tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15309870130835685962024-02-19T06:04:38.218-08:00musings on the strait and narrow.and more, much more than this, i did it my way.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-60731583171289762772014-07-03T10:14:00.001-07:002014-07-03T10:14:03.808-07:00Harris RanchThis will be my third time at Harris Ranch this week. It's an excellent stop with comfortable places to sit, good food, great beer and a fast charger.<br />
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Danielle's Supercharger Dance</div>
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Sizzlin' California Beef</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-50209771530333476462014-07-03T08:53:00.002-07:002014-07-03T08:53:13.571-07:00Trippin on SunshineOn the road again! This time we are doing a quick tour of California. We are driving up the 5 to Napa Valley and then going to take Highway 1 down the coast. It promises to be a beautiful drive and being that we are in California, electrons will be freely flowing.<br />
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First stop - Tejon Ranch for some juice. Tejon Ranch is one of the few superchargers that has been completely outfitted with solar energy. It ironically mimics the gas station next door in the pull up and fuel up look. We got an early start and were the first and only ones at this charger. That wasn't unusual on our CHI - LA trip, but in CA I've found it's a rare occasion. We've already passed 4 other Model S' rolling along the hills coming out of LA this morning.<br />
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Tejon Ranch Supercharger</div>
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Brewtus drinking that sweet sweet sunshine</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-12795885377813371892014-01-15T19:55:00.002-08:002014-01-15T19:55:51.661-08:00Road TrippinWe drove 2800.4 miles, using 976.8 kWh at an average of 349 Wh/mi over six days.<br />
In my previous vehicle this would have meant about $622 in gasoline. We paid about 41 dollars for electricity during our trip. All of the superchargers were free. One of the RV parks charged us $7.50 and the other $10. One public charger charged us $18.50 and one charged us $5. The rest were free. If we were paying for all of the electricity ourselves, at an average rate of 10 cents per kilowatt hour we would have paid $97.68. Two of the public chargers we used acquired all of their electricity from sustainable sources, such as solar or wind energy. Soon all of the superchargers will be solar powered.<br />
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We went through nine different states, temperatures varied 77 degrees and elevation went from 2000 to 13,000 feet.<br />
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We only got in one argument.<br />
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I've eluded to this before, but I have to say this trip completely renewed my interest in and love for road trips. We live in a friggin' gorgeous country and what better way to see it than on the ground in an emission free vehicle. I loved traveling through all the small towns and even ghost towns at times. Stopping every 2-4 hours to charge meant we became more intimately familiar with our surroundings then we would normally.<br />
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In the past few years, particularly with the price of gasoline, my road trips turned into hard-charging, marathon trips driving the furthest distance in the least amount of time possible in order to arrive at my destination. Because you are required to stop, even if it's just a brief supercharge stop, the whole attitude of the trip changes. You take in your surroundings and get to taste the culture of the places you are driving through.<br />
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Beyond all of the environmental and psychologic benefits, I have to say, I think traveling this way is healthier. Usually on road trips I end up eating fast food, feeling claustrophobic, cramped and antsy, sleeping poorly and arriving dehydrated, bloated and exhausted at my final destination. Stopping every few hours meant I could drink as much water as I wanted without being annoyed by having to stop and use the restroom and "waste time". Charging for an hour meant we could sit down for a normal meal, stretch our legs and walk around. And switching drivers with a break every few hours meant we were more alert and well-rested for each leg of our drive.<br />
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As my husband said this morning, "I kind of want to turn around and drive back... just a little bit".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-75550296585999587422014-01-15T11:03:00.002-08:002014-01-15T11:03:27.412-08:00Brewtus Returns to his BirthplaceThe last couple portions of our trip were pretty uneventful. Which for me is good, but for you all means boring. We stopped in Indio, California to buffer our charge (again at a Nissan dealership) and have dinner. We lost track of time and were almost full by the time we left, which meant we could make it all the way home. One last bit of excitement was driving through a big wind farm near Joshua Tree National Park. They always look so eerie/awesome at night with their synchronized air field of red lights. We considered stopping at Hawthorne to charge up full, but our bed was calling our names pretty loudly, so we headed to our new home together. Plus, we're in Brutus' homeland now. There are electrons waiting to eaten around every corner.<br />
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E and I practicing our positivity faces earlier in the trip</div>
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Sun setting with California in the distance</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Quartzite, AZ to Indio, CA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">122.8 miles traveled, 41.8 kWh, 340 Wh/mi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Indio to Culver City, CA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">139.9 miles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">44.6 kWh</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">319 Wh/mi</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-22642784709400686432014-01-14T20:35:00.003-08:002014-01-14T20:38:04.253-08:00Last Supercharge!Quartzsite was our fifteenth and last supercharger before we hit home. With eight stalls it was the biggest we had seen yet. I wasn't impressed with the Carl's Jr location though, so instead we broke into our survival salsa. At this point, I think it's safe to say we're going to make it.<br />
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Survival Salsa -- glad it wasn't necessary</div>
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Quartzsite Supercharger (#15!)</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Phoenix to Quartzsite, AZ</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">139.1 miles traveled</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">47 kWh used at a rate of 338 Wh/mi</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-67321840929216809552014-01-14T20:07:00.001-08:002014-01-14T20:48:10.084-08:00Phoenix SunWe dropped almost 4500 feet coming into Phoenix, getting far beyond "ideal range". Beyond that the temperature also went up to 72 degrees. We were both shedding layers at this point and Brewtus was so happy he didn't know what to do with himself. Another surprise was that towards the bottom of the hill we actually were getting "tire pressures too high" readings. I had been getting some tire pressure low readings with the low temps in Chicago and my tires had been checked and, I assume, filled. We left Gallup earlier today at 10 degree temperatures and 6500 feet and had underwent a 62 degree temperature increase, not to mention coming down to 2-3000 feet elevation after hitting 13,000 foot elevations the day before. I know our tires were likely very warm from all the driving, and perhaps even from the steep declines (though we used regen, not actual brakes -- which I think is sort of like engine-breaking in electric car world), but I was more worried about them popping, so I suggested we pull over and measure them. They were all at about 60psi, with the recommendation being 51psi. We put them down to 55, figuring it was a good warm tire median and didn't have any more problems. Phoenix was chock-full of chargers, so we avoided going further into town and stopped at the first place along the interstate. Since we killed it getting to Phoenix, leaving so much of our range left, we had just a brief charging stop before getting back on the road to Quartzsite.<br />
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There was one detail I forgot about on the last leg. We actually got pulled over on our way to Flagstaff. (Another snag in New Mexico before I escaped). My Illinois registration expired in December. Since the notice I received said it wasn't late until the end of January, I figured I would just get new tags when I arrived in California and immediately forgot about the fact that they were expiring. Fortunately the police officer sympathized with my logic and since my tags were only about two weeks expired and our packed Model S demonstrated the fact I was moving, he let us off with a warning and a story about how he found it funny that Teslas weren't yet registered as an existing car in their computer system. //shrug<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Flagstaff to Phoenix, AZ</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Distance traveled 129 miles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Total energy: 29.9 kWh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Average rate was 232 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Temperature in Phoenix</span><br />
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Brewtus kicking up the dust in Arizona</div>
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Found Brewtus and E relaxing in the sun at a rest stop</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-2260169709957770322014-01-14T13:32:00.002-08:002014-01-14T15:31:52.091-08:00Trip RecoveryI woke up this morning still somewhat grumpy. New Mexico had soured me and I was ready to get to our destination. We woke up just about fully charged and headed out towards Flagstaff. There wasn't much to look at along the drive - vastly different from the awe-inspiring sites I had been spoiled by thus far. E suggested I take a nap - smart guy. Of note, Tesla did contact us and have Gallup up and running before we even ate breakfast. Apparently we were (once again) the first ones to attempt to charge there and it wasn't quite ready. As my husband put it, "we are driving on the razor's edge of development".<br />
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We drove through miles and miles of dead grass and nary a soul (or bathroom) in sight. E was appropriately listening to Route 66 by Nat King Cole and Take It Easy by the Eagles as we were passing all of the towns and cities mentioned in the lyrics. Eventually I had to eat my words as Arizona redeemed itself and our scenery once again turned unbelievably beautiful. As the sights, temperature and distance we were covering improved, so did my mood and I was reminded to enjoy the journey. We reached Flagstaff and plugged in at our fastest rate yet -- 289 mph of charge. The temperature was above 50 degrees and I took my winter jacket off to be packed away.<br />
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The hotel lounge was extremely comfortable, but we didn't get to stay long before we headed south to Phoenix. The plan is to buffer up in Phoenix (which is full of chargers, but no supercharger yet) and then make it to Quartzite where our next supercharge is waiting.<br />
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Flagstaff, AZ Supercharger</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Gallup, NM to Flagstaff, AZ</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">184.5 miles traveled</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">61.2 kWh used</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">rate of 332 Wh/mi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">arrived at 1055</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Temp is 52*F</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-1263933011772049912014-01-14T12:39:00.000-08:002014-01-14T14:47:49.755-08:00(Un)lucky Number ThirteenWe left Farmington with the plan to stop for a partial charge at Gallup and then get to Flagstaff before the night's end. The Flagstaff Supercharger is at a Courtyard Marriott. Originally I was kind of annoyed at having so many Superchargers in hotel parking lots. Though usually only a block or two, it means walking to the surrounding restaurants while you charge. As I realized what staying at the hotel would mean, my whole attitude changed. We could plug in and <i>leave</i> -- just park and go straight into the hotel without waiting for our charge beforehand. Likely we'd set our charge limit to 90% and restart charging for the last bit (via the app on our phone) while we get ready in the morning so as not to sit with an overly full battery all night. We were getting tired of driving at this point, so I was really looking forward to that. The scenery was no longer sparking interest and it was past dark.<br />
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We pulled into the Gallup Supercharger with about 40 miles of rated range. The Hampton Inn sign proudly displayed "Welcome Tesla". We parked, plugged in to what was fittingly our thirteenth supercharger of the trip aaand... nothing. The all too familiar alert chime binged and the screen indicated "Unable to Charge - Software Incompatible". Errgh. Gallup had four supercharger posts so we proceeded to repark and try each individually -- except one, at which a Mercedes was parked. Grrr. This also happened to be the first time I've seen another car parked in one of the Tesla spots. As we hit the last one and received the same error, E was already on the phone with tech support - the number is listed on the superchargers. It was just about midnight by this time and I was reconciling the fact that we would be staying in Gallup. Tech support went through a few things, but was unable to fix the problem within the couple minutes we were on the phone, so they said they would contact engineering and get back to us.<br />
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We headed inside the Marriott, grumpy and overly ready for a good night's sleep, but we didn't make it very far. Plastered on the front door was a sign indicating they were all full for the night - no rooms. Just our luck. I decided since we were staying the night, we might as well get some charge while we're at it. So instead of looking for the next hotel, I looked to see if there was a charge site nearby. Luckily there was an RV park less than a mile down the street. We headed that way to check it out.<br />
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After passing the RV park twice (all the lights were off), we finally found it and pulled in. The owner came out, she was familiar with EV's charging at her site, took $10 and led us to a 50-amp site. We plugged in, confirmed we were receiving a strong current and then moseyed over to a hotel around the corner. I had toyed with the idea of popping a tent for the night (we brought one as part of our just-in-case supplies), but E wasn't having it. Even though it was a short walk to the hotel, it was quite miserable as the temperature outside dropped to 10 degrees that night. Wasn't this supposed to be the south? I had left warmer temperatures in Chicago. Also, the hotel was a little run-down and seemed sketchy. I was miffed about what should have been my perfectly convenient plug-in and comfortable stay in Flagstaff. To make matters worse, my app was having difficulty connecting with the car and I was sure we were going to pop the breaker and stop charging overnight, seeing as how our luck was running.<br />
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In my foul mood and with the charging issues, I forgot to take down our stats.<br />
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Brewtus with his RV buddies in the morning.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-90142046112421850132014-01-14T12:04:00.001-08:002014-01-14T15:11:36.332-08:00Back on RouteWe left the RV park in Dolores and had to make the choice to go through Durango where there were known charging options, or go the route our Navigation was suggesting, straight to the Farmington Supercharger. The 'straight' route was about 85 miles distance and we had 95 miles of range. Cutting it close, but topography-wise, it looked like through Durango was more mountainside, whereas south to Farmington was (hopefully) a lot of downhill. At this point we were getting kind of tired and my desire to just get where I wanted to go was overriding my desire to make safe decisions, so we took the Farmington route.<br />
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Luckily, my topography guestimate was correct and we arrived in Farmington surpassing our rated range with 21 miles to spare. Personally, I did not like Farmington. The supercharger was a little ways off the highway and there are all sorts of speed traps down to 25 mph in some areas, making it seem like it took forever to get there. We took a short (though cold) walk to Chili's and had dinner. We actually ended up getting our salads to go, because we were done charging before we were done eating. I was glad to be back on the Supercharger route. It's easy to adapt to having 120,000 watts waiting for you at the next stop.<br />
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Farmington Supercharger</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Dolores to Farmington</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">88.1 miles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">22.3 kWh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">253 Wh/mi</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-53677400493574079242014-01-13T17:00:00.000-08:002014-01-13T19:59:22.999-08:00Plan B<br />
The superchargers thus far have taken most of the decision making out of our trip. Without supercharging, road trips in an EV can be incredibly tenuous depending on your resources and decision making skills. It can be fatiguing constantly watching your rated range, projected range, average Wh/mi, temperature, elevation and distance and judging based on all of these variables whether you'll roll into your intended destination at a normal driving speed, at a comfortable cabin temperature, or whether you might be freezing your toes off, crawling along, or (augh) arrive on a tow truck, like Brewtus did last January. Beyond these variables, you also have to choose your sites carefully. Is it open? Is the plug actually working? How much power does it deliver? Do you have the correct adapter? These are questions you need to find the answers to; however, often the people you are asking are not familiar with electric vehicles at all or with what you are asking. They may not be able to give you an answer, or even worse, sometimes the provide you with a wrong answer. So sometimes you just have to hedge your bets and go for it. This is the whole element of "range anxiety". This is what deters people from buying electric vehicles (other than that many of them have been pretty funny looking before Tesla). Fortunately, it is beginning to be a thing of the past. But even with Tesla, which moves at warp speeds, change can feel not fast enough.<br />
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We hit our first major obstacle today. Here's what went down. </div>
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There are two superchargers between Grand Junction, CO and Farmington, NM that are under construction, but have not yet opened. We had a few options. One was to take a back route through more of Colorado starting at Silverthorne and going down through Salida, to Pagosa Springs to Farmington. The place was teeming with chargers listed on plugshare. Apparently around this area of the country the J-plugs are starting to get better as well - many of them providing 70amp service. Around the same time we were making this decision, we were actually contacted by a local owner through the Tesla Motors Club forum. He had personally been a strong impetus in getting two of these chargers installed -- one in Salida at Wood's High Mountain Distillery (with a tasting room) and another at Pagosa Springs - a rental agency very close to the hot springs in the area (and with beautiful mountain views). Upon hearing of the locations, I turned to my husband and said, "These are my people!". </div>
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All joking aside though, I do feel comfortable in the EV owner and particularly Tesla owner community. Many of them are just really good people. Plus they're a fun and adventurous lot as well. This is far from the first time an owner has gone out of their way to contact me (or other owners) and offer assistance. Beyond that they're always using their own personal skills to promote Tesla and make the experience better for all of us -- like <a href="http://teslawiki.net/supercharger" target="_blank">this</a> map (so much more useful and informative than the one on the Tesla Supercharger site), <a href="http://jordanbloch.com/gallonsoflight/" target="_blank">this</a> commercial, aftermarket products and <a href="http://teslatap.com/modifications/" target="_blank">modifications</a> and all the other random equations or info regarding apps, tips and tricks they offer the community. As I've eluded to before, you may find your entitled gimme-gimme owners, but you won't find any other car manufacturer with it's customers so willing to go to battle to protect and promote Tesla's brand. But, I've rambled on about my appreciation and love for Tesla before (like <a href="http://andwediditourway.blogspot.com/2013/02/growing-pains.html" target="_blank">here</a>), so I'll end rant.</div>
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Our originally plan was to take the Whiskey and Hot Springs route above; however, the Distillery/charger in Salida was closed (we spoke with one of the owners who was out of town). We decided to instead continue along the supercharger route to Grand Junction and then make our way down to Farmington. We figured a supercharger and a known hotel would make a better option at this point in our trip.</div>
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As I noted in my last post, we ended up staying at Grand Junction last night instead of Farmington and instead headed south this morning. Farmington is 216 miles from Grand Junction - definitely a push for Brewtus through cold temps and unknown mountainside. With plugshare we did find a great transit stop about 40 miles prior to Farmington though with SIX J1772 plugs. And they're free! So we figured we'd play it safe (stayin' alive at 55!), the sun was shining (no HVAC!), try to make it to Farmington and if it's closed, stop at Durango to buffer the rest of the way.</div>
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Our trip was going great with plenty of both projected and rated range buffer, until around Ridgeway, where we came to a sign flashing "Red Mountain Pass closed due to rock slide". Eek. I quickly looked up bypass routes, but the best route I could find was still 147 miles long and our current range was reading 132. Fail. We turned around back to the small town diner where we had just eaten lunch. Fortunately, E was functioning again (after a full day of antibiotics and prednisone) and while I searched the apps and map for options, he got out to ask the locals. The first person he asked let him know that the Sheriff had texted her about the pass being closed, confirming it was the real deal. Great luck - the second person he spoke to was a postman who knew the area well. Gotta love small towns. The postman detailed a route which ended up being the same exact route I had mapped out, but he also confirmed that a good portion of it was downhill (promising). By the time E got back to the car I had also found a few RV parks along the route and after being shot down a couple times, found one with a 50amp spot open for us.</div>
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The decision was now to risk the new, largely unknown, route, or turn around, go back to Grand Junction, fill-up and take a new roundabout route through Utah. We stopped at a gas station, filled up on "survival food" -- chips, salsa, a couple gallon jugs of water, beef jerky and ho-hos, in case we got stuck, and decided to go for it.</div>
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The route was beautiful. We rolled into the RV park with 37 miles r-range left and Brewtus is tucked in charging while we are inside with our chips and salsa -- E answering emails and me blogging. Just checked our range and we're good to go to Farmington, so we're off on the next leg of our journey. Luckily Plan B was a success and we didn't have to go to C, D, or E.</div>
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Our saving grace.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Grand Junction to Dolores, CO</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Distance 190 miles, using 61.6 kWh at an average of 324 Wh/mi</span><br />
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Addendum -- WHAT! Just refreshed the Tesla site and the Blanding, Utah supercharger opened while we've been sitting here. Blargh!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-52554312588911107852014-01-13T08:50:00.002-08:002014-01-13T09:12:35.971-08:00Supercharge CityWe blew through Silverthorne, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction fairly quickly. The superchargers are only about 90 miles apart and we didn't have to stop long before we had more than double the range necessary and took off.<br />
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In Silverthorne, the superchargers are at an Outlet mall. The weather was still very windy and snowy so we didn't venture out except to use the restroom and wave at our neighbors before we took off with 187 miles of R-Range. Of note, the temperature also varied wildly during our trip. We left Denver with temps in the 40s and the sun shining. Not more than an hour or two later the temperature was in the single digits and the snow and wind were swirling around us. I'm sure the people who live here are used to it, but I found it pretty amazing. We saw numerous points where all commercial vehicles were required to stop and put chains on their tires. Fortunately Brewtus did just fine in the snow, despite only being rear-wheel drive. His weight and the precision with which the motor is able to control the wheel speed keeps him steady.<br />
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Silverthorne Supercharger</div>
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Chain-up Boys!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Silverthorne to Glendwood Springs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Traversed 92.7 miles, using 24.2 kWh at an average rate of 262 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Arrived at 1852 in 28*F.</span><br />
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Glenwood Springs Supercharger was at a Marriott. The supercharger spots hadn't been plowed, but did their job just fine. We popped into the hotel to grab a lemonade and were back on our way.<br />
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Glenwood Springs Supercharger</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Glenwood Springs to Grand Junction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">95.3 miles, 32.5 kWh at 341 Wh/mi</span><br />
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Originally I had hoped to make it to Farmington, NM, but with our very late start and the weather, we decided to hit it early and stay in Grand Junction. We refueled at an Outback while Brewtus had his dinner at the supercharger and hit the hotel.<br />
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Plenty of room for friends at the newly opened Grand Junction Supercharger</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-40531668090708248772014-01-13T08:31:00.001-08:002014-01-15T20:31:45.103-08:00The City of the Green SmokeWe spent the night in Denver, CO, arriving late after charging at a slower charger in Fort Collins. We were hoping to have enough energy to make it to the Silverthorne Supercharger in the morning; however, that's not how it worked out. The hotel staff told us they didn't know of any exterior plugs and seemed knowledgeable; however, in the morning we did notice a 110 plug by the exterior door. If we would have been able to plug in overnight it would have made all the difference. The morning ended up being a huge run-around. E's sinus infection was turning for the worse with a severe headache and unbearable pressure and pain in his face, despite loading him up on decongestants and analgesics. The city was abuzz with Broncos fans and traffic was blocked off in some areas. We ran around to a few different urgent care centers, all closed or with long waits, before we found an open Take Care clinic and jumped on the waiting list. I was hoping to find a Walgreens Take Care clinic that had an EV plug as well (as many of them do), but unfortunately, the two we found with plugs had closed their clinics for the day. I dropped him off and went to find a nearby plug. Plugshare, unfortunately, took me to an empty lot where a firestation and J1772 was supposed to be. I then went downtown to the cultural center where a lovely parking garage provided free electricity with a well-endowed J1772 and just $5 for parking. I tucked Brewtus in and headed to a cafe to wait for E. He was having his own troubles. He ended up taking an Uber to meet me, but got dropped off at the wrong location and had to walk. Although we didn't get an early start like I wanted, the morning ended in good spirits as E got the treatment he needed and our lunch at Mad Greens was absolutely delicious. They also had a coffee shop and Wifi so the almost two hours during which we charged went by quickly.<br />
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We stayed at the cafe until Brewtus has about 120 miles rated range on him. We had looked up the elevation to Silverthorne realizing we were about to double our current elevation in Denver. The charger was only about 60 miles away, but I wasn't sure what to expect. Thank goodness we did.<br />
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We did decide to make a pit stop along the way. We saw on Plugshare a pizza joint that had installed two J1772 plugs powered off wind and solar power. What a cool place! The pizza place was huge and rustic. It was also very busy. We would have loved to stick around if we had been hungry. They covered the entire place with solar panels as well as an Antique store next door where the plugs were located. Brewtus found his first charging neighbor - an owner in Breckinridge who was pausing before his drive to Denver. We were questioning why he would have needed to stop in Idaho Springs to charge, assuming he would have had a full charge from Silverthorne, but we soon found out.<br />
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The climb to Silverthorne continued to be almost completely uphill, burning through all of our charge. We were using more than 2 rated-range miles per actual distance mile. Brewtus was performing flawlessly, but in doing so, he was also vomiting kilowatts all over the mountainside. On top of it, apparently we were coming through right after a "straight-up blizzard" as the kids at the Marriott in Silverthorne called it. There were lots of snow drifts and the route was slow-going. Even worse - the road in the opposite direction was a complete parking lot -- likely why our neighbor had stopped to charge, or at least to get out of the car. <br />
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Turns out this was one of my favorite portions of the drive. The scenery was gorgeous as we passed all the top ski resorts. We were listening to classical music and the ebb and flow of the music seemed to match the road and traffic. This, along with the billowing snow drifts, made the whole experience surreal.<br />
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As we got close, I was getting nervous. We were down to 16 miles R-Range and 12 miles of distance and were burning through it at a much faster ratio. Our average Wh/mi was well over 600. Fortunately, that happened to also be exactly when we hit about 11,000 feet and stopped climbing. The rest of the trip into Silverthorne was downhill and using just regen (regenerative braking) down the hill, we actually arrived with 19 miles of range to spare.<br />
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Charging in Idaho Springs at Beau Jo's Pizza</div>
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E states, "This is the only time I've ever questioned our panoramic glass roof." as he is peering up at the rock walls surrounding us.</div>
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Listening to Bach Cello Suite #1 (Prelude) as we wind around, the Funeral March as traffic slows almost to a stop and the Carmen Overture as we hit the top.</div>
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Parking lot to our left.</div>
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Brewtus' view on the trip.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-12204940118076972892014-01-11T20:28:00.003-08:002014-01-11T23:51:41.071-08:00Tumbleweed and Moo-Cows<div class="MsoNormal">
Heading out of Rapid City I was a little worried about
range, because it’s difficult to judge how hilly our route will be and it’s
effect on the range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can honestly say
the drive today was an absolute joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
climbed out of Rapid City towards Lusk, WY and the sunshine and above freezing
temperatures provided us with plenty of range without even needing the
HVAC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entire drive was gorgeous and
I found myself itching to pull over and soak it all in numerous times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tiny towns and intersections we passed
were interesting too and brought to mind a handful of classic rock songs to which
we then jammed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
In Lusk, the
supercharger is located at the Covered Wagon Motel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is by far the most remote supercharger
location we visited thus far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked
across the street to a little diner for lunch and just as we were about to
pull out, the motel owners came by to greet us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Apparently we were the first Customer MS to charge at Lusk and they were
just as tickled as we were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shared
our excitement over Tesla and headed out with a battery packed full of
electrons – our fullest charge of the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I made E wait until every last mile was added, because the next portion
was going to be a doozy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Between Lusk, WY and Silverthorne, CO is Cheyenne, WY;
however, the Cheyenne Supercharger is (barely) not yet open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the first stroke of bad luck this trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fortunately there are some quick chargers in Fort Collins, just a
little further south of Cheyenne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
would just be a stretch to get there – or so I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 190 miles we covered is the longest distance
thus far this trip, but with the temperatures reaching 50 degrees and the
smooth roads, we made it with almost 60 miles to spare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We actually got our rated range, even driving
at 70+ mph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeehaw!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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After a non-functioning charger at Discovery Museum, we ended
up in Fort Collins at a Nissan dealership.
We chatted with the Nissan crew about Tesla and EVs in general for a
while, then headed to BWW to catch the end of the game and grab some food. We ate our wings back at Nissan while filling
up and headed to Denver, CO for the night. Of note, Nissan dealerships have always been super accommodating despite the fact that we are clearly not there because of any interest in purchasing one of their vehicles. Remember my post from February 2013? When I was in a tight spot with charging, they moved their own vehicles out of the way and put me inside in the showroom where they had another charger. Good people.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Rapid City, SD to Lusk, WY</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Traversed 152.7 miles, using 57.4 kWh at an average of 376 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Arrived at 2:45pm in 48 degree weather.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Charged for a little over an hour and left at 254 miles of rated range.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Lusk, WY to Fort Collins, CO</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Traversed 188 miles and arrived with 58 miles of rated range remaining.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Unfortunately I forgot to record the rest of the stats.</span><br />
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Lusk Supercharger</div>
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Soaking up the Scenery</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-2376028812091169712014-01-11T20:27:00.001-08:002014-01-11T23:23:57.420-08:00Stone Faces<div class="MsoNormal">
We awoke this morning, got a little juice at the
supercharger and headed up into the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure this is a site we would ever see
if we weren’t forced through town on the supercharger route, so we were pretty
excited at the opportunity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The morning
was gorgeous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue skies and sunshine
followed us into the Black Hills and the sites along the way were interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t imagine trekking up that mountain to
carve out four faces for 40 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a peaceful morning at the memorial and we only passed another couple as we
were heading out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had arrived to Rapid City with about 50 miles remaining last night before After the small amount of juicing and then driving to/from Mount Rushmore, we eventually settling into the supercharger (located at a mall - we grabbed a Sub in the food court) for a just-barely-shy-of-full charge of 245 miles rated range. Time to head south.</div>
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Sunrise at Rapid City Supercharger</div>
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Quick visit to Mount Rushmore</div>
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Mount Rushmore</div>
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What the Black Hills looks like from Brewtus' standpoint</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-54640372085398632652014-01-10T22:37:00.004-08:002014-01-10T22:38:51.324-08:00Day 2, complete.At 2:30am today when we were going to bed, I thought for sure we wouldn't make it to Rapid City. But with the smooth-smooth-sailing today, here we are! There was also a pleasant time change as we pulled in, which meant we'll get an extra hour of sleep tonight too. Woot.<br />
<br />
We charged in Murdo, SD at the supercharger. It's located at Range Country Lodging, which was an interesting place. It's pretty impressive outside and inside there is an exquisite display of stuffed dead animals (yikes). We moved on fairly quickly.<br />
<br />
I'm sure the drive to Rapid City would have been gorgeous if it was day time. We passed a lot of signs indicating scenic lookout points, but it was pitch-black out. I would have loved to see some of the Badlands as we were driving through. Next time.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mitchell, SD to Murdo, SD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left at 1810 with 217 R-Range partial charge in 33 degree weather.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Drove 140.1 miles using 54.8 kWh at an average of 391 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Charged on a supercharger for 53 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left with 202 miles rated range.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Murdo, SD to Rapid City, SD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Drove 136.1 miles, using 56 kWh at 412 Wh/mi.</span><br />
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Day two was a success. Supercharging makes this stuff easy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7fETC6b-UF0xBrwRWStcyzINUP1_XNq17xchEMssMrB2faFTWQdlRPRBH5XeqkAk80W1yPRcoZIwMvRNyf-MT4Qtjme5Hy61iTtfUg7PXXC_0NpkFdmpE60Jg0DVIrMQT6O10cZfMBlq/s1600/IMG_0448-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7fETC6b-UF0xBrwRWStcyzINUP1_XNq17xchEMssMrB2faFTWQdlRPRBH5XeqkAk80W1yPRcoZIwMvRNyf-MT4Qtjme5Hy61iTtfUg7PXXC_0NpkFdmpE60Jg0DVIrMQT6O10cZfMBlq/s1600/IMG_0448-1.JPG" height="183" width="320" /></a></div>
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The current Supercharger locations. As you can see there is just one choice for our route form Chicago to Los Angeles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnDApZ-pJLYIzaKjMQQG0mhpdTJSItgF3M8Ited4J6afpfNDNR-sKoJdGWH_8XyWVeZUuonnCByAKX6UuO5It8CgR-eVMeP_drFEsJdzD-G7RhNBSySDG6LpUZbfKFUVQzE6lKWUT6cs3/s1600/IMG_2071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnDApZ-pJLYIzaKjMQQG0mhpdTJSItgF3M8Ited4J6afpfNDNR-sKoJdGWH_8XyWVeZUuonnCByAKX6UuO5It8CgR-eVMeP_drFEsJdzD-G7RhNBSySDG6LpUZbfKFUVQzE6lKWUT6cs3/s1600/IMG_2071.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Supercharger in Murdo, SD</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-2086931871009196162014-01-10T16:35:00.001-08:002014-01-10T16:40:37.947-08:00The Coyote StateWe've been traveling straight down the same road for about 7 hours now. South Dakota reminds me of Nebraska, except with a few more trees. Flat, flat, flat.<br />
<br />
I jumped in the back to lie down and slept basically the entire way to Mitchell. We folded down the back seat. Combined with the trunk space it provides a pretty significant amount of room and we laid out a sleeping bag for the non-driver to take naps.<br />
<br />
Good news -- since we've left Chicago, five more superchargers have opened! The route after Glenwood Springs, CO has been keeping me up at night and now it looks much more do-able. I wouldn't be surprised if another one or two open before we even get there. Thank you, Tesla!<br />
<br />
Mitchell didn't have much other than a Dairy Queen in the parking lot. Luckily we didn't need to stay long. 28 minutes and a Reese blizzard later and we were on our way. Looking at the stats, E totally schooled me on energy usage. I'll blame it on the increase in temperature.<br />
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Here are the stats:<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Worthington, MN to Mitchell, SD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">127.8 miles traveled, using 45.8 kWh at an average of 359 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left with 222 miles R-Range, arrived with 63 left.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Charged for 28 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left with a partial charge of 217 miles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Temperature is 38*F.</span><br />
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What it looks like with someone lying down in the back. Boxes/Clothes are stacked up on the passenger side along with our lemon tree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRfyhVr08_-Xxdmfq4fdrQ5MoIjYA6AWeHsp6wVOuPfZh1-u5OuSKtiOIZCT2K510H7P6yBg0awKZ6KsVkGtkbI0kB7MKBN7pZuYjsCtkJC73zg9XyhPFpe9LOGBepyhc3zcripCpciQDd/s1600/IMG_4591.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRfyhVr08_-Xxdmfq4fdrQ5MoIjYA6AWeHsp6wVOuPfZh1-u5OuSKtiOIZCT2K510H7P6yBg0awKZ6KsVkGtkbI0kB7MKBN7pZuYjsCtkJC73zg9XyhPFpe9LOGBepyhc3zcripCpciQDd/s1600/IMG_4591.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Supercharging at Mitchell, SD. Temperatures above 30 degrees feel like a heat-wave! </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-58218464369593048772014-01-10T13:30:00.002-08:002014-01-10T13:45:46.517-08:00Now we're rolling.About to cross over into South Dakota. I still can't get used to supercharging. It's amazing. My husband keeps having me guess how many miles we have at certain points while we're charging and I'm always way off. I just guessed 49 and the actual number was 112. Before we even got out of the car we had gotten 8 miles. We went inside the restaurant, ordered a cup of soup, ate it and then got our burgers to go since we were already finishing charging. You may have noticed we only got like 14 miles at the last spot... in 45 minutes. We had more than that here before we even got inside.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Albert Lea, MN to Worthington, MN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">116.5 miles traveled, using 46.5 kWh at an average of 399 Wh/mi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left with 176 miles R-Range, arrived with 14 left.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Charged for 45 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Left with a partial charge of 222 miles R-Range.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Temperature is 31*F.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFIdttWhp9jVhmBDpNSIuDuFD8uxHIg8cJDJ2LSsLhrqiKY0ayoGfDD-8FQw2ZBEkBpo6gmt0tJM1A5NLxmcNAjG5On70jDul-eFkhd95u9DUcAyvrRVeyvo-7cIEjcBHs6wHxgx6_Cd-/s1600/IMG_2059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFIdttWhp9jVhmBDpNSIuDuFD8uxHIg8cJDJ2LSsLhrqiKY0ayoGfDD-8FQw2ZBEkBpo6gmt0tJM1A5NLxmcNAjG5On70jDul-eFkhd95u9DUcAyvrRVeyvo-7cIEjcBHs6wHxgx6_Cd-/s1600/IMG_2059.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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so fast.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHSisAtBnQI7B7pw75e0PmpHxCsR6CDrHTaUIXj9kptSwizYSYEMmnQWZiZ2fCc7E3KfeApX6n3WAw_v8kWSy1sclXpPzwXcVyXgcTMoZMMHtrfXwRvnHYz9BXF1xPxVDZcYQGPG1xBuT/s1600/IMG_2061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHSisAtBnQI7B7pw75e0PmpHxCsR6CDrHTaUIXj9kptSwizYSYEMmnQWZiZ2fCc7E3KfeApX6n3WAw_v8kWSy1sclXpPzwXcVyXgcTMoZMMHtrfXwRvnHYz9BXF1xPxVDZcYQGPG1xBuT/s1600/IMG_2061.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Brewtus is getting lonely at these superchargers. Eventually we'll have a neighbor.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-15319381192543510642014-01-10T10:26:00.002-08:002014-01-10T10:26:20.243-08:00taste the sunlight.<div class="MsoNormal">
We stayed out too late having fun with friends and chatting
over (delicious) breakfast, so we didn’t get on the road until about 10:20am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We left the car overnight in a parking garage
about a mile away that has a chargepoint J1772.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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We left with a full charge of 245 miles in 24 degree
weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re headed to the Worthington
Supercharger, but since our range was cutting it close, we decided to stop and
visit what looked like a cool charger at a local community college. We didn't stay long -- just enough to ease my range anxiety, write this post and use the restroom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Rochester, MN to Albert Lea, MN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">63 miles traveled, using 23.6 kWh. Average Energy 374 Wh/mi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Arrived with 164 miles R-Range</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Charged for 45 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Left with 176 miles R-Range.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Fyeo2Qo3EOlpJdL7CvxVcUw0TZfJJoFevAgEAHMt0gPOtjKogktskaZknU2v0eXi96nXPNhej8-rHWmDAIYDZW11iIOOSRmdTkB-I8J1gnl1DT8zImlU7eFNMsgU5b3TnUfmL2GWoJh3/s1600/IMG_7715.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Fyeo2Qo3EOlpJdL7CvxVcUw0TZfJJoFevAgEAHMt0gPOtjKogktskaZknU2v0eXi96nXPNhej8-rHWmDAIYDZW11iIOOSRmdTkB-I8J1gnl1DT8zImlU7eFNMsgU5b3TnUfmL2GWoJh3/s1600/IMG_7715.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Riverland Community College's solar EV charger in Albert Lea, MN providing Brutus with his first taste of sunshine.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-48853639014697560592014-01-10T07:41:00.002-08:002014-01-13T15:50:45.773-08:00not my first rodeo.Here we go again. We drove from Chicago to Rochester, MN. In January. I must say, this time around was almost too easy.<br />
<br />
I'm moving from Chicago to Los Angeles. We put all of our belongings into a POD, shipped it off and (practically) all that is left is us and Brutus, our Tesla Model S. We are leaving just a day after the Polar Vortex which has plummeted the temperatures in the midwest to well below zero. During the days before we left, I would sometimes get close to half of my rated range, trying to keep the cabin at a comfortably warm temperature in negative 15 degree weather and make it to work on the icy, windy roads. This did not help my last minute range anxiety. My husband on the other hand is all butterflies and rainbows in regards to our range. But, he has not really driven Brutus in the winter and he most definitely did not experience my <a href="http://andwediditourway.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-not-so-ev-life.html">last</a> trip to Minnesota. Like I said, this is not my first rodeo.<br />
<br />
We are basically taking Elon's proposed LA to NY supercharger route, backwards. We have been watching the supercharger map closely. The first part of our trip will be pretty straight-forward. We have one spot around Cheyenne, WY that is a little spotty and a lot of the last bit of the trip after Colorado. Other than that we're just hoping for good weather and clear roads. <br />
<br />
Our first day was an easy day. We headed to Rochester, MN where we would visit with some friends and spend our first night. We stopped first at the Rockford Supercharger to top-off and then hit Mauston, WI. We could have made it from there, but we also stopped to fill-up in Onalaska. The lesson I've learned is to charge when you can, and give yourself as much of a buffer as possible -- especially when it's ridiculously fast and free!<br />
<br />
The superchargers have basically revolutionized driving an EV. Well, driving a Tesla EV anyway. We made it to Rochester in just a little over 7 hours, which is almost as fast as an ICE (internal combustion engine). It was a leisurely drive without any range anxiety. I actually think I will really enjoy "needing" to stop every 3-ish hours. It's the perfect amount of time to get out, stretch your legs and not really get bogged down by the drive. I'm looking forward to the rest of the trip. Here are the stats so far. I'm still figuring out what stats I need to write down in order for this to make sense, so bear with me.<br />
<br />
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*F</td>
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Time</td>
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Time</td>
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<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">Elgin, IL</td>
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<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">1/9/14, 0702</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 80pt;" width="80">NEMA-1450</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">-5</td>
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<td class="xl66" style="width: 84pt;" width="84">start 22752</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">373</td>
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</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt; height: 17pt; text-underline-style: none;"></td>
<td class="xl67" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; text-underline-style: none;">Departure</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 80pt;" width="80"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 84pt;" width="84"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">Rockford, IL</td>
<td class="xl67">Arrival</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">748</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 80pt;" width="80">Supercharger</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">0</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">15.1</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 84pt;" width="84">38.6</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">390</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 81pt;" width="81">46 min</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt; height: 17pt; text-underline-style: none;"></td>
<td class="xl67" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; text-underline-style: none;">Departure</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 80pt;" width="80"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 84pt;" width="84">237
r-range</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">Mauston, WI</td>
<td class="xl67">Arrival</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">1108</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 80pt;" width="80">Supercharger</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">5</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">54.6</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 84pt;" width="84">142.9 mi driven</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">382</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt; height: 17pt; text-underline-style: none;"></td>
<td class="xl67" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; text-underline-style: none;">Departure</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 80pt;" width="80"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 84pt;" width="84"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">Onalaska, WI</td>
<td class="xl67">Arrival</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">1241</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 80pt;" width="80">Supercharger</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">5</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">25.3</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 84pt;" width="84">65.2 mi driven</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 74pt;" width="74">388</td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 17.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="17" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt; height: 17pt; text-underline-style: none;"></td>
<td class="xl67" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; text-underline-style: none;">Departure</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74">137</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 80pt;" width="80"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 84pt;" width="84">226
r-range</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 76pt;" width="76"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
<tr height="30" style="height: 30.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="30" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt; height: 30pt; text-underline-style: none;">Rochester, MN</td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'American Typewriter'; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; text-underline-style: none;">Arrival</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74">247</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 80pt;" width="80">Chargepoint J1772</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74">16</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74">32.3</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 84pt;" width="84">76.7</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 74pt;" width="74">420</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 76pt;" width="76">8+</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0.5pt; border-style: none none solid; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: 12pt; text-underline-style: none; width: 81pt;" width="81"></td>
</tr>
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Plugged in at Rockford.</div>
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Stopped by to check the progress in Madison, WI</div>
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"What's Shakin" -- at the supercharger in Mauston, WI</div>
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Last charging spot - Onalaska, WI</div>
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<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-30574500694625230372013-04-16T09:24:00.002-07:002013-04-16T09:35:31.260-07:00you may say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one...<br />
I was feeling rather depressed after alla the happenings yesterday. Sometimes it feels like things have just been in steady decline for our country since around 9-11 time. Or maybe that was just when I was becoming old enough to pay much attention to it. I suppose there have been wars, murders, rapes and kidnappings since the beginning of time. It drives me mad watching the news. Watching people watch clips of explosions and carnage over and over. It will just become another notch on a post that all of the politicians and crazies use to try to further their agenda, whatever that may be. The news stations spend hours showing footage and interviewing people talking about amputations and whatnot, because it will give them more ratings. Why don't we interview some people who think they know how to stop this? Why don't we spend hours discussing ways to spread education and love to try to combat all the hatred? Oh, because we won't watch it. Not unless it has some outlandish person yelling extremist views. We just become more divided and sometimes after these events it just makes everything feel really meaningless. What does it matter if it will eventually all be taken away in an instant? It makes it more and more difficult to see the beauty and the good. <br />
<br />
Today I'm making a conscious choice to grab ahold of the little things. I'm realizing if I don't cling to them, I will fall into a black hole of depression and that would just make things more difficult for all the people around me that I love. So today I'm looking at trees that we're going to nurture to bloom and grow delicious fruit. I'm eating a steaming hot bowl of lugao in a little shop on the corner on a busy Tuesday morning in Chicago. I'm sipping my coffee making plans to marry the love of my life, whatever that little piece of paper is supposed to signify, and throw a party for all of my friends and family in two weeks. I'm deciding these things are what are important and are worth living for and being happy and raising children for so that they can experience those little things too. I'll just choose to be one of those white blood cells, running towards the explosion. That is what we are here for. And when I'm feeling down, well... fake it till you make it.<br />
<br />
Also, runners are the most hardcore, against all odds type of people there are. There are hundreds of thousands of people continuing on, going out for their regular run today. So fuck the bad guys. I'm putting on my running shoes today, for the first time in months. I'm going to sweat it out for Boston. In your face, terrorists. Distance runners are the most die hard, keep-on-keepin-on, mind-over-matter type people I know. So lace-up and lets do this.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>imagine there's no heaven</i><br />
<i>it's easy if you try</i><br />
<i>no hell below us</i><br />
<i>above us only sky</i><br />
<i>imagine all the people</i><br />
<i>living for today.</i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-25283919176932243942013-03-11T20:50:00.000-07:002013-03-11T20:58:25.848-07:00A few more glorious gallons of sunshine in my pocket.We drove to and from Lima, Ohio last weekend without any problems. Everything went as planned (or better). It's nice to have an easy successful roadtrip under our belt. And what fun! Here's how it went down.<br />
<br />
Left Chicago with 240 miles. Not a full charge, but we decided to risk it.<br />
Drove almost four hours to Van Wert, Ohio, with the heat on at a steady pace (55mph to be safe).<br />
Arrived at a pleasant campground and pulled right into a 50 amp 240 volt plug. <br />
We locked up the car (turning all the lights off), laid the seats flat in the back and made a bed of sleeping bags and pillows, watching the stars through the panaramic roof before we fell asleep (although less tint would have made them more visible). We both had a restful and surprisingly comfortable night's sleep -- despite lying in the back of a car, parked in 20 degree winter -- so much better than I expected! The charger fans make a soft whirring I never noticed before that helped lull us to sleep and we kept toasty cuddled in our coccoon.<br />
Woke up and opened the hatch into the fresh winter morning with almost a full charge after just 7 hours. <br />
Spent the weekend with relatives in the Lima area.<br />
Topped off for an hour at the campground on our way out of town and hightailed it on back to Chicago (210 miles) with the heat blasting at 65 miles an hour. We even had 45 miles to spare on arrival. They charged us per kW at the campground and the whole roundtrip cost us just about $13. Not bad.<br />
<br />
Went off without a hitch! Makes for a much shorter and less memorable story, but damn it felt good.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-55160740570051375682013-02-14T19:06:00.000-08:002013-02-14T19:27:26.214-08:00Growing Pains.It seems my recent road trip post has been getting a lot of traffic. First of all, let me clarify. This wasn't meant to be a criticism of EVs. Mainly, it was an amusing story to tell and I want to remember what this trip felt like when I'm driving around with my kids who will have never known a gas vehicle, let alone range anxiety. Second of all, lets be clear... I LOVE my car. I am a 27 year old female with student loan debt who has been in the workforce for less than three years and I somehow let myself be talked into putting down almost 100,000 on the most amazing vehicle I have ever driven, sat in and heard of. Yes, my car payment hurts every month (it's more than my rent), but not nearly as much as it used to hurt when I was putting $500/month into my gas tank. I view it as an investment in something I believe in and an unbelievable ride as part of the package.<br />
<br />
As a Model S owner there is something known as Tesla Time. This includes, the double and triple-takes, the nods, waves and thumbs ups and the questions and opinions that are shared with you every day as you go about your business. There are those who are excited by what they see and many constructive, stimulating discussions are born... and then there are those who are not. Perhaps they feel threatened? It's very interesting. Without asking for an opinion, many people will take it upon themselves to tell you that driving an electric vehicle just really isn't feasible. Is it not obvious to them they are speaking to an EV owner? It's feasible. Here we are. It's just a choice. All it takes is a decision.<br />
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Back to my woeful road trip. Let's remember, this was my first time driving even more than 50 miles away from my house. There were a number of preventable obstacles which, would just one of them been remedied, I would have made the trip an entire night earlier and not been towed. Also, I'm pretty sure I would have made it without the tow, but I didn't want to even think about risking harm to my battery, so I played it safe (assuming you would consider 3 miles safe). <br />
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Yes, everyone, I know about the apps. I use (and used) Recargo, Chargepoint and Plugshare. I also now know about the RV park finders which will be very helpful in the future. One criticism I have is that the EV apps often don't tell you amperage or voltage at the sites -- this would have made a huge difference for me. There are a wide range of J1772's out there. My adapter was already replaced and the new one works flawlessly. Knowing the "30 amp" vs. "50 amp" service lingo will be helpful as well.<br />
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I think it's fair to point out that there are a lot of criticisms of the Model S. It's a brand new American company who has just built and produced their first car from the ground up. Yes, there are some glitches. But one thing people (particularly non-EV owners) seem to gloss over is that you never hear an EV owner who regrets their purchase. If anything, if you know or speak to anyone who is a Model S owner... they likely can barely refrain from gushing about how fabulous it is. There is no other car manufacturer right now who could have these sorts of issues (glitchy screen, door handle problems, range anxieties, you all have read the articles...) and not be eaten alive by their owners. Yet Tesla owners are just as willing to wait in the reservation line and do whatever they need to do to get in the drivers seat. Obviously something is working.<br />
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Not only is it a new company, new car... It's completely new technology. All of it. The reason why we put up with the 'little' kinks that are being worked out (and they are, rather quickly) is because its the most amazing machine currently on the market. My fiancé and I's viewpoint was if we're going to spend the money and get a new car... and we're going to go electric... get the best. And get one that is actually practical as a one-car family.<br />
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There are many places in my story that could have been improved. Learned lessons. Particularly, I don't think we really saved that much energy by going as slow as we did and with as little heat. With some experimentation since then, I think we could have made it a lot more comfortably (though still long) without much difference in energy loss. But the point is, yes, it does take some practice, some planning and some research to be a successful EV owner. I don't think we can really dispute that. Many veteran EV owners have relayed their own 'first road trip woes' with me while having gone on to take numerous successful roadtrips--even 3000 miles in mid January. The environment is not as well prepared as we would like. That will take time. I think that the most ready resolution for this is the supercharger and expansion of CHAdeMOs. But again, we're talking about road trips. I don't know about you all, but outside of the three hours I spend in my car everyday going to and from work, I don't take that many road trips. Day to day I drive to work, visit my friends and run my errands without so much as a thought about range.<br />
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It will be interesting to see when the competition starts to pick up... How long did it take for Apple?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-15569179088905356042013-02-08T09:11:00.004-08:002013-02-08T18:05:49.821-08:00The Not-So EV Life: "Gallons of Sunshine" Run Empty in Mid-JanuaryMy first road trip in Brutus 2.0 (my Tesla Model S, named after my previous Brutus, a gas-powered Buick Park Avenue) was quite an adventure. I'm not sure that I would qualify it as a good adventure, although it was a learning experience. Here's how it went...<br />
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My poor unsuspecting friend and I planned a trip to Rochester, MN to visit a mutual friend and her new family addition. Normally a trip to and from Rochester with a stop in Dixon each way would take about 16 hours. Ours took 65.<br />
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I had planned stops along the way to charge and researched available charging stations to try to make our trip a little easier (hah!). In Dixon there is an RV park that has places to plug-in. I spoke to the RV site and made sure it would be OK if I stopped and charged there for a few hours. I told them I normally would use a NEMA 14-50 and they said that should work fine. The plan was to arrive early, charge for a few hours to make up my lost mileage from the trip to Dixon and then be fully charged and ready to go once Rachel got out of work at noon.<br />
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What happened instead is that it was negative four degrees outside (-25*F windchill) and I lost a LOT more range on my way to Dixon than I should have -- I arrived with about 80 miles of range, versus the 170 that I was hoping for. Granted I did drop my fiance off at the airport and run to the bank as well, which likely ate about 30-40 miles. I left my house at 4am, arriving at the RV park at 7:20am, ready to plug in and take a nap. Unfortunately someone had other plans in store for me.<br />
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The RV site had NEMA TT-30 plugs, which very clearly did not fit the plug that I had brought as it was for the NEMA 14-50 that we had discussed. Obstacle 1. I tried plugging into the 110 outlet (like a normal wall plug) while I figured out what to do, but I could clearly see that I was not even getting enough charge to combat the temperature outside and my need for heat inside. I was losing mileage sitting there. Fortunately, Dixon has an auto dealership with Chevy and Nissan, both of which now sell EVs and provide places to plug-in at their dealership. I headed there.<br />
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As I pulled into the Chevy side of the dealership, spotting a plug on the wall. I paused to ask and make sure it was OK I used their plug. The young tech seemed to not really know or care, so I figured that was enough go ahead; however, as I turned to park by the plug, a leaf pulled ahead of me. I pulled off on the side and decided to wait. After a while, another a man who worked at the dealership came over to let me know that the owner of the leaf charges there every morning until about 10:30, so it would likely be a while and I should come in and have some coffee. I thanked him and went inside to review my options. Obstacle 2.<br />
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I decided to give the dealership a call and see if there was anyone else that could help me out. After being transferred around a bit, I was sent to the voicemail of the service manager on the Nissan side and left a message explaining my predicament. He called me back within about 10 minutes and let me know that there is a plug available in the showroom on the Nissan side and I headed over there. A very nice man inside of the Nissan showroom directed me to either a plug in front of the showroom, or one in the back, which was inside their garage. As it was still about negative two degrees outside, I opted for the garage. I tucked my car in with their charger at about 20mph and headed to the lounge area to sit. At this time it's about 9am and I've already lost two hours of charging, not to mention I'm on a slower charger. This is where my previous post on <a href="http://andwediditourway.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-ev-life.html">the EV life</a> came into play. Spirits were still high.<br />
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After a few hours, Rachel is getting off work and I figure I will grab a taxi over there to kill some time (this becomes a mantra of the trip -- killing time). We do some facial peels in the derm clinic, look up crochet patterns for the trip and grab lunch at Culvers before heading back to the dealership to take off. Time for phase two.<br />
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We drive to Dubuque, Iowa (State #2!) -- another point on our trip where I had figured we would stop to charge for 2-3 hours. Eric had talked to the service center at the Chevrolet dealership who had indicated it would be fine to charge there for a few hours. We found the Chevrolet, plugged in, no problem. Obstacle 3 -- Their charger is only 15amps and less than 200 volts... We were only getting about 6mph of charge. At that rate it was going to take all night. I quickly found a Nissan dealership in the area and we headed over there to try our luck. Their charger was outside, covered in icicles, clearly not having been used in a while. Although hesitant, they were willing to help us out and they moved some vehicles out of the way, so we could park by the charger. Unfortunately, when we put the adapter on the charger, it wouldn't fit. It was about 1-2mm short of latching and without latching the electrons won't flow. Obstacle 4. We tried to enlist some of the techs to help us force it on there, but they were unable. They shrugged their shoulders stating it was probably the wrong adapter, even though it had worked at the other Nissan dealership a few hours beforehand. I chalked it up to the fact that it was still barely over zero degrees outside and their charger was sitting outside in ice. Nevertheless, it wasn't going to work. We received word Kwiktrip gas stations now had EV charging stations and decided to head over there (a few miles away) to check it out. Although, I'm proud of them for entertaining the idea -- Kwiktrip at this point has only installed some 110 plugs with an "EV Parking" sign in front of them. Stating they will update their "chargers" when there is more interest. As I previously noted, 110 was not going to work. I also hope Kwiktrip realizes that there will not be "more interest" with a 110 plug. Likely ever.<br />
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So after running around town and wasting our precious mileage, we were back to Bird Chevrolet. At this point I've realized we are staying the night in Dubuque, Iowa. Fortunately there is a Fairfield Inn right "across the street" (the street being a four lane highway) from Bird Chevrolet. We plugged in, tucked the car in, grabbed our luggage and headed out in the freezing temperatures to traverse the busy highway and walk to the hotel.<br />
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After checking into the hotel (not much more than a tank of gas would have been), we found a nearby Olive Garden and went back out into the cold to get some dinner. At least the night was not a bust. We found a warm bed, a bottle of wine and good food. We also had stopped at a JoAnn's Fabric on our way back to Bird Chevrolet and picked up some yarn to start our crochet projects, being that we had some time to kill. I figured it wasn't so bad -- we would have arrived to Rochester late anyway, so instead we will arrive late morning, no big deal...<br />
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We had received word later that night that a new parking garage had been constructed with EV parking and charging. We decided against crossing the highway in the cold that night and decided instead we would check it out in the morning in the hopes that it would be a faster charger to top us off before we head out. We got going around 8am, packed up our things and walked back to the Chevrolet dealership. We had gotten to about 200 miles of charge, with a 170 mile trip up to Rochester to go. I crossed my fingers that it was enough of a buffer and we headed over to the parking garage. Fail. There were four clearly marked EV charging spots, each with a shiny new 110 plug. We headed out.<br />
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For the first half of this phase of the trip, I had the cruise control set on 50mph, and later 45mph, thinking that cruise control would be the best way to save energy. As the trip progressed and the miles were coming off, I realized it wasn't going to cut it. We were encountering quite a few big hills between Dubuque and Rochester. I took cruise control off and manually tried to keep the Wh marker beneath 20, as low as I could go, without getting rear-ended. It made for slow-going, but our average usage came down from about 380-390 Wh/mi to about 310. A new record for me. Of note, we also had been driving in 6 to 8 degree weather without the heat on, in order to save energy. We both were bundled in jackets, gloves, hats and blankets, but still had to turn it on occasionally to defrost the window or prevent the frostbite from eating away my toes. At this point, the trip was becoming slightly miserable. And despite all of our efforts, we still weren't going to make it. We had bout 70 miles left, had been consistently losing mileage and were exactly 70 miles from the next nearest charger in Rochester. I got on the phone with my fiance.<br />
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Eric researched online and found that we were only a few miles away from a nearby "green" sustainable college campus. What luck! They even had their own fleet of electric vehicles. We got on the horn with the security guard at the college who was willing to meet us and show us where their chargers are for their electric vehicles. We drove into the college, seeing solar panels and a windmill on the way in -- looked promising! We arrived at their chargers and they use what looked like an 11-30... definitely not going to fit. Obstacle 5. The security guard was very helpful though and he led us on a search throughout their maintenance and shop buildings searching for plugs. We did find two other 220 plugs, neither of which was a 14-50. At this point we were losing charge and still 70 miles away. We decided to plug into the 110 and head inside to warm-up. We had a snack and decided to spend an hour or two crocheting to pass the time and get a few extra miles of buffer. After more than an hour, I checked on the car and was surprised to see that I was now down to 53 miles of range! I know it was about 10 degrees outside and likely the battery was getting cold... but thus far I had never see any miles actually get added back to my range when warming the battery. Quite the opposite actually. We said eff-it -- clearly we weren't doing any good sitting at this college campus, and headed out. I drove extremely conservatively, in a freezing car as far as I could to Rochester. At one point I even got my average Wh/mi over a period of 30 miles down to 265! It was a mix between feeling pretty proud of myself and feeling pretty disappointed in the whole experience. Not to mention I couldn't feel my fingers or toes.<br />
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About 20 miles out from Rochester, I started getting a little anxious. Our projected range fluctuated between being a few miles above our miles to go and a few miles below. I didn't want to run my 100,000 dollar car into the ground, but then again I was in the middle of no-where, freezing and frustrated. I decided to call Roadside Assistance. The gentleman on the other side of the line (in 60 degree weather in California no doubt) kindly suggested that I drive conservatively and limit the use of climate control. At this point I was going 27mph, as I understand that provides for the optimum range, and it was likely 20 degrees inside of my vehicle. As it was clear I was already doing all I could, we started looking for plan B (or is it plan J by now?). It is possible that I would have made it to where I was going, but pulling that much energy out of the battery is not good for the vehicle and it was recommended that I stop. We started looking for a good stopping place, as for miles all I had seen was corn fields and farmhouses. My roadside assistance man located us and directed me to a BP gas station. I pulled over with 3 miles left in my rated range. Luckily we weren't stuck in a freezing vehicle and were able to stand inside the gas station for the next 45 minutes until the tow truck arrived.<br />
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The tow truck driver was... tolerable. After taking about 10 minutes with my key and trying to figure out how the key works and which car he was towing, he told me he had never towed an electric vehicle, let alone a Tesla, and then rolled his eyes when I told him that I don't think he can tow it the same as other cars... we got things straightened out. Despite some comments about how I should "keep a few gallons of gas under the hood for situations like this", or get a Volt... he was friendly and he got the job done, even waiting around to make sure that we got plugged in okay and our friend arrived to pick us up. We were towed about 15 miles to a charge station in downtown Rochester, inside of a parking garage. Being that it was a chargepoint, I figured it had a high likelihood of actually working. Unfortunately, the powers that be were not in my favor. Our adapter again did not fit into the plug. We finally, out of options, had our friend smash the adapter into the cement floor and put all of his weight on it. SUCCESS!! He saved the day, we tucked Brutus in and headed back to their house, arriving about 24 hours later than we originally intended.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adapter Issue</td></tr>
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To summarize the way back, we left with 253 miles at full "range mode" charge (because of the cold) and decided to take the route through Madison and Rockford to Dixon. It was a more established route (read: more chargers) and we could take the interstate and hopefully avoid so much hill climbing. We barely made it to Madison with 18 miles left and plugged into a Blink charger outside of a Kohl's. We had picked the location, because there was a mall and a movie theater within walking distance (killing time!). After activating an account with Blink, we had the same problem with the adapter again, and could not get it to fit despite putting all of our combined weight into it. We enlisted a passing construction worker, who after a few minutes of pushing with all of his might on the asphalt, the adapter clicked. *PHWEW. Got Brutus charging and headed towards the mall, hoping to get back to Dixon in time for dinner. The charger never got above 17 mph and we ended up not being able to leave until close to midnight, crawling into bed with frozen toes at about 2am.<br />
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So, in summary...<br />
We hit a lot of obstacles. The cold being a huge factor, which no one can help. It was unbearable to drive without heat, the heat stole a lot of the energy, charging was not as fast in the cold and we were losing electrons it seemed at every corner. Not to mention it made walking and functioning quite uncomfortable.<br />
Other events that could be improved would be -- not having so many different plugs! Standardization would be nice. We've since ordered all of the adapters Tesla has available (along with a replacement for the faulty one that I've been smashing into the ground), but it still doesn't cover everything.<br />
Proper chargers would be nice as well. Particularly none of this 110 bullshit -- that's just a joke. I hope they aren't getting any subsidies from the government for that type of thing. And for the places that are taking advantage of the governmental grants to put in chargers -- the least you could do is 220 volts and 30 amps. And know what exactly you have so it is less of a guessing game.<br />
The only gripe I have about my actual car is that it was difficult to estimate how much we were losing on range. It felt as if electrons were just seeping out of everywhere, despite extremely conservative driving (being honked at by passing semi trucks) and turning off the heat. I'm continually told that I'm not actually losing the energy, that it is just my range changing based on environmental factors, but I call bullshit. I have not once seen my range go up once the battery has warmed up -- on the other hand, it seems to use energy in order to heat the battery up and cause my range to go down even more quickly. That being said, I would never expect my laptop to function properly at subzero temperatures, and I understand the obstacles. I know that we are early adopters and there are lots of hurdles still to be crossed -- socially, economically, electronically and mechanically. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of CHAdeMO adapters along with more superchargers. It would have made all the difference in this trip.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">final breakdown after the last leg home (Trip A)</td></tr>
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Afterwards I felt pretty defeated. I had to stay the night at Rachel's house in order to gain enough charge back at the Nissan dealership to make it home. I was lucky to have such a good friend with me, so I never felt completely down and out and she kept a positive attitude the entire time, never once griping to me about the vehicle that I had suggested we take. Magically, and somewhat surprising to me, as soon as I got home, into my own parking garage where I don't even think about plugging in and my range rarely every crosses my mind -- it was like I had my old car back. The car the I love and that makes my hour-plus commute to work everyday a joy.<br />
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Perhaps I just won't be making a middle of January road trip anytime soon.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-77893811854620684412013-02-01T08:31:00.001-08:002013-02-01T09:14:24.381-08:00The EV life.Owning electric vehicles is a lifestyle. Some people get it, some people do not. <br />
It turns out, I really love it. We put a deposit down on a waiting list to hold our reservation about 20 months before we got our Tesla Model S. Our car payment is more than our rent. I'm sitting in a Nissan dealership right now blogging while I charge. It's all worth it.<br />
This car is nicer than any car I have ever driven. It has the latest technology. A 17" touchscreen with web browsing and music streaming capabilities not to mention completely adaptable software that can continue to be updated to the latest and greatest. Unbelievable performance in a sedan of this size. A panoramic roof and more room than I could possibly ever need in the trunk and frunk. Plus those super awesome door handles that light up and present when I walk up... Like hey mama, welcome home! Oh, right... And it's electric. It somehow satisfies both my consumerism wants and my moralistic needs. <br />
It's strange. I've never had anything nice like this. "Showy." It's embarrassing sometimes. But I'm trying to embrace the 'Tesla time', as its called. The looks, the nods, the stops, allllllll the questions. Because I believe in it. I believe in the electric car industry. I believe that it is time for us as a people to move on. And this is my investment for the cause. My children will never know a gas-powered vehicle. I'm not going back. We may have never become motorcycle riders if it wasn't for our Zero. The ride is like a ninja. Unbelievably fast and quiet. The sensation can't be matched.<br />
But... It is a lifestyle. I'm making quite a few lifestyle changes this year. None of them easy, but all of them for the better.<br />
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Today's lesson... Sub zero weather does not provide for optimum range.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1530987013083568596.post-26437864356600127742013-02-01T08:01:00.002-08:002013-02-01T08:01:25.661-08:00Betrayal.Cancer has so many connotations with it. Cancer. The C word. (No, not that one.) For some reason, I've always been afraid I would get cancer. Idk... Maybe everyone is. Don't do that, you might get cancer. Don't breathe that smoke. Don't eat that burnt hot dog. Don't drink that diet soda... Somehow skin cancer wasn't on my radar. Now looking back, I feel like an idiot. I'm a red head. I grew up in florida with sun-worshipping friends. I was young and dumb... No matter how high the SPF, there are some people who just can't handle their UV rays. <br />
Skin cancer is kind of a grey area. You think of cancer as this devil growing deep inside your dark twisty insides. Skin is superficial. Also, most skin cancers can just be burnt or cut out and be done with it. Easy, peasy, right? Yet some how 5000 people die from melanoma in our country every year and at some stages the 5 year survival rate is quite dismal. <br />
Some days it feels like my body is turning on me. I've always held the 'my body is my temple' perception. Like... We're in this together. Side by side taking on challenges, tackling new experiences, growing... So why do these little clumps of cells keep trying to kill me? And now it's the divide and conquer mentality. Cut it out. Chip, chip, chip... Snip, snip. At this rate it seems there will be nothing left of me when we're done. I've had 17 biopsies and excisions since this began, not much than a year ago. My trunk is riddled with scars. I feel that I'm in stitches as often as I am out of them. My dermatologist might see my naked body more often than my husband. OK, maybe not quite so. But we have definitely gotten to know each other.<br />
It's not that bad. Supposedly right now, with my fresh new wound, I am cancer free. That is, until we find the next one. At the point, it seems it is only a matter of time. I am so lucky I chose medicine as a career. I am lucky my first melanoma was a clear (enlarging dark brown spot) superficial spreading and not these atypical amelanocytic melanomas that we would have never found this early otherwise. Am I lucky? There is worse. There is much, much worse. I am lucky.<br />
The hard part is the mental game. I used to call orthopedics a barbaric, crass, carpenters' realm of medicine. But isn't my dermatologist practically my seamstress? How do I know there aren't 5 more melanomas making their way through my layers of skin right now? How do I know what looks like a cute freckle isn't just a clump of those devil cells trying to quietly sneak towards my brain? There is no blood test or MRI. The thing is I don't know.<br />
Which is why I cut them out. Let this be a warning to you moles and freckles... If you so much as look at me funny, out you go!<br />
And for me, I am to focus on the good. I try not to sweat the small things. I stay in the shade, take my vitamin D, eat my vegetables and exercise. I enjoy my partner, the love of my life. I appreciate my unbelievably awesome family and friends. I work in a career I am passionate about. I remember to take a look around and see the beauty that is life. I watch the sunrises and smell the roses. And this is good. It is enough.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621071012746082728noreply@blogger.com2