We just had an interesting encounter at the Gilroy Supercharger.
We were returning from a long weekend in Santa Barbara and stopped for a top off at Gilroy before getting home. As we drove in there was a Silver P85 with Michigan plates just pulled into the Supercharger, but at one of the two old slow ones.
I went to the far end and plugged in to start charging and we got out to stroll over to the bathrooms. So I went over to the car where the guy had plugged in - one was in the drivers seat and his passenger was peering in through the door.
At the same time there was an Audi A7 pulled in the other side of the lot, and the two guys were out and filming the P85.
I went up to the driver and said that he was on the slowest charger and he would be better off at the other end where I was plugged in (there were no other cars there). The two guys had their phones out and were talking and looked quite shocked when I started talking, but mumbled back that he was sure they would get a full charge.
At the same time my wife started talking to the 'tourists' doing the filming and the older German gentleman started talking about how much he like the Red and that it was multicoat and looked good in the sun.
So we strolled off and came back around 10 minutes later. They had moved the car down next to mine and all 4 guys were now standing talking in front of our car.
We started talking about our trip and they said they were driving down the coast tomorrow and it became evident thay were all together, so:
"Are you on a tour doing sightseeing?"
"Testing"
"Testing what, the Tesla?"
"Yes"
"Who for, yourselves?"
"A Company"
At that exact moment an A4 drove up and parked next to the A7. Both had Colorado plates and the A4 had 2 PC screens built onto the dash! So:
"What kind of company?"
"A car company"
"Perhaps Audi?"
He laughed and nodded "Might be..."
So we then had a long talk - basically questions and answers - would you buy another Tesla? I mentioned we had done more miles in the Tesla since we got it, as we love driving trips so much - so:
"Ever had trouble on a driving trip?" I mentioned a problem Supercharging and how Tesla had read the logs, diagnosed the issue (cooling fan) and told us it was safe to drive home, then fixed it a couple of days later.
"What about Range Anxiety?" We talked about the first long trip - I had a spreadsheet, now I just aim at the next SC and don't worry. They talked about the lack of infrastructure in Germany - I mentioned that Tesla was building a very viable Supercharger network there!
All very friendly and interesting - so if you see a Silver P85 and two Audis at Atascadero tomorrow or around, say hi and how much you like Tesla!
A couple of thoughts in closing - the P85 had Michigan plates, and all the guys said they were from Germany or Colorado, yet it really looked like their first ever Supercharger experience - could the MS be a factory loaner and they had just driven it down from Fremont or Palo Alto?
We were returning from a long weekend in Santa Barbara and stopped for a top off at Gilroy before getting home. As we drove in there was a Silver P85 with Michigan plates just pulled into the Supercharger, but at one of the two old slow ones.
I went to the far end and plugged in to start charging and we got out to stroll over to the bathrooms. So I went over to the car where the guy had plugged in - one was in the drivers seat and his passenger was peering in through the door.
At the same time there was an Audi A7 pulled in the other side of the lot, and the two guys were out and filming the P85.
I went up to the driver and said that he was on the slowest charger and he would be better off at the other end where I was plugged in (there were no other cars there). The two guys had their phones out and were talking and looked quite shocked when I started talking, but mumbled back that he was sure they would get a full charge.
At the same time my wife started talking to the 'tourists' doing the filming and the older German gentleman started talking about how much he like the Red and that it was multicoat and looked good in the sun.
So we strolled off and came back around 10 minutes later. They had moved the car down next to mine and all 4 guys were now standing talking in front of our car.
We started talking about our trip and they said they were driving down the coast tomorrow and it became evident thay were all together, so:
"Are you on a tour doing sightseeing?"
"Testing"
"Testing what, the Tesla?"
"Yes"
"Who for, yourselves?"
"A Company"
At that exact moment an A4 drove up and parked next to the A7. Both had Colorado plates and the A4 had 2 PC screens built onto the dash! So:
"What kind of company?"
"A car company"
"Perhaps Audi?"
He laughed and nodded "Might be..."
So we then had a long talk - basically questions and answers - would you buy another Tesla? I mentioned we had done more miles in the Tesla since we got it, as we love driving trips so much - so:
"Ever had trouble on a driving trip?" I mentioned a problem Supercharging and how Tesla had read the logs, diagnosed the issue (cooling fan) and told us it was safe to drive home, then fixed it a couple of days later.
"What about Range Anxiety?" We talked about the first long trip - I had a spreadsheet, now I just aim at the next SC and don't worry. They talked about the lack of infrastructure in Germany - I mentioned that Tesla was building a very viable Supercharger network there!
All very friendly and interesting - so if you see a Silver P85 and two Audis at Atascadero tomorrow or around, say hi and how much you like Tesla!
A couple of thoughts in closing - the P85 had Michigan plates, and all the guys said they were from Germany or Colorado, yet it really looked like their first ever Supercharger experience - could the MS be a factory loaner and they had just driven it down from Fremont or Palo Alto?
