Anyone using their Roadster as a commuter car?

[pab5482]

Thanks guys for all your ideas and experiences. I've had the car for a couple of months, commuting in it every day from Livermore CA to Oakland. Fantastic. Every drive is fun. Amazing how many people from all walks of life give me the thumbs up.

One thing I've noticed though is that no matter how many times I clean the inside of the windshield, it fogs up within 2-3 days even if the roof is off. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any tips?

Thanks.

 

[vfx]

...Any tips?

...

Try AC on.
Try AC+Heat on.
Try RainX

 

[slcasner]

One thing I've noticed though is that no matter how many times I clean the inside of the windshield, it fogs up within 2-3 days even if the roof is off. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any tips?Thanks.

Stop breathing? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

 

[strider]

One thing I've noticed though is that no matter how many times I clean the inside of the windshield, it fogs up within 2-3 days even if the roof is off. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any tips?

I'm having the same problem. It isn't "fog" (ie moisture) - it's an actual film that builds up that requires glass cleaner to remove. For me it only happens when I run the AC. I've been meaning to apply some Rain-X to the inside and see if that helps.

 

[vfx]

I'm having the same problem. It isn't "fog" (ie moisture) - it's an actual film that builds up that requires glass cleaner to remove. For me it only happens when I run the AC. I've been meaning to apply some Rain-X to the inside and see if that helps.

Plastic and leather outgassing.

 

[cinergi]

I have this film problem, too. It's SEVERE. Yes, I understand where it comes from, but I've never owned a car where I HAD to wipe down the interior windshield literally every 1-2 days. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.

 

[Doug_G]

I have this film problem, too. It's SEVERE. Yes, I understand where it comes from, but I've never owned a car where I HAD to wipe down the interior windshield literally every 1-2 days. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.

Interesting. I've had my car for a year, but only had a big problem with this in the last few weeks. The only thing I've been doing different lately is driving with the top down a lot.

 

[cinergi]

Interesting. I've had my car for a year, but only had a big problem with this in the last few weeks. The only thing I've been doing different lately is driving with the top down a lot.

Pretty much ditto. I'm not sure if it's related to the A/C. It wasn't great in the winter but it's definitely worse now in the warmer weather.

 

[cinergi]

Yep! Commuting is about 115 miles each way. However, not every day now, but down to three times a week. Of course, with such distances you have to have faster charging than 10A or 16A - there simply isn't enough hours in a day to charge.

! How many miles do you have on yours?

I'm at about 8500 now (since this past October). It's been a fun car, and I can't wait for the Model S!
I used to commute 16 miles each way; I just moved so it's more like 7 miles now (and mostly highway, vs. the secondary roads I was on before). It's literally my primary car. It's also soon to be my ONLY car (I haven't spent the time to sell my other car).

 

[Slackjaw]

Do you use your Roadster for commuting? Any lessons learnt? Things I need to think about?

I recently changed jobs and went from spending 3 hrs a day walking and riding (ok, sleeping) on the bus to driving our Roadster 125+ miles per day. Today I watched the odometer roll through 8,000 miles. We've had the car four and a half months. I was reminded of this thread and thought I'd post a few notes...

• On a basic level driving the Roadster just doesn't get boring. Ever. Many other drivers on this forum have said this and I can agree with it 100%. Even when I'm stuck in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, it's OK if I'm in the Roadster.
• I don't want to get out. Sometimes, after driving for 90 minutes, I'm having so much fun that I just drive around the parking lot at work for ten more minutes. Really. (On the other hand, maybe it's just because it is so hard to get out?)
• After driving consistently for an hour or so, some new sounds emerge. Like something is rubbing somewhere when you "juice it". I don't think this is cause for serious concern yet but I remember when we first got the car, for about the first month, it had no funny noises, only the smooth cool spaceship-like noises.
• Either the cup holder in our car is upside down, or it's really badly designed. The jaws close as soon as I take out my cup and I can't replace the cup with one hand, without spilling my drink. Except now I can; I twisted some wire around the thing so it cannot close. But it looks nasty.
• The headlights are truly awful, as discussed in other threads. Nothing to do with commuting but you notice it more when you have to drive home in the dark a lot. I'm getting the fancy ones added tomorrow along with some snow tires (on a second set of wheels).
• Seeing a few people getting tickets has been really good for reducing my energy usage. I've never been pulled over and generally drive sensibly but now I drive really sensibly.

Plus of course there's all the money we "save" by driving electric. Ahem.

 

[Nvbob]

Regarding the cup-holder, when we picked up our Roadster back in May, Dan Mygen gave us an easy way to put a cup in. He said, "Give the cup a counter-clockwise" twist and the jaws will open right up." This has worked well for us since then.

 

[augkuo]

Great tip! That works really well!

I'm commuting between Berkeley and Los Gatos, about a 120 mile commute round trip. With the hills, heater, lights, stereo, and speed my range is 130-140 miles so I have a couple of miles left on a standard charge. I've passed 10k miles after 6 months of driving it and I still get around 187 miles on a full standard charge.

Augie

Regarding the cup-holder, when we picked up our Roadster back in May, Dan Mygen gave us an easy way to put a cup in. He said, "Give the cup a counter-clockwise" twist and the jaws will open right up." This has worked well for us since then.

 

[dadaleus]

Just have to post that I passed 20k miles in my roadster last night. Some unicorn!

I drive from San Diego to LA and back (125 miles each way) at least once a week. My office is in Irvine which is about 65 miles from my house. So I really pour on the miles. Thankfully I've gotten both offices to install charging solutions for me (NEMA 14-50 at one and a J1772 at the other).

EV Life

 

[dadaleus]

Either the cup holder in our car is upside down, or it's really badly designed. The jaws close as soon as I take out my cup and I can't replace the cup with one hand, without spilling my drink. Except now I can; I twisted some wire around the thing so it cannot close. But it looks nasty.

Well, the side of the holder closer to the center console broke off on my recently. Sounds like bad news, but I actually find it much more functional with just the outer arm.

[*]Seeing a few people getting tickets has been really good for reducing my energy usage. I've never been pulled over and generally drive sensibly but now I drive really sensibly.

I got pulled over the other day driving in the carpool lane on the 405 near LAX. The CHP officer came to the window and said "you probably wonder why I pulled you over? It's because you are driving solo in the carpool lane." "Yea, but I have white carpool stickers" I responded. (These are the kind that didn't expire here in California--Hybrids have gold stickers that expired in July.) "May I see your clean air vehicle certificate." I gave him this along with my registration, insurance, and drivers license (I've been pulled over before. Ahem.)

So he goes back to his motorcycle, checks things in his computer for a few minutes and comes back to the window. "You're all set. Thank you" and walks away.

Huh? Afterwards I wondered if he just wanted to see the car! Maybe I should have given him the grand tour! Aren't officers supposed to have reasonable suspicion to pull someone over? But I guess I can't blame him if he was just curious. And maybe he'd never seen a Tesla before and thought "that can't possible really be an EV!"

 

[Tommy]

I got pulled over the other day driving in the carpool lane on the 405 near LAX. The CHP officer came to the window and said "you probably wonder why I pulled you over? It's because you are driving solo in the carpool lane." "Yea, but I have white carpool stickers" I responded. (These are the kind that didn't expire here in California--Hybrids have gold stickers that expired in July.) "May I see your clean air vehicle certificate." I gave him this along with my registration, insurance, and drivers license (I've been pulled over before. Ahem.)

So he goes back to his motorcycle, checks things in his computer for a few minutes and comes back to the window. "You're all set. Thank you" and walks away.

Huh? Afterwards I wondered if he just wanted to see the car! Maybe I should have given him the grand tour! Aren't officers supposed to have reasonable suspicion to pull someone over? But I guess I can't blame him if he was just curious. And maybe he'd never seen a Tesla before and thought "that can't possible really be an EV!"

He did have probably cause; you unplugged that GM Volt at the South Coast Plaza!!! :tongue: GM Chevy Volt See post 587.

 

[dadaleus]

He did have probable cause; you unplugged that GM Volt at the South Coast Plaza!!! :tongue: GM Chevy Volt See post 587.

Ha! Although he must have PreCrime precognition since these events happened in the wrong order!

 

[W.Petefish]

I commute to and from SMU every day from my house. (40+ miles round trip) Mine just crossed the 12K mark.

 

[Nvbob]

We commute to and from South Lake Tahoe, Monday through Friday, (about 60 miles round trip) and we have about 7500 miles on our car.

 

[GVTesla]

Daily commuting of approx 15miles, also some more extensive traveling around the country, every now and then. Total mileage now approx. 6000Km (Eu)

 

[DrComputer]

Not that anyone probably noticed (but I did). When the odometer has less than 10K miles on it the letters ODO are written out left-to-right on the left of the mileage number. When it hit 10K the letters magically moved vertically. I wonder what happens when we hit 100K?