rmorin1249

Every time I see one of these on the road, I have to admit it is a nice design for a 4 door sedan. Watching how they do on the used car market as I might just buy one if a year or so. The idea of being able to drive cross country with free charges and no fuel is very tempting. We have a supercharger station in Hagerstown at an outlet center about 3 miles from where I live.

LagunaC7

My boss does. I think the majority of owners do from what I've a
Observed. It is indeed a very cool car and the performance is pretty impressive.

Steve_R

There's an "Other Cars" forum here, where there are already 12 threads with the word 'Tesla' in the title.

SilverScorp

We have two people who drive Teslas to work daily. They are not happy about the costs to install a compatible outlet in their garage so the car can charge to full overnight. I have to admit it looks nice, but there is a Hundai (or something like that) that looks just like it for 35k. So it looks fairly pedestrian on the road in general. Do this experiment; Map out a trip for an electric car from MD to LA and you'll find to get to charging stations in time to charge up will significantly increase your trip time as most are in the northern regions. not to mention the time it takes to wait in line to charge..and then charge for hours. Give it a try. I will probably buy an electric car one day, but it still needs more infrastructure development to support it IMO.

dvilin

That would be too logical to post it there.

usdmpwr07

The Tesla seems like an awesome daily. I've seen inside them upclose and they have tons of room.

mpuzach

Seriously?

LuvnMyC7

I love mine. I love my Vette too, but have to say, it really pisses me off when it runs out of gas and I have stop at a damn gas station!!! LOL

03clyde

Have you seen their pre-owned website:


http://www.teslamotors.com/models/preowned

'06 Quicksilver Z06

Mine is a daily driver.









A few points since you talk about traveling long distances on no fuel costs.

The car as you see it, is set to allow for charging up to 90%, that accounts for the 231 mile range. In the pic below, it was charged in my garage.



Set at 100% charge limit, it will show a 256 mile range. Of course as with a gasoline vehicle, that is contingent upon your right foot. In the below pic, I allowed it to charge to 100% and at a Supercharger. It's finishing up.




All of the sedans are Model S, but have different range capabilities depending upon battery and dual motors vs rear wheel drive. 270 miles I believe is the longest available range for any of their offerings at this time.

There are various ways to charge it. Each having advantages and disadvantages. It depends largely upon where you start, in terms of it's maximum fill or capacity or maximum charge, how long it takes to "fill" it or top it off. So if it's damn near run down, then it is going to take longer to charger it all the way back up. If it's half charged at the time when you plug it in, then it will take less time to top it off.

Superchargers are "free" (well, you actually pay a $2K surcharge on the car when purchased new for this capability to be activated) and Supercharging can be used whenever you like and wherever available. If a Supercharger is just 3 miles from where you live, then you really are in luck.

Superchargers are extremely fast compared to home and other types of charging. For example, this is my car at a Supercharger.





Tesla Superchargers are proprietary, but other charging stations for other cars are also public, many, if not most of them also free, but they offer a slower rate of charge and a different connection end on the charging cord for which Tesla provides an adapter so that their cars can be charged at those stations.

Home charging is done typically using an installed 240V/40amp amp outlet. Very similar to an electric dryer outlet. So depending upon how long of a run from the breaker box for your house, to your garage, that will determine how much an electrician charges you to install this outlet. The shorter the run, the less it should cost you for him to add this outlet. My outlet is only about a foot away from the box. It cost me a little over $300.00 to have the outlet installed. This allows a charge rate of about 28 miles an hour.

As an alternative to this, a Tesla branded wall charger, also at 240V, but at 80 amps, which will charge at a rate of about 60 miles an hour can be used. This particular charger runs about $750.00 and will be a bit more costly for your electrician's labor and materials to install than just the 240V/40amp outlet. But if the car is equipped with onboard dual chargers, it will allow a charge which is twice as fast as a 240V/40amp wall outlet.

In a pinch, a 110 outlet can be used, but the charge rate as you may guess is extremely slow.

While many have done it, the gentleman in the red Tesla pictured above and a few stalls down from mine, had come from Minnesota. I am in Western Pennsylvania, and he was headed to New York with planned stops in Somerset and from there to Hagerstown to hit Superchargers in those areas. Tesla has a map of superchargers which will show up in the Navigation. Other non Supercharger charging stations can be located too. I'd never attempt to drive this car cross country, because even though fuel would be "free", the charge times would vary widely depending upon if you were at a Supercharger, a J1772 charger, or at a CHAdeMo charger, and thus lengthen the time of your trip.

Don't get me wrong, there are chargers of various types all over the place. But how long to you want to wait to refuel during each leg of your trip?

Where these cars really shine is in your daily commute. Fueling is somewhat of a different mindset and approach since we generally charge it at home . There are of course no trips to the gas station. And if we are near the Supercharger, or near one of the J1772 chargers typically found near supermarkets or parking lots and parking garages, then it can be charged there until topped off, or until any time/capacity less than that.

Typically, as soon as we pull it in at home, we plug it in. And we unplug it whenever we are ready move it, no matter the state of charge. So if I'm in for an hour, it will charger for that hour. If I'm in for the night, then it will charge the few hours during the night and will be topped off at the 231 miles when I unplug it the next morning.

Hope the above information helps.

zwede

My daily driver since January 2014. I charge 1-2 times a week at work (for free). I added a 240V/50A outlet in my garage for $50. Car's great, doubt I'll go back to ICE for my daily.

C5 Pewter Coupe

and PRAY that you can make it to the next charging station, it's not like they are all over the place, and you can go exploring in your drive across the different states.. I'd much rather have something like the Chevy Volt or in the price range of the Tesla, the Cadillac ELR.

'06 Quicksilver Z06

Exactly. If one is going to do cross country type road trips, well then a hybrid would be a better choice.

JerriVette

I test drove the p85d and was quite impressed.

I believe if you don't feel the need for AWD in your area I'd look into leasing a pre owned low mileage lease return.

The pricing is 30 percent less and I believe the cars would come with a full warranty as well...although not sure.

Living three miles from the supercharger as stated by the OP...I'd definitely get one as it's 20 minutes or so for an 80 percent charge if not then 40 minutes...

For using no gas? I'd consider living so close to the supercharger would make this a slam dunk for you.

The 110 volt recharge takes 92 hours so that's not actually a viable option unless you just use the car on the weekends ..

I enjoyed my hour long test drive and recommend you stop into a local tesla showroom to arrange a test drive. No pressure and truly a wonderful experience.

Tesla is experiencing a 25 percent closing ratio with it's no pressure test drive approach.

I believe if you test drive one, have the disposable income and live three miles from the supercharger station your good to go.

In a few months they are installing new software for autonomous driving on the highway.

Chevy Guy

Come on, that sounds silly. The thought of driving across country sound horrible no matter how it's done.

WAwatchnut

Great daily driver - not so great for cross country (or any other long mileage) drives.

I don't own one. My sister does, and her husband is on his 2nd Volt. Each time I've visited, there has been at least one conversation about which car to take... actually, the conversation is about "why we can't take the Tesla".

In the Bay Area, a normal daily drive to work will use up 1/3 - 1/2 of the range. So if you're planning an extended drive after work (usually on a Friday), often there's the concern if the Tesla has enough range.

And for longer drives (to LA usually), there's the discussion of - is there enough range to make it to the supercharging station in...xxx", or "do we want to stop at the charging station or drive straight through?

Quite often the Volt (or the GX470) is chosen instead.

Under 90% of the normal use for a car, the Tesla is great. But that other 10% may be a concern. Personally, having to plan for 30 - 40 min stops along the way, in specific places, is a deal breaker for me. I'm waiting for Chevy's volt platform to make it's way into a reasonable upscale version. Now that the ELR's price is being reduced, it's becoming more and more attractive.

C5 Pewter Coupe

my last "cross country" well 1/2 way across the country was about 2 weeks ago, from Williston ND, to Sacramento and back (left Sunday morning from Williston and left Sacramento the next Saturday morning to be back by Sunday evening for work)

the next trip in excess of 1000 miles will be May 27th, and headed to western Oregon for 10 days, then back to Williston for work again..