in our rear-view mirror around midnight that night.
We are both traumatized by the incident. I called Tesla that night and told them this story. I also explained how many of the
supercharger sites we visited late at night were not well lighted and were inviting disaster. The Tesla representative assured me they would discuss it at their next meeting.
I must add, many of the fine people of Alexandria, LA were genuinely interested in our Tesla and it's falcon wing doors and large center display. Many young boys and girls will never forget seeing their first Tesla model X that night. One 12 year old boy asked if this could out run a Bugatti? "How can you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"