I drove off the lot on the night of 22 Oct 2018 with about 120 miles of charge. Not long after driving the speed odometer screen blacked out for a few seconds and came back on, and then about halfway to the Woodbridge VA Tesla Supercharging station a sensor popped up stating that my tire sensor was faulty and that I needed to take it to a tesla service station. I did that about 5 days later to the Tyson’s Corner VA Tesla Service Center. I walked into the service area and met what looked like a service floor manager. Super cool guy and I told him the issue I was having. I gave him my name, phone number and VIN. However, the vehicle had not transferred into my name. This I learned takes about a week once you email to Tesla all of the documentation that they need, specifically the registration and not bill of sale. The floor manager still took in the P85 (Apparently if a Tesla is not in your name then they won’t work on it) and took a look at the sensors. 3 were bad. For $850 I can have all of the sensors replaced and the software updated/upgraded so I can see the tire pressure on the screen. I plan on doing that in Jan 2019 when I also plan on getting new tires put on. They suggested it so it sounded good. Additionally he mentioned that the odometer screen blacking out issue was because of a needed software update. He also mentioned another recall item that I needed to get done as well. So, overall the Tesla Service station experience at Tyson’s Corner was positive.
One thing I had to adjust to was the time for charging and destination planning for long range driving. All I have known is gas and the general feel based on the gauge for when to pull over to one of the abundant gas stations along the interstate. With the nascent Tesla enterprise and its sparse Supercharging Stations I had to figure out when I would stop and recharge along the route. A few weeks after driving locally in Woodbridge VA I was ready to make the drive to Whispering Pines NC, a 307 mile trek. Prior to leaving on a Friday afternoon I had charged the vehicle up to around 220 miles. I hadn’t maxed out the charge nor did I really know just how much I could charge based off of 130K of degradation (I later charged the vehicle overnight to 230 at a local Residence Inn which had 8 Tesla chargers for which no one was using). I wanted to play it conservative so I planned on stopping at one of the Richmond VA Supercharging Stations at 4441 S Laburnum Ave. I pulled up with about 90 to 100 miles left and it was vacant at the time with a plethora of chargers (20) and lots of nearby stores. I filled up to about 180 miles or so and then headed off to the South Hill VA Super Charging Station. I made it to South Hill with about 80 miles left. Once I pulled off the interstate I was like where are the chargers and they were located behind essentially a local restaurant and there were about 7 chargers. I charged up to again about 180 miles. At this point the Tesla algorithm was telling me that I had enough battery and miles to make it to my house. However, I was not factoring the typical don’t go below 20%, the fact that speed and weather (cold temps or wind) affects the actual milage, and that Tesla says that it is not a perfect representation of true percentage or actual miles. So, I headed off. When I reached Raleigh with an average speed of maybe 75 mph with some spurts of 78 from South Hill the algorithm kicked in to tell me to slow down to 60mph. This was when I was in a 70mph stretch of interstate on 540 leading to HWY 1. At this point the trip monitor was telling me all was cool to reach my house with about 20 miles to spare (yep, not sticking with 20%). I started to look for other Supercharging stations or Tesla chargers between Raleigh and Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Whispering Pines. Nothing in-between other than the Raleigh Super Charging Station. I had thought there was something in Sanford NC but nothing came up as an option. I dropped my speed to 60 getting passed by the ICEs. At about 10 miles from my house and reading the trip monitor and battery mileage it was telling me that I had 10 miles on the trip but 25 miles on the battery life. I was mentally high fiving thinking I was in the clear. I kept the low speed limit pace. At about 2 miles from my house, about 15 miles on the battery milage the vehicle warned me that it was shutting down and to pull over. This was not a good feeling. I started losing speed and I pretty much coasted to less than a mile from my house, and pulled over in my neighborhood in front of someone’s house. It was 10:00pm at night, cloudy, breezy and the sunroof was open and would not close because I did not have even enough battery life to close it. I said to myself, great, please don’t rain. The first phone call was to Tesla roadside assistance. That phone call at 1000 at night was a legit 1 plus hour wait time and they tell you up front it will be one hour. I finally get through and give them my information. Of course they can’t find me in the system because it still hasn’t transferred ownership (one issue with the delay was that I didn’t send the temp registration). They said they could get a Tesla affiliated Tow but I would have to pay for it since it was out of warranty. So, I decided to try Geico roadside and then a local tow. I couldn’t get ahold of Geico roadside assistance (Geico paid the eventual $200 for the Tow. Took only two days to get a check) and it seemed like I called 4-5 local tow companies. One answered, who had no idea about Teslas, and said it would be hours before he could get to me. So, I called Tesla back, waited 45 minutes and they contacted a tow service out of the Raleigh area. At 1130 at night they said it would be 4 hours until he could get to me. He called and said he could be there at 230. He didn’t know exactly how to handle a Tesla that had near zero battery life even though he had some experience with Tesla’s in the Raleigh area. Most of the work was with the Tesla rep who walked us through the process. First thing was popping off the front plastic cover to get access to the battery. Because it was so low on power we could not get the on button for the release brake to stay on. We had to essentially add a mobile battery pack to charge the 12V located behind the plastic front cover which we took off. Tesla roadside was able to actually monitor the charge and see it increase the 12V charge. However, it still wouldn’t work. At that point the Tow truck guy grabbed essentially jumper cables attached them to his truck and then to the 12V. That did the trick, parking brake released and I could steer the vehicle unto the Tow truck bed as it pulled it on. Once he drove the Tesla to my house I hooked up the charging cable to my garage 120 amp outlet and got the amazing 4 miles an hour charge going (I later created a 220V adaptor for my dryer socket (conveniently located by the garage). Bought a typical dryer 4-wire cable, attached it to a separate box to plug in the Tesla 4-prong adaptor and that gave me about 26 miles an hour of charge).
On Sunday around 530pm I was ready to head back to Woodbridge. I cannot remember exactly what I had charged the Tesla up to before leaving. I thought it was near 200 since the 180 mile charge didn’t give me enough distance on Friday. This particular night however it was 44 degrees out, raining and slightly windy for the entire drive to South Hill VA. Almost 60 miles into the trip the Tesla was telling me to drop down to 60mph while driving in a 70mph zone. It would later adjust and tell me to increase to 65 at some points along the trek. However, anytime I tried to increase speed it would warn me to slow down. Everything was good. I was about ten miles from the South Hill VA Super Charging station at about 830pm. I had about 28 miles on the battery mileage (3% left at the charging station),and about 9 miles out the warning came up that the Tesla was shutting down. Here we go again. Hard to imagine that I made the same mistake twice. I immediately pulled over on I95 unto the shoulder. At 830pm on a Sunday night you would be amazed at the amount of traffic. Semi’s would blow by shaking the Tesla. I called Tesla. One hour wait again, but they gave me some Towing numbers. One guy flat out said he wouldn’t help because he really didn’t know how to handle a Tesla electric vehicle. I finally got ahold of a towing place that gave a number for their guy and I essentially woke him up around 1000. About 45 minutes later he shows up in the rain. For what ever reason the 12V was fine and I was able to get the parking release button to stay in the on position. I popped off the front plastic piece in order to screw in the tow bar (learned this from the first mistake episode, turn counter clock-wise though to screw it in). We drove to the local restaurant (Kahills) with the Tesla charging stations. He lowered the vehicle perfectly to a stall but low and behold I was so low on power I could not get the screen to even power up to open the charge port. Of all things I ask the Tow guy (Bobby) if he had charging cables and he said no. Crazy talk, yes, I know. I pay him $164 for the tow and I ask some of the Kahill staff if they have jumper cables. It’s 1130 at night, raining and cold. One guy has a truck but no cables but a waitress has cables. I hook up the cables to the 12V and that gets the screen to come on and I am able to get the port open. However, it wouldn’t charge because I had left the tow bar in the socket. Once I took that out it began to charge. I am completely soaked through my parka, a jacket and two shirts. After about an hour of charging I head out to the Jefferson Davis Hwy, Chester, VA Tesla Supercharging station. No issues and I charge for about 30 minutes for which I had enough to make it to Woodbridge. Rolled in around 430am,barely got any sleep and was at the Pentagon by 830. I told the guys in the shop about my crazy adventures and they asked if I was thinking if I had made a mistake. I said no way. If anything I felt a little alive, especially when I was soaked and cold on Sunday night in South Hill.
The ultimate lessons learned from this first long range driving experience was that I needed to stay in the conservative and Tesla suggested 20% battery life zone at the Tesla charging station. I may be able to get away with 10% but it is difficult to gauge the degradation from excessive speed, weather and other factors. So, the last time in making the trip I have stayed at or about 25% hitting 3 Super Charging stations among the way, Glen Allen, South Hill and Raleigh with zero issues and peace of mind.
Finally, this whole experience has been somewhat surreal. Every time I get into the P85 I am amazed. The feeling isn’t some type of accomplishment or I have arrived type moment. It’s more about the vision behind Tesla. The innovation, anti-status quo and blazing a new trail for better transportation, and I am living it or being apart of it in my own little way. Additionally what’s really cool are my kids, especially my three youngest girls for which are in elementary, middle and HS. At all three schools their friends and other classmates are so excited about the Tesla. They aren’t asking does your dad have a Porsche or Audi. Nope, the future is Tesla and the ten year olds are excited.
