Friend's Tesla S
Discussion
A friend has just collected his Tesla S 85kW from their premises in West London and is very pleased with it so far: He says the performance and comfort etc are excellent.
It will be interesting to see how he get on with the whole charging thing although I believe most of his journeys are well within range. However, on Thursday week, we're travelling up to Bruntingthorpe in it, from North West Kent. I'm looking forward to the journey but am a bit concerned about making the return trip on a single charge. We will see.
(Also looking forward to driving a 458 at Bruntingthorpe, then attempting to break 200mph in an Aventador. No idea what carbon footprint we'll be leaving behind...
)
It will be interesting to see how he get on with the whole charging thing although I believe most of his journeys are well within range. However, on Thursday week, we're travelling up to Bruntingthorpe in it, from North West Kent. I'm looking forward to the journey but am a bit concerned about making the return trip on a single charge. We will see.
(Also looking forward to driving a 458 at Bruntingthorpe, then attempting to break 200mph in an Aventador. No idea what carbon footprint we'll be leaving behind...
)The Model S is an awesome car.
Unfortunately you won't make that journey on a single charge (without resorting to glacial speeds).
Plan to stop at a services with Ecotricity 22kW chargers and while you have a coffee and a chat you can add 60-75 miles worth of range per hour (assuming your friend has twin chargers) - an hour or so should do it.
Another thought is there may well be charging facilities at the circuit (3 circuits I have been to have them) in which case you won't have any problems at all with range for the return journey.
Unfortunately you won't make that journey on a single charge (without resorting to glacial speeds).
Plan to stop at a services with Ecotricity 22kW chargers and while you have a coffee and a chat you can add 60-75 miles worth of range per hour (assuming your friend has twin chargers) - an hour or so should do it.
Another thought is there may well be charging facilities at the circuit (3 circuits I have been to have them) in which case you won't have any problems at all with range for the return journey.
Just got back from driving one of these (the 85KW one too). What a car, just incredible. Lots of things to say about this car, but I've no idea quite how to put it across! All I can say is as a daily driver it's pretty much perfect - comfy, spacious and goes like s
t off a shovel!
I wasn't brave enough to give it the full beans (as I'm told, and felt, the back end can skip out), but I gave it a few blips on a country road. Needless to say the car in your rear view mirror becomes a small spec and you become acquainted the the tailgate of the car in front of you (I wasn't following at Audi distance!) It's really quite laughable.
My view is that if we need electric cars to allow us to keep our dinosaur fossil fuel cars for the weekend, I'd have one of these in an instant! Can't wait for the depreciation to happen!
t off a shovel!I wasn't brave enough to give it the full beans (as I'm told, and felt, the back end can skip out), but I gave it a few blips on a country road. Needless to say the car in your rear view mirror becomes a small spec and you become acquainted the the tailgate of the car in front of you (I wasn't following at Audi distance!) It's really quite laughable.
My view is that if we need electric cars to allow us to keep our dinosaur fossil fuel cars for the weekend, I'd have one of these in an instant! Can't wait for the depreciation to happen!
Upatdawn said:
whats the Tesla's REAL range on 1 charge?
I have had mine for 10 days and real world range on a full charge is as follows:Motorway at 75MPH with several runs up an airport runway to 125MPH - 178 miles
Motorway at 75MPH with 10% A road making good use of overtakes - 215 miles
Motorway at 75MPH with 50% A road making good use of overtakes - 245 miles
A road making good use of overtakes - 275 miles
Cruising on the motorway at 65MPH my friend got 295 miles in his
Friend's one is the same coiour as yours, Adam but his wheels are silver.
Will have to find out if they have charging point at Bruntingthorpe (and that it available and working). Quite happy to have a break to find a charging point on the way, so long as it doesn't take TOO long. I believe he has gone for the faster charging option on his.
I'm assuming that the cabin features a means for locating suitable charging points along your route without having to plan your journey on some database beforehand(?)
Will have to find out if they have charging point at Bruntingthorpe (and that it available and working). Quite happy to have a break to find a charging point on the way, so long as it doesn't take TOO long. I believe he has gone for the faster charging option on his.
I'm assuming that the cabin features a means for locating suitable charging points along your route without having to plan your journey on some database beforehand(?)
Until the UK Tesla superchargers are established, get an Ecotricity charging card and a CHAdeMO converter plug to get a 50kW DC charge (converter s/be available from Tesla). If not, the AC outlet should work.
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/our-elect...
Tesla rep told me today that Nissan are allowing Teslas to use the Nissan dealer fast chargers - worth checking this out too.
I test drove a P85+ today. Fantastic drive. Only disappointment is the rear seat - high floor and low roof really limit the space (apart from width, a Golf is much better). Need the glass roof - even then it is tight.
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/our-elect...
Tesla rep told me today that Nissan are allowing Teslas to use the Nissan dealer fast chargers - worth checking this out too.
I test drove a P85+ today. Fantastic drive. Only disappointment is the rear seat - high floor and low roof really limit the space (apart from width, a Golf is much better). Need the glass roof - even then it is tight.
Edited by c2mike on Thursday 10th July 23:36
Edited by c2mike on Thursday 10th July 23:49
BuzzLightyear said:
Friend's one is the same coiour as yours, Adam but his wheels are silver.
I'm assuming that the cabin features a means for locating suitable charging points along your route without having to plan your journey on some database beforehand(?)
No but there are plenty of sites to find chargers out there. The Tesla shows Superchargers (1 in the UK at present) and places you have previously charged are also displayed on the map.I'm assuming that the cabin features a means for locating suitable charging points along your route without having to plan your journey on some database beforehand(?)
From having never seen one if these a month or so ago they are now appearing quite regularly in Central London. Really like the styling, the concept and the brand. Tesla have got it spot on, I hope they do tune to do well
Edit - a bit o/t but bloody hell!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/10/5888463/car-thie...
Edit - a bit o/t but bloody hell!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/10/5888463/car-thie...
Edited by rix on Friday 11th July 06:21
Greg_D said:
surely you can plug it into the wall at bruntingthorpe, yes it will be a slow charge, but it may add enough to get you home! or certainly speed up your pit stop to 'a coffee' rather than 'a book'
A 3-pin plug will only add range at the rate of 10 miles per hour plugged in IIRC, so not a lot of use for a short break!moribund said:
Greg_D said:
surely you can plug it into the wall at bruntingthorpe, yes it will be a slow charge, but it may add enough to get you home! or certainly speed up your pit stop to 'a coffee' rather than 'a book'
A 3-pin plug will only add range at the rate of 10 miles per hour plugged in IIRC, so not a lot of use for a short break!(I am the OP of this thread but have had to re-register under a new name).
Just got back from our trip to Bruntingthorpe and am very impressed with the Tesla. It looks great - like an XF should look IMO, very comfortable and the performance is mightily impressive: you have to re calibrate because you get properly pushed back into your seat with almost no accompanying noise.
Ride and refinement were also really good and the dashboard /centre console controls and displays are as high tech as you would hope although I did feel that the use of some features and functions entailed too long a distraction from the road. Maybe that will improve with familiarity but I believe that scrolling through menus (left-handed, too) in the centre console is never going to be ideal in this respect.
On the subject of range, we started from Bromley with a full charge showing 242 miles which should have been just enough to get us to Bruntingthorpe and back. However, we reached Watford Gap services at lunchtime and, while we had a coffee and sandwich, the car was topped up with another 80 miles of charge in about 20 minutes which meant we didn't have to worry about completing the return journey. As it happened, we had a couple of diversions and hit some very heavy traffic on the way home and got back to his house with around 30 miles left "in the tank". He mostly drove very smoothly but we did have a couple of acceleration demos and we went through the back doubles of South East London which both contributed to range depletion.
Oh, and we loved the 458 and Aventador, both achieving approx Vmaxes of 173 and 201 respectively.
Altogether, a really interesting and fun day.
Just got back from our trip to Bruntingthorpe and am very impressed with the Tesla. It looks great - like an XF should look IMO, very comfortable and the performance is mightily impressive: you have to re calibrate because you get properly pushed back into your seat with almost no accompanying noise.
Ride and refinement were also really good and the dashboard /centre console controls and displays are as high tech as you would hope although I did feel that the use of some features and functions entailed too long a distraction from the road. Maybe that will improve with familiarity but I believe that scrolling through menus (left-handed, too) in the centre console is never going to be ideal in this respect.
On the subject of range, we started from Bromley with a full charge showing 242 miles which should have been just enough to get us to Bruntingthorpe and back. However, we reached Watford Gap services at lunchtime and, while we had a coffee and sandwich, the car was topped up with another 80 miles of charge in about 20 minutes which meant we didn't have to worry about completing the return journey. As it happened, we had a couple of diversions and hit some very heavy traffic on the way home and got back to his house with around 30 miles left "in the tank". He mostly drove very smoothly but we did have a couple of acceleration demos and we went through the back doubles of South East London which both contributed to range depletion.
Oh, and we loved the 458 and Aventador, both achieving approx Vmaxes of 173 and 201 respectively.
Altogether, a really interesting and fun day.
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