Midnight run to Greenville to rescue the Tesla 

"j250ex" (j250ex) 04/25/2015 at 18:30 • Filed to: None

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My grandfather purchased a white Telsa P85D a few months ago and so far he has been enjoying the car immensely. He loves the way it drives and handles the joys of electric car ownership. However i still don’t think he’s figured it out quite yet. Let me explain. Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my grandfather asking me if “I would call up Tesla and ask them to find him the nearest charging station”. Thinking he must have been close to home I named off a few that were close by. Apparently that wasn’t the case. He had driven his Telsa to Greenville, South Carolina and didn’t think he had enough range to make it home. (Don’t ask me why he was up there. The man likes to drive I guess.) I pulled up his car on the tesla app and saw that yes he only had 3o miles left and yep he was in Greenville, South Carolina. A solid 150 miles away from his home in Atlanta. For a man that drives one of the most technically advanced cars on the planet the man isn’t very tech savvy. He doesn’t have Plugshare and doesn’t know how to use the mapping feature in his car. After a few minutes of back and forth I found him a charge station at a local hotel and the charge would take a little over 8 hours to completely fill up the car.

Since I had nothing better to do that afternoon and I had been itching to drive the Telsa I decided to drive up to Greenville and trade out cars. He would drive my car home and I would wait for the Tesla to finish charging. On my drive up I pulled up the plugshare app and found a local campground that had a 50amp plug and they agreed to let me use a 50 amp plug for the evening.

Even with the higher amp rate I was still in for long wait. It was 150 miles back to Atlanta and I estimated the car needed at least 3-4 hours of charging before I would even attempt to drive back. So I settled in at the campground and made quick friends with the residents who were quick to strike up a conversation about my interesting situation. After a few lovely hours of chatting and swapping stories I felt confident enough that I would at least be able to make it a quick charge point at an outlet mall 80 miles away. The car said I had enough range for 120 miles but I felt best not to risk it. Before I started I plugged in my address into the car and the car mapped a route for me and told me whether or not I could make it. It wasn’t a good sign. According to the car I would need 5% more battery than what i had in order to make it home. Not a huge deal because I planned on stopping anyway. To maximize range I turned off the AC and all the non essentials and drove back a steady 60 mph with nothing but the sunroof open. I had driven the Telsa before but this was my first time really spending time behind the wheel. Let me say the Telsa really is unlike anything I have driven before. Its extremely comfortable and eerily quite. Driving back I had adaptive cruise on and a truck stopped quickly in front of me. The car slowed itself completely down without me touching a thing and when the truck sped up so did the Tesla. When another car would approach from the back the car would warn me of their presence and again when they passed. It really is some cool stuff.

As i continued my journey I noticed the cars range was steady climbing. When I had began the car said I would be 5% short to make it home. This number was dropping and my range was climbing. I figured out later that the Tesla predicts your driving style and adjusts the range accordingly. I guess since I was on a hyper mile run the car was adjusting to my style. I decided against stopping at the outlet mall and continued on my journey home. The car said I would be close but I decided to give it a shot.

As I reached closer to my destination I began to worry less about running out of battery. The car was claiming I had over 5% of what I needed to make it home. When i entered the garage that night I still had 10% of my battery left and enough to drive 26 more miles. This car really is amazing.

MLGCarGuy > j250ex 04/25/2015 at 18:38

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P85D? Time to test that insane mode.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > j250ex 04/25/2015 at 18:40

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So I take it insane mode wasn’t used at any part of the journey?

j250ex > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 04/25/2015 at 18:49

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I think the insane mode is what caused his range to go down so quickly. I tried it a few times before. The acceleration really is insane!

mazda616 > j250ex 04/25/2015 at 19:14

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Truly one of my dream cars! They're amazing.

deekster_caddy > j250ex 04/25/2015 at 19:25

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Nice rescue! Awesome car. And yeah, he definitely needs to be more aware of range limitations. This story is exactly the reason I love my Volt so much.

Problem solved!

CaptDale - is secretly British > MLGCarGuy 04/25/2015 at 19:41

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We require the videos of this, REQUIRE!

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > j250ex 04/25/2015 at 23:23

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Car stops and starts for you and lets you know about other cars around you?

Exactly why i dont want one. We have goddamn eyes and mirrors for a reason.

*rant

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 06/15/2015 at 17:37

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ghost650 > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 06/19/2015 at 18:11

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I feel like the *reason* we have eyes has nothing to do with automobiles. The presence of sensors on your car has nothing to do with your ability to use your mirrors.

SavageBeard > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 19:11

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Cool story. Thx for sharing.

I have liked Teslas since the roadster. Im pretty sure if i ever got 1 i would put a have a generator in it...just in case. The car is already heavy as the hulks balls. But than again have first aid kits, fire extinguishers and a bag full of goodies in my cars

Wolfman > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 19:30

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I lust for this car. I will someday have one, even if I have to buy it used. This is a dream car.

Jon > deekster_caddy 06/19/2015 at 19:35

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True today but in a few years i would expect charging stations to be as ubiquitous as gas stations

HeyYouGuys > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 19:46

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Wow, adaptive cruise that slows down and a fuel economy computer that adjusts range for your driving style? Just like a $30k Mazda6.

Really can't get over how many people gush about features on a Tesla as if they invented them.

mad.anthony > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 20:02

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So you were going to stop at an outlet mall... to use an outlet?

Z4M > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 20:43

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S8, M5, S63, do not have this issue. If I'm paying 120k plus for a car, I don't want to have to be a guinea pig. The whole point of being rich and affording nice things in life is to minimize inconvenience and this car does the complete opposite.

Rick Allen's Left Arm > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 20:51

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“This car really is amazing.”

Amazing would be some way to drive as much as you want and not require spending 4 hours at the FamCamp just to make it home.

samssun > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 21:39

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This should be titled: Midnight Tesla to Georgia

deekster_caddy > Jon 06/19/2015 at 23:02

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Maybe so, but battery swap stations and lots of them are the only thing that will get an EV close to the flexibility I have with the Volt. I drove my Volt 1500 miles in 24 hours last year, no other EV can do that. I hope you are right, though. I’ve only charged away from home 3 times in over two years.

Jon > deekster_caddy 06/19/2015 at 23:20

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I don’t think battery swap will ever be practical. tesla is dropping their battery swap and is adding liquid cooling to the superchargers for even faster charge times.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > j250ex 06/19/2015 at 23:33

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Thanks for the report! A fellow at church has a P85 and said he would take me for a ride but only if I agreed to drive. Cool, eh?

j250ex > Z4M 06/20/2015 at 00:45

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Maybe so. I can’t afford anything you just listed but from my experience being around this car is it gets more attention that anything you just listed. Grandfather owns a continental gt and when we’re out riding in that no one really bats an eye. Tesla gets looks everywhere it goes. Actually have been in restaurants and people have come up and asked about the car and the driving dynamics. I’m sure that happens to Ferrari guys all the time but an electric car? Probably not.

gkwilly > j250ex 06/20/2015 at 07:44

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Why are most electrics so dorky? The Tesla S is a really nice looking car, the Volt is ok only because it is completely bland, but most everything else is downright ugly. Including the i3—what the heck was BMW thinking, considering the other good looking cars in their stable?

LongbowMkII > Z4M 06/20/2015 at 08:07

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because filling up at a gas station every 300 miles isn’t inconvenient.

mfennell > SavageBeard 06/20/2015 at 10:07

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Any generator you can reasonably carry will be useless for charging a car. Think 3-4mi/hr charge rate with a 2000w generator hooked up to a Model S.

Z4M > LongbowMkII 06/20/2015 at 10:24

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Filling up takes 4 minutes and for your info the Audi s8 has a range of roughly 600 miles, very convenient.

LongbowMkII > Z4M 06/20/2015 at 10:28

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and you have to do it next to plebians. very inconvenient.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > j250ex 06/20/2015 at 14:18

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The car sounds interesting but the infrastructure shortfall and the charging wait time kill it for me.

Now I think it’s great that Tesla made this great car and put out the infrastructure to support it, and it’s another choice for the market - and that is a really great thing. However, as a taxpayer I’m pissed. How much taxpayer money has been spent to subsidize Tesla and the other electric cars there still not ready for prime time?

Nauraushaun > Z4M 06/20/2015 at 23:27

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So it’s not for you. It is for some people.

not_sure > j250ex 06/20/2015 at 23:34

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No one cares in California about Teslas, they’re pretty common here. As are continental GTs when you’re in Irvine or Newport Beach.

not_sure > Z4M 06/20/2015 at 23:34

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In California and elsewhere, they also afford you the ability to drive the HOV lane with only the driver..

Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger > j250ex 06/22/2015 at 10:16

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This was fascinating to read. I’m interested in trying to get a used on in 2 years for my wife. I still don’t think I’ll be able to afford it but would like to try. 95% of her driving is in town. It makes so much more sense. Plus where I live it’s $0.08 per kWh.

StalePhish > MLGCarGuy 06/25/2015 at 09:58

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It is pretty hilarious that his grandfather has the P85D instead of something I assume would be more practical to him like the 70D, not to mention half the cost! I get the feeling that he’s not the type to use Insane mode if he hasn’t bothered to figure out the other gadgets and wizardry inside.