Waiting list/wait time is very long for the Tesla we want. We have several high-mileage cars in the family that are tired oil users. Reliable as a hammer but they are about to tap out. Hundreds of thousand of miles, don't have a dime of repairs in any of them.
We bought a Kia EV6 as a start. You can walk-in and just buy one. Shopping around we found what we wanted and for MSRP. (Laura at Kia Valencia). Twin Motor, everything but the sunroof.
We have a Tesla Solar power system for the house and cranks out up to an amazing 9.5 KW.
Hung a hard wired, 60/48 amp dedicated wall charger in the garage.
It's a new era, get with the times. Wife drives 100 miles day, lets skip gasoline and burn sunlight instead:
Headed to ‘Vegas from Los Angeles this morning. Visit to help Grandma run errands, Dr. Appts and favors.
301 mile range on the car we could do it in one leap but in case we got stuck in 109F traffic we needed the extra "top off" charge in route. We also wanted to check out a few non-Tesla charging situations so we made extra stops for that too.
First stretch/check/charge stop was the Boron Rest Area and to check out the Cal Trans EV charger just to see if it worked and if was really free as reported.
Couldn’t get it to work. Tried all the trick to convince it to.
Acted like it wanted to work but nope. No way, pure hate.
So back on the I 58, next charging attempt would be the Electrify America at the Barstow Ca Walmart Super Center. Wife gets free charging at EA chargers.
First 3 chargers we tried did not work.
25 min on the phone finally Customer service answered and together we tried activating a couple more chargers,,, no luck.
Then a EV pulled out of a spot and still on the phone with Electrify America and several reboots later in 109F heat we got a charger to start:
Going to be an hour charge so we walked over to the Pit Stop Tavern for a burger. Excellent. Serious kitchen. Outstanding.
Ok on to Vegas
Baker Ca: A huge Tesla Super charging station. Also a Electrify America Station with SAE J1772 chargers. The sign said it was all solar/power bank powered. Damfino, that's what the sign said. 10' tall berm behind the fence stretching for several acres. perhaps the solar panels were there.
20 SAE 1770 chargers - only 4 that work:
I can visualize non-Tesla owners having both range anxiety and broken, dysfunctional charger anxiety.
Cruising around Vegas for a few days we needed to recharge to head back to Cali. BTW: Garagemahall at the Circa has no EV Chargers.
Electrify America station Maryland and Flamingo. Police were leaving as we arrived. Thieves stripped two chargers of their metal internals. Simply unlocked it, unplugged it, gutted it - closed it goes the tale we were told.
Note: Security cameras top of pic:
Heading back home we re-charged once again at the Baker Ca J1770 station and were able to make it back to our garage near Los Angeles.
In route home we stopped off at the Comfort Inn in Mojave Ca to check out their Elect America charging station. Not ready yet:
More and more Comfort Inns have chargers or at least a 14 50 NEMA plug.
We bought a Kia EV6 as a start. You can walk-in and just buy one. Shopping around we found what we wanted and for MSRP. (Laura at Kia Valencia). Twin Motor, everything but the sunroof.
We have a Tesla Solar power system for the house and cranks out up to an amazing 9.5 KW.
Hung a hard wired, 60/48 amp dedicated wall charger in the garage.
It's a new era, get with the times. Wife drives 100 miles day, lets skip gasoline and burn sunlight instead:
Headed to ‘Vegas from Los Angeles this morning. Visit to help Grandma run errands, Dr. Appts and favors.
301 mile range on the car we could do it in one leap but in case we got stuck in 109F traffic we needed the extra "top off" charge in route. We also wanted to check out a few non-Tesla charging situations so we made extra stops for that too.
First stretch/check/charge stop was the Boron Rest Area and to check out the Cal Trans EV charger just to see if it worked and if was really free as reported.
Couldn’t get it to work. Tried all the trick to convince it to.
Acted like it wanted to work but nope. No way, pure hate.
So back on the I 58, next charging attempt would be the Electrify America at the Barstow Ca Walmart Super Center. Wife gets free charging at EA chargers.
First 3 chargers we tried did not work.
25 min on the phone finally Customer service answered and together we tried activating a couple more chargers,,, no luck.
Then a EV pulled out of a spot and still on the phone with Electrify America and several reboots later in 109F heat we got a charger to start:
Going to be an hour charge so we walked over to the Pit Stop Tavern for a burger. Excellent. Serious kitchen. Outstanding.
Ok on to Vegas
Baker Ca: A huge Tesla Super charging station. Also a Electrify America Station with SAE J1772 chargers. The sign said it was all solar/power bank powered. Damfino, that's what the sign said. 10' tall berm behind the fence stretching for several acres. perhaps the solar panels were there.
20 SAE 1770 chargers - only 4 that work:
I can visualize non-Tesla owners having both range anxiety and broken, dysfunctional charger anxiety.
Cruising around Vegas for a few days we needed to recharge to head back to Cali. BTW: Garagemahall at the Circa has no EV Chargers.
Electrify America station Maryland and Flamingo. Police were leaving as we arrived. Thieves stripped two chargers of their metal internals. Simply unlocked it, unplugged it, gutted it - closed it goes the tale we were told.
Note: Security cameras top of pic:
Heading back home we re-charged once again at the Baker Ca J1770 station and were able to make it back to our garage near Los Angeles.
In route home we stopped off at the Comfort Inn in Mojave Ca to check out their Elect America charging station. Not ready yet:
More and more Comfort Inns have chargers or at least a 14 50 NEMA plug.
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