How NOT to convince your significant other to go all electric. Confession

JMG · Jan 21, 2016

Okay, I'm not Catholic, but I just stepped into the confession booth. So, fellow Tesla owners, please forgive me for I have Tesla-Sinned.

Prior to Tuesday evening, my wife had driven the Model S exactly once (about the day after I got it, back in May). She wasn't too worried about the range or anything, but just of scratching it or damaging it in some way. Partly because of my horrible luck with the car since I've received it, that I've detailed in other threads (backed into, flying object into door, in the shop for 5 weeks..etc etc). So she's never driven it since then.

Well, on Tuesday we were at a conference in Ft Worth. Overall, it's about 170 miles from the hotel to Nebraska Furniture Mart (where we went shopping for a while to order some furniture), to my mothers to pick up our 4 year old and then back home. I took advantage of Nebraska Furniture Mart's free charging out front, and got about 35 miles on it. I think we had 230 RM on the battery when we left Ft Worth. We made it home with about 72 RM remaining, around 5:45 PM. I then had to go pick up our two labradors from a nearby town where they were boarded, of which they do not (nor will they ever) have the privilege of riding in the Model S. So whenever we take the dogs, we always use my wife's car, the GMC Acadia. So I was about to immediately leave to go pick up the dogs. She still needed to go get our 2 year old from her parent's house. I told her the only options were to either wait for me to get back with the dogs or she could go in my car if she was comfortable. She said she'd go in my car if she trusted me, of course!

I was doing the math in my head rather quickly. 72 RM on the battery. Her mothers house was about 20-22 miles away I was guessing. Round trip 44-45 of road miles, 55 degrees outside, so I was guessing she'd have a buffer of about 15-20 miles (she drives rather conservatively and under the speed limit). It was a little close for my normal comfort zone, and so I asked her if she was leaving immediately (figuring if she planned on staying at the house for a few minutes, we'd hook up quickly and get some 80amp charging while she was unpacking and getting ready to leave). She said, "yes, I'm leaving right now." So, again, I think....hmm, a 15-20 mile buffer should be okay...right? :redface:

I know, dumb.

She calls me when she gets there, and says, "Ummm it says I have 36 miles left. Is that okay?" "Wait, what? 36 miles? You used 36 miles getting there? How fast were you driving?!" "Just normal, 70 or so."

By this time, I'm already back home and so I quickly hop on to EVtripplanner and plug in the info. It's 28.9 miles............:scared: Driving at 1.0 the speed, the RM consumption was right on track about 35 miles. So coming back she'd arrive right at zero. With my 4 year old and 2 year old in the car. While trying to convince her side of the family that EVs are practical...sigh.

So anyway, after doing some calculation on EVTripplanner, I told her she needs to stay under 60 (or even 55mph) and she'd get home with around 6-8 miles left. So the whole way home the car was giving her the normal caution messages, "You are almost too far from any known charging." "Drive under 55mph in order to reach destination!" Etc etc. Keep in mind, the speed limit here is 75mph, so she was having to pull on the shoulder and let probably angry vehicles by the entire way home.

When she rolled in, she had 6 miles left, officially lower than I have ever gotten it. I sarcastically said, "Ready to get a Model X?!"

Needless to say, I won't win any husband of the year awards....:frown:

Moral of the story: don't underestimate wh/mile when winter driving, and don't test it out on your nervous spouse.

ddimit · Jan 21, 2016

6 miles! haha thats nothing I have rolled into a supercharger with 3 RM left. Thats probably not a good second introduction to the car letting her drive with so few RM left. if you don't drive it daily you don't have the mindest to watch your speed.

Max* · Jan 21, 2016

ddimit said:
6 miles! haha thats nothing I have rolled into a supercharger with 3 RM left. Thats probably not a good second introduction to the car letting her drive with so few RM left. if you don't drive it daily you don't have the mindest to watch your speed.

This isn't a contest.

.
.
.
.
.

But I got you beat, 2RM at the SpC

I know of people hitting 0RM and driving on 0RM. So I know, I didn't win

jeffro01 · Jan 21, 2016

While I understand it wasn't the best of experiences, overall though, it'd be highly unfair to form an opinion regarding the viability of EVs from one single data point.

I'd say she was going a bit faster than 70... LOL

The few minutes you could have bought to plug into to your 80A HPWC would have made all the difference, but I suspect you already know that...

Jeff

- - - Updated - - -

One other thing you could have done was plug the home address into the NAV when she was leaving the parents house and then used some of the trip planner data to determine just how fast she could have gone. IE, start at 60 then follow the line to when it was safe to go 65, etc...

Maybe that would have been more hassle than it was worth but...

Jeff

glhs272 · Jan 21, 2016

It takes a little time to adjust to the realities of an electric vehicle. Won't be long before you both get the feel for what the car can and can't do and the differences between summer and winter. In your situation, 10 to 15 minutes of charging before she had left would have made all the difference...

JMG · Jan 21, 2016

Exactly all good points. Yeah I know I've seen videos of other people getting it to 0, but I didn't want to test that with my wife in the car with my two small children, hah! Oh and she did say that on the way, she did pass someone at some point and probably got up to 80, so that used some energy for sure.

My normal commute to that office during the summer was around 320-330 wh/mi, and now its 380-400.

Hindsight is 20/20 of course. I would've told her, "No you can't leave right now if you are taking my car. Let it charge for about 10-15 minutes and then go."

She did wind up plugging in our home address in the nav on the way back, and it was telling her to drive 55 mph.

MorrisonHiker · Jan 21, 2016

Would another option have been to have your wife pick up the dogs in her GMC Acadia and for you to get the kid in your car? Surely you'd be more comfortable with your car's capabilities...but maybe you were trying to avoid your mother-in-law? :wink:

SabrToothSqrl · Jan 21, 2016

I've crushed mine down to 6 miles, getting home

I'm not worried.

WarpedOne · Jan 21, 2016

6RM is more than 1kWh left. Plenty ...

pimp-boy · Jan 21, 2016

Back in December, going over a mountain (Grapevine by Los Angeles) with 50 degrees dropping to 30 degrees, I thought having 80 miles of buffer would be enough. Boy, was I WRONG! I made it over, but that cold weather really sucked the hell out of the battery with little to spare when I arrived at the Tejon supercharger. I had everything off. During the summer, 80 miles of buffer was more than plenty. First time in cold weather. The car is perfect for 50 degree weather and higher, but once that temp drops, I will probably prefer driving an ICE unfortunately.

JMG said:
Exactly all good points. Yeah I know I've seen videos of other people getting it to 0, but I didn't want to test that with my wife in the car with my two small children, hah! Oh and she did say that on the way, she did pass someone at some point and probably got up to 80, so that used some energy for sure.

My normal commute to that office during the summer was around 320-330 wh/mi, and now its 380-400.

Hindsight is 20/20 of course. I would've told her, "No you can't leave right now if you are taking my car. Let it charge for about 10-15 minutes and then go."

She did wind up plugging in our home address in the nav on the way back, and it was telling her to drive 55 mph.

yo mama · Jan 21, 2016

My DS told me that if you run it down to nothing, you can still access about 3 miles of "auxiliary power."

If/when that happens to me I'm totally going to turn to my wife and bark, "Scottie - give me auxiliary power!" I mean, if I'm headed to the dog house anyways I might as well go out with a Star Trek reference.

Spidy · Jan 21, 2016

yo mama said:
My DS told me that if you run it down to nothing, you can still access about 3 miles of "auxiliary power."

ken830 · Jan 21, 2016

I guess I don't understand the OP... Your story just proved that a complete newb who just drives the car for hundreds of miles in a day without worrying about range and then has to run a last minute errand will be okay because the car still made sure of it (by early warning and specific instructions on how fast to drive)...

Isn't that a strong argument for the practicality of a Model S?????

JMG · Jan 21, 2016

ken830 said:
I guess I don't understand the OP... Your story just proved that a complete newb who just drives the car for hundreds of miles in a day without worrying about range and then has to run a last minute errand will be okay because the car still made sure of it (by early warning and specific instructions on how fast to drive)...

Isn't that a strong argument for the practicality of a Model S?????

Well, the point of the post was to comically show my screw up. My little jab about the practicality of it was not the point of the post. Here in "oil country" we are still dispelling myths about EVs. And to be perfectly honest, her side of the family has not outright expressed hesitation, but I can kind of feel it.

To play devil's advocate to your argument, the ICE vehicle could've stopped at the gas station for all of 4-5 minutes and she could've continued driving without all of the stress of running out of energy or having to drive 25 mph under the speed limit. Yes the car did warn her and she made it home, but not without a good bit of stress. Especially for someone who has driving home her two young children at night for only the 2nd time in the vehicle.

Again, the point of the post was just a little self deprecation as well as a reminder to those that might have bought their vehicles in the summer, to more cautiously watch their wh/mi in the colder months.

Also, to counter another point, a complete newb would not have been able to make the trip that I did without some forethought. I had no superchargers along my route (unless I drove 45 minutes out of the way to the new Denton SC). So I had charge at a CHAdeMO two nights before we left, and then a slow charge from a 110 outlet for about 36 hours, then charge at the furniture store.

So in essence, if my wife was alone on that trip, there no way she could've done that aside from adding 1.5 hrs on to her trip to go to a supercharger.

kort677 · Jan 21, 2016

ddimit said:
6 miles! haha thats nothing I have rolled into a supercharger with 3 RM left. Thats probably not a good second introduction to the car letting her drive with so few RM left. if you don't drive it daily you don't have the mindest to watch your speed.

ha, 3 rm miles is nothing I rolled to a SC in well past 2 miles after the charge now warning came on

Kbra · Jan 21, 2016

Spidy said:

His lady friend doesn't look entertained.

Model S M.D. · Jan 21, 2016

JMG said:
Well, the point of the post was to comically show my screw up. My little jab about the practicality of it was not the point of the post. Here in "oil country" we are still dispelling myths about EVs. And to be perfectly honest, her side of the family has not outright expressed hesitation, but I can kind of feel it.

To play devil's advocate to your argument, the ICE vehicle could've stopped at the gas station for all of 4-5 minutes and she could've continued driving without all of the stress of running out of energy or having to drive 25 mph under the speed limit. Yes the car did warn her and she made it home, but not without a good bit of stress. Especially for someone who has driving home her two young children at night for only the 2nd time in the vehicle.

Again, the point of the post was just a little self deprecation as well as a reminder to those that might have bought their vehicles in the summer, to more cautiously watch their wh/mi in the colder months.

Also, to counter another point, a complete newb would not have been able to make the trip that I did without some forethought. I had no superchargers along my route (unless I drove 45 minutes out of the way to the new Denton SC). So I had charge at a CHAdeMO two nights before we left, and then a slow charge from a 110 outlet for about 36 hours, then charge at the furniture store.

So in essence, if my wife was alone on that trip, there no way she could've done that aside from adding 1.5 hrs on to her trip to go to a supercharger.

I am in danger of this happening to me too! I was just talking to my wife about how she has driven my Tesla only ONCE. The time will come when she has to drive it, and I'm afraid she won't be as privy to EV driving as we are and could potentially run out of juice on the road. I'm also secretly hoping she will trade in her gas guzzling SUV for a Model X lol.

Ocelot · Jan 21, 2016

yo mama said:
My DS told me that if you run it down to nothing, you can still access about 3 miles of "auxiliary power."

If/when that happens to me I'm totally going to turn to my wife and bark, "Scottie - give me auxiliary power!" I mean, if I'm headed to the dog house anyways I might as well go out with a Star Trek reference.

that is hilarious.

nwdiver · Jan 21, 2016

kort677 said:
ha, 3 rm miles is nothing I rolled to a SC in well past 2 miles after the charge now warning came on

Yeah... Range Anxiety... what's that...

ken830 · Jan 21, 2016

JMG said:
Well, the point of the post was to comically show my screw up. My little jab about the practicality of it was not the point of the post. Here in "oil country" we are still dispelling myths about EVs. And to be perfectly honest, her side of the family has not outright expressed hesitation, but I can kind of feel it.

To play devil's advocate to your argument, the ICE vehicle could've stopped at the gas station for all of 4-5 minutes and she could've continued driving without all of the stress of running out of energy or having to drive 25 mph under the speed limit. Yes the car did warn her and she made it home, but not without a good bit of stress. Especially for someone who has driving home her two young children at night for only the 2nd time in the vehicle.

Again, the point of the post was just a little self deprecation as well as a reminder to those that might have bought their vehicles in the summer, to more cautiously watch their wh/mi in the colder months.

Also, to counter another point, a complete newb would not have been able to make the trip that I did without some forethought. I had no superchargers along my route (unless I drove 45 minutes out of the way to the new Denton SC). So I had charge at a CHAdeMO two nights before we left, and then a slow charge from a 110 outlet for about 36 hours, then charge at the furniture store.

So in essence, if my wife was alone on that trip, there no way she could've done that aside from adding 1.5 hrs on to her trip to go to a supercharger.

Yeah... I can see your point, but I think I put more weight on the view from the other side... The Model S proves to be practical because the day-to-day use of the car is way more convenient than a conventional gas car and this particular rare & extreme scenario, while a bit less convenient, was still achievable. This is to contrast your "devil's advocate" point showing that these extreme scenarios would be easier for a gasoline car (given our current infrastructure), while the day-to-day aspect is less convenient (getting and paying for gas all the time). I guess this is because I drive about 80-100 miles per day, which means I was getting gas every 3-4 days, and having to pay $4.50/gal at the pump, which means two fill-ups costs more than the Models S's entire month's electricity usage for the same number of miles. From my perspective, that is the definition of impractical...

And as you mentioned, if your wife were to do the trip herself, the Nav would've pointed her to the Supercharger. Still newb-friendly in the rare road-trip scenario.

I also think it would've been more humorous to title the post, "How TO convince your significant other...", because of your rhetorical "Ready to get a Model X?!" punchline... Don'tcha think? :smile:

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How NOT to convince your significant other to go all electric. Confession