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Worst moment since owning my S

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David99

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Jan 31, 2014
5,508
9,333
Nomad (mostly US)
Excited to drive my S back to California from Minnesota I picked the south route to avoid snow in Colorado. Turns out it started snowing as I was going through Oklahoma and Texas. Road conditions turned bad quickly but I was able to make it to Shamrock Supercharger. Of course no one there bothers to plow snow. As I was trying to get from the road to the lot I got stuck in the snow. Awesome! 2 am and I'm digging with my bare hands to get the car out. An hour later I'm back on the street. I try a different spot and I get stuck again! A friendly police officer helped me but as I'm getting the car out he told me the entire town is out of power so I'm out of luck charging.
I call Tesla to see what they can do. They try to help me find alternative chargers but there is nothing that I could reach with the 80 miles I had left.
I decided to stay the night and hope for power the next morning. But nothing. Called Tesla again. This time they offer to send a tow truck. But 10 min later they call me and tell me no tow company would take the job as the freeway is closed due to snow and ice and back roads are too risky.

So here I am, stuck in Shamrock, not even a single restaurant is open. 37 miles left, no where to go and no where to charge in 26 degree and crazy cold winds.

I suggested to Tesla to send a generator truck out...

Even when power comes back up, I'm not sure I can get to the actual stalls without getting stuck again.
 
Sorry to hear about your problems. Hopefully you'll be on your way again soon. Did you look at Plugshare? I see there are several places with 14-50 outlets within 80 miles of Shamrock. Did you happen to bring your UMC along?

Maybe next time, don't be so quick to avoid Colorado. They actually plow the roads here! While they do have to close parts of I-70 from time to time, I've never been stuck anywhere in the 20+ years that I've been in Colorado.
 
No consolation, but, ICE cars usually can't refuel without electricity either (most stations do not have backup generators).

Lets be real here. Unless it is a huge blackout and a large area, you can continue to drive your car to the next town and until Super Chargers are nearly ubiquitous as gas stations isolated events like this will occur. I love EV's but problems like this, not matter how rare, will do a lot of damage to the reputation of them being viable long distance vehicle. What a horrible situation for the OP.
 
Hope everything works out well for you. Would this have occurred if the vehicle was dual-motor (70D, 85D, 90D)? I've had my 60 S since March 2013 and it is also RWD. Have skidded a number of times in snow and many times had to use the front-wheel drive mini-van instead of the MS. Is the AWD (dual-motor) that much more significant in snow?
 
Lets be real here. Unless it is a huge blackout and a large area, you can continue to drive your car to the next town and until Super Chargers are nearly ubiquitous as gas stations isolated events like this will occur. I love EV's but problems like this, not matter how rare, will do a lot of damage to the reputation of them being viable long distance vehicle. What a horrible situation for the OP.

Good point. Although, when I had an ICE, I always waited until I was past empty before I would refuel. About 6 months before I bought my 1st Tesla, we had a power outage that lasted for 5 days, so we had to drive about 5 miles to refuel (I know, big deal).
 
Yes the gas stations are closed too, but it's easy to drive to the next town and get gas there and then be good for another 400 miles.
Everything I tried that I could reach had no power last night nor today. Driving around and looking for options and sitting here for hours drained the battery down to 30 miles now. Not even a 110 I can use. But again, even when power comes back up before I'm totally empty, getting to the stalls is not possible without doing some major shoveling. And I don't have a shovel with me. I have clients flying in from Canada that I have to cancel now.
 
Wow that's really too bad. If the freeway is closed, you're stuck regardless of vehicle. Still, I'd rather have an ICE in that circumstance. Why don't we find a Tesla owner in your area and have them let you stay with them and charge at their place when the power comes on. Any locals there?
 
You should have asked Tesla to do what they've done in CA when a Supercharger site was down, which is to arrange for a tow truck to carry you to the next Supercharger.
They tried:

"Called Tesla again. This time they offer to send a tow truck. But 10 min later they call me and tell me no tow company would take the job as the freeway is closed due to snow and ice and back roads are too risky."
 
Seriously, if conditions are that bad and you don't have winter tires it is dangerous to go any further. I would suggest holing up in a cozy motel and wait for the weather to clear and the power to come back on.

The weather can be dangerous and snow storms are among the real killers. Don't take chances
 
. This time they offer to send a tow truck. But 10 min later they call me and tell me no tow company would take the job as the freeway is closed due to snow and ice and back roads are too risky.

So here I am, stuck in Shamrock, not even a single restaurant is open. 37 miles left, no where to go and no where to charge in 26 degree and crazy cold winds.

It seems to me like the snowstorm is the part you should be worried about, not the Superchargers. With the interstate closed you'd likely be stuck in an ICE, too - and according to plugshare there are some options nearby, depending on how extensive the blackout is (and how safe the roads are - really a hotel for a couple nights might be the wisest choice no matter what car you're driving right now - and if they get power back even a 110V line over a couple nights would help a lot.)

Plugshare shows an RV Park on the south edge of Shamrock with 14-50 outlets (if they're outside the blackout,) a travel center 28 miles further down I-40 with 14-50 outlets (but I don't know how widespread the blackout is, and you said the road was closed,) and also a park ~15 miles south on 83 advertising 14-50 availability.
Walter
 
I was able to pull into the lot and plug in. The power company said they will have service back up at 11 am. I called them at noon LOL
The blizzard is indeed historical and the conditions have nothing to do with Tesla. I'm not blaming them or anyone. It's just a very unfortunate situation for anyone to be in. Being in an EV just makes it extra bad. Once you are down on your battery, you can't just drive to another gas station or have someone bring you gas. The problem with having one charger every 100 miles means each station is absolutely vital. If one fails you are stuck. If you run out of gas, it's trivia to have someone bring a canister.
Btw, I got on the I40 before it was closed. It was scary! I passed many cars that slid in the ditches. The wind blew across the road like I have never seen in my life. Black ice everywhere. At anything over 20 kW the traction control kicked in. But amazing how well the Model S behaves!

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