Fisker Buzz Forums banner

My new Fisker and Tesla

12K views 36 replies 14 participants last post by  smoothoperator 
#1 ·
Not here to compare. I love them both for different reasons.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#9 ·
Our good friend @dennis was a dual owner for a while, until he sold the wrong car and ended up as a Tesla-only owner. But part of being a good friend is to be able to forgive such errors in judgement. :)
 
#19 ·
The "road trip" argument has always been something of a red herring, IMHO. I would guess that the number of road trips @dennis would have had to cancel if the Supercharger network did not exist (and he did not own other cars) would be very close to Zero. The idea that a car must be able to go on an impromptu extended road trip is a little like saying that all the shoes we buy should be equipped to connect to ski bindings because you may want to drop everything and go skiing on a whim at any moment, and your everyday shoes should double as ski boots.

Even without the Supercharger network, the Tesla S is a perfectly useable car for a vast majority of the time. For those exceptional occasions, it is just as easy to rent a car or use another transport option. This is not a new phenomenon, nor is it limited to electric cars. When I owned my first Jaguar XJ, I used to rent an SUV for road trips because the Jag was not particularly comfortable for long drives, and had a distressing habit of turning itself off at the most inconvenient places during a long trip. It worked just fine as an everyday car, however. I owned that car for 7 years and my brother bought it from me and used for another 3. Neither one of us thought that it was not a practical car because you could not just jump in and head to Tahoe in it.
 
#20 ·
I would much rather drive somewhere on a whim because I truly enjoy to the driving experience in a satisfying car. When driving the Model S you have to really watch how fast you are going, how much AC you are using and other consumption items when road tripping. For me it takes away from the whole experience.

In sprawling metro areas like Southern California road trips are part of the culture; going to Palm Springs for a day etc or the like is quite common and tests the Model S' range. Not very fun to take an impromptu (really has to be planned in a pure EV for required top up stops) road trip that takes 50% more time and come back in the same day! Also having to take a predetermined route sort of takes away from it. I am not a fan of renting cars, the ones that are any fun to drive are expensive to rent and you have to pre-plan it all. Might as well fly in and then rent a car at your destination rather than do a road trip.

I was speaking to the person who is in charge of supercharger deployment a few months ago and the interesting piece of information that she told me is that the heaviest users of Superchargers are either locals or taxi cab operators/companies. So not as many people are taking Roadies as one would think in Model S'. It is more or less a marketing campaign.
 
#21 ·
I would much rather drive somewhere on a whim because I truly enjoy to the driving experience in a satisfying car. When driving the Model S you have to really watch how fast you are going, how much AC you are using and other consumption items when road tripping. For me it takes away from the whole experience.

In sprawling metro areas like Southern California road trips are part of the culture; going to Palm Springs for a day etc or the like is quite common and tests the Model S' range. Not very fun to take an impromptu (really has to be planned in a pure EV for required top up stops) road trip that takes 50% more time and come back in the same day! Also having to take a predetermined route sort of takes away from it. I am not a fan of renting cars, the ones that are any fun to drive are expensive to rent and you have to pre-plan it all. Might as well fly in and then rent a car at your destination rather than do a road trip.

I was speaking to the person who is in charge of supercharger deployment a few months ago and the interesting piece of information that she told me is that the heaviest users of Superchargers are either locals or taxi cab operators/companies. So not as many people are taking Roadies as one would think in Model S'. It is more or less a marketing campaign.
While I agree that some planning is now required for long distance driving in the Model S, that is changing every month as more Superchargers are deployed. Using your Palm Springs example, the Supercharger in Indio will be live in a month and one at the Cabazon Outlets later this year.

As for the comment about locals and taxi cab operators, I'm sure she was speaking about the Hawthorne Supercharger in particular, not Superchargers in general. I don't know of any Tesla taxi services around Harris Ranch, Tejon Ranch, Atascadero, etc. Tesla does have a challenge with usage by locals when it needs to put Superchargers in urban destinations like LA, Las Vegas, New York, etc.
 
#22 ·
Once the auto industry and IEEE standardize batteries like we did for flashlights, this whole Tesla Supercharger thing will go away and recharging your car will take only a couple of seconds and at any Gas/Battery station.... (and we won't have to lug around an ICE)
 
#23 ·
Interesting. It appears my flashlights aren't aware of this having taken place. I count over 6 different types of batteries for the flashlights I own.
 
#33 ·
The Karma only takes a minute or two to gas up. The Model S takes 45-50 minutes to top off. Big difference on a 3 hour trip.

As an aside, I get about 23-25 mpg (27mpg on the Energy Flow screen) on average on the highway depending on speed, giving me a gas range of 210-220 miles or so. With 35-40 miles of electric range, that gets me about 245-260 miles of real world highway range.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Apparently, it is actually possible to drive a Model S from LA to Vegas on a single charge. Motor Trend's online magazine, Wide Open Throttle (ironically enough), managed to do that in 2012, probably before the installation of the supercharger in barstow. I think they fudged a bit on what constituted LA, but it was still an impressive feat.

 
#35 · (Edited)
Good Video

Great video, thanks for posting it. Reminder that I am a big fan of Tesla but I have to share a few amusing points - they talked about the head winds as a factor in the range. Plus, they shut off the A/C in the car to extend the range and the driver said it was 104 degrees in the car. She is sweating and fanning her face to keep cool. You can also see many cars, including semis passing them. Forgot to mention they stopped for bottled water because their water was too hot from sitting in the car. This kind of "sacrifice" is not what people are willing to do in order to go green.

Again, I am big fan of Tesla and I also have a Volt for my daily driver. But as I've stated elswhere...convenience of charging, speed of charging and battery range are all factors the industry must overcome before there will be widespread adoption of pure EVs. The other factor is styling...the vast majority of drivers will not drive an EV unless the styling looks "normal". The Model S and Karma go a long way to prove that EVs don't have to look different.
 
#37 ·
I found this article to be particularly interesting with regards to the Las Vegas discussion:

http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-s-racing-at-las-vegas-motor-speedway/

The Track
Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) outside course is adjacent to the Super Speedway and is conveniently located close to the center of the city. It’s a 2.4 miles long, technical course, featuring 13 turns of various configurations. The track is completely flat with no elevation changes or on/off camber turns.

The Tesla Model S
The Model S handles quite well on this track, although frequent speed changes contribute to more pronounced power limitation. The track surface did not change much throughout the day which allowed us to maintain the same amount of tire grip and slippage. The consistent track conditions allowed us to really concentrate on racing techniques and follow proper racing lines while building our experience with the open passing format.
Our best lap time was 2:17 with a top speed of 110 mph on the front straightaway. Run Group: Orange with Speed Ventures


Charging and Power Consumption
The course is only 11 miles away from the new Las Vegas Tesla Supercharger. With the Supercharger so close by, we were able to run full sessions in the morning and then head back to the Supercharger during our lunch break to fill back up. It’s approximately a 20 minute transit each way and requires another hour to recharge.
The outside course has a single 220V 50Amp SS2 twist lock outlet behind the building. We confirmed it was operational however there was no need to use it given that the Supercharger was so close by.
Also see: The Tesla Racing Series
The track consumed less power than other tracks we’ve raced at, averaging 900 wh/m. We were able to run the first lap all out before power limitation began on the second lap. After approx. 6 to 8 laps, power was limited to 80 kw (1/4 of MS capacity). At this point it was time to pull off the track, as the car could barely accelerate. We tried spending a few minutes in the grid to let the car cool down. After about 4 minutes the power limitation was reduced by not completely gone. It was good enough to allow us to continue racing, but unfortunately by the time we’ve cooled down, the session was practically over.

Travel
Traveling to Las Vegas in the Model S was an adventure in itself. The area between Las Vegas and Barstow is prone to extremely high winds and sand storms which we seriously underestimated. Sustained head winds of 35mph along with steep elevation changes substantially reduce available range. Even by reducing driving speeds to 40 mph our power consumption was consistently in the 400-500 wh/m range.
In the end we paid dearly for it and ended up stranded on the side of the road with no range left. Tesla was a class act and gracious enough to cover the towing, but overall it was a very stressful experience which we’ll surely learn from.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top