darelldd is going to be SO envious!

Discussion in 'Tesla' started by daniel, Jun 18, 2011.

  1. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    Ah yes. That was for the original, fully-stripped models. They've gotten a bit pricier. As Daniel points out, the pricing is not some sort of trade secret. Just call it over $100k, and under $150k, and you're in the ballpark, right?
     
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    wow! Congrats Daniel! I've yet to ride, let alone drive, a Tesla Roadster. Should be fun!
     
  3. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Us poe folks shop used, so you can save $10k - $20k:

    Tesla | eBay

    We bought our loaded '04 Prius in '04 with almost 12,000 miles on it ... saving us about $5k off the new price. ok so I squeak a bit when I walk.
    :p

    .
     
  4. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Looks like that Roadster on eBay didn't sell.

    Update: My Roadster was picked up by the shipper today. No word yet on when it should arrive. But apparently the truck is going from Chicago to Denver before it comes here to Spokane. That will slow it down a lot, depending on how many deliveries they have in Denver and how long those take.

    Tesla is telling me I'll have it by the end of the month, but I doubt it. If I'm lucky I'll get to drive it for a few days before I leave for summer hiking in Canada. (Which is just a little too far to drive the Roadster).
     
  5. wick1ert

    wick1ert Senior Member

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    Might be time for another visit to my uncle in Redmond.....it can't be THAT far from Spokane! My step-dad sat (not sure if he rode) in one earlier this year. He's already said his next vehicle will probably be an EV. Since I'm a bit of an adrenaline person, that 0-60 in under 4 sounds fun!
     
  6. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Redmond is part of the greater Seattle area, on the coast. Spokane is as far east as you can go and still be in Washington state. I'm about a ten-minute drive from Idaho. But I'll be happy to give you a ride if you come to Spokane. I'm guessing it's about a 4-hour drive from Redmond, maybe 4 1/2. I'd advise against driving it in the winter, though, unless you are comfortable with snowy mountain roads. IIRC there are two high passes to get through between the coast and here. It's the reason Spokane is relatively dry: those two mountain ranges squeeze most of the moisture out of the air before it gets to us. If you fly it's about an hour's flight on Horizon's little turboprop planes, which fly almost every hour, or about 40 minutes on Alaska's jets, which only make the trip a couple of times a day.

    Of course, though I'll gladly give you a ride, the Tesla store in Seattle will probably do the same and save you the trip to Spokane. OTOH if you're going to drive from Delaware to Redmond to visit your uncle, you can come right through Spokane to get there.
     
  7. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    You could probably find enough PriusChat members along the way, who were willing to let you recharge your car for a few hours. You're welcome to leave it at my place while you're hiking. :cool:
     
  8. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    well daniel, as a die-hard Leaf fan boy BIG Time, i might be bummed, but i think it a better way this way. you can afford a Tesla, get one, they are cool and let the Leaf go to an owner that has no other options.

    as far as the Leaf you turned down, was it from Rairdon's in Auburn? i see they are posting information about an orphan on FB.
     
  9. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    You should drive a fast EV sometime. ;)
    Wrightspeed
     
  10. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I doubt there are many Prius Chat members between Spokane and Golden, B.C. There's probably an RV park in Cranbrook, but that would either add four hours to my trip, or be an overnight stop.

    No, the Leaf I turned down was here in Spokane, and the dealer has a list of I think about a dozen people who want them, so I'm sure whoever was at the top of the list is driving it by now.

    You call three seconds fast??? Ha! THIS is fast.

    But it's not about speed. It's about class. The Wrightspeed is just a motor on wheels. The Tesla Roadster has style and elegance. :cool:

    Oh, and I bet the Wrightspeed won't go 245 miles on a charge!
     
  11. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Belated congrats!
    Any idea if they're still using Plycar?
    Daniel is right. It IS far. I live in the "greater Seattle area" and I've never driven to Spokane. Google Maps puts it at 282 miles, one way or 4:40. That sounds about right.

    I did drive up here from San Jose, CA (a bit over 860 miles, one way) and will be driving back there (as part of my move) next month.
     
  12. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    give it a year or so, the charging infrastructure will allow us to meet nearly halfway. there is already a solar powered charging station with something like 12 L2 chargers In Richland, WA which is 146 miles (google maps) from Spokane. daniel could easily make it there, get a charge then continue on.

    granted, with L2 it will be slow, but doable. hopefully we will get this L3 thing figured out then it will be a much easier and quicker drive.

    the other thing daniel could do is what a few Tesla owners have already done is get a conversion kit which allows them to plug into nearly anything. that way a 50 amp RV spot can do a charge in a few hours which would be just about enough time to get food and a bit of a stretch anyway
     
  13. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Yep. Plycar is hauling my car. Apparently, their drivers are trained in the handling and driving of the Roadster, and Tesla trusts them not to take the car out for a joyride along the way.

    I have the Universal Mobile Connector, NEMA 14-50. It plugs into an RV style outlet (which I have in my garage, as the Porsche uses the same thing). The circuit is on a 50-amp breaker and the connector draws a maximum of 40 amps. Assuming that it's always drawing 40 amps (which I do not know) 220 v times 40 amps = 8.8 kW. If the car will go 3 miles per kWh (this also I do not know, but that's what the Xebra does, and the Tesla, though heavier, will be more efficient) I would get about 25 miles for an hour's charging. A two-hour meal would only get me 50 miles of range, assuming there was an RV outlet at a restaurant. Otherwise I'd be loathe to leave the car unattended while charging.

    If Richmond is 146 miles from Spokane, the round trip is 292 miles. Assuming I could get 200 miles of freeway driving on a charge and still have some in reserve for unexpected detours, an extended 3-hour visit over a leisurely meal would give me 275 miles of range. But I'd need 4 hours of charging to make that trip.

    If there was someone in Richland with a Tesla 70-amp home style charger I could do the trip easily.

    With only 8.8 kW charging available, extended road trips in the Roadster are awkward at best. Even charging overnight, using a charging cable that does not lock onto the car and can be easily stolen, not to mention the possibility of waking up without a charge if for any reason the breaker trips or the charger shuts off, does not appeal to me. (There's talk that the Model S might feature a locking cable.)

    The Roadster will not plug into a Nissan L3 fast charger, and I do not have a connector to plug into a J-wichamacallit thingy like Nissan uses.

    (Remember all that b.s. from Nissan about how we needed a hard-wired EVSE due to government rules? Ha! The Roadster plugs directly into any electrical outlet, via a variety of available connectors, though I only bought the NEMA 14-50, and a standard 120 v plug comes with the car.)

    I didn't get this car for road trips. The Prius will make the trip to Canada for hiking, and will be the car I leave at the airport when I fly; the Roadster is for everything else. But I'll be delighted to show it off and give rides to anyone who wants to make the trip to Spokane. (Caveat: I won't let anyone drive it. Sorry about that. If you want a test drive, visit a Tesla store.)
     
  14. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I'm envious. :(

    But I'm glad to see Daniel is posting, alive and well. :)
     
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  15. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    daniel; your 3 miles/kwh deserves some examination here because i think you are cutting yourself waaaay too short.

    the efficiency between a $10,000 car and a $100,000 car tells me that you "should" get much better range than that.

    the Tesla in Eco mode goes 245 miles and has what a 50 something KWH pack, well that equates to 4½ Miles/KWH. i would bank on 4 MPK so then a 2 hour charge would give you (obtw its 240 not 220) 240*40*.85 (efficiency guess here) = about 8 kwh or about 32 miles/hour of charge.

    but then again, we are still on the bleeding edge for EV support and i expect that to be true for at least another year or two. still waiting on L3 stations we were promised which are supposed to start installation by end of summer. that is now only 3 months away.
     
  16. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    The Xebra is MUCH lighter, so I figure the efficiency compensates for the weight. And we're not exactly comparing apples to apples. With the Xebra I was measuring miles per kWh at the wall: For every 3 miles I drive, the meter at the wall measures 1 kWh. I'm assuming 8.8 kW coming out from the wall, so an hour would give me 3 X 8.8, which is just over 25 miles.

    With a stinker you don't calculate how many miles the car can go per X number of joules that the engine can convert to kinetic energy. You don't calculate the energy content of the gasoline and then factor in the efficiency of the engine. You measure the gallons coming out of the pump and see how far you drive.

    Similarly, I measure the electricity coming out of the wall and see how far I can drive on it. That's where my 3 miles/kWh for the Xebra comes from.

    They always say 220/240. I assume that means the line can be anywhere between the two numbers. So I was using the smaller number. Let's see what happens with the different methods of measuring.

    If you figure the car gets 4 miles/kWh delivered to the motor, but the motor is only 85% efficient, then 4 X 8.8 X .85 = just under 30 miles.

    Not enough difference to affect travel/charging plans. And anyway, if I have to drive gently to extend my range, and put added wear on the batteries by charging in Range mode and driving to near depletion, I'll take the Prius, which for long trips will be far more comfortable. The whole point of the Roadster is that it's fun. Driving slowly is not fun. It's transportation. So the Prius will remain my travel car, and the Roadster will be my within-100-miles-of-home car.
     
  17. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    NO; efficiency is loss on conversion from AC to DC along with other overhead involved in the "charging" process. it does not affect efficiency of the charge stored when used by the motor which is near 100%.

    on my Leaf, i am currently averaging over 3.6 miles per KWH from the wall when using 120 volt charging monitored with my kill a watt meter and that is with a calculated 75% charging efficiency.

    what we need to consider is scale. much smaller is not always a linear comparison and i find it highly unlikely that you can do this with two so different cars. (plus i suspect your Zebra calculation is a bit low)

    but back to efficiencies. your Tesla (which is not a heavy car comparatively) has a MUCH greater ability to handle higher current which means that it probably regens much more efficiently which does contribute to the bottom line on efficiency.

    all in al, i agree that the only thing that really matters is getting to where you need to go and back and the toughest part is being able to figure out that process especially when you are planning something on the edge of the car's capability. this is something you will learn with simply driving it.
     
  18. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Again, all I care about is how far I can go per kWh coming from the wall, because that's what can be measured and that's what I pay for. Charging efficiency, motor efficiency, battery losses, none of that needs to be calculated since I pay for the electricity at the wall. And the Xebra gets 3 miles per kWh at the wall. The Roadster remains to be seen, though actually I have no way to measure energy on a 220-v 50-amp circuit.
     
  19. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Hi Justin. I, too, am glad to see you're still alive and fighting. I'm staying away from Fred's, but I did check out your thread for your news. I don't believe in prayer or any of that stuff, but I'm rooting for you. Keep on keeping on.
     
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  20. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    The Roadster doesn't have much luggage room, as you know - your backpack might have to be strapped in to the passenger seat. The Prius will feel like a cargo van in comparison. Hmm...which to drive...go-kart or truck? :)