I did not see a topic for this, so I thought I would start one. Certainly the Yosemite thread is a great road trip, http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/tesla-roadster/2777-yosemite.html, but I thought we should have a continuing thread on interesting road trips.
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I took an interesting Road Trip in my Tesla yesterday. From my house in Boulder, CO to the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, the round trip is 130 miles. This was an easy one charge out and back. Trail Ridge Road is the highest, paved, pass road in the U.S., and tops out at a little over 12,100 ft MSL.
See Rocky Mountain/Trail Ridge Pics for some pictures of the outing.
As I have found from other outings into the mountains, the regen on the Tesla is pretty good and round trips tend to get average W-Hr/mi numbers. If you look at Trip Stats, you can see my summary. I think that the reason for the high energy usage on the high altitude segment (#3) was from the need to run the heat and defrost as the temperatures dropped to 33˚ F. and the snow was flying.
On the way down, the continued, low W-Hr/Mi gave me my best yet range number on half a battery. See Great Range for the picture my passenger snapped during the descent.
Because of the conditions, I did not get to try out the performance of 245 ponies at altitude.
As expected, the traction of the high performance tires was very poor on icy roads. On one straight stretch of road with no one close, I gently tried the brakes; the anti-lock engaged amazingly quickly. After that test, I drove even more conservatively until all snow and ice disappeared from the road surface. On the other hand, I did not have any trouble with wet roads, although I did not push it either.
My biggest disappointment was with the defroster performance. The heater/defrost function seemed to be able to produce plenty of heat, but the air was not directed well. I was running with full heat, max fan, no recirculation, and all defrost, and I got to see things like this, Poor Defrost Performance The drivers side would sort of clear, and the passenger side never cleared completely. The biggest problem was that the sides of the windshield never cleared and just got more condensation. Also, the side windows in front of the rear view mirrors never cleared. I would hate to be out on a really cold, snowy night in this car, and will make it a point not to do so.
My next high altitude outing will be to Mt Evans Highway; the road up Mt Evans is the highest paved road in North America. It looks to be another 130 mile round trip, but this time up to 14,240 ft MSL and should be a lot of fun! After the snowy, cloudy drive up Trail Ridge, I will be waiting for a nice, clear, sunny morning for that trip.
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I took an interesting Road Trip in my Tesla yesterday. From my house in Boulder, CO to the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, the round trip is 130 miles. This was an easy one charge out and back. Trail Ridge Road is the highest, paved, pass road in the U.S., and tops out at a little over 12,100 ft MSL.
See Rocky Mountain/Trail Ridge Pics for some pictures of the outing.
As I have found from other outings into the mountains, the regen on the Tesla is pretty good and round trips tend to get average W-Hr/mi numbers. If you look at Trip Stats, you can see my summary. I think that the reason for the high energy usage on the high altitude segment (#3) was from the need to run the heat and defrost as the temperatures dropped to 33˚ F. and the snow was flying.
On the way down, the continued, low W-Hr/Mi gave me my best yet range number on half a battery. See Great Range for the picture my passenger snapped during the descent.
Because of the conditions, I did not get to try out the performance of 245 ponies at altitude.
As expected, the traction of the high performance tires was very poor on icy roads. On one straight stretch of road with no one close, I gently tried the brakes; the anti-lock engaged amazingly quickly. After that test, I drove even more conservatively until all snow and ice disappeared from the road surface. On the other hand, I did not have any trouble with wet roads, although I did not push it either.
My biggest disappointment was with the defroster performance. The heater/defrost function seemed to be able to produce plenty of heat, but the air was not directed well. I was running with full heat, max fan, no recirculation, and all defrost, and I got to see things like this, Poor Defrost Performance The drivers side would sort of clear, and the passenger side never cleared completely. The biggest problem was that the sides of the windshield never cleared and just got more condensation. Also, the side windows in front of the rear view mirrors never cleared. I would hate to be out on a really cold, snowy night in this car, and will make it a point not to do so.
My next high altitude outing will be to Mt Evans Highway; the road up Mt Evans is the highest paved road in North America. It looks to be another 130 mile round trip, but this time up to 14,240 ft MSL and should be a lot of fun! After the snowy, cloudy drive up Trail Ridge, I will be waiting for a nice, clear, sunny morning for that trip.
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