Hello all,
This is my first post on this forum. I thought I should share my recent experience with you all.
I had the occasion last weekend to travel to Miami and back the same day from my residence in Winter Haven (a distance of 230 miles) in my 2015 model S 85. As the denizens of south Fla know probably, the nearest supercharger to Miami is in Port St Lucie, a distance of 130 miles. I stopped at the Port St. Lucie supercharger on my way and charged up to "rated range" of 265 miles, hoping to make it back without having to charge. So, maybe it was my driving habits, but when I got to the airport in Miami, it was showing a range of 105 miles. Obviously I was in trouble and need of a charge to be able to make it back to the supercharger. I pulled up Plug Share on my phone hoping to get a quick charge of 30-40 miles to be able to make it back to the supercharger. Which is where my ordeal started. Plug Share (and the car) which gave me a lot of options but I should note that the car did not direct me to a Tesla store or service center.
To make a long story short, I ended up going to 5 different charging stations from Miami to Boca Raton because the charging rates were pathetic being respectively: 0 miles/hour (non-functioning); 15 miles hour (level 2); 8 miles/hour (HPWC); 8 miles/hour (Blink pay station; level 2) and 20 miles/hour (HPWC). I tried calling the local Tesla store but they were closed (around 7 pm). So between going from place to place and the slow rate of charging, it took me 6 hours to get the 40 miles charge I needed. Oh and when I got on the road to Port St Lucie it started telling me I was 2% short and needed charging but it was 2 in the morning and I was not about to go looking for another charging station in the middle of nowhere, so I kept going and made it to the supercharger with 0% left on the battery.
Lessons I have learnt:
1. Dont think about going to Miami and coming back the same day from Port St Lucie and north.
2. Public charging infrastructure in S Fla is pathetic and not an option for Tesla, IMHO
3. Mr Musk's claim of never running out of charge because the car will not let you is a bunch of hooey, at least for certain parts of the country lacking in superchargers.
4. Rated range does not mean a whole lot.
5. High powered wall connectors at public stations may not be so high powered. Btw, on my HPWC at home I get 58 miles/hour
So that was my experience. I know there are lot of Tesla fans here but I just want to point that it is not all roses in the Tesla world and there are trade offs in driving this expensive and technologically advanced car which can be a Dodo if the infrastructure is inadequate.
This is my first post on this forum. I thought I should share my recent experience with you all.
I had the occasion last weekend to travel to Miami and back the same day from my residence in Winter Haven (a distance of 230 miles) in my 2015 model S 85. As the denizens of south Fla know probably, the nearest supercharger to Miami is in Port St Lucie, a distance of 130 miles. I stopped at the Port St. Lucie supercharger on my way and charged up to "rated range" of 265 miles, hoping to make it back without having to charge. So, maybe it was my driving habits, but when I got to the airport in Miami, it was showing a range of 105 miles. Obviously I was in trouble and need of a charge to be able to make it back to the supercharger. I pulled up Plug Share on my phone hoping to get a quick charge of 30-40 miles to be able to make it back to the supercharger. Which is where my ordeal started. Plug Share (and the car) which gave me a lot of options but I should note that the car did not direct me to a Tesla store or service center.
To make a long story short, I ended up going to 5 different charging stations from Miami to Boca Raton because the charging rates were pathetic being respectively: 0 miles/hour (non-functioning); 15 miles hour (level 2); 8 miles/hour (HPWC); 8 miles/hour (Blink pay station; level 2) and 20 miles/hour (HPWC). I tried calling the local Tesla store but they were closed (around 7 pm). So between going from place to place and the slow rate of charging, it took me 6 hours to get the 40 miles charge I needed. Oh and when I got on the road to Port St Lucie it started telling me I was 2% short and needed charging but it was 2 in the morning and I was not about to go looking for another charging station in the middle of nowhere, so I kept going and made it to the supercharger with 0% left on the battery.
Lessons I have learnt:
1. Dont think about going to Miami and coming back the same day from Port St Lucie and north.
2. Public charging infrastructure in S Fla is pathetic and not an option for Tesla, IMHO
3. Mr Musk's claim of never running out of charge because the car will not let you is a bunch of hooey, at least for certain parts of the country lacking in superchargers.
4. Rated range does not mean a whole lot.
5. High powered wall connectors at public stations may not be so high powered. Btw, on my HPWC at home I get 58 miles/hour
So that was my experience. I know there are lot of Tesla fans here but I just want to point that it is not all roses in the Tesla world and there are trade offs in driving this expensive and technologically advanced car which can be a Dodo if the infrastructure is inadequate.