Thought I would add my completed Road Trip Video
Enjoy!
Tesla Motors: NAIAS Road Trip With ELON Q&A! Exec Car Seats, the Booth, and a stop at Hardcore Pawn!
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What a EXCITING TRIP this was. A friend +1'd me as his guest to the Tesla Owners Appreciation get-together at the NAIAS in Detroit for 2015. That was only last Tuesday! What then started off as another of my road trips, ended amazingly! Video starts after supercharging at Highland Park Service Center, Shout-out to everyone at the SC!!!. I took a side trip (not shown in this video) to Country Club Hills Supercharger, a brand new Supercharger, to do a much over-due
Tesla Supercharger Network Travel Guide video update! This added a few hours to the trip, however, it was nice to see a new Supercharger, and on top of that, NEW STATION DESIGN!!!! Beautiful!!!
Then Headed to Mishawaka, Indiana Supercharger. Plugged in, short cut though the inside of the mall to stay warm, and headed over to Granite City (It's a restaurant) for a relaxing dinner. I also filled up my re-fill-able Growler (BIG Beer Bottle) at Granite City. They have in house micro-brew, and got a nice TASTY specialty beer for only $10 (The ENTIRE JUG WAS FILLED FOR THAT $10, though the Non-Specialty Beers are as low as $6 for a complete Fill).
By that time, it was after mall closing hours. So I had to walk outside the mall this time to the Superchargers and my car. This was about a 18 minute walk (long way around without short-cutting through the mall) in -5*F (About -20*C). At least the car was pre-heated and all ready for me.
I proceeded to head to Maumee, Ohio to supercharge. In Mishawaka, I did a 100% charge in hopes of being able to By-Pass the Angola Supercharger (And save myself $10 in tolls due to the exit and re-entry to the turnpike), however, it was clear, at -5*F and mild snowfall, that I would not make the total distance to Maumee, and would come up about 10 Miles short, even at reduced speeds. So... Better safe then sorry, I exited at Angola (Halfway point between Mishawaka and Maumee) and did a 15 minute top off. This also allowed me to run heat full blast the rest of the way to Maumee without worry.
I did arrive in Maumee with 30 miles to spare. Pulled around to the side of the grocery store where the supercharger is..... Low and behold..... The Superchargers were plowed in..... A White Model S with 2 people had the only space that wasn't completely plowed in, so I did what I had to..... use the Awesome Power of the Model S to take a running start and ram my way through the snow. That worked perfectly, and I was soon charging away.
Now, as no Superchargers in Detroit or near (Maumee being the closest one), I decided to do a 100% charge at Maumee, as this will greatly reduce the time needed on a Level 2 in Detroit, and given my quick turn-around time of only 24 hours in Detroit, before driving another 500+ miles back home, this was a good call.
After hitting 100%, I headed out. It took a very long time to complete, so I had a extra hour to shoot some more videos, such as the Supercharging view with a Thermal Camera...
Arrived in Detroit at about 4:30 AM. I was starting to get really tired, and due to that, I entered the wrong destination address. I put the address for the COBA center in (where the Auto Show is) instead of the MGM Grand Hotel Casino (Where the J1772 Stations were I had planned to plug in). I corrected that error, and schlepped over to the MGM.
To my Surprise, I had the whole 6th floor to myself, as well as the Charging Stations.
Plug share had listed 6 J1772's, and 4x20amp 120v outlets.
Much to my supurise, I did not see 6 J1772 Station, I didnt see 7, nor 8, nor 10, nor 15, not 20 either, but 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holy WTF Batman!!!! Couldn't believe my eyes! On top of that, they had 8!!!! 120v 20 amp outlets as well!!!!!!!
Amazing! This was the most number of stations I have EVER seen (I don't live in California....) in one location EVER...
Plugged in. As I was expecting, and as most public stations are, 30 amps. Surprised by the voltage, at 213-215v. Very High for a single phase split from a 3phase utility connection. On top of that, practically no voltage drop! I've been on plenty of public stations where it started off at 208v and after coming up to the full 30 amps, had dropped as low as 190! (Niagara Falls Tourist Center on the US Side...).
After verifying everything was plugged in and set, I decided to "Bjorn" it for the night. I folded my back seat down, rolled out my sleeping bag, got my pillow, Teddy Bear, put my sun shades up in the window to block out light, and Took a much needed sleep.
Woke up at 9:45ish AM (Thanks A lot Mike Anthony for the wake up call......!!!!). When I sat up, looked around. The ENTIRE floor of the parking garage was full, as were ALL the charging stations. But not with Battery Electric Cars, but Hybrids (Range Extended EV's and Standard Plug In Hybrids), and one other single Model S. Now, Hybrids plugging in is not a problem, what was a problem was HOW LONG THEY STAYED PLUGGED IN!!!!!
Anyways, as Elon hasn't given us the commode option yet for our cars, I wondered into the casino to use the facilities. I also grabbed some free coffee. Decided to take a drive. At this point, I had stayed at the charging station long enough to get another 100% charge on my car. So I headed out. I was thinking, what can I do in Detroit that wont get a White Guy Killed?????
So I did what any sensible guy would do. I stopped at American Jewelry and Loan (Home of TV Show "Hardcore Pawn") to attempt to Pawn my Model S......(not really, I just wanted to get on TV again...)
As you can see in my video, didn't go as planned.
Not only did I not get a offer on my Model S, Not get on TV, but the store was a DUMP! FILTHY, Garbage for sale and smelled like my 4 year olds Poop, LITERALLY!
How this crap hole managed to get it's own TV show...... I have no idea....
Left the Pawn Shop disappointed (Almost as disappointed as I was when I visited the Pawn Stars shop....)
I headed back to the MGM, as I had just WASTED 25 miles range going to that crappy pawn shop. So Plugged in again (Remember, I'm doing a quick turn around, usually wouldn't 100% charge so much, but given the SLOW nature of a J1772, and the 0*F temps, and my lowly 60kWh battery, I need every watt hour I could get my hands on, and I was hungry as I hadent eaten since Granite City Restaurant.
So wandered back down into the casinos food court area.
Nice "Chinese" style restaurant. Got some food. I had brought my laptop with me, as they had free wifi. Loitered in the food court (Very nice atmosphere though, more sit down styling).
Uploaded a bunch of videos, took care of emails and business.
By that time, I had wasted a day, and it was 5pm. time to head over to COBA, for the Tesla Party.
Got to the COBA parking garage, showed my Tesla paper, and got in.
Met my friend in front of Hall C, where the Tesla booth is. We all entered. Jerome was at the Event, which was a pleasant surprise. Had a nice conversation with him.
Then mingled, looked at some of the new Executive Seats.
Then, the fun starts when Elon makes his surprise appearance! I'll let the videos take it from here!
