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Old 04-16-2018, 09:27 AM   #71
clyde
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TD View Post
I hate it when things that try to be too smart end up being maddening as a result. Working around “features” like this really negatively impact the experience.
I think there's a bit of consumer expectation that "It just works" applies to all magic tech even though we all know that's not ever true no matter how much the brand disciples and evangelists suggest it applies to their chosen brand's products.

And we all figure out how to work with what we have. It's rarely perfect, but we figure it out and tend to get less annoyed with the lack of perfection.

Meh.
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Old 04-16-2018, 09:31 AM   #72
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.... your batteries will survive more charging cycles, trickle charging whenever possible.
Exactly. Hence this:

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Tesla battery degradation at less than 10% after over 160,000 miles, according to latest data
https://electrek.co/2018/04/14/tesla...radation-data/
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Old 04-16-2018, 01:29 PM   #73
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That would drive me a little nuts. There are plenty of people that love having a circuit board do the thinking for them (maybe the same people that love automatic-transmission'ed Camrys), but I'm not one of them.

I suspect that the crippled charging feature is saving someone else a few pennies here and there. And/or maybe your batteries will survive more charging cycles, trickle charging whenever possible. And since you have enough, in the computer's eyes, to get where you're going...

That got me to thinking, what happens when you run out of battery out on the interstate? Get towed to the nearest charging station?
As ZBB and I said, this isn't a crippled charging feature; it's just how DC fast charging works as you approach the top limit of the battery.

If you run out of juice on the highway, yeah, you get towed. So, don't do that.

The thing though is that the Tesla gives you so many ways to track energy usage that it would be really difficult to run out of juice. You'd have to be willfully ignoring things to have that happen. And these days the Supercharger network is robust enough (at least on the East Coast) that you've got multiple divert options if you need them.

I've never had anything like range anxiety in a Tesla. I've had it below 50 miles of range maybe once or twice in my entire history owning the cars.

EDIT: This is another good resource, showing the locations of all of the various superchargers. It also has a trip planning function, though it's not as complex as EV Trip Planner.
https://supercharge.info/
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Old 04-16-2018, 04:12 PM   #74
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This is a very interesting thread ... though I know that the future is electric it would really bother me I need to plan out my trip around getting my car charged. Also the idea of having to wait around for 30 minutes in the middle of a road trip would get me crazy, heck I don't even like stopping for the bathroom but we have no choice.

I was reading that the Porsche Mission E will have 20 minute quick charging allowing 250 miles of driving but still that is a lot longer than the 5 minutes it takes to get gas.

Plus the whole charging at home thing requires the car to be garaged ... I just realized what does JST do being he doesn't have a garage

Per the actual article on the Porsche:

The 800-volt chargers could recharge a Mission E to 80 percent capacity — or about 250 miles worth of driving range — in less than 20 minutes


https://www.autoblog.com/2018/04/16/...klaus-zellmer/
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Old 04-16-2018, 04:25 PM   #75
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Originally Posted by AF View Post
This is a very interesting thread ... though I know that the future is electric it would really bother me I need to plan out my trip around getting my car charged. Also the idea of having to wait around for 30 minutes in the middle of a road trip would get me crazy, heck I don't even like stopping for the bathroom but we have no choice.

I was reading that the Porsche Mission E will have 20 minute quick charging allowing 250 miles of driving but still that is a lot longer than the 5 minutes it takes to get gas.

Plus the whole charging at home thing requires the car to be garaged ... I just realized what does JST do being he doesn't have a garage

Per the actual article on the Porsche:

The 800-volt chargers could recharge a Mission E to 80 percent capacity — or about 250 miles worth of driving range — in less than 20 minutes


https://www.autoblog.com/2018/04/16/...klaus-zellmer/
Charging at home does not require a garage. My wall charger is mounted outside, as are many other chargers.* They are weather proof.

The planning thing really isn't that bad. It requires more effort than just jumping in your car and going, but it doesn't require that much more effort. And for trips you do more than once, you really only have to do the planning once. After that, you've got it figured out.

And the tradeoff is that you never have to think about going to the gas station during your daily driving, since the car is fully charged every morning. You may have more convenient access to gas stations than I do, but for me going to the gas station during the week is actually kind of a pain in the ass.






*"Chargers" is colloquial here. The actual "charger" for AC electricity is mounted in the car; the thing on the wall is just a fancy electronically controlled switch. DC fast chargers are actually "chargers," in that they have the charging equipment mounted outside the car. A Tesla Supercharger is basically a stack of (ten?) of the same chargers that are mounted in the car, mounted on a pedestal.
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Old 04-16-2018, 04:35 PM   #76
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What's interesting is imagining how a future of electric cars and charging needs will change what a "gas station" looks like and what it does. Kind of like how libraries are changing now that they are freed from the central task of book storage.
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Old 04-16-2018, 05:31 PM   #77
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Originally Posted by JST View Post
Charging at home does not require a garage. My wall charger is mounted outside, as are many other chargers.* They are weather proof.

The planning thing really isn't that bad. It requires more effort than just jumping in your car and going, but it doesn't require that much more effort. And for trips you do more than once, you really only have to do the planning once. After that, you've got it figured out.

And the tradeoff is that you never have to think about going to the gas station during your daily driving, since the car is fully charged every morning. You may have more convenient access to gas stations than I do, but for me going to the gas station during the week is actually kind of a pain in the ass.






*"Chargers" is colloquial here. The actual "charger" for AC electricity is mounted in the car; the thing on the wall is just a fancy electronically controlled switch. DC fast chargers are actually "chargers," in that they have the charging equipment mounted outside the car. A Tesla Supercharger is basically a stack of (ten?) of the same chargers that are mounted in the car, mounted on a pedestal.

Is the wall charger actually mounted to your home ? I’m not sure I’d like to mount something to my home ... how does this thing look on your house ... any pics ??

I’d consider a Tesla later this year when my A6 goes back but the whole plugging it in thing sounds like a little bit of a pain plus being we have 4 out of our 6 cars parked outside I don’t really have a specified place on my driveway that I park.
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Old 04-16-2018, 05:33 PM   #78
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Originally Posted by AF View Post
Is the wall charger actually mounted to your home ? I’m not sure I’d like to mount something to my home ... how does this thing look on your house ... any pics ??

I’d consider a Tesla later this year when my A6 goes back but the whole plugging it in thing sounds like a little bit of a pain plus being we have 4 out of our 6 cars parked outside I don’t really have a specified place on my driveway that I park.
Can post a pic later, but it looks fine. It's in my driveway, and is far from the ugliest thing on the back of my house.

Plugging in takes 10 seconds. It's second nature now.
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Old 04-16-2018, 06:18 PM   #79
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Originally Posted by JST View Post
The thing though is that the Tesla gives you so many ways to track energy usage that it would be really difficult to run out of juice. You'd have to be willfully ignoring things to have that happen. And these days the Supercharger network is robust enough (at least on the East Coast) that you've got multiple divert options if you need them.

I've never had anything like range anxiety in a Tesla. I've had it below 50 miles of range maybe once or twice in my entire history owning the cars.
I agree completely. The tip planner in the car is very helpful, especially the energy forecast graph. Although it does take a couple trips to get the feel for how to trust it. The Supercharger density also helps tremendously -- so many more options now than we used to have, and Supercharger-equipped routes are so much simpler than going off the Supercharger highway -- which I've been known to do


Quote:
Originally Posted by JST View Post
The planning thing really isn't that bad. It requires more effort than just jumping in your car and going, but it doesn't require that much more effort. And for trips you do more than once, you really only have to do the planning once. After that, you've got it figured out.

And the tradeoff is that you never have to think about going to the gas station during your daily driving, since the car is fully charged every morning. You may have more convenient access to gas stations than I do, but for me going to the gas station during the week is actually kind of a pain in the ass.
Agree on both these points. The web and app-based trip planners are easy to use and help me evaluate different routes and options. There are a couple of them now also (although I still use evtripplanner.com -- its so good that Tesla hired the kid that built it!)

As for charging at home, its wonderful. 90% of my driving has been in town and I very rarely charge anywhere other than home. The only exception is if I'm out someplace that has free chargers, and I'll use them occasionally (there is a movie theater near our house in OH). And I'm still charging on 120V in OH -- we have 20A outlets in the garage, and I get just enough energy out of it (1.9kW) to recover my commuting on all but the coldest days, and then I get ~80% recovery and catch up on the weekends.


Quote:
Originally Posted by wdc330i View Post
What's interesting is imagining how a future of electric cars and charging needs will change what a "gas station" looks like and what it does. Kind of like how libraries are changing now that they are freed from the central task of book storage.
Tesla has a drive-in under construction:
https://electrek.co/2018/03/13/tesla...arger-station/

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Originally Posted by JST View Post
Plugging in takes 10 seconds. It's second nature now.
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Old 04-16-2018, 06:27 PM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AF View Post
Is the wall charger actually mounted to your home ? I’m not sure I’d like to mount something to my home ... how does this thing look on your house ... any pics ??

I’d consider a Tesla later this year when my A6 goes back but the whole plugging it in thing sounds like a little bit of a pain plus being we have 4 out of our 6 cars parked outside I don’t really have a specified place on my driveway that I park.
Lots of info from Tesla on charging: https://www.tesla.com/support/home-c...on?redirect=no

The wall charger looks like this -- usually people put it in a garage, but it can go outside also.

But you can also charge off of other outlets. NEMA 14-50 is the most common -- a 240V 50A outlet (same as a range). Looks like this, with the mobile connector attached (Tesla provides a mobile connector with the car):
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