http://citizensvoice.com/news/tesla-owners-show-off-vehicles-at-wyoming-seminary-1.1861771 Tesla owners show off vehicles at Wyoming Seminary Elizabeth Skrapits [20150410]
[images / Andrew Krechcv http://citizensvoice.com/polopoly_fs/1.1861767!/image/image.jpg Bill Hinko's Tesla Model S. http://citizensvoice.com/polopoly_fs/1.1861768!/image/image.jpg Wyoming Seminary students look on as Bill Hinko answers questions about his Tesla Model S, Friday afternoon http://citizensvoice.com/polopoly_fs/1.1861769!/image/image.jpg http://citizensvoice.com/polopoly_fs/1.1861770!/image/image.jpg ] KINGSTON — Bill Hinko’s license plate, “ICE NEIN” is a double pun. It’s a nod to the science-fictional super-ice in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Cat’s Cradle,” but also describes Hinko’s car: no ICE, or internal combustion engine. (“Nein” is German for “no.”) Hinko, Ron Kronz and David Bennett brought their Tesla electric cars to Wyoming Seminary’s Upper School on Friday to give students a look at the automotive engineering and technology of the future. Although he now lives in Ashburn, Virginia, Hinko, a Wyoming Valley native comes back to the area to visit his parents in Plains Township. He is a Wyoming Seminary alumnus and, being a Tesla owner and enthusiast, approached his alma mater about bringing his 2013 model to campus. Kronz, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Bennett, of Silver Spring, Maryland, decided to tag along for the ride. At first glance, Teslas look like conventional cars — perhaps with a sleeker design. Then you take a closer look. There’s no fuel door or exhaust pipe. Lift the hood — there’s no engine, just storage space. The battery-powered engine runs on electricity; it gets plugged in to charge at special power stations or at home with an adapter. And it runs so silently you couldn’t even tell when the men started their cars. “This is my dream car. Never did I expect I would drive my dream car. But Tesla made it,” Kronz said of his 2015 model. “It’s just a different kind of feeling, this car.” Hinko said Teslas can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about three seconds. Kronz said the top design speed is 155 miles per hour. Bennett said he did take his Tesla out to a drag strip to experience 120 miles per hour. The 85-kilowatt batteries provide the car with “a lot of juice.” “It really is actually more fun to drive than a stick shift,” Bennett said. He doesn’t even miss the absence of muscle-car engine roar. The Tesla has warnings to let you know if you’re getting out of your lane, and a traffic awareness cruise control that will automatically slow you down if a slower vehicle pulls in front of you. In fact, the vehicle is smart enough to drive itself; Bennett said it essentially could be a driverless car, but that’s not legally allowed yet. Even being stuck in traffic isn’t boring, the men say. The dashboard has a 17-inch touchscreen which, besides controlling most of the car’s functions, includes Internet radio, maps with real-time traffic and weather information, a hands-free phone and a high-definition camera among its bells and whistles. To keep its vehicles up-to-date, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla Motors Inc. provides free software updates every few months. Kronz said one of the car’s updates is to warn if you are out of the range of charging stations — he used it to come up to the Wyoming Valley. The hitch is that Teslas are neither cheap nor, at least for now, easy to find. The Tesla website, www.teslamotors.com, shows that a model S with a 70-kilowatt battery costs $75,750 before incentives and gas savings and $58,250 after, while one with an 85-kilowatt battery has a sticker price of $85,750 — $68,250 after incentives and gas savings. The nearest Tesla sales and service center is in Devon, in southeastern Pennsylvania near King of Prussia and Valley Forge; it opened in September, according to the website. But after you buy a Tesla, they’re economical, their owners say. You never have to pay for gas. They never need oil changes — they don’t use oil. Or antifreeze. The only thing you need is windshield wiper fluid, Hinko said. Bennett said he hasn’t had to have any repair work done in all the 49,000 miles he has put on his 2013 model so far. In response to a student’s question about what to do when a Tesla does break down, Hinko said the car uses telemetrics so the company is aware almost immediately — to send a tow truck and a loaner vehicle. When they got their new cars, Bennett, Hinko and Kronz all got rid of their previous vehicles: Bennett his Mazda 3, Kronz his Toyota Prius and Hinko his Jeep Grand Cherokee — which, by the way, he says had less space for transporting stuff than the Tesla does. But none of the three plan on trading in their Teslas any time soon. “It’s a wonderful vehicle,” Hinko said. “It’s a very fun car to drive. We didn’t buy the car to have fun in it — but you can’t not have fun in it.” [© citizensvoice.com] For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Hinko-s-Tesla-S-w-VA-ICE-NEIN-license-plate-visits-Wyoming-tp4674967.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
