Oh, I kind of forgot to answer this other part. Call ahead is obviously good, but it seems like a lot of places are pretty casual for after hours if they have empty spaces. They will usually have some little envelopes and a drop box or slot in the door of the building for after hours. You can just put a check or cash in the envelope, mark what spot you used and drop it in the box. So that may be a possibility for a lot of places.
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LovelyCarrot
Member
AAA Washington announced a mobile electric car charging service a few years ago. However, not sure if this is still offered as they don't seem to say anything on the website now.
Out of juice? AAA debuts Washington roadside charging service for electric cars
Out of juice? AAA debuts Washington roadside charging service for electric cars
Oz Will
Member
Living in Australia, where the distances are large and population relatively sparse (area not far off the US48 states, but less than 25m people and most of them near the coast, the idea of being towed with regenerative breaking charging the batteries has a lot going for it as it doesn't need a power source waiting at the end of the tow. With a mix of ICE and EVs, a group could do a road trip in places off grid (eg camping in national parks) beyond normal EV range - and we have some very big national parks, etc).
Has anyone actually done this? Would it damage either the motors or the batteries (it is kind of like driving down from a mountain range, so seems possible)? Would it void the warranty?
Rossy
Member
My neighbor just upgraded from Model S to X. We are both pilots. It's against Federal Aviation guidelines to run out of gas while flying. You are always supposed to land with 30 min of fuel in good weather, and enough to make it to an alternate landing site +45 minutes if you are on instrument flight (bad weather). We discussed how trip planning is just something we do out of habit. So the transition from airplanes to long EV trips isn't so different for pilots. I don't have a Tesla yet. I'll post if/when I run out. I'm planning on towing a trailer with an X.
Rossy
Member
Bjorn Nyland has a recent video where at 14km showing remaining his X ran out of juice. The tow mode was not working. Appears to be a SW bug. That was posted yesterday 8/23/17.
So..what you do is put the X in tow mode and tow to a charging station.
So..what you do is put the X in tow mode and tow to a charging station.
SDRick
Active Member
gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
If you are only very low on charge, then yes, the car could still operate normally, and it can't tell any difference between going downhill or being pulled, and that would work fine. But if it has actually run down enough that it has gone fully into shutdown, I don't think the car will let you put it into Drive, so you couldn't get it into a situation where it could use regen to recharge itself. I think it requires actual recharging through the charge port to get it out of that shutdown mode.
Rossy
Member
I believe this has been demonstrated. But I'm not sure it will work if the small 12V battery is dead.
Yeah, I felt bad for him (although to be fair, he does deliberately push his car to the limit!). Two bugs at once. And one was just a GUI bug with an easy workaround - but you have to know the workaround. :Þ
Moral of the story re: the 14km-out-of-charge: even though you don't want to do it every day, it pays to sometimes run low / charge high so that the BMS can be properly calibrated. And trust power reduction more than you trust range estimates.
cgiGuy
Active Member
hill
high fiber member
As long as your trailered gen set has plenty of gas - you're good to go - regardless how far you drive towards the ends of the earth.
Our inverter quality Honda (6.5kW @ 100% duty cycle) is light enough to get loaded onto one of these bad boys - no trailer necessary.
it's not that hard, to think outside the (trailer hitch) box.
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FlyF4
Son of a MX
We need someone to come up with a Mobile PowerWall-2 (MPW) service. Basically, a bank of MPWs that can be easily inserted into and out of a vehicle, which drives around and gives people just enough power to reach the next charging location.
Maybe once Tesla starts manufacturing their transport trucks, it'll be an easy implementation.
Well there is an easier solution in progress with a California company I am consulting with. They are getting funding to create mobile battery banks with adapters for all EVs on the road. Thus, think of it as a AAA service that drives up to your car and gives you enough charge over a period of 30 min to an hour to get you to nearest charger. Two things I don't like so far is the business model and the problem that will occur with some EVs if the owner COMPLETELY drains the battery. This venture is at least 2 years away and other ventures may beat them to it.
I always wonder with stuff like this... why does it take 2 years?! This is a pretty cool business idea though. I guess you set the business up then sell it as an additional service to AAA et al (so in other words, their customer is AAA, not the individual)
..also... whilst you're online... can you enlighten us as to why we don't see cars in other lanes on AP2, and why there's no rain sensing wipers?!
I think someone beat them to it years ago (at least the idea)...but don't know if they ever really rolled it out: AAA Unveils North America's First Roadside Assistance Truck Capable of Charging Electric Vehicles | AAA NewsRoom
As I noted in this thread:
Semi and Supercharger V3... a match made in heaven.
Supercharger V3 is to be battery buffered (aka, self-contained), and would be easily light enough to be hauled around by Semi (with plenty of room left over for hauling 1-2 cars and associated equipment). The perfect rescue vehicle.
Semi and Supercharger V3... a match made in heaven.
Supercharger V3 is to be battery buffered (aka, self-contained), and would be easily light enough to be hauled around by Semi (with plenty of room left over for hauling 1-2 cars and associated equipment). The perfect rescue vehicle.
goneskiian
Active Member
I know they had them on the roads at one some point as I remember seeing one in the Seattle area a few years ago.
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