Just arrived home from summer holiday, the 6th summer vacation driving our Tesla Model S. There were a number of firsts:
- first time we drove over 1200km in a single day (wel, ignoring the half hour we needed this night because of German road construction delays)
- first time I saw a charging queue. Not at a supercharger, but at the 4 non-Tesla stalls next to the supercharger. There were a dozen people around those CCS stalls, probably still figuring out how this charging thing works. A couple of Taycans, a Volvo , a Volkswagen. One Taycan was very oddly parked, probably to reach the charging cable. 5 or 6 Tesla’s charging at the 16-stall supercharger, with nobody inside the cars. Why would they, it’s just plugging in and enjoying a drink at the bar.
- first time I saw a non-Tesla EV outside it’s home country (A Belgian ID.4 driving very fast).
- in general, lot’s of EV’s everywhere (of various brands). We stayed in Slovenia, and saw a lot of Slovenian Model 3’s.
- first time we didn’t have a hot meal during one of the charging stops. Not enough time for that, barely enough time to eat a sandwich. Most stops needed more time for a toilet visit and a coffee than for charging.
TBH: I’v been in a SUC queue once in those 6 years, but that was a freak coincidence because the SUC was half empty by the time I left.
I also returned from a vacation to Lake Garda in Northern Italy a few days ago driving my 2019 Model 3 LR AWD. My take aways:
- On just one drive along the lakeside through the touristiy places, a kid called his dad pointing at my car, "look, it´s a Tesla" and in the next village, a whole group of kids standing at the side of the road broke out in cheers while I was driving by. Similar experiences on other days
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- Driving the car in the mountains is so cool. All one pedal driving, even on 20% downhill slopes. Especially on steep narrow uphills (road not wide enough for two cars driving in opposite directions) when you have to stop, go back to let someone pass - a breeze when all you need is the accelerator and gear switch. You never feel like you waste energy going downhill either.
- Charging is absolutely a non-issue with the pace of Supercharger buildout. V3 makes things much better because you don´t have to share power when stations get crowded. No charging planning needed, just drive as fast as you want and charge when you have to. Charged on a regular outlet at an appartment I rented over night, too, gave the host a tip.
- At the Supercharger on top of Brenner mountain pass (one of the main north-south road connections across the alps) I charged with about 10 other Teslas, while opposite there was another EV charger with only one BMW i3 - the sight of the couple charging there standing in front of their car looking at all the Teslas was quite funny.
- Also on the way, I was surprised the screen never showed an amount to pay at SCs. First I thought it was a bug, later I realized someone I gave my referral to finally got his Tesla (didn´t get any notification), so the trip was pretty much free, too
- Freeway driving is so much less tiring with AP. I used to arrive all tired when driving ICEs and need a day extra just to recover from 1000km driving, not any more!
