400 Mile Range Prize

[vfx]

Jim writes in cartalk: http://www.cartalk.com/content/tesla...eparing-launch

The company is planning to offer a prize for the first customer to get what it says is an achievable 400 miles on a charge, and Tesla predicts that 350 miles will be routinely possible, assuming a level road, 45 mph, rolled-up windows, no climate control and 300 pounds of load.

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/mode...ency-and-range

You can also see that at slower speeds it could even be possible to exceed 400 miles in a Model S under the conditions above. We haven’t internally demonstrated that yet and we are planning a prize for the first customer that actually drives over 400 miles on a single charge.

Is anyone here planning to go for this? I think Greg in SD is the earliest delivery in TMC.

Of course we would need rules.

[NigelM]

Hmmmm, Florida is nice and flat....but there's 182 cars ahead of me.

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Elon's tweets regarding this in early May when he and JB posted that Model S efficiency and range blog:

Twitter

10 May Elon Musk Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Meant to say: prizes for first 10 who do 400 miles in Tesla w/o recharging, not nonstop, which would require diapers


9 May Elon Musk Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Model S exceeds 300 mile range target! Prize for the 1st person to do LA-SF nonstop (400 miles) Model S Efficiency and Range | Blog | Tesla Motors

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People coming from LA to do a factory pickup. Imagine the discipline it would take to do the 400 mile hypermiling your first big drive.


If the prize was another Tesla...

[dsm363]

I wonder what roads you could take that would safely allow you to travel 40 mph or maybe less and still land someplace where you could charge?

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I wonder what roads you could take that would safely allow you to travel 40 mph or maybe less and still land someplace where you could charge?

Hwy 1! But, the hills might be a range-killer though. The rightmost lane on US-101 may not be that bad as most of the heavy and fast traffic will be on I-5.

[onlinespending]

You could easily cheat and spin the wheels while the car is held stationary. Either by suspending the car or driving on a treadmill like apparatus

[gg_got_a_tesla]

You could easily cheat and spin the wheels while the car is held stationary. Either by suspending the car or driving on a treadmill like apparatus

Tesla will catch you out with the full car logs coupled with GPS data! Or, they'd expect you to start from Palo Alto HQ and end up in Hawthorne or the other way around.

[onlinespending]

Tesla will catch you out with the full car logs coupled with GPS data! Or, they'd expect you to start from Palo Alto HQ and end up in Hawthorne or the other way around.

Agreed. They should use the GPS data to see that you've actually driven a reasonable route. Which means driving around a track or around your block wouldn't count either.

[twisti]

Hwy 1! But, the hills might be a range-killer though.

I was driving on Hwy 1 north with our Volt on Saturday and the electric range was much less than I expected. The hills are really a problem there.