What I learned on my Second Road Trip - Francis Lau

[mknox]

I am sure Tesla has international roaming disabled. Remember, this is their dime (for now) and they aren't stupid. If its our plan (as it will be when the freebie runs out), we will have to pay that million dollars a minute.

Hopefully they can work out a N. America-wide plan. I pay something like $25/month for OnStar and it works anywhere in Canada or the US (including voice calling). The majority of the Canadian population lives within something like 100 miles of the US border. My daughter lives in Chicago and I'll be driving there from time to time and would like to have service.

 

[jhs_7645]

It's unfortunate that Tesla didn't incorporate a video input to the centre screen. It'd be great to be able to just plugin your phone to display maps and not worry about the car's 3G roaming etc. Another option Tesla could incorporate is data sharing from your phone via Wifi or Bluetooth tethering.

When they enable wifi tethering then you can just use your phone's plan to power the tesla's Internet connection, that way if your phone roams, so will your car. I would think that would be a lot simpler than mirroring your phone's display


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[stoked]

When they enable wifi tethering then you can just use your phone's plan to power the tesla's Internet connection, that way if your phone roams, so will your car. I would think that would be a lot simpler than mirroring your phone's display


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Mirroring your phone's display would have other benefits though, like playing a movie/games, choosing a different GPS app, etc. I agree it wouldn't be a "simple" function though.

 

[Francis Lau]

Did you happen to stop at the Tesla HPC at Blaine? It used to be a Roadster only charger, but it was changed out to a J1772 adaptor. Should be a 70amp charger there... Do you remember about what your average watt hours per mile ended up being for the round trip?

I charged at the Blaine Tesla HPC location on the way there and back - it was a fast charger with a J1772 connection. On my both of my arrivals, it was available. I will post my trip energy charge and usage calculations soon. That will show you more details.

As for average Wh/mi for the entire trip, it was 364 Wh/mi with 295.8 miles traveled and 107.6 kWh consumed.

- - - Updated - - -

I am sure Tesla has international roaming disabled. Remember, this is their dime (for now) and they aren't stupid. If its our plan (as it will be when the freebie runs out), we will have to pay that million dollars a minute.

That is my theory too - that they disabled data roaming. I am sure they will allow that to be turned on when we have to pay for it. Just for a frame of reference, I had a work issue crop up and I turned on data roaming on my iPad and I racked up US$150 of data charges with Verizon.

 

[Qualchan]

I'm curious of what you thought of the lack of on-board maps once you left 3G coverage, Mr. Lau. I'd thought the Tech Package was supposed to have stored maps with the Nav feature. It did continue to give you turn-by-turn, though. Oh, and you're probably one of the first owners to visit another country in his Model S. Isn't there a "Firsts" thread on this forum?

 

[Francis Lau]

I'm curious of what you thought of the lack of on-board maps once you left 3G coverage, Mr. Lau. I'd thought the Tech Package was supposed to have stored maps with the Nav feature. It did continue to give you turn-by-turn, though. Oh, and you're probably one of the first owners to visit another country in his Model S. Isn't there a "Firsts" thread on this forum?

It was fine not having Google maps shown on the center console. The turn-by-turn was good enough. The Tech package has offline turn-by-turn maps; not Google maps.

I don't think I am first to drive my Model S to another country, I know of Canadian Model S going into the US and vice versa in the past 2 months. Maybe someone will break the Roadster record of number of days around the world; it will not be me though

 

[EcoHeliGuy]

I thought their warranty stated if you leave the country with your Model S that it voids the warranty? (sorry to be the debbie downer lol) I assume the reason their warranty says that is because different countries have different power voltages etc and that it could damage the car if plugged in. I haven't been to Canada since I was like 10 yrs so so I have no idea what their power is like. Is it the same as U.S. or is it like European countries? Can you plug a U.S. Model S into a different power source like that? I would assume the built-in chargers are different in the U.S. vs European model S for that reason. Or is Tesla ok with going between U.S. and Canada and the warranty will stay intact? Please enlighten me

Aw come on, Canada has the exact same power as the US.
Weird your 3G didn't work, we're using AT&T here too but they don't operate in Canada!
Try suncountryhighway.ca they have a system if chargers set up. They have chargers in the Burnaby area.

We export all of that green power you guys use, of course our plugs and electronics are the same. :biggrin:

I'm curious of what you thought of the lack of on-board maps once you left 3G coverage, Mr. Lau. I'd thought the Tech Package was supposed to have stored maps with the Nav feature. It did continue to give you turn-by-turn, though. Oh, and you're probably one of the first owners to visit another country in his Model S. Isn't there a "Firsts" thread on this forum?

Notice in his picture, he still has maps on the dash display. Just not in the google maps web based system on the console.

 

[Francis Lau]

Here is more details on charging and energy gained.

Note that the "miles per hour" number is what is shown on the car display and not calculated.

In summary:

1. I charged for a total of 351 rated miles (excluding the 15 miles remaining when I arrived home)

2. I traveled 296 miles

3. There is a difference of 70 miles between rated versus actual; actual was about 16% lower than rated

4. With the Blaine HPC and Richmond being my wife's favorite weekend trip spot, I wish I bought the dual charger. I will ask Tesla tomorrow if I can add one at a reasonable cost or maybe we will get a Supercharger at Bellingham or Vancouver BC soon???

 

[Qualchan]

It was fine not having Google maps shown on the center console. The turn-by-turn was good enough. The Tech package has offline turn-by-turn maps; not Google maps.

I don't think I am first to drive my Model S to another country, I know of Canadian Model S going into the US and vice versa in the past 2 months. Maybe someone will break the Roadster record of number of days around the world; it will not be me though

Oh, thanks for your reply. I see the stored Nav maps on the console now. I was distracted by the 17" display's featureless map that had a ghostly turn-by-turn.
A few other owners are also looking into having a twin charger retrofit. I hope you have success on that front.

 

[Vger]

Curious to know why the 3G cuts out when you cross the border. My understanding from some of the early Canadian owners is that their cars are actually roaming on a US AT&T network in Canada. Cell phones roam seamlessly back and forth. My current OnStar system (also cellular based) works seamlessly back and forth. I can only hope this is an early glitch in how Tesla set up their deals with the carriers and that it will be sorted out.

I confirm that our Canadian delivered car operates on 3G seamlessly across into the US. I suspect that Tesla did an asymmetric deal with AT&T. That is, since there are relatively few Canadian cars, it is not that expensive for them to turn on roaming for those cars so they work in Canada (roaming, actually, at "home" in Canada, native AT&T when in US). But the majority of cars, based in the US, do not have roaming privileges, so are out of luck in Canada.

In this case, it pays to be the little guy. :wink:

AS others have said, when we hopefully get to pick our own plans and install our own SIMs after the 3/12-month trials end, we can get N.A. plans (e.g., I have one from Rogers on my iPad). Anybody figured out or heard where the car's 3G modem is?

 

[Robert.Boston]

AS others have said, when we hopefully get to pick our own plans and install our own SIMs after the 3/12-month trials end, we can get N.A. plans (e.g., I have one from Rogers on my iPad). Anybody figured out or heard where the car's 3G modem is?

I recall reading that the SIM chip is deeply buried and not user-accessible. There's a lot of discussion about that over on the Model S connectivity thread, including a particularly good post re your last question, @Vger.

 

[mknox]

AS others have said, when we hopefully get to pick our own plans and install our own SIMs after the 3/12-month trials end, we can get N.A. plans (e.g., I have one from Rogers on my iPad). Anybody figured out or heard where the car's 3G modem is?

I was kinda hoping Tesla could follow the OnStar model and broker some sort of North American-wide deal on cellular services. In fairness, though, OnStar is likely only using a small amount of data for the car's diagnostics and telematics and a bit of voice for calls and talking to the OnStar advisor. Tesla, with its browser, Google maps and so forth is likely sucking down much more.

 

[jkirkebo]

It was fine not having Google maps shown on the center console. The turn-by-turn was good enough. The Tech package has offline turn-by-turn maps; not Google maps.

I'd prefer if we could use the harddrive to store offline Google maps. So before going on a round-trip in Europe, I'd just punch in the countries I'll visit and the car could download all the maps off the wifi at home.

 

[mknox]

I'd prefer if we could use the harddrive to store offline Google maps. So before going on a round-trip in Europe, I'd just punch in the countries I'll visit and the car could download all the maps off the wifi at home.

Personally, I never cared for nav systems with big top-down views anyway. I prefer the "view to the horizon" angle that most after-market nav devices (and the instrument cluster display on Model S) utilize. I also like how it shows which lane to be in at an exit and so forth.

As such, I'm wondering if, after you select your destination on the center touchscreen, and nav is running in the instrument cluster, can you shut down the map on the center screen? I may want to use nav, but have, say, power display and rear camera or audio controls on the center screen.

 

[Robert.Boston]

As such, I'm wondering if, after you select your destination on the center touchscreen, and nav is running in the instrument cluster, can you shut down the map on the center screen? I may want to use nav, but have, say, power display and rear camera or audio controls on the center screen.

Yes, the navigation works exactly as you describe. There is no need to keep the Nav app on the center console once you've started navigating.

 

[Kipernicus]

Here is more details on charging and energy gained.

View attachment 14260

Note that the "miles per hour" number is what is shown on the car display and not calculated.

In summary:

1. I charged for a total of 351 rated miles (excluding the 15 miles remaining when I arrived home)

2. I traveled 296 miles

3. There is a difference of 70 miles between rated versus actual; actual was about 16% lower than rated

4. With the Blaine HPC and Richmond being my wife's favorite weekend trip spot, I wish I bought the dual charger. I will ask Tesla tomorrow if I can add one at a reasonable cost or maybe we will get a Supercharger at Bellingham or Vancouver BC soon???

I found it interesting that when charging on the HPC you are only getting about 8.3kW (40*208). Why wouldn't the car draw something like 48A to get closer to 10kW?

 

[ElSupreme]

I found it interesting that when charging on the HPC you are only getting about 8.3kW (40*208). Why wouldn't the car draw something like 48A to get closer to 10kW?

I am pretty sure the single charger is actually current limited at 40A. As this is the driving factor for heat production and copper thickness requirements. The 10kW comes from 250V at 40A (which is the maximum voltage and current combined). The single charger can put out 10kW max, but has current and voltage maximums that can possibly lower the total power it can handle.

 

[DriverOne]

Bob --- Do you remember which hotel in Austin had the RV hookups? Thanks!

I was told they were running from dryer outlets, using extension cords.

 

[bob_p]

Then that won't help much. So I'm still looking for a reliable option for overnight charging at a hotel in Austin... Though it's probably still worth a call to a few hotels to see if any do offer RV hookups.

 

[dsm363]

Then that won't help much. So I'm still looking for a reliable option for overnight charging at a hotel in Austin... Though it's probably still worth a call to a few hotels to see if any do offer RV hookups.

Did you call the Hilton?