Things not to do with a Roadster.

[SByer]

Don't put your keys on the PEM, even for a second. It looks flat and inviting, sure... The PEM is slippery plastic and so are the keys. I was parked on the slightest incline, and before I even had the door open...

Fortunately, I was able to cram my hand between the PEM and the trunk and retrieve them.

 

[DaveD]

I've lost a small item through that crack myself and, like you, had a devil of a time retrieving it. Maybe a piece of tubular foam material put in there would be a good preventative measure...

 

[stenkb]

Don't do this.............it's not a good thing.... hehe

 

[vfx]

Don't do this.............it's not a good thing.... hehe

Carry a bag of hair gel?

 

[doug]

apparently you should never lose anything under the passenger seat.

 

[WarpedOne]

Ahm, Ideal range 0 km... Flat out empty battery.

 

[mpt]

apparently you should never lose anything under the passenger seat.

+1

There's a hardtop bolt, some change and a nice pair of sunnies I once had under mine.

 

[stenkb]

Carry a bag of hair gel?

haha hair gel......it was actually a bag of weather stripping foam I was trying unsuccessfully to stop wind noise....

 

[bolosky]

One week after you get your new Roadster, take your 9-year-old son on a fast, twisty drive after he's consumed a huge quantity of hot chocolate and is complaining of an upset stomache.

It's amazing how many places very liquid vomit can get in a Roadster. I still hugely owe Carl Medlock from Tesla for taking the whole thing apart (removing the passenger seat, the seatbelt retractor, the center console, some of the vents, carpeting, etc.) and getting it clean.

 

[tomsax]

Don't do this.............it's not a good thing.... hehe

Zero range left in standard mode? That's not scary. Zero miles in range mode is scary. My record is 5% (9 miles) in range mode, driving back to Seattle from Portland, in 100+ degree weather, without a mobile connector.

 

[Lancelac]

Zero range left in standard mode? That's not scary. Zero miles in range mode is scary. My record is 5% (9 miles) in range mode, driving back to Seattle from Portland, in 100+ degree weather, without a mobile connector.

I got really close on a round trip from Michigan wine country to Chicago (I made the mistake of not bothering to charge during the day at all), but have no idea how close because at 20 miles, the ideal and actual miles went to dashes. I would estimate I had about 5 to 10 miles left when I arrived home. I was kind of annoyed about that, more than I was worried about running out of juice.

 

[ChadS]

Zero range left in standard mode? That's not scary. Zero miles in range mode is scary. My record is 5% (9 miles) in range mode, driving back to Seattle from Portland, in 100+ degree weather, without a mobile connector.

I sense a manly game of one-up!

I didn't get an exact reading, but my best estimate is that I had 6 miles in range mode left at midnight when I arrived at a very isolated campground in Shingletown CA. (Now that I think about it, that was probably estimated miles rather than ideal miles. Not sure, I didn't write it down. Maybe we have a tie). I was going up a mountain and it was about 26 degrees--the road was clear, but there was a lot of snow on the ground. I was carrying TWO mobile connectors...but neither one worked!

I hadn't expected it to be that close--I thought the mountains didn't start until after the campground from looking at my map. Shingletown is at 4350'; I'd started from about 300' so going uphill cost me about 25 miles.

To make it more exciting, I use Google Maps on my Android device, but it doesn't work when there's no data connection, so I was not sure exactly how far it was to the campground.

 

[tomsax]

I got really close on a round trip from Michigan wine country to Chicago (I made the mistake of not bothering to charge during the day at all), but have no idea how close because at 20 miles, the ideal and actual miles went to dashes. I would estimate I had about 5 to 10 miles left when I arrived home. I was kind of annoyed about that, more than I was worried about running out of juice.

I agree about the reading going to dashes. The screen still shows the percent, so you can estimate the percent and double that to get approximate ideal miles, but it's just annoying that the display stops giving any digital reading. This was a conscious charge to the firmware. I suppose it's there to scare the driver into charging, a worthy goal, but making data harder to read when you're already stressed is just dumb.

Maybe we have a tie.

Chad, you definitely win on the close call. On the other hand, you clearly planned everything out very carefully and were well prepared with redundant mobile connectors, but still got into trouble. I was much more of a dork for doing my drive without a mobile connector and clearly win the "things not to do" contest. So there. :tongue:

 

[Doug_G]

I would not be surprised if they removed the display to avoid being blamed if it is inaccurate.

 

[stenkb]

"Zero range left in standard mode? That's not scary. Zero miles in range mode is scary."

It was at zero on range mode.
Only changed to standard mode when I was finally able to plug-in.

 

[Jaff]

Yikes!!!

Did you encounter any problems getting your battery recharged?

Does it still hold a charge well?

 

[stenkb]

I was lucky and had help from my Tesla Rep during the entire process. A bit stressful to say the least! I was fairly sure I was gonna need a tow - but let's just say we stretched my battery out to its fullest hehe.

No damage done to my battery pack - in fact it was tested a few weeks ago and is at 100 percent still and I am at 12000 km.

 

[PopSmith]

It was at zero on range mode.
Only changed to standard mode when I was finally able to plug-in.

No damage done to my battery pack - in fact it was tested a few weeks ago and is at 100 percent still and I am at 12000 km.

Pardon me if I'm being ignorant but I thought that running the battery dry voided the warranty on the Roadster. Since you mentioned that Tesla tested the battery and found it fully healthy does that mean draining your battery didn't void the warranty on your car?

 

[tomsax]

Pardon me if I'm being ignorant but I thought that running the battery dry voided the warranty on the Roadster. Since you mentioned that Tesla tested the battery and found it fully healthy does that mean draining your battery didn't void the warranty on your car?

I believe the practice is that if draining your battery hurts your battery, then the warranty doesn't apply. Draining the battery isn't horrible by itself, the firmware will stop you before the battery is low enough to be damaged. As long as you plug in promptly, you'll probably be OK, but you certainly wouldn't want to make that a common practice.

To make it horrible: in hot weather, get the pack hot by driving it hard until the battery is empty, then let it sit in the heat. The battery pack is too low to draw power to cool off the pack, it overheats and real damage is done. Likewise, exposing a discharged pack to extreme low temperatures can damage it because it has no way to heat itself. Do either of these things and both your battery pack and your warranty will be toast.

IANAL and I don't represent Tesla. As always, read your owners manual and warranty, be nice to your battery pack, and don't press your luck.

 

[Jaff]

Excellent!...glad to hear that there was no long term damage done to your pack!

(I hope you gave your wife a stern talking to and told her not to run down the battery like that again!) :biggrin::biggrin::wink:

I was lucky and had help from my Tesla Rep during the entire process. A bit stressful to say the least! I was fairly sure I was gonna need a tow - but let's just say we stretched my battery out to its fullest hehe.

No damage done to my battery pack - in fact it was tested a few weeks ago and is at 100 percent still and I am at 12000 km.