This weekend I took a road trip down Big Sur to meet up with some friends and do some camping. It involved some dirt roads and evtripper.com indicated that I should have enough charge to get there and back. I took it easy driving there, stopping in Gilroy to do a full range charge before heading on.
One thing I learned is that dirt roads use a lot more energy and I used a bit more power than I would have liked, even with the AC off and taking it easy while driving. On my way back it said I would have 5 miles left from Monterey to Gilroy but that's cutting it too close so I looked up chargers in Monterey. I found a place with a couple of Chargepoint chargers at a mall and stopped in there. There were two EV only parking spots. One was taken up by a leaf and the other by a Volt. The spot next to the Volt was free and the cable was quite long. I stood there fuming that an ICE vehicle was taking up an EV only spot for a while, especially since there was a good chance I wouldn't make it to the Supercharger if I didn't top up some. To make a long story short, I unplugged the charger from the Volt (which set off its car alarm) and charged for an hour (18 miles/hour). The owner of the Volt never returned by the time I had enough charge or I would have politely explained that those spots are reserved for those who need it.
Anyway, I made it to Gilroy with 8 miles to spare and did a full charge. While charging a family pulled in next to me and their model S was as dirty as mine was. They also drove over a bunch of dirt roads and arrived with 2 miles to spare!
I think Tesla really needs to think about adding chargers along some of the more scenic routes like Highway 1.
I also need to get some note paper and a pen for my car. I would have left a nice note for the owner of the Volt explaining why they were unplugged. Had I not done that I likely may not have made it to the Gilroy Supercharger. I'm not really sure plugging a Volt into a Chargepoint charger that charges $0.49/KWh makes much sense since gasoline is cheaper.
One thing I learned is that dirt roads use a lot more energy and I used a bit more power than I would have liked, even with the AC off and taking it easy while driving. On my way back it said I would have 5 miles left from Monterey to Gilroy but that's cutting it too close so I looked up chargers in Monterey. I found a place with a couple of Chargepoint chargers at a mall and stopped in there. There were two EV only parking spots. One was taken up by a leaf and the other by a Volt. The spot next to the Volt was free and the cable was quite long. I stood there fuming that an ICE vehicle was taking up an EV only spot for a while, especially since there was a good chance I wouldn't make it to the Supercharger if I didn't top up some. To make a long story short, I unplugged the charger from the Volt (which set off its car alarm) and charged for an hour (18 miles/hour). The owner of the Volt never returned by the time I had enough charge or I would have politely explained that those spots are reserved for those who need it.
Anyway, I made it to Gilroy with 8 miles to spare and did a full charge. While charging a family pulled in next to me and their model S was as dirty as mine was. They also drove over a bunch of dirt roads and arrived with 2 miles to spare!
I think Tesla really needs to think about adding chargers along some of the more scenic routes like Highway 1.
I also need to get some note paper and a pen for my car. I would have left a nice note for the owner of the Volt explaining why they were unplugged. Had I not done that I likely may not have made it to the Gilroy Supercharger. I'm not really sure plugging a Volt into a Chargepoint charger that charges $0.49/KWh makes much sense since gasoline is cheaper.