There were three of us in my Model S, enjoying a fall foliage tour of the Colorado high country, when I heard the 'dreaded clunk' and found myself guiding a glider to the side of the road last week. I'd just stepped on the accelerator to pass on a two-lane highway in the Arkansas River canyon north of Buena Vista when it happened: a loud clunk, instantaneous loss of power, and a bevy of alarms and warnings going off, all in the space of a second or two.
There was no cell service in the canyon, of course, so I chocked the wheels, turned off the climate control, put the car in jack mode, had my passengers open their doors and set out the hazard triangle back up the road a piece. Told my passengers to sit tight, stuck my thumb out, and the seventh car that passed us headed back into town stopped for me. Wouldn't you know it: it's a guy driving a Volt. Real nice guy, hadn't even noticed mine was a Tesla, but we both got a good laugh out of it as he drove me back to the first place with enough cell service to get a connection.
I called TM and punched in roadside assistance, but languished on hold too long, so I called my service center in Denver directly. Once we'd exchanged enough information to formulate a plan I had my Good Sam drive me back to the car, where we loaded Marcia and my sister into the back of the Volt (cozy) and headed for town. Bear (our high-tech mountain-man savior) dropped us at a local hotel and we settled in to wait for the flatbed that Denver SC had dispatched from a couple of hours away in Breckenridge, the closest outfit that they were confident understood Model S well enough to deal with any problems that might arise.
The failure happened around 2:30pm; by 5:15 the tow truck had picked us up (it had a crew cab big enough for all of us) and we headed back out to the car. By this time the 12V was nearly dead and a jump box wouldn't bring up the voltage far enough to raise the suspension and put the car in Neutral (for some reason I'd been under the impression that Jack mode was all that was needed to accomplish those other things). But the car was on gravel and it was easy enough to winch it to the flatbed and skid it from there.
Meanwhile, Denver SC had dispatched another flatbed with a loaner Model S to meet us in Avon (where our hotel was located) and around 7:30pm we swapped vehicles in a WalMart parking lot. The three of us toddled off to dinner in the loaner while Carey drove the flatbed with my S back to Denver for a pack swap that very evening. The guys stayed until 12:30am to complete the swap and perform a couple of outstanding SB's, then they put it on charge, went home for a few hours of sleep, finished checking out the car first thing in the morning, put it back on the flatbed and delivered it to me, two hours away in Avon, with 261 Rated miles showing on the newly-installed, refurbished A pack.
Total elapsed time from pack failure to the return of the repaired car to my possession: just under 20 hours. That's exemplary service. To all the folks at the Denver SC, especially Dan, Scott, Robert and Carey: you guys are the best!
The dreaded clunk:
Bear and his Volt come to our rescue!
Skidded onto the flatbed.
My Sig S, restored and returned to me in the WalMart parking lot.
There was no cell service in the canyon, of course, so I chocked the wheels, turned off the climate control, put the car in jack mode, had my passengers open their doors and set out the hazard triangle back up the road a piece. Told my passengers to sit tight, stuck my thumb out, and the seventh car that passed us headed back into town stopped for me. Wouldn't you know it: it's a guy driving a Volt. Real nice guy, hadn't even noticed mine was a Tesla, but we both got a good laugh out of it as he drove me back to the first place with enough cell service to get a connection.
I called TM and punched in roadside assistance, but languished on hold too long, so I called my service center in Denver directly. Once we'd exchanged enough information to formulate a plan I had my Good Sam drive me back to the car, where we loaded Marcia and my sister into the back of the Volt (cozy) and headed for town. Bear (our high-tech mountain-man savior) dropped us at a local hotel and we settled in to wait for the flatbed that Denver SC had dispatched from a couple of hours away in Breckenridge, the closest outfit that they were confident understood Model S well enough to deal with any problems that might arise.
The failure happened around 2:30pm; by 5:15 the tow truck had picked us up (it had a crew cab big enough for all of us) and we headed back out to the car. By this time the 12V was nearly dead and a jump box wouldn't bring up the voltage far enough to raise the suspension and put the car in Neutral (for some reason I'd been under the impression that Jack mode was all that was needed to accomplish those other things). But the car was on gravel and it was easy enough to winch it to the flatbed and skid it from there.
Meanwhile, Denver SC had dispatched another flatbed with a loaner Model S to meet us in Avon (where our hotel was located) and around 7:30pm we swapped vehicles in a WalMart parking lot. The three of us toddled off to dinner in the loaner while Carey drove the flatbed with my S back to Denver for a pack swap that very evening. The guys stayed until 12:30am to complete the swap and perform a couple of outstanding SB's, then they put it on charge, went home for a few hours of sleep, finished checking out the car first thing in the morning, put it back on the flatbed and delivered it to me, two hours away in Avon, with 261 Rated miles showing on the newly-installed, refurbished A pack.
Total elapsed time from pack failure to the return of the repaired car to my possession: just under 20 hours. That's exemplary service. To all the folks at the Denver SC, especially Dan, Scott, Robert and Carey: you guys are the best!
The dreaded clunk:
Bear and his Volt come to our rescue!
Skidded onto the flatbed.
My Sig S, restored and returned to me in the WalMart parking lot.