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.
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.
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