2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,237
edited September 2014 in Tesla

image2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Planning weekend errands in the long-term 2013 Tesla Model S.

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  • jpwhitehomejpwhitehome Member Posts: 3
    Couldn't tell from your article. Did you plug in overnight at either of your stopovers? Even a lowly 120v outlet can add quite a few miles if plugged in overnight. Easily 80 miles for two evening stopovers, which would have dealt with the need to charge on the go.
  • zhangrenhouzhangrenhou Member Posts: 79
    You sure do a lot of driving!
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    You were fortunate that Ikea had a charging station, and even so, you had to extend your planned stay there to allow the car to charge. Then later you had to leave the Tesla to charge and use a conventional car for a few hours. And this is just local running around. Once you're outside the southern California electric car playpen, there are just so few places to plug in a car in this giant country...I'm sorry; I just don't see it. An interesting thought exercise would have been to have Oldham and Erin Riches install the Tesla app on their phones prior to their trips to Mount Rushmore and Manhattan, and just to pass the time, see how many charging locations there are outside of SoCal.
  • mfennellmfennell Member Posts: 91
    Mark had to charge at Ikea because he couldn't (or chose not to) charge the Model S at *home* Saturday evening like an actual owner would. He also did not do a Range charge Friday before starting out for whatever reason, leaving 25 potential miles behind.

    There are >11,000 charging stations listed on the ChargePoint site at this time. And, of course, you can plug it into any wall outlet (~40 miles over night) or dryer outlet (~100 miles over night).

    A Model S is probably a poor choice for a roadtrip to Mount Rushmore. I would suggest not buying one if that's a regular use case.
  • mfennellmfennell Member Posts: 91
    As an aside, the fixation with a charger on every corner is dumb once you're talking about a Model S. How many public gas stations would we need if everyone had one in their garage?
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    But all the other 415-hp, $100,000 sedans ARE a good choice for a trip to Mount Rushmore. And they are not a bad choice for the running around Edmunds did over the past weekend. I get the case for a Nissan Leaf. If I had one, my $40/week gasoline bill would probably drop to around $7 if my math is correct. For a commuter car that recharges in my garage 365 nights a year and costs me $30k, that's great. I just don't understand the logic of a 415-hp, $100,000 puddle-jumper.
  • mfennellmfennell Member Posts: 91
    While they probably are great choices for a 2600 mile RT from LA, in my (anecdotal, granted) experience, people who actually buy $100k cars are not road tripping college students/automotive journalists.
  • johng33johng33 Member Posts: 2
    Mark:
    What you are missing with the way you and the other editors are testing is that your only "regular" charging station is at work, but you're driving it around on weekends.

    If you purchased a car (and owned a house), you would install a plug in your garage or driveway. All you need is a NEMA 14-50 (240 volt round plug), you don't need the High Power Wall Charger.

    What most owners do is plug in at night when we get out and unplug in the morning. It is just like my smart phone - charge it up every single night. Weekends if I'm running around in and out, I plug in when I'm home but I probably don't need to.

    I drive most days 50-100 miles a day. I think I've only run below 100 Rated miles remaining maybe 2-3 times, and I've got 6000 miles and 6 months with the car.

    I have a couple of public charges in my parking garage at work, but other than testing it once for an hour, have never needed it or used it.

    Your scenario where you charge up at work and then make it through the weekend with various public chargers is "inverted" from the way most of us use the car for daily/weekend driving.

    I'm just pointing this out because, to give it a fair shake, you really should think about how most people use it and how your "evaluation" scenario isn't quite the same.

    In any event, you've certainly made it work well for all of you and it's neat to read how well you guys like the car! So do we!
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