So, we’ve plugged in at 110V running at 12A. That’s estimated to be a 3 miles per hour of charge… Figure to get approx. 36 miles back.
So, I contacted the Hilton Sonoma Valley a few weeks before showing up and got instructions on where I can plug in at 110V depending on where in the property my room was.
Had to use a SHORT extension cord because the plug was installed upside down. The MC would not connect otherwise.
Time to sleep.
So… Guess who just took delivery of a brand new S85 Blue/Tan with Panoramic Roof, Parking Distance Control, Cold Weather Package, etc…
This guy:
Yes… It’s definitely the BEST $1 that I’ve spent…
[I’m in sporadic PC range and I definitely need to go back and clean up the pictures on the blog… [fixed morning of 2013-11-09]]
In the meantime, enjoy the flickr set.
Oh, and here’s our second stop (first was at the service center to pick up a few accessories…) for lunch. Just realized that we were hungry.
Ten more minutes…
Here early…
Got picked up by a Model S Car service – Quicksilver Towncar Service
And now the door to the center…
At LAX waiting to go to the gate from the Admiral’s Club (a civilized way to travel) and thought to update the blog.
So… A few pictures…
Remember, more pictures at my Flickr Set…
As planned, we’re trying to stay electric with the exception of jet fuel…
The Active E is our ride to LAX. My cousin is visiting from out of state and the fee for letting him use the car and stay is to drive us at an ungodly hour to LAX in traffic. Luckily he can use the carpool/HOV lanes to get back home…
A few pictures of the Roadster waiting for its younger sibling…
Potential parking spot for the Model S
Los Angeles I-405 traffic… even in the HOV lane.
The view of our Active E being driven back home by my cousin…
Weird to see someone else driving the Active E (aside from the better half, of course…) Perhaps this experience will convince him to go EV? Who knows…
Today is the day.
We’re on a morning flight out of LAX to SJC to pick up our new Model S.
It’s approximately eight hours and forty minutes until our appointment to tour the Tesla Factory AND pick up our S85 Model S… Yes, it’s 0215/2:15 AM and I’m writing on my blog because I couldn’t sleep.
Stay tuned…
I’m hoping to at least provide updates on flickr for pictures…
One day more…
In twenty four hours my teslamotorsclub.com signature line will be changing from:
Dennis – My Blog (mainly Active E for now and Tesla stuff as it grows…)
BMW Active E, Signature Green Roadster #40, and an 85kwh Tesla Model S with delivery of early November in Blue/Tan, Pano Roof, WITH Sub-zero Package in Southern California… Because COLD is a relative term.
To something closer to:
Dennis – My Blog (mainly Active E for now and Tesla stuff as it grows…)
BMW Active E, Signature Green Roadster #40, and an 85kwh Tesla Model S in Blue/Tan, Pano Roof, WITH Sub-zero Package in Southern California… Because COLD is a relative term.
Stay tuned. I’ll probably be updating the blog more often and/or teslamotorsclub.com and my new Flickr group – Tesla Model S Delivery weekend.
Until we pick it up and start uploading pictures, I’m using a picture of me at the Hawthorne supercharger as a place holder.
Can you tell that I’m excited?
So, quick whirlwind trip to Austin this weekend. Arrived Friday, left Sunday morning, but spent a little time in the city and mostly the outskirts of Austin.
I wanted to rent an EV, but there were none available at the airport, so we ended up with a Prius. As we were drove our rental Prius, I commented, to my better half, that there seemed to be a good number of EV charging stations near us on Plugshare, but was disappointed that I haven’t spotted any EVs in our quick trip from L.A..
As we drove toward the wedding around 12:45pm on Saturday, October 26, my wife and I spotted the following Grey P85+ as it turned to 360N, then to 2222, then on North Ranch Road 620…
I posted on teslamotorsclub.com to see if I can find the owner. Normally, I wouldn’t track an owner down, but this particular one did something rather peculiar. As we turned into North Ranch Road 620, the driver made a right turn into a gas station (a Shell station, I believe…) I just found it to be an amusing thing.
Aside from the Grey P85+ that was in front of us. We also spotted a Red (not Signature Red) Model S going the other direction on 2222. It’s always fun to see EVs on the road, especially in Texas, where one has to appreciate the hassle that the owners would have gone through to get their Teslas. I really appreciate living in California… I never have to worry about the fact that a car is “only” a compliance car. Heck, it’s a compliance car that got me into EVs in the first place and we’ll be driving at least two EVs in this household from now on.
Been on a trip for a few weeks and finally had the time to do my homage to National Plug in Day… Apparently, this is the third year of the event, so I’ve attended three of these events over the past three years… However, I did TWO events last year, so not really the same, is it.
In 2012, I went to two events in two different locations in the same day. The El Segundo one and the Cypress one. This year, I had a flight to catch to Dubai later in the evening, so I could only attend one event.
So, I picked the one in Long Beach.
They did a really cool thing at this event and had a space in the front of the event to highlight one of each vehicle that came by for the event.
It was definitely much bigger than either event last year.
The event was well attended and well organized. Adopt-A-Charger was opening a new sponsored charger at the California State University Chancellor’s office in Long Beach. They were demonstrating the Tesla Roadster that was listed on eBay as a donation to Plug In America. It’s a pretty sweet little red Roadster.
There was also a Nissan Nismo Racing Leaf in attendance. Didn’t get to drive it, but got some cool pictures of it.
There were speakers, including Plug In America’s Paul Scott (also known as the guy who was given his money back when he publicized what he would spend to speak to President Obama).
and EV Advocate Chelsea Sexton
and others (this year, I got to meet the “other” Lowenthal that represents me in Long Beach, Bonnie Lowenthal whose ex-husband, Alan Lowenthal, was at last year’s event in Cypress.)
It’s reassuring to have representatives of my district both in State and Federal level be “EV” friendly. Here’s to hoping that more will represent us in other parts of the country.
The challenge with being in such an EV friendly location is that it skews ones perception of the “challenges” of EV adoption. I suppose, “act locally and think globally” is an appropriate slogan here. However, let’s contrast this once again to the EV situation in the Middle East. It would be foolish to think that we would convince folks in the Middle East to abandon oil. However, there is no reason for the middle of the United States to be as devoid of EVs as the Middle East. However, it is important to note that the challenge will become similar to the Middle East situation as the United States becomes one of the larger net producers of oil and gas with the discoveries of oil reserves throughout the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford, Marcellus Shales and others.
Oh, and for the full flickr set… Click Here
So… I was going to post about my Plug In Day 2013 experience in Long Beach this year, but I had a funny thought as I sit in the Club Executive Lounge at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai waiting for my ride (probably a fully kitted out Lincoln Navigator) to the airport to catch my flight to LAX via London.
I was in London for business last week and was disappointed at not seeing any EVs in the Congestion Charging zone and being within a few blocks walk of the Park Lane BMWi dealership. Business does get in the way of my EV obsession.
So what was the funny thought…
I wondered where the nearest “official” Plugshare charging station was from my hotel. I was wondering whether it would be within a BMW Active E, Tesla Roadster, or Tesla Model S range…
Turns out, yes, just not easily!
Have to cross borders and find other “un-official” places to charge, but the AC power in the countries in the region would have charged any of the cars as well as any other country, one just needs to carry the EVSE with you. This ability is another thing that Tesla Motors does better than other US EV manufacturers. I say US EV manufacturers because in Europe, they actually carry their plugs with them, so, I suppose that’s similar to the Tesla method.
What do you get when you carry your plug with you? Well, you get to plug in to many different sockets. The Tesla Roadster UMC or Tesla Model S MC are adapters that handle between 110-240v of charging at amperages that go from 12 Amps to 50 Amps continuous. The Active E used to be rated to get 7.2 kw per hour charging from a compatible J1772 station (this has since been hobbled via software to ensure compatibility with more public charging stations.)
So, have I seen any EVs in Dubai. Expectedly not. However, I was disappointed in not seeing any in Central London. My British EV friends really need some help to convince their fellow countrymen to step up.
UPDATE FIVE HOURS AFTER INITIAL POST:
Saw an Advertisement for Nissan Leaf at the Dubai International Airport Departures Terminal 1… Strange… Then again, they may be advertising CarWings… (does Nissan use Carwings on ICE vehicles?)