1st a little background
I recently bought a used 2016 tesla ms just for everyday driving from home to work and fun with kids over the weekend. Since being 1st time ev or a tesla owner I started doing all the research to get more familiarize charging around the town, how to maximize range and where to find charging stations as well as different apps shared by users. Used this and several other forums to educate myself as much as I could. then we found out we have a wedding coming up so why not do cross country trip in the car.
Now the trip – Day 1
I’ll honest I was nervous to start the trip and was hoping that all goes well. With God’s blessings the first day was going well with driving as well as charging and just to be on the safe side I was also charging few extra minutes in case of something. Since being a first time ev and or tesla owner I started noticing that every time we were arriving to the next charging location, we arrived the stated charging, BUT the % for the next stop was in -. We just charged and kept going because we wanted to get to our hotel on time so we and kids can rest up. Everything was going while driving to our last charging station for the night. The car was showing we still have 40 miles to go, but to our shock SHUT DOWN that to right off the ramp and just 1 MILE away from the charging station. 1 Mile. We couldn’t figure out what in the world happened and had no idea what to do either. With God’s the car stopped in a good lit area and not somewhere in pitch black. Not knowing what to do we called the insurance company for towing and started waiting. With Gods blessings a lot of people who were driving by asked and offered help, but not knowing how or what to do left. 2 guys who already drove by came back and tried different ways to jump the car. By researching we found where the connection for 12v battery is and tried to jump, but nothing happened. They stayed with us for 2 hours or so and after nothing was happened, I thanked them and asked them to leave even when the insisted they don’t mind staying. While we were waiting, we received a call from insurance company that they can’t find any tow company so we going to have to look for our own. Luckily one of the guys knew a good company and gave me the number. I called them and they told me they are on their way. After these guys left a local officer came and asked if everything was ok. I told him the entire story and again with God’s blessings he offered to stay with us until towing comes. Since the car stopped right off the ramp and not knowing it was a busy truck route, he had to keep moving his suv, but he didn’t mind. Finally, when the towing truck came, we tried to jump the car so I can put in tow mode, but (battery still showing 40 miles and not knowing how to put in tow mode. did quick research to find out what to do) the car wouldn’t stay in tow mode. After several tries the guy said he would have to drag the car on the truck and trucks coming in big numbers we had no other choice. Even being a used car, I didn’t want anything to happen to the car, but had to agree. Once he started to drag the car my heart sank and was praying nothing to happen. Once the car was on the truck, we thanked the officer and left. We drove our 1 mile to the charging station. Once he was parked and lowered the car we tried to charge the car, but due to battery being dead the car wouldn’t charge. Now being 12 o’clock at night and driving for almost 15 hours 4 hr being outside due to the dead battery I couldn’t think what to do next. There was a lady charging her model y so I asked if she knew anything we can do about it, but she didn’t because she just bought her model y 6 months ago. Not sure if it was her instinct or with God’s blessing, she gave us some food like she knew we were out of food too. After a minute something clicked in my head. I requested the tow truck guy if he can bring, he jumper battery out to wake up the 12v and with God’s blessings it worked. The car started charging. The guy had to go so we paid him and thanked him for his help as well as staying with us. We charged the car for an hour or so and after the charge grabbed pizza from the gas station and started driving. We got to our hotel at 3 o’clock in the morning not knowing if they’ll allow us to check in. the receptionist was kind enough to let us check in. Wife took few necessary stuff from the car and kids to the room. Drove the car across the street to charge the car and walked back to the hotel. Literally took shoes off and we all knocked out.
Day 2
In the morning woke at 8 to eat the breakfast and while eating breakfast thinking about what happened last night and how it’ll impact our rest of the drive. The car was fully charged. Exhausted, tired and sleepy we picked up our things, filled up our coffee mug and started driving. Already behind we were hoping and praying whatever happened the night before doesn’t happen again. While driving we were hoping just hoping we get to our hotel in timely manner. After we stopped at one of the charging stations in OKC we knew we wouldn’t be able to make to our 2nd hotel. After we left okc tesla navigation took us from there to our next charging thru a very secluded area. For miles it was just our car, trees around us and the fear of what happened the night before. I was temped to use abrp but didn’t know how to input the battery % in case something happens so at the end decided to stick with tesla navigation. We were few miles away when I noticed the car was showing 40 miles left and my heart started pounding. With God’s grace we made to our next charging station. When we parked our car and started to charge the next destination % was in negative. While charging we ate our dinner. It was already very late, so we decided to book a hotel there, but before that called our actual booked hotel to let them know what’s going on. Luckily, we found a hotel very close by. After the car finished charging, we drove to the hotel and crashed.
Day 3
After getting few extra hours of sleep we were still tired and kids were just exhausted. We checked our route to see how to plan our day. We knew it was going to be another long day, but we decided to drive straight home and not stopping another night. Again, due to charging almost every hr the arriving time got pushed and pushed and pushed.
I’ve never been sooooooooooooooooooo stressed out while driving and constantly looking at the miles or %. At one point I was if I cough or sneeze or fart it might decrease the miles. I thought I did enough research and learned as much as I could for the trip, but I guess it wasn’t enough. By posting this I’m not trying to deter anyone from buying tesla or any other ev, but the whole purpose was to share the frustration and stress we had while driving. With God’s blessings we met some really nice people who helped us.
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"Tesla Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
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