To help ease the waiting, I just visited the Tesla Motors store in Dadeland (Miami, Florida) Dadeland | Tesla Store Locations | Tesla Motors
Despite being after the normal time for test drives (only until 6pm), I got a test drive (as if I needed it!), and it was as awesome, as the first time was! This time I had a white 60 kWh with pano roof, and I just felt ... it has plenty of oomph, no need for the 85, or even the performance! Apart from the range, anyway.
I floored it a few times, when possible, but this time I was more focused on how smoothly I could drive it, and to explore some of the functions I had only been reading about. Easing on the accelerator, the car starts ever so gently. I wish HK drivers (taxis, buses and so on), would appreciate C O M F O R T a little more, and in this car, there is really no excuse for driving in an uncomfortable way. You can drive it like a limo or like a sports car, it's all up to the driver.
Played with the sunroof, tried to drive it with and without creep enabled. On a flat, with creep OFF, it will stop using regen around 2 mph, then keep going slowly forward - so you will have to use the brakes if only a little. With creep ON, I'm not sure what speed it goes at, possible 5 mph? It's good that you need to use the brakes even if a little, so they don't corrode or get stuck, from never being used. I am sure I will use full regen, but not sure yet about the creep, if I like it or not.
They only charge the demos overnight, that is plenty for the x amount of 5 mile test drives they do in a day. And that is even for the 60. As it's evening here - yesterday
- I got to plug it in, after we drove it, so it will be ready for tomorrow morning.
I couldn't make any video or take pictures of the test drive (company policy), while it wasn't any problem when I test drove an 85 in San Francisco, on 1-1-2013. I do have a picture of the car I drove, as well as a (somewhat unsharp) picture of the charging station. They had to use an adapter cable, something about the charger being made for the Roadster initially (Mark?). You can see the adapter connected to the black charging cable in picture #2 below.
We talked about locking the cable - at the moment, there is no option to choose to unlock the cable at a certain charge level. If the cable was long enough, one could imagine a parking lot where one cable could serve 2-4 spots. If I get home at 10pm, I'm not going to come back at 2am to unplug, so someone else can use it. THIS is going to be an issue, and having an option with "unlock after XX%" charge" would be a great update (Tesla Motors Software Engineers, are you here?). Of course, this wouldn't work with an adapter, as anyone could steel it, once it unlocks. Serviced car parks, I wonder if there could be some separate "unlock charger" key of some kind, which the parking guards could use? It's not easy. And if using an adapter, the adapter itself could be unplugged from the charger, I guess. Wouldn't that be a problem, with sparks and stuff, and the car suddenly being unplugged without being "told" first?
Thank you Nathaniel and Markeem from TM Dadeland, as well as Max for calling ahead and arranging a test drive!
Finally, here are some pictures:
Despite being after the normal time for test drives (only until 6pm), I got a test drive (as if I needed it!), and it was as awesome, as the first time was! This time I had a white 60 kWh with pano roof, and I just felt ... it has plenty of oomph, no need for the 85, or even the performance! Apart from the range, anyway.
I floored it a few times, when possible, but this time I was more focused on how smoothly I could drive it, and to explore some of the functions I had only been reading about. Easing on the accelerator, the car starts ever so gently. I wish HK drivers (taxis, buses and so on), would appreciate C O M F O R T a little more, and in this car, there is really no excuse for driving in an uncomfortable way. You can drive it like a limo or like a sports car, it's all up to the driver.
Played with the sunroof, tried to drive it with and without creep enabled. On a flat, with creep OFF, it will stop using regen around 2 mph, then keep going slowly forward - so you will have to use the brakes if only a little. With creep ON, I'm not sure what speed it goes at, possible 5 mph? It's good that you need to use the brakes even if a little, so they don't corrode or get stuck, from never being used. I am sure I will use full regen, but not sure yet about the creep, if I like it or not.
They only charge the demos overnight, that is plenty for the x amount of 5 mile test drives they do in a day. And that is even for the 60. As it's evening here - yesterday
- I got to plug it in, after we drove it, so it will be ready for tomorrow morning.I couldn't make any video or take pictures of the test drive (company policy), while it wasn't any problem when I test drove an 85 in San Francisco, on 1-1-2013. I do have a picture of the car I drove, as well as a (somewhat unsharp) picture of the charging station. They had to use an adapter cable, something about the charger being made for the Roadster initially (Mark?). You can see the adapter connected to the black charging cable in picture #2 below.
We talked about locking the cable - at the moment, there is no option to choose to unlock the cable at a certain charge level. If the cable was long enough, one could imagine a parking lot where one cable could serve 2-4 spots. If I get home at 10pm, I'm not going to come back at 2am to unplug, so someone else can use it. THIS is going to be an issue, and having an option with "unlock after XX%" charge" would be a great update (Tesla Motors Software Engineers, are you here?). Of course, this wouldn't work with an adapter, as anyone could steel it, once it unlocks. Serviced car parks, I wonder if there could be some separate "unlock charger" key of some kind, which the parking guards could use? It's not easy. And if using an adapter, the adapter itself could be unplugged from the charger, I guess. Wouldn't that be a problem, with sparks and stuff, and the car suddenly being unplugged without being "told" first?
Thank you Nathaniel and Markeem from TM Dadeland, as well as Max for calling ahead and arranging a test drive!
Finally, here are some pictures:
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