The first few days

[Xenius]

Hey folks, I've got my delivery of my first Model S set for this Thursday at 10am. After being crazy with anticipation, now that I finally know the car is here, and have my delivery scheduled, I've settled into a much less anxious excitement. I'm spending my time browsing the forums and looking around in PlugShare, scheduling electricians, etc,etc.

I'm trying to get tinting scheduled for Thursday right after delivery so I can be done and spend some quality time with the car as it should be.

My wife is busy this weekend but I plan to take my other lady (our dog) and the new Model S and take a trip down to Williamsburg, VA from Philly. Looking at EVtripplanner I plan to hit Newark SC, then skip Bethesda and hit Woodbridge past DC, then top off at Glen Allen before moving along to Williamsburg.

Having never done this before, I'm wondering if there's any gotchas I should be on the lookout for. I have a Tesla tire pump / repair kit ready to go.

I've ordered a 60D so from what I gather I should be able to charge full bore since I really have a software locked 75D. Anyone happen to have real world experience supercharging the 60 and know what kind of mileage/hour you charge at?

I don't really have range anxiety, I have Tesla excitement. Feel free to give any thoughts/opinions on what I should look out for, or do within the first few days and my first trip. Cheers, happy to be joining the family, FINALLY!

 

[Dan43]

Here is my little pre-flight check list just written as reminders now, expecting S75D in 2 weeks :

detailing and wash kit
unlock AP ? Is AP 2.0 pre-wired for expected upgrade later?
CHAdeMO cable for faster charging on non-supercharge locations
Type 2 - Type 2 cable purchase for home charger

 

[Xenius]

Thanks Dan.

I have AP on the S60D, have a Tesla wall charger on a 50amp circuit being installed today. Think for the moment I'm going to forgo CHAdeMO as it seems like I'll be fine locally, and supercharging on trips.

What's the Type 2 cable?

 

[Btrflyl8e]

Hey folks, I've got my delivery of my first Model S set for this Thursday at 10am. After being crazy with anticipation, now that I finally know the car is here, and have my delivery scheduled, I've settled into a much less anxious excitement. I'm spending my time browsing the forums and looking around in PlugShare, scheduling electricians, etc,etc.

I'm trying to get tinting scheduled for Thursday right after delivery so I can be done and spend some quality time with the car as it should be.

My wife is busy this weekend but I plan to take my other lady (our dog) and the new Model S and take a trip down to Williamsburg, VA from Philly. Looking at EVtripplanner I plan to hit Newark SC, then skip Bethesda and hit Woodbridge past DC, then top off at Glen Allen before moving along to Williamsburg.

Having never done this before, I'm wondering if there's any gotchas I should be on the lookout for. I have a Tesla tire pump / repair kit ready to go.

I've ordered a 60D so from what I gather I should be able to charge full bore since I really have a software locked 75D. Anyone happen to have real world experience supercharging the 60 and know what kind of mileage/hour you charge at?

I don't really have range anxiety, I have Tesla excitement. Feel free to give any thoughts/opinions on what I should look out for, or do within the first few days and my first trip. Cheers, happy to be joining the family, FINALLY!

I have no experience with the new 60, only the original 60... And it sounds like you have a solid plan. My only tip would be to pack some healthy snacks/meals to enjoy while charging. You don't want to have to rely on what's convenient as it's usually not good for you! I usually road trip with a medium sized rolling cooler strapped into the backseat like a toddler. LOL

 

[tstafford]

Enjoy the new car. I wouldn't worry much about the drive from Philly to Williamsburg. There are plenty of chargers along the way. My advice would be to plan your stops so that you can charge to about 80% at each SC. That will dramatically decrease your charging time - rather than charging to 100% and trying to stop fewer times. That said, it's a fairly short drive so I don't think you'll experience any issues.

 

[Dan43]

Thanks Dan.

I have AP on the S60D, have a Tesla wall charger on a 50amp circuit being installed today. Think for the moment I'm going to forgo CHAdeMO as it seems like I'll be fine locally, and supercharging on trips.

What's the Type 2 cable?

Tesla S have a Type 2 type connection in the car so for most of us we have the same connection at the home charger, so male-female type 2 cable for home charging.

One type is by Mennekes, Google Type 2 Mennekes and you will see the multiple pin connection.

 

[Max*]

I have no experience with the new 60, only the original 60... And it sounds like you have a solid plan. My only tip would be to pack some healthy snacks/meals to enjoy while charging. You don't want to have to rely on what's convenient as it's usually not good for you! I usually road trip with a medium sized rolling cooler strapped into the backseat like a toddler. LOL

I agree with this, and we do the same.

Most of the SpCers are located near restaurants I would never eat in. Or it's just gas station "food".

 

[jgs]

Tesla S have a Type 2 type connection in the car so for most of us we have the same connection at the home charger, so male-female type 2 cable for home charging.

One type is by Mennekes, Google Type 2 Mennekes and you will see the multiple pin connection.

I think your advice would apply if the poster were in Europe. Since they're in the USA where we use different connectors, it doesn't.

 

[Dan43]

I think your advice would apply if the poster were in Europe. Since they're in the USA where we use different connectors, it doesn't.

Yes I thought that, it would be the home charging cable appropriate to the home install and local conditions I suspect.

Certainly that cable is part of the equation as the supplied cables did not cover my home charge installation, so worth having on the check list/to-do list.

 

[mikeash]

Your plan sounds good. I've done DC to Williamsburg a couple of times. Will you be able to charge overnight in Williamsburg? It shouldn't be necessary, the round trip from Glen Allen and back is totally doable, but it would save some time.

Should be a nice trip, and autopilot will make DC traffic a lot more bearable. Enjoy!

 

[jgs]

the supplied cables did not cover my home charge installation

I had not realized that, interesting. Over here, the car is supplied with the UMC (Universal Mobile Connector) which plugs into a more-or-less standard (NEMA 14-50) 220v outlet. Of course since we use 110v here, the 220v outlet often still needs to be installed, which I initially assumed was what OP meant by "scheduling electricians" but then in a followup they said "have a Tesla wall charger on a 50amp circuit being installed today" so apparently not.

 

[WannabeOwner]

In the UK Tesla used to provide a "voucher" for install of a suitable home charge socket (actually they provided two vouchers, one for a work / alternative address as well). maybe that has been phased out? (There was a time limit for installation, which ran from Order Date, not Delivery Date, so something to watch out for on long-leadtime orders). OLEV also (used to?) offer a government grant for their connectors (that carried a requirement to allow phone-home-logging of charging data)

It's debatable if the voucher was good value for money - the approved installers were expensive, probably due to all the accreditation they had etc., compared to the costs of a local Sparky, who was probably competent to do the work, so local-Spark was about the same price as Approve-installer-plus-voucher.

 

[Dan43]

The S comes with a standard wall plug charger (220v/13amp) with adapter end for changing adapters with, and giving basic charge of a normal home socket 3kW, plus a 32amp 3 pin for caravan parks etc via another swapped out adapter.

Most home chargers installed will run a Type 2 Mennekes connection, 30amp single phase, and be good for 7.2kW charge, normal 13amp socket (our home ones) will do about 3kW.

I'm not aware of anything at a normal costs that gets faster than 7.2kW for the home, would be interesting to know if anyone has pushed the boat a little and got something more powerful for home use (although most would overnight charge we accept 7.2kW as being enough for that time to charge, and on less expensive tariff for the home)

 

[AB4EJ]

I have found the CHaDEMO adapter very helpful on trips, because sometimes you'd like to drive around the city you are visiting and not have to run somewhere to s Supercharger (sometimes they are quite a bit out of the way). You can find CHaDEMO chargers using Plugshare.

BTW, be sure to post some photos of your new ride when you get it, so that we can all ooh and ahh over it!

 

[WannabeOwner]

I'm not aware of anything at a normal costs that gets faster than 7.2kW for the home

I'm no expert but my understanding is:

Install a 32amp command socket (which was free as part of the Tesla voucher thingie) but then you have to use your car-cable to connect, which IMHO is a pain - particularly if raining and cable is wet to then store in car etc.

So I installed a tethered 32 amp instead (and a type-2 socket for any visitors with EVs). It cost quite a lot, but wins on convenience

Since then I think? the Tesla tethered charger unit has become available in the UK. It looks a lot smarter than the one I have ...