Craving to trade in my PIP for a Tesla Model S

My wife was also nervous about plugging in all the time, but was totally sold after a couple weeks driving (she is the primary driver). 1200 miles later and about 8 gallons of gas used; she is extremely excited about only having to go to the gas station every couple months instead of every few days. She has even started carrying an extension cord so she can sneak in a charge from friendly parking lot attendants. This is such a change...she's always been a very aggressive driver (you can just imagine what she used to say about Prius).

Eventually we think we'll be able to use a lot less gas, but we are waiting for the infrastructure to catch up.

 

Infrastructure? I do %99 of my charging in my garage, only rarely do I use any public charging.
You can do that when you have a 242 mile "standard" EV range and over 270 miles on a "range" charge.
Long distance? That's what the SuperCharger network is all about...

 

The awesomeness of that is NOT lost on me. Plus the SuperChargers are solar. After the announcement today I ended up back at Tesla again going through the build/price. It's going to be a difficult wait for me until I can afford one.

Somehow I was under the impression that there were a lot of charging stations around San Francisco prior to buying my PiP; and that a number of businesses provided them for free as incentives for their shoppers. Part of this came from lots of politicians and retailers talking about them over the last few years. I've found the reality is that a lot of charging stations are broken or have been removed and replaced with expensive commercial systems. It seems like people get excited about the idea; then gas prices drop...and everyone gets stupid again.

 

Why does that matter one bit?
Wouldn't it make MUCH more sense to have all the SuperChargers grid powered so they work 24/7? And then install the same number of solar panels in the sunniest part of SoCal or Arizona. IMO it is just a green marketing gimmick to have the solar cells in the same place as the chargers...and less efficient.

I think most businesses that have them are for employees and not shoppers.

Mike

 

Thats a good point and one I didnt think of (although prior to this discussion, I didnt spend any mental effort on the Tesla Superchargers at all).. so I had to Google it.. and I guess their point is, the solar array should generate more electricity than the cars using the Supercharger could use

source (Autoweek)

and

source (Tesla)

 

I think the problem with long-haul power transfer from SoCal or Arizona is too much line loss until we can get a superconductor power backbone built.

Local grid-tied solar works pretty well today (which is how the Superchargers likely work). It's good for the power companies because they need to build fewer power plants to handle peak loads (which often happen during peak sunlight because of Air Conditioning use). So I actually think it's kind of cool that all the hours a Tesla isn't charging at the Supercharger; it is still performing a useful function.

Also, I think they did it for long term financial reasons. Once they recoup the capital investment; the superchargers will cost them almost nothing to operate (or even operate at a profit). Remember that Elon is also the Chairman of Solar City; which has a business model based on producing electricity cheaper than you can buy it from the utilities. I think we can assume those are Solar City arrays on top of the Superchargers.

 

I think that you are missing the point. Why send the electrons from a particular solar cell to a particular charger?

Mike

 

Tracksyde,

What helps offset CO2 and GW more? A supercharger with solar cells located in a place with frequent cloud cover, etc. Or the same charger but with the same quantity of solar cells located in a very sunny place?

Mike

 

That's awesome news!

Be strong when you get to the financial person. You don't need the extra stuff.

 

Congratulations, I am jealous! I left California in 1994. This is the first time I've wished I lived there since then.
Hopefully Toyota will change their mind and expand sales to Oregon. Then I will convince the wife to sell her MDX and get the Rav4 EV.

 

This is exactly what Tesla has done.
The superchargers are grid tied. The concept is to install enough solar panels over the entire system of superchargers to offset the amount of electricity the cars use for charging.
Some locations will have solar, others won't.

 

I was under the impression the locations of the superchargers do receive significant sunlight. I've driven to Northern CA from So Cal may times and that area is quite sunny year round. I've also driven to Vegas more times than I care to admit and it is also quite sunny in that area. If they are in fact in cloudy areas, then I would agree.. kind of a waste.

But like I said before, I didnt really think about the superchargers or the car itself much prior to this thread. I was merely pointing out what Tesla said.

 

Telsa S rated 99 out of 100 by Consumer Reports on recent test drive. Best car since 2007, superb in all respects.
LINK

 

Did you know that cars can be shipped across the country for about $1k?

Did you know the Toyota incentives are still on offer to non-CA residents because it's ZEV sale as long as it's sold by a CA dealer?

If you want a RAV4 EV you buy from CA and ship.
If you want a PiP you buy from NY/NJ/NewE and ship.
I've not bought a car out of state myself (yet), but many people have, including many on this site.

Send Dianne a RAV4EV email and I'm sure she'd be quite happy to arrange the shipping.

 

I know, it's something I'm working on, but one thing to keep in mind is that you have to sign a form which says Toyota wants you to keep the car in CA, and if you don't, you might be on your own when it comes to dealing with technical issues.

I'm in process of selling my gas RAV4, once that's done, Dianne will get another call from me

 

I'm working on it, just purchased AutoTrader ad space, that's the only hold up, don't have space for 2 RAV4s in my garage (and really hate to give this one up, it has been good to me).

 

based on April sales for the RAV4 EV of 70 units, I don't think he should be too worried.