A perfect solution would be to switch your empty battery with a full one and just go. Let the charging station fill it up. Are there any drawbacks to this?
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Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
31–40 of 196 posts
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#32I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
After moving to California 3 years ago I've seen stretches of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and of course California I'd never have seen without a car. Gotten to go to places impractical with any other transportation. I can't really imagine not having a car for my weekend trips.
I get not wanting to stay in a car for 40 minutes each way on a weekly commute, but being trapped in a city like LA or San Francisco with no access to the boundless natural beauty and adventure would cause me to go nuts. Hipster coffee shops and artisanal food only do so much for my sanity.
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that within speed limit there? I didn't know that
There is no "speed limit" per se on the Autobahn.
Within specified areas.
Inside cities/towns, the limits are often both strictly enforced and dynamic. That is: they change with traffic conditions and are signaled via electronic signboards.
Germany also has some horrific auto accidents, though the death rate per 100k population/yr. is less than half that of the US, at 4.4 vs. 10.4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many stretches of the federal roads in Germany merely have an 'Advisory limit' with no legal maximum in good weather. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn
If this sounds crazy, keep in mind that getting a drivers license in Germany isn't a one-day affair with minimal testing standards like it is in the US. Getting a German driving license is somewhat laborious but the upside is that German drivers are pretty darn safe and have amazing discipline on the road. http://www.amcham.de/services/drivers-license/us-citizens-in...
I believe they also require a regular safety check of all vehicles that would determine your car was capable of safely driving at speed on the autobahn.
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#35It's too bad you couldn't just hitch a secondary external battery pack to a mini-trailer hitched to the car for long distances. Roll into a station, unhitch the pack, swap for charged one, go on your way maybe 15 min later.
I know there are proposals for swappable internal packs, with automatic swap machinery at the station, but a trailer hitch and external plug requires a lower capital investment, and is much less intrusive to the vehicle design.
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#36I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
>It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road.
Exactly how long do you think most people's commutes are???
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#37Great progress on the supercharger buildout [1]! That said, traveling from LA to NY via New Mexico and South Dakota is a pretty funny route.
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#38A perfect solution would be to switch your empty battery with a full one and just go. Let the charging station fill it up. Are there any drawbacks to this?
A new battery is not as good as a few years old one. So equal swapping one for the other doesn't quite work. Tesla's proposed solution is that you have to come back and pick up your battery.
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#39>> provide 170 miles of range in a 30-minute charge That would have still sounded impractical to me when I was still able to just drive through the night to get where I needed to be. Now that I travel with a young baby and a dog, that's about how often and for how long I have to stop for breaks anyway. This is impressive progress anyway, but I'm especially impressed now that it really wouldn't alter my own schedule m…
If that fits your pace, that's great, but that would have driven me nuts last time I was driving cross-country.
People said exactly the same thing when the automobile was introduced and it was horribly less convenient than a horse and cart.
Of course a new tech is slightly less convenient out the outset, and of course it will only appeal to a certain percentage of the population, and of course it will get better over time.
Which side of history are those people on?
Which side of history will you be on?
Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers
#40Not the most direct route between the two cities [1]. It looks like there are at least two parts of the route that don't follow interstates. The excursion up to South Dakota to go past Mt. Rushmore makes sense, but I can't figure out the jog into New Mexico. Unless someone's really interested in a couple of National Monuments in that corner of NM, it looks like the only reason for that jog is to go to the Four Corners Monument with the minimum travel distance through an Indian reservation.