The Life and Times of a Tesla Owner

[EmersonHart13]

110 goes in a standard 15 amp outlet.

50/100 amps is a ton for the 240... My house would cripple as I only have 100 amp service

What is a NEMA 14-50 outlet?
This is a 240 volt outlet installed on a 50 amp circuit breaker. This outlet is commonly used for electric range stoves, large RVs and Tesla vehicles. The majority of Tesla owners install this outlet near their parking spot for home charging. An electrician will be able to provide all the necessary hardware for this outlet; no special equipment is required from Tesla for the installation. Simply plug your vehicle into the NEMA 14-50 outlet using the Mobile Connector cable for a recharge rate of about 30 miles of range per hour. Find our installation guide for the NEMA 14-50 here.

What is a Tesla Wall Connector?
The Wall Connector is a Tesla specific charging station, permanently mounted to a wall or post. For the most power, install the unit on a 100 amp circuit breaker, allowing 80 amps of AC current for charging (note: Model S must have Dual Chargers to accept more than 40 amps).

The Wall Connector can be customized to almost any power supply, including lower power situations. Internal dip switches allow an electrician to program operating current (amps). In additional to a 100 amp circuit breaker, the Wall Connector can also be installed on an 80, 50, 40, 30, 20 or 15 amp circuit breaker. Find the installation guide here.

The Wall Connectors is beneficial for customers who are in any of the following situations:

Interested in faster home charging (install with a 100 or 80 Amp circuit breaker)

Have limited power situations (install with a 15, 20, 30 or 40 amp circuit breaker)

Enjoy the aesthetics of the Wall Connector and want to keep the Mobile Connector in the vehicle at all times

Install the Wall Connector at home if you want the most seamless charging experience. Purchase one from a local service center, or our online store.

Model S charger options:
Standard: 10 kW onboard charger, capable of drawing 40 amps AC power. Referred to as a Single charger.
Upgrade: 20 kW onboard charger, capable of drawing 80 amps AC power. Referred to as Dual Chargers, this option is only available to be installed after delivery through a Tesla service center.

https://www.teslamotors.com/support/home-charging-installation

 

[Mike K]

Well then, There you go!

 

[Mike K]

A Day In the Life

Leave in the morning with 230 miles of range, run errands, meet customers, go home. 175 miles of range when I get home.

Grab the kid and go shopping for Christmas presents. Average power use from home to the mall: -4 wh. My 6 miles trip got me an additional 2 miles in range. New range 177 miles.

Mall has free charging. When I leave the car:

And when I come back a couple hours later:

It's basically like someone giving you premium parking and filling up your gas tank for you as long as you shop at their store. It's not always going to be like this but it will be for the foreseeable future and I'm eating it up.

 

[EmersonHart13]

Are you charging to 80% battery?

 

[Mike K]

Generally 90%. Charging lithium ion batteries to full charge is apparently not good for them nor is fully depleting the battery. So Tesla recommends charging the car for as much as you need it every day with a range in between 50 - 90%.

When you're going on trips you charge it fully. It's called a range charge. Here's the screen for setting your charge limits. You can also see how awesome charging on 110 is.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

so looks like the mall was feeding you 220/32 amps (probably 40-50 amp circuit) which equates to giving you 18miles of drive time an hour, and your house is doing 120/12a on maybe 20amp (since garage) which is only 3 miles an hour.

do you always plug in while at home (as long as your limits are set)?

 

[Mike K]

so looks like the mall was feeding you 220/32 amps (probably 40-50 amp circuit) which equates to giving you 18miles of drive time an hour, and your house is doing 120/12a on maybe 20amp (since garage) which is only 3 miles an hour.

do you always plug in while at home (as long as your limits are set)?

Every time. I just consider it a top off. Usually I wake up with a full charge. Today it's sitting at 230 miles which is fully charged to my 90% battery limit.

Putting a 240 outlet in the garage and plugging my charger into that would net me 29 miles an hour and actually costs less as far as electricity costs go (not sure how the math works on that). So far charging on 110 hasn't caused any limitations though and since we rent our house I'm less than enticed to pay to have a 240 outlet installed.

 

[EmersonHart13]

I thought the range on the 85 was higher than that? Even without max charge... I must be mixing it up...

Google tells me the max is 265 so that makes sense.

 

[blck10th]

Have you used a supercharger station yet? Went with [MENTION=4895]gnxs[/MENTION] it was pretty sweet and that thing pumps out the power into the car

 

[Mike K]

I thought the range on the 85 was higher than that? Even without max charge... I must be mixing it up...

Google tells me the max is 265 so that makes sense.

Tesla rates the car at 300 miles under ideal conditions. The EPA rates it at 265. You actually have options in the menu to display range in "rated" or "ideal" modes. I think everyone does rated because it's more accurate. To get Tesla's numbers you need to be on a flat expressway, I think doing 55mph with no AC/heat. Achievable? Yes but realistically nobody is ever going to drive the car like that.

 

[Mike K]

Have you used a supercharger station yet? Went with [MENTION=4895]gnxs[/MENTION] it was pretty sweet and that thing pumps out the power into the car

Yeah I drove it back from San Jose to Los Angeles and hit up a few stations on the way back. It really is amazing. It's nice that Tesla offers it.

I want to take the family up to San Francisco and it's awesome not having to budget $200 worth of gas for the Infiniti.

 

[Mike K]

Here, have a supercar

We've all taken our car in for service and then received the cheapest version of the cheapest model that car company makes. My most recent trip to BMW netted me a base model 320i. And by base model I mean the seats CRANKED up. You had to ratchet them up with a handle as you were holding your weight off of them. But hey, it says BMW on the hood amirite?

Tesla handles it a bit differently. First off, let's cover the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is they put you in an Enterprise car. Sounds horrible? Well they spring for a luxury car and they pay for gas. That's the worst case. Who cares about the worst case...

Let's cover the best case. The best case is they send a flatbed to your house. On that flatbed: a P90D with ludicrous mode. Maybe a P85D with Insane mode. Some people report getting a 60kwh standard car but that's rare. Most report getting at the very least a P85 and more often than not: a P85D, 85D or P90D. If you're not familiar with a P90D with the Ludicrous option let me introduce you: 2.8 seconds to 60 miles an hour. Hard to wrap your head around? Just watch this and while you're watching keep in mind this isn't even the fastest one. This is just a plain old 0-60 in 3.2 seconds P85D.



This is akin to dropping off your Altima for warranty work and getting a GT-R as a loaner. It's so absurdly awesome.

When your service is complete they'll come drop off your car and pick theirs up. Or you can go to the dealer to do all this. Like your loaner? You can buy your loaner and trade your existing car into them. So theoretically if they drop off a P90D you can call them up, tell them you don't want your car back and they'll charge you the difference. You keep the new car.

I think the logic here is that if they can entice you to get a newer, nicer car with Autopilot, dual motors or even ludicrous mode, they might get you to spend money you otherwise wouldn't have. Either way, it's a lot better than having to suspend your ass in mid air while cranking your seat up.

 

[Mike K]

Stuff like this gives me a nerd boner. Today I get into the car to head to an appointment. As I put the car in gear a pop up appears that tells me there's a faster route to my appointment... Here's someone else's picture I stole off the interwebs:

Here's the thing: I never put the address into navigation. It yanked the appointment from my phone, saw the time of the appointment, assumed I was heading there, checked the traffic and offered me a quicker route than I would have otherwise taken.

AWESOME.

 

[Mike K]

The One Where I Went To Get Pizza

Yesterday I went to (you guessed it) get pizza and of course I took the Tesla because the Infiniti now feels like driving an overcomplicated, underpowered antique, an antique that requires the additional expense of fuel. No Infiniti. NO.

My pizza destination is 5 miles away. Why would I drive 5 miles for pizza, you ask? Because three different people have told me they have legit Chicago deep dish pies. Verdict: 90% of the way there. Good pizza and cheap. But I digress.

The Chicago pizza place, appropriately named "Hollywood Pies" because of course it is, was 5 miles away. The first 1.5 miles were downhill, the rest were pretty much flat with a lot of stop and go driving. So I make it through the downhill portion and notice I've put a .4 kwh of power back in the battery. This means I've traveled 1.5 miles and have used no power. I've put .4kwh back into the battery. My trip so far has netted me more power.

So at this point I've got 3.5 miles of stop and go flat land driving to do. Game on. With judicious application of the throttle and some well timed braking I end up with this: 4.9 miles driven, net power consumed: 0. As repayment for my good deed I beat the snot out of the car the whole way back.

 

[Rent Free]

all i read on this page is that tesla's are awesome and now i need one.

 

[Yaj Yak]

at [MENTION=396]Mike K[/MENTION] just conversing with himself in here.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

that's the direct fart injection system at work

I want roadkill to do a tesla like that 80's vette

 

[Yaj Yak]

Yeah I drove it back from San Jose to Los Angeles and hit up a few stations on the way back. It really is amazing. It's nice that Tesla offers it.

I want to take the family up to San Francisco and it's awesome not having to budget $200 worth of gas for the Infiniti.

infiniti gets what... like 10-11 mpg ?

 

[Rent Free]

im sure you could find a smashed up one and sell everything off it thats still useable and just leave a seat steering wheels and chassis.

james dream of a bastardized gutted electric do hicky that people call a tasla.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

id put the powerplant and batteries into one of dem Elio rollers

 

[Mike K]

at [MENTION=396]Mike K[/MENTION] just conversing with himself in here.

NFG either.

infiniti gets what... like 10-11 mpg ?

Around town probably 14.

 

[Gone_2022]

The One Where I Went To Get Pizza

Yesterday I went to (you guessed it) get pizza and of course I took the Tesla because the Infiniti now feels like driving an overcomplicated, underpowered antique, an antique that requires the additional expense of fuel. No Infiniti. NO.

My pizza destination is 5 miles away. Why would I drive 5 miles for pizza, you ask? Because three different people have told me they have legit Chicago deep dish pies. Verdict: 90% of the way there. Good pizza and cheap. But I digress.

The Chicago pizza place, appropriately named "Hollywood Pies" because of course it is, was 5 miles away. The first 1.5 miles were downhill, the rest were pretty much flat with a lot of stop and go driving. So I make it through the downhill portion and notice I've put a .4 kwh of power back in the battery. This means I've traveled 1.5 miles and have used no power. I've put .4kwh back into the battery. My trip so far has netted me more power.

So at this point I've got 3.5 miles of stop and go flat land driving to do. Game on. With judicious application of the throttle and some well timed braking I end up with this: 4.9 miles driven, net power consumed: 0. As repayment for my good deed I beat the snot out of the car the whole way back.

I am not sure if I am a fan of the Tesla new updated dash screen layout. I know they have caught a lot of flack from owners regarding it. I enjoyed the way it used to be setup

 

[Mike K]

The last car had the old firmware with the old screen. I think I did slightly prefer that.

 

[Yaj Yak]

Yeah I drove it back from San Jose to Los Angeles and hit up a few stations on the way back. It really is amazing. It's nice that Tesla offers it.

I want to take the family up to San Francisco and it's awesome not having to budget $200 worth of gas for the Infiniti.

NFG either.



Around town probably 14.

i was trying to make sense of $200 worth of gas to san fran. is gas like 5 bucks a gallon by you currently

 

[Mike K]

i was trying to make sense of $200 worth of gas to san fran. is gas like 5 bucks a gallon by you currently

About $3.00 for premium. San Francisco is about 400 miles away. Figuring best case scenario a tank there and a tank back you're at $120 for the round trip. Add on a few days of around the city driving to that and you're easily at $180 - $200.

And even if it wasn't that much, even if it's $150, my other option is a car that costs $0.00 to do the same trip. I'm cheap.