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Is there a NEMA charging map for the East Coast? Planning a trip NYC to Philadelphia.

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1. Is there a NEMA charging map/website for the East Coast?

2. We are planning a trip NYC to Philadelphia in a few weeks. Any advice?

3. Is this not the greatest car ever? Had it for less than 4 days, can't stop smiling!:biggrin:

4. Do you drive around with a handout? I photocopied the first page of "How Stuff Works"
because I love this sentence: It's fast, fancy, handles like a dream and goes like a rocket, but it's virtually silent and it'll never burn a single drop of gasoline. Tesla's first production car is also the world's first high-performance electric car. Or do you just spell it for people and tell them to go to the website?
 
1. There are RV websites that show locations of campgrounds, you can then check to see which have 50Amp service. I can't remember the name of the website, but its easy to find with Google.
2. Have Fun :)
3. I've had mine since November, and I hate it when I have to take a different car for whatever reason (need more trunk space to haul groceries, etc.)
4. I prefer to talk to them rather than give a handout and watch their expression with each WOW fact you put out...It has 6831 AA size laptop batteries - WOW; It goes from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds - WOW; Its all electric with local gas prices at $3.55/gal - WOW; It can get 240 miles between charges if I need that range - WOW!!

:)
 
Thanks for the advice, the trip was great with 20 miles to spare!

So you had your Roadster less than a week and you did a road trip which left you 20 miles of charge?!!! Gutsy. I assume you had no trouble finding the NEMA 14/50 and charging up...

The only annoying thing is 1. an idiot in a yellow Corvette who wanted to race (!) and 2. and idiot in a black Porsche who wanted to race (as if!)

They were annoying because you didn't want to race? Not because they beat you I hope.

Everything else is spectacular about this car.

Ours should be here by Saturday. Looking forward to the weekend!
 
So you had your Roadster less than a week and you did a road trip which left you 20 miles of charge?!!! Gutsy. I assume you had no trouble finding the NEMA 14/50 and charging up...
I can't speak for RoadsterWarrior, but I did exactly what you describe. In fact, after a mere 2 days as a new owner I ran several errands and then picked up an ex-girlfriend for a road trip up to a mountain pass. I laughed as the battery meter turned yellow/orange and then red, but I wasn't laughing at all when all range estimates dropped suddenly from 23 miles to 0 miles! My salesman had warned me several times not to turn off Traction Control (and when I did it anyway, nothing bad happened at all), but I never received a single warning that the range estimates would drop so far so fast. I was watching both the on-board navigation and my iPhone, and I always had 15 miles to spare back to my garage. But the Roadster sure made me feel like I wasn't going to make the last 5 miles to my home charger.

Before owning the Roadster, I thought "range anxiety" was a disease that occurred only in the mind of the driver. Now I see that the Roadster itself gets Range anxiety and pretends that 24.5 miles remaining is about the same as being stranded on the shoulder!
 
S2K, not sure if you were relating the Traction Control to the range readout disapearing in the low 20's. That can happen with it on as well.
My wording was not clear because I was trying to be too terse. I did not intend to imply any sort of functional correlation.

I really only used Traction Control as an example of Tesla sales going beyond what I think is necessary in warning new owners about unique features of the roadster. I also used it to contrast with what I think should be a necessary warning: About that sudden drop in estimated miles at 24.5 or 23 or whatever. In other words, I wish I'd been told at least once about the 10% battery uncertainty, because that's an important thing to know for any roadster driver. I couldn't care less about the Traction Control warnings, and especially didn't need to warned twice about that one.
 
10% charge mistake = frustrated customer
Traction control mistake = dead customer
Good point. I'm used to driving sports cars that other people wreck because they can't control them, so my perspective may be skewed. I literally cannot seem to break the tires loose with or without TC.
All the same, I was warned not to pick up my car in Menlo Park and drive it to Seattle as my first trip, due to the phenomenon known as "range anxiety." I'm just saying that it would have been nice to hear an explanation of exactly what happens when you reach that final 10%. Maybe it's reasonable to avoid this sort of detail before the sale, so as not to scare paying customers away, but once an owner takes delivery it should really be explained!
 
I'm just saying that it would have been nice to hear an explanation of exactly what happens when you reach that final 10%....!

Agree there. First time it happened to me I was coming home from a long max range drive. The car was yelling at me without a miles number showing. Did not know about that "feature"~! I knew it would be close but I was going uphill and did not yet have a "feel" for what it would do. I was sweating bullets when I pulled in and then sighed a big one when plugged in, it lit up 3 miles.
 
1. Is there a NEMA charging map/website for the East Coast?

2. We are planning a trip NYC to Philadelphia in a few weeks. Any advice?

Woodalls.com and RVParkReviews.com have listings for RV parks where you can search for parks with 50 amp service and contact info to call ahead.

Recargo.com has some listings on the East Coast for NEMA 14-50 and Tesla charging stations. Check with your local Tesla store, they can make some recommendations for Roadster-friendly places all over the world.
 
...I laughed as the battery meter turned yellow/orange and then red, but I wasn't laughing at all when all range estimates dropped suddenly from 23 miles to 0 miles!...

For what it is worth, the Nissan Leaf does something similar. As the miles remaining starts getting close to empty it can suddenly change to three dashes instead of a number of miles projected. I think the range computers in EVs have a hard time accurately predicting remaining range as you get close to "empty".

There are various aspects to "range anxiety". In a gasoline car if you ever run out you have some piece of mind knowing that any local towing service can bring you a can of gasoline and give you enough refill to drive to a filling station. Many new EV owners will panic if they stop at the side of the road and consider how to get some more charge. Also, if you are used to a car with some range, and then take a different car you may mistakenly assume that your "full" will get you the same distance as the car you had before. I think a lot of initial range anxiety fades as you learn the limits of your vehicle and get comfortable with it. They say pilots make good short range EV drivers because they are used to making sure they never run out of "fuel", and consider a fixed route plan that will always keep then within range of a refueling location. It really boils down to pre-planning. The way I look at it, a lot of gasoline vehicle drivers have lazy habits just driving around expecting to randomly find a gasoline station when they happen to need it.
 
For what it is worth, the Nissan Leaf does something similar. As the miles remaining starts getting close to empty it can suddenly change to three dashes instead of a number of miles projected. I think the range computers in EVs have a hard time accurately predicting remaining range as you get close to "empty".

The same is true for the trip computer on my ICE car. No one wants the car to run out of gas before the display reads zero. Probably worried about legal liability. :tongue: