Touring, Road Trips and Tesla Excanges

[mgemmell]

Touring, Road Trips and Tesla Exchanges

Hi all

In TesLive we discussed the network of hotels with charge points that we are preparing in Europe to enable Model S owners to tour worry-free. (Drive and dream electric car tour experience)

This led to a new idea which I think may appeal to some of you... Tesla Exchanges.

It's kinda like house swapping but more focused on the car. Each party has an interest in looking after the car, and who can you trust more with your car than a fellow owner?

Essentially, when you go on vacation it is tricky/impossible/expensive to rent a Tesla. I just asked Hertz SFO and their Model S is $850 per day with LIMITED miles on top!

So, if we could start a TMC Model S exchange program we could match owners who have compatible travel plans, and both would benefit.

In addition, each could prepare routes with tested charging points so that each obtain a great Tesla vacation costing no more than the hotel accommodation.

So,
1) Anyone interested in the Tesla Exchange program?
2) Anyone interested in sharing here their favorite road trips and hotels for charging?
3) Is there a better area in TMC for road trip info sharing, the Tesla Exchange Marketplace etc.?

Obviously I will happily share my routes etc in Spain.... Just want to know where the best place is to do this first.

Cheers, Mark

 

[Red40]

This is great! One of my biggest annoyances with travelling these days is having to rent an ICE and visit gas stations. I get a sinking feeling in my gut every time.

I think the network would have to be pretty large to work well... but our numbers are growing!

In the meantime, I've just been loaning my car out when I travel. My friends seem to appreciate the chance to "car-sit", and I save on airport parking/transport costs!

Cheers!

 

[PhilBa]

Great idea though I personally won't be joining - I hate the idea of anyone else but me behind the wheel of my car. Selfish? Maybe, but then I suspect I'm not alone.

 

[julioalonso]

Mark,

If you have any plans to come to Florida during Christmas, we might have a deal. I'll be in Madrid from December 23rd to January 3rd.

Regards,
Julio

 

[mgemmell]

I have to agree with PhilBa that it pains to lend the car, but when you know you can trust the driver and you will be getting an MS on your travels as a result I think it is something I can live with. I mean a single week rental would cost almost $6000 at Bay area Hertz rates! dude!

Mark,

If you have any plans to come to Florida during Christmas, we might have a deal. I'll be in Madrid from December 23rd to January 3rd.

Regards,
Julio

Well, this is kind of interesting.... We are away skiing those dates so our MS will actually be available.

However I wouldn't be able to take you up on that offer until the next time I'm in Florida, which is September 2014!

Maybe we could form larger trading circles where I lend to you, you lend to someone else and then they lend to me!? In other words someone goes to Florida at new years and at another later date I get to borrow their MS.

We can't be the first to do this... there is a market like this for luxury vacation homes isn't there?

So, if we had a large enough pool of interested parties we could create an exchange market where we lend our car to gain swap points (say one point per day) and then we spend those points when we use someone's available car. That way we can be a lot more flexible about where we go and when.

Thoughts?