Last weekend, I had to put 15gal of fuel in my Model S

[llavalle]

... To put in my boat

Lets just say that the guy at the gas station was a bit puzzled when I pulled by the pump!

Btw, if anyone's ever stuck without a charge in the Laurentians (Quebec, Canada), I installed a 30A J1772 EVSE at my cottage house :

| Nominingue, QC | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare

It's pretty far our of the main road but you never know You can enjoy the view of the lake while you're there

 

[perkiset]

Classic.

Side question - how does your car handle the rock road? My father lives way out in the desert and I'm concerned visiting him there. Clearance OK? I'm just waiting for delivery of mine this week, so I'm a total n00b.

 

[beeeerock]

The stench of gas is going to hang in your car for months! Waaaay longer than the stink of drive-thru fast food!

 

[roblab]

Classic.

Side question - how does your car handle the rock road? My father lives way out in the desert and I'm concerned visiting him there. Clearance OK? I'm just waiting for delivery of mine this week, so I'm a total n00b.

This is partly why we got the air suspension. I took a wrong turn last weekend and ended up driving 15 miles on a fire road and an off road vehicle trail. Just put it in Jeep Mode and drive on. Never hit a rock or bottomed out going into or out of washout ditches.

We also have relatives that have, not gravel, but rock roads, with 6 inch rocks. They use a 4wd pickup. I had no problem. Just go slow and drive around the larger boulders.

 

[perkiset]

NICE. That's excellent to know, as I got the air suspension as well. Cheers Roblab.

 

[Merrill]

Had to go to the Mercedes dealership to buy a new battery for my ML430 and parked the Model S out front, as I opened the rear hatch and was putting the battery in, one of the sales people said "needs a new battery already". He was laughing so had some fun with that.

 

[lagann]

Classic.

Side question - how does your car handle the rock road? My father lives way out in the desert and I'm concerned visiting him there. Clearance OK? I'm just waiting for delivery of mine this week, so I'm a total n00b.

I went shooting with my dad up in a state park here in Georgia. You literally have to ford a stream about a foot deep on the drive to the range. I put the suspension on very high and the water almost got up to the height of the body, with just a couple inches left. The car handle it like a pro. I'm sure it would have been quite a sight to see, though, lol.

 

[perkiset]

WOW never even considered that that sort of behavior would be OK. Awesome. Still weird, an electric car fording a stream ...

 

[mikes_fsd]

I went shooting with my dad up in a state park here in Georgia. You literally have to ford a stream about a foot deep on the drive to the range. I put the suspension on very high and the water almost got up to the height of the body, with just a couple inches left. The car handle it like a pro. I'm sure it would have been quite a sight to see, though, lol.

I am curious to know if this was before or after your MS played with lightning?

 

[lonewolf313]

I went shooting with my dad up in a state park here in Georgia. You literally have to ford a stream about a foot deep on the drive to the range. I put the suspension on very high and the water almost got up to the height of the body, with just a couple inches left. The car handle it like a pro. I'm sure it would have been quite a sight to see, though, lol.

I have read stories about owners unable to restart their cars after driving through flooded roads after water got into the electric motor.

Not something I would want to risk in a $100000 car (approx $150000+ in Australia)

 

[llavalle]

Classic.

Side question - how does your car handle the rock road? My father lives way out in the desert and I'm concerned visiting him there. Clearance OK? I'm just waiting for delivery of mine this week, so I'm a total n00b.

From early summer to the end of winter, the road is very nice. It's a mix between gravel and sand but it's maintained every week. Most of the drive is in a 45mph max zone and I actually have to watch out to avoid getting over 60. The gavel road is a lot smoother than the stretch of pavement that lies before. The car's handling is pretty awesome on looser gravel. The traction control / stability control is astounding - I never felt it get in the way and I pushed the car pretty heavily in some corners. Under heavy acceleration, I would get a bit of over-steer but nothing scary. Not sure how the RWD version would have behaved in this situation but I'm pretty sure it would have been good too (a friend was over with his Subaru BRZ and he had a blast in the gravel twisties)

The worst time of the year is just after melting season. We get over-flows that remove chunks of gravel, sometime 12-18in deep on one side of the road. The sand gets VERY damp and you can dig in easily. Most locals have pickups trucks for this (they have to get out every couple of days for groceries / gas). Since it's my cottage house, I try to avoid this time (2-3 weeks long around March/April) but I did go with the Tesla in April and lets just say I'm glad I had AWD and the air suspension. You really need an AWD car (or chains) to get our of my driveway and my previous car was good for it too (Volvo S60 T6AWD) but It would bottom out every now and then. The Tesla is better in this way.

Here's a picture of the car when I went in in April, when it was melting everywhere. (Note the 120V connection, that was before the EVSE install)

The stench of gas is going to hang in your car for months! Waaaay longer than the stink of drive-thru fast food!

No smells at all. Cleaned my 3 container JUST for that. Also left the trunk open for 25-minutes after filling them in (during groceries) to avoid the smell.

 

[sorka]

Do this with a 5 gallon from time to time for my tractor mower and power yard tools. Have gotten quite the stares

 

[Cyclone]

No smells at all. Cleaned my 3 container JUST for that. Also left the trunk open for 25-minutes after filling them in (during groceries) to avoid the smell.

Why didn't you use the frunk? I put anything stinky up there to avoid cabin intrusion.

 

[llavalle]

Why didn't you use the frunk? I put anything stinky up there to avoid cabin intrusion.

3x 5gal container don't fit in the trunk of a Dual motor model S. Pretty sure the same applies to a regular Model S . Anyway, my trunk was already full.

 

[perkiset]

Great pictures, llavalle.

 

[Pilot_51]

I have a gas riding mower and I'm doing all I can to avoid having to do this. I hope to replace it with a battery-electric riding mower as soon as next year, provided it can easily mow over an acre and the price is acceptable. In the meantime, it helps to live with family who have ICE cars and are willing to go near a gas station. If worst comes to worst, I'll see about putting it in the frunk to keep the fumes and smell out, as I do when I pick up pizza. I replaced the gas string trimmer with this one back in March and I like it a lot.

 

[sorka]

I have a gas riding mower and I'm doing all I can to avoid having to do this. I hope to replace it with a battery-electric riding mower as soon as next year, provided it can easily mow over an acre and the price is acceptable. In the meantime, it helps to live with family who have ICE cars and are willing to go near a gas station. If worst comes to worst, I'll see about putting it in the frunk to keep the fumes and smell out, as I do when I pick up pizza. I replaced the gas string trimmer with this one back in March and I like it a lot.

Same problem. I have 1 acre of grass on a 1.3 acre lot.

 

[Cyclone]

3x 5gal container don't fit in the trunk of a Dual motor model S. Pretty sure the same applies to a regular Model S . Anyway, my trunk was already full.

Ahhh. I went and looked at our portable gas can for the lawnmower that came with the house (quickly changed to an electric corded one) and it's only a gallon can. 15 gallons must be huge.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Think OP used 3 x 5 gallon containers. Might fit perfect in the footwell

 

[bollar]

Why didn't you use the frunk? I put anything stinky up there to avoid cabin intrusion.

Yes! Gas and Fast Food both go in the frunk!