My recent Odyssey: Huntsville AL; Las Vegas NV; Los Angeles; Tempe AZ, Safford AZ, and; Huntsville AL March 8 - 19 4,562 miles 1,279 kWh A "time share" pitch in Las Vegas turned out to be a motel 'discount' plan. Pay ~$170 monthly to get discounted or sometimes 'free' lodging at a vacation resort. The older salesman implied these were great places to meet women, I'm a widower. Still, I like to gamble and except for the Gulf coast, not so much. They got me out pretty quickly as I was not going to buy into their discount plan. Regardless, I paid them ~$250 or three nights at Las Vegas Trump Hotel, and a $100 certificate at another Hilton property. I got to visit my Aunt Jane, brothers George, Charles, and Will, and stay in a Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. To Las Vegas, 1,888 miles costing $166 of SuperCharger fees. The longest, single drive segment ~1,300 miles took 30 hours. Tesla cross country driving consists of: drive 1.5 to 2.5 hours stop at fast food or mini-market for biology break and snack 20 minutes charging for next segment snack walk cat nap Autopilot does the driving while I supervise I'm home and after catching up on sleep, I'm happy to be home. Bob Wilson
Sounds like a great trip! My sympathies that you couldn't share it with your late spouse. Did you discover even a single non-working Supercharger on your 4,562-mile journey? Does your Tesla warn drivers about non-working Superchargers? You may not know the answer to that question if you've never been driving towards a broken one you were planning to use. Last night's John Oliver show was all about timeshares. I had previously heard many horror stories about being locked into paying for timeshare residences (many of which are never available for use), but never saw the scam explained so well. It's worse than I ever knew. The show also covered a perhaps even bigger scam: the companies who claim if you pay them up-front they can get you out of a timeshare contract (none can, and none come through with the guaranteed refunds).
Supercharger problems: wheel stops too far from curb and SuperCharger - at these, I have to park at an angle to charge my Model 3. Fortunately, very low number of Teslas ... because of the crappy wheel stops. The only time the Tesla cable was too short ... for Teslas! If I had to use those stations frequently, some 'vandal' would probably "fix" them with a little creative engineering. reduced power - two SuperStation stops were getting 16-20 new SuperChargers installed, stations lit but still wrapped with shipping strap. The existing SuperChargers only gave a maximum of 65 kW which I suspect was a power sharing setup with the new installation. cold cables - freezing temperatures made putting the plug in the holster difficult and several times I saw other plugs and cables that fell on the ground. impossible curb - one shopping center had a curb that midway from the ends, there was a rectangular invasion of the parking area, 3' x 6', that left at least one of the 75 kW stations impractical to reach. The only mistakes I made were to assume the nearby stores had public bathrooms. Always, poop first and park next. Bob Wilson
