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Originally Posted by kaisen
Ah, no..... perhaps you meant "for free"..... because you can certainly go anywhere you can find a place to plug in. Not that hard. But not as fast. And likely not free.
But you'll still get there.
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Exactly. You can subscribe to 3rd party charging stations. Yes, you pay, but they are sprouting up at a ton of locations in the greater L.A. area and I expect in other cities as well. Subscriptions can be monthly or a one time charge.
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Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
True. Though I suspect trying to find an EV charger in Hickville USA would be a challenge, and Bubba might not be willing to loan out his extension cord and let you use his outlet. I also cringe at the thought of stopping every two hours to charge for 40 minutes. Slower charge times are even less appealing. Like I said earlier in this thread, these are tailor made for an urban area. Cross country road trips are definitely their weakness.
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There is a database only for Tesla customers that shows those who have opened up there home chargers to other Model S owners. You can pull them up on the Nav screen and when you find one close, call the number(s) listed. In a pinch, it can help. If they have a 220 plug and can handle 40 amps, that's 30 miles in an hour. Enough of a charge to get you out of trouble.
Also, you don't charge all the way to 100% at every stop. This is a misconception by those that have not spent time in the Model S. I can drive from my house to Santa Cruz with one stop. If the Model S was charged to 100% at the start of the trip, I'd have a 79 mile range when I stop in Atascadero to "fill up". All I need is a charge of 150 miles (to be safe) and I can get to Santa Cruz with no problem. Now, what do I do when in S.C. to charge 100% to get home? Not sure on that. Maybe there's a hotel that offers charging. In that case, plug in before bed and hitting the road and all is good. If not, there's a Supercharger in Gilroy, not far from S.C., but totally in range with what I had left from the Atascadero charge.
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Originally Posted by island911
incredibly inexpensive . .yeah, except for that first $100k. (laptop on wheels ain't cheap.)
What's a good golf-cart cost these days? That ought to be cheap. (by comparison). Besides, it maybe once or twice a year you take a long road trip .... pack the cooler!
Seriously, the "oh look how cheap it is" argument is a fail with Teslas.
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The "oh look how cheap it is" comes about with the gas savings compared to the S550 or 750 series BMW. The initial cost of the Tesla is not cheap. But those in the market, can afford either. In the long run, the fuel savings will add up and show how cheap it is.
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Originally Posted by kaisen
The cost of daily driving is "incredibly inexpensive", free Supercharger or not.
Think about it. On that trip they averaged 105 mpge. But 33.4 kwh (equivalency to a gallon of gasoline) isn't $3.59 (the current national average for a gallon of gas), even if you had to pay for it at home (vs free Supercharger). Here in Minneapolis, you'd have to have a gasoline powered car that got 230 mpg to equal the driving costs of a Tesla Model S (with no free Supercharging). In other words, a M-B S550 would cost you ten times as much to drive daily. One tenth for the Tesla, then, is "incredibly inexpensive".
A laptop on wheels may cost $100K, but so does a comparable gasoline luxury car that performs similarly. Have you priced out a Audi A7, or M-B S550 lately? The initial cost isn't a powerful argument against a Tesla S (which has a base price of $69,900)
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Exactly.
In the end, I would have no problem selling my Camry hybrid and owning a Model S or the upcoming Model III. I'd still have my gas burning 911, but I could see myself getting around just fine in a total electric car and for that occasional road trip. By 2017, I imagine the Superchargers will start to make more appearances in cities.