Hi All:
So Deb & Dan's big adventure entails travel from Peterborough NH to West Palm Springs FL in their new Model S -- with a stop over in Morehead City NC.
Day 1: All went well. Our destination was the Darien CT SC. We probably could have made it but there -- with 2 or 3 rated miles left on the car! Not for me. So we decided to stop at the Milford SC for some insurance miles. Best I could get from the charger was 50kw -- it's probably an older charger. We were off after about 20 mins and got a full charge in Darien. No problem at Darien and we got the full 110kw zap from the charger! They also have 2 Chademos there. Funny thing - there was someone with a Leaf who was having problems with the Chademo. Being curious about these things, I decided to give him a hand a see what kind of G2 I could discover about the car and charger. We couldn't get it started. It didn't seem to be powered on for whatever reason. Turns out this person had the Leaf for just a few days and wasn't very happy. He said that in the cold weather he barely got half the rated miles and had to turn the heating off which blew cold air down on his feet! Ugh. I'm guessing it's probably because he's unfamiliar with the car because it's hard to believe the cold cut the rate that much - there must have been something wrong somewhere we couldn't figure out. So after 45 mins we where off to the Newark Delaware SC. Got there and juiced it for only 20 mins cause we where staying with friends nearby.
Day 2: Spent an enjoyable evening with our friends and headed back to the Newark SC the next day for a full charge. The best we could do was 50kw charge. Only thing I could think was that the battery was cold and the charger lowered the wattage to protect the battery. The service center at Newark is very clean, comfortable and well maintained with some nice amenities and eateries. We where off after about 45 mins charging headed for Glen Allen VA. Decided to take route 301 thru Delaware to avoid the DC traffic. Decided to stop in White Plains DE for some insurance miles and have lunch at the Prime St Grill. Great food and nice people there. There have 2 Charge Point chargers that worked quite well. Moved on to Glen Allen and hung out at Panera's and Barnes & Noble while we got a full charge. There are alot of stores there to keep anybody occupied. We then veered off to Kitty Hawk which we usually visit each year on our way to the Outer Banks. I had located an RV camp ground near Kill Devil Hill. When I called a couple of days in advance, they told me to just give them a buzz when I was nearby. Unfortunately they had a freak snow storm at the beginning of the week so the entrance was obstructed with snow, Yikes!! Luckily they're located directly next to a Holiday Inn Express which faces the back of the RV park. So they where good enough to have their maintenance man meet me in the back where I fed the Tesla charging cable thru the fence!! The cord length was plenty long enough. Sandy and Terry saved the day because we only had 35 rated miles left. If you're planning a trip there, check out the RV park and the Holiday Inn Express. And to gild the lily, our favorite restaurant, the Black Pelican is 100 yards from the hotel. We had a wonderful meal and charged overnight.
Day 3: Started with a full charge to Morehead City. We decided to take the Ferry route instead of the land route. It's a beautiful ride along the sea coast and since it's so flat we where getting better than rated miles. Tes had no problems with the ferries and rolled into Beaufort early enough to eat at anther one of our favorite restaurants Aqua. We got to Atlantic Beach with about 90 rated miles left. Our friends live across the river and I'll will have to install a 220/40 amp circuit there which is a snap for me at this point. Unfortunately there are not very many places to charge in this area! Will have to try and promote EV's down here.
Will hang out here for a couple of weeks before we head down to West Palm Beach.
Stay tuned!
Ciao
So Deb & Dan's big adventure entails travel from Peterborough NH to West Palm Springs FL in their new Model S -- with a stop over in Morehead City NC.
Day 1: All went well. Our destination was the Darien CT SC. We probably could have made it but there -- with 2 or 3 rated miles left on the car! Not for me. So we decided to stop at the Milford SC for some insurance miles. Best I could get from the charger was 50kw -- it's probably an older charger. We were off after about 20 mins and got a full charge in Darien. No problem at Darien and we got the full 110kw zap from the charger! They also have 2 Chademos there. Funny thing - there was someone with a Leaf who was having problems with the Chademo. Being curious about these things, I decided to give him a hand a see what kind of G2 I could discover about the car and charger. We couldn't get it started. It didn't seem to be powered on for whatever reason. Turns out this person had the Leaf for just a few days and wasn't very happy. He said that in the cold weather he barely got half the rated miles and had to turn the heating off which blew cold air down on his feet! Ugh. I'm guessing it's probably because he's unfamiliar with the car because it's hard to believe the cold cut the rate that much - there must have been something wrong somewhere we couldn't figure out. So after 45 mins we where off to the Newark Delaware SC. Got there and juiced it for only 20 mins cause we where staying with friends nearby.
Day 2: Spent an enjoyable evening with our friends and headed back to the Newark SC the next day for a full charge. The best we could do was 50kw charge. Only thing I could think was that the battery was cold and the charger lowered the wattage to protect the battery. The service center at Newark is very clean, comfortable and well maintained with some nice amenities and eateries. We where off after about 45 mins charging headed for Glen Allen VA. Decided to take route 301 thru Delaware to avoid the DC traffic. Decided to stop in White Plains DE for some insurance miles and have lunch at the Prime St Grill. Great food and nice people there. There have 2 Charge Point chargers that worked quite well. Moved on to Glen Allen and hung out at Panera's and Barnes & Noble while we got a full charge. There are alot of stores there to keep anybody occupied. We then veered off to Kitty Hawk which we usually visit each year on our way to the Outer Banks. I had located an RV camp ground near Kill Devil Hill. When I called a couple of days in advance, they told me to just give them a buzz when I was nearby. Unfortunately they had a freak snow storm at the beginning of the week so the entrance was obstructed with snow, Yikes!! Luckily they're located directly next to a Holiday Inn Express which faces the back of the RV park. So they where good enough to have their maintenance man meet me in the back where I fed the Tesla charging cable thru the fence!! The cord length was plenty long enough. Sandy and Terry saved the day because we only had 35 rated miles left. If you're planning a trip there, check out the RV park and the Holiday Inn Express. And to gild the lily, our favorite restaurant, the Black Pelican is 100 yards from the hotel. We had a wonderful meal and charged overnight.
Day 3: Started with a full charge to Morehead City. We decided to take the Ferry route instead of the land route. It's a beautiful ride along the sea coast and since it's so flat we where getting better than rated miles. Tes had no problems with the ferries and rolled into Beaufort early enough to eat at anther one of our favorite restaurants Aqua. We got to Atlantic Beach with about 90 rated miles left. Our friends live across the river and I'll will have to install a 220/40 amp circuit there which is a snap for me at this point. Unfortunately there are not very many places to charge in this area! Will have to try and promote EV's down here.
Will hang out here for a couple of weeks before we head down to West Palm Beach.
Stay tuned!
Ciao