Tesla moments

[alexeiw123]

2) I was sleeping in a motel in Georgia. I had run the Mobile Connector from my room to my car so it could charge overnight, with a DoorJammer keeping the door secure. Two o'clock in the morning I was awakened by the hotel staff pounding on my door! The graveyard manager incredulously demanded that I "immediately remove the cord from the gas tank and never do something so dangerous again!" After several futile attempts to explain that is was just charging my car, I gave up, got dressed, went out and unplugged my car. After she then realized that is was, indeed, just a plug, and that there was no gas tank, I was allowed to plug my car back in and go back to sleep.

That is so hilarious!!

 

[mhpr262]

Can you imagine people's faces when they saw the first carriage moving along all by itself, without horses ... we laugh, but so little has changed since then.

 

[TesAus]

Can you imagine people's faces when they saw the first carriage moving along all by itself, without horses ... we laugh, but so little has changed since then.

ironically the first horseless carriage they saw may have been electric, before petrol cars took off.

 

[Terapin]

I've had one Tesla moment of note so far. I was behind a young guy in a muscle car at a light, just before a highway onramp. The light turns green, and he just peels away on to the on ramp. I follow behind him effortlessly. He guns it even more, and I keep up without getting anywhere near mashing the peddle: this is easy. I see him look in his rearview mirror and see him try to eek out a little more speed, but wasn't willing to lose a nanosecond of speed by shifting his gear up, and so all I can hear is his engine screaming as he tries to fly away from me (unsuccessfully). He finally shifts and I pull back my speed as I didn't want to be dangerous and we were just above the speed limit. I let him tear off into the 3rd lane, veering across 3 lanes of traffic, and I just sat back, cruising, and patted the steering wheel lovingly. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

 

[3s-a-charm]

Stopped to pick up Pizza for the kids... while waiting, a guy comes out of his pickup truck and starts staring at my car so my wife says, "Jump in!" and the guy gets in next to me. He says "Angelo (the owner of the pizza place he later explains) should be buying YOU pizza! This is his favorite car - amazing!" He spent the next few minutes explaining that he (about 50 years old) works at a Nissan Dealership in the city and can't wait to tell the guys that he was the first to sit in a Tesla and that he is so impressed with this car compared to the Leaf. He said that the pickup he was driving was an old '80's Chev that his Dad left for him in California - it was in amazing shape - but he drives a Cayman S and Mercedes. He was honestly like a kid - so excited. This was only on my 2nd day of ownership. I have daily encounters similar to this!

 

[DITB]

I made a Tesla moment.

Not typical as those mentioned here, so for being something else, I think it's worth mentioning.

First of all, in our rapidly growing EV community in Hong Kong (totally dominated by Model S), I set up a meet-up for 70 people and 30 EVs (mainly Model S, but there was also a Roadster and BMW i3).

On that same day, we formally created charged.hk - an association I co-founded with other owners (most are on this board already and vocal in the HK EV community). We also have a FB page on http://www.facebook.com/chargedhongkong and we have lot's in store for how we will help boost EVs, charging infrastructure and whatever we can do to make more people want to buy an EV rather than a fossil fuel burner.

Pictures from this event is nicely captured by another TMC user, see here https://plus.google.com/photos/+LockyLoki/albums/6110887633576888961

More pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129171670@N07/sets/72157648159736323/

We were even picked up by Tesla Motors and mentioned on their FB page (as we were gate crashed by several TM managers who heard about the event) https://www.facebook.com/teslamotors/posts/10153019074567801

 

[Pollux]

@DITB: Way. To. Go!!!!

Alan

 

[sickfox]

That's awesome DITB.

By any chance, do anyone of you remember a thread where TMC members posting pictures of people taking pictures of their car? I saw it a while back when I first joined this forum and I think it was hilarious.

 

[swaltner]

By any chance, do anyone of you remember a thread where TMC members posting pictures of people taking pictures of their car? I saw it a while back when I first joined this forum and I think it was hilarious.

Two of 'em...
Pics of people taking pics of Roadsters


Pics of people taking pics of Model S's

 

[Solarwind]

Tesla Moments; There have been many in the one month of ownership of our P85D. The last one I thought kinda funny we had driven into town and were going to have supper with the daughter. We decided to go across town and pickup some spaghetti sauce. We took a 2 lane one way street. When we got to a section that was open with few intersecting street, I noticed a clunker had pulled along side in the left lane and was staying there, slowing up, then speeding, but always staying along side. It appeared to be a man and women and the women was driving. Finally I gave a quick stab on the go pedal. The clunker came back by with both people hanging out the right side with thumbs up. Don't know who was steering the car.

 

[DITB]

@DITB: Way. To. Go!!!!

Alan

Thanks!

Most credit for Charged.hk should go to TMC user markwj - he is the Godfather of EVs in HK, and now - alas - the first chairman of Charged HK. Well deserved.

Thank you, Mark, happy and proud to work with you.

 

[sickfox]

Swaltner: You are the MAN! I've been looking for this thread for quite sometime now. I have multiple pics to share. :biggrin:

Two of 'em...
Pics of people taking pics of Roadsters


Pics of people taking pics of Model S's

 

[morbot]

Took my first mini road trip today, just a day trip to the nearest super charger and the car keeps finding new ways to make me smile.

Was a nice sunny Sunday so I drove from Seattle down to the Centralia super charger. On the way I stopped by Griots garage in Tacoma. Been hearing a lot about their products here on the forums when I realized their physical store is right in my back yard. Bought a bunch of supplies to build a new car wash kit. the folks at the store were really cool.

The new reason to smile was when I saw the rate of charge at the super charger. It was my first time using one and it's pretty impressive. Spent 30 min stretching my legs then headed home with plenty of charge to spare thanks to the super charger.

 

[sickfox]

My car is in the body shop getting something done so we rented a car (2001 Nissan Sentra) for a few days. Last night after dinner, my family and I were driving home and we got pulled over by SFPD. The cop said that our brake light was on all the time and the license plate bulb was out so he asked for the usual - license, registration and proof of insurance.

So the last piece I gave him was my proof of insurance which listed the car that I own. He read it for a second and all of a sudden, he goes... "YOU OWN A TESLA?" And I said, "yes officer." He goes back in his car to check if everything's good. Then all of us in the car looked at each other, didn't say a word and started laughing!!!!

Everything checks out and got away without a ticket! We're happy campers. :smile:

 

[mikeash]

I feel like I'm having these moments and I don't even have my car yet (delivery tomorrow!).

I had the electrician in a week or so ago for my charging outlet. He asked me what it was for, and then we spent a few minutes talking Tesla. "I heard those things are super fast!" He thought they did 0-60 in 2.8 seconds or something of the sort. I gently corrected him, but it was fun. Then I got the installation inspected, and had much the same conversation with the inspector. He's a car guy and he really wishes they would bring the Roadster back. Then, yesterday, I went to Carmax to see what they would offer for the Prius I'm getting rid of, and the representative and I spent more time talking about the Tesla I'm buying than the Prius I'm trying to sell him. I didn't get a very good offer on the Prius from him, but I ended up promising to come back and give him a ride in the Tesla.

It's great how seemingly everyone not only knows the car but is extremely enthusiastic about it.

 

[sandpiper]

I've had the car for about a month now and I get some sort of reaction to it pretty much every second day. There are very few of them in this area.

The reactions have universally been positive and almost always lead to conversations. I have yet to hear anything negative about what it costs, as you would with a Porsche or high end Mercedes. I acknowledge that it's expensive, and also that they are destined to become cheaper and people seem fine with that. It seems that the positive "electric/environmental" card trumps the negative "status car".

Yesterday I was walking out of a Home Depot with my son, and came across a guy taking a photo of the car with his wife rolling her eyes nearby. When she saw us approaching the car she seemed a bit embarrassed and shuffled her husband away.

 

[3s-a-charm]

Sitting outside a grocery store with my wife waiting for our kids to pick up a drink. Older gentleman walks right up to my window and KNOCKS on the glass!

Q. "What kind of car is this?"
A. It's a Tesla - it's all electric, no engine, no gas
Q. Thanks, never heard of that before. Does it go fast?
A. Very.

Man walks away staring at the car... LOL!

 

[Pollux]

I love these kind of stories and, if I happen to have enough time, view them as big opportunities. I get out of the car, engage with the person or people. Would you like to see the engine? Show them the frunk. Oh, wait, I was having a little fun with you. Here, let's go check out the engine for real. Show them the trunk. Pop up the jump seats. Yeah, that's right, there's nothing... battery pack under the car, motor between the rear wheels. Put them into the passenger seat, check out the interior and the dash. From a few minutes to 20 minutes or more, depending on how interested the person really is. If there's even more time, and the person is willing, we go for a drive. I generally start very slowly, while explaining that electric cars are kind of like golf carts and there's a limit to how hard you can push them. As soon as we hit a clear stretch, I hit it (depending on the person, anywhere from a throttle blip to pressing the accelerator half-way to full acceleration). The "electric car still must somehow be a toy despite all this space and dashboard gadgets and whatnot" mindset EVAPORATES. I conclude by pointing them to the nearest showroom and explaining how easy it is to get a test drive and make a purchase. Not once has anyone walked away looking bored, put-upon, pooh-pooh'ing electric cars and/or Tesla.

I'm am absolutely convinced that we customers are the best sales force Tesla has. And I think the people we reach this way often may not be future Model S customers but are future Model III customers.

Alan

Sitting outside a grocery store with my wife waiting for our kids to pick up a drink. Older gentleman walks right up to my window and KNOCKS on the glass!

Q. "What kind of car is this?"
A. It's a Tesla - it's all electric, no engine, no gas
Q. Thanks, never heard of that before. Does it go fast?
A. Very.

Man walks away staring at the car... LOL!

 

[Fezzik]

I've had a few now since Jan when I got the P85D. Lots of people noticing it and I took a few for a test drive and they were thrilled. Made my mom sick that I pulled over just in case she would toss her cookies lol. the one that stands out though was I didnt have child seats in the 2nd row and the teacher for my pre-K daughter opened the door and would not let my take my daughter. I had to open the car and show her that it was developed for kids with the 5 point harness. She was really excited to see that. I dont fault her because she is really putting the saftey of the kids first but she was very appreciative that I showed her that it was ok. She did have to ask her boss if that was ok and they said yes.

 

[LetsGoFast]

I drove up to the valet of my DC hotel after having my car detailed and explained that I was just going to pop upstairs and fetch my wife and gave him the option of putting the car in the garage and getting it back or leaving it out front. He said "A car like this, we should leave it out front. It classes up the entrance anyhow."