On 02/07/2014 09:28 PM, Mike Nickerson wrote:
- A couple of time, you left fairly high-powered chargers without a full
charge, but with enough to make it to the next charging location. I'm just
curious why you did that. I think I would have a hard time leaving a
charger without more buffer than that.
I never intentionally left with less than a full charge if my next
charging opportunity was expected to have lesser capacity. That is, I
never left a SuperCharger with less than a full charge unless my next
stop was another SuperCharger. SuperChargers start cutting back at
about 50%. They charge at 120kw (~400 mph) up to about 50% of battery
capacity and then start cutting back. The last few kwh get to be pretty
tedious, about like normal 40 amp charging. Using a string of well
positioned SuperChargers, minimal charge time is achieved by
SuperCharging only to 50-75%. I did leave Arkadelphia with a marginal
charge when I got cut back to 30 amps in Arkadelphia and I expected to
see 40 amps in Texarkana. I did leave with marginal charges when it
seemed prudent to get through big cities before heavy traffic times.
Especially compared to a Leaf, a Tesla has very good instrumentation.
It tells you line voltage so you can see high current voltage drop and
you can lower the current demand. While charging, you can monitor the
charge level and rate.
- What did it take to get a towing hitch on the Tesla? I think that is
fairly unusual. They obviously have the power to pull a trailer, but it
This has been available for some time:
http://torkliftcentral.com/ecohitch/tesla/ecohitch_tesla_model_s.php
The first trip I took in the Tesla (about March 2013), I hauled two
bicycles inside. A bit inconvenient so I resolved to put a bike rack on
the back and ordered the above. Tesla discourages installing trailer
hitches; i offered the job of installing to our Austin Tesal service
center but they declined. They did suggest their recommended high end
body shop where they send Teslas for body work. The body shop said "if
Tesla doesn't condone it, we won't do it". So, I ended up having it
installed at a trailer hitch specialty shop. TorkLift did supply very
good instruction and video. I imagine I could have done the job
myself. Once I got the receiver installed, I became tempted to pull
trailers. Steve Clunn used it to haul a pretty large load of stuff from
Gary K's in San Antonio, 80-100 miles away. This on a 2,000 pound
capacity Harbor Freight 4'x8' flat bed.
I decided I wanted the teardrop for two purposes:
1) I many times i fill the Tesla with 17 banana boxes of produce for
delivery to grocery stores and could use more capacity. The "open to
the weather" flat bed is not suitable.
2) I would like to do more cross country Tesla travel; a pull behind
comfortable waiting room is very attractive for ~8 hour charges. The
teardrop filled this need VERY well on the way back from Wisconsin. A
~1500 watt heater kept the trailer very comfortable even in zero
degrees. The RV stalls always have 120vac outlets in addition to the 50
amp 240vac outlets needed for charging. Also in the trailer, a laptop
and a wifi hotspot both 120vac powered. Many of the photos I linked to
were uploaded while charging in RV stalls. Without a trailer, one can
keep warm in a Tesla while charging at RV parks (I did that on the
Kansas trip), but it slows charging a bit. Maybe 2kw out of 10kw. The
expected lack of 120vac at J1772 stations (Nissan dealers) was a big
factor in my decision to wait in Texarkana for a Tesla charge cable (EVSE).
clearly affected your range also. It looks like you went from around 300+
Wh/mile to around 500 Wh/mile.
I don't yet have a real good handle on the energy penalty of pulling the
teardrop. It is probably more than I expected/hoped. I can get 240-260
wh/m in warm weather. In cold weather it is more like 300-350.
Yesterday, I did about 320 over about 150 miles in 32-35 deg. Pulling
the trailer, it is about 425-450 in 30-35 deg. The 500 wh/m reported
was in just horrible conditions. Icy snowy 10-20 deg. So, I'm guessing
it costs about 100 wh/m. Probably will cut range from 200-250+ to
around 150 miles.
http://www.austinfarm.org/homegrown/tripreport.html
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