Day 7 - Tesla back at Chargemaster

Drove back to Chargemaster HQ and was somewhat sad to drop off the Tesla!

I did over 1000 miles on my experience week and it was great to have the opportunity to drive one in the UK.

Reflecting back, on almost all UK roads it didn't feel too big, but it was difficult on my sister's narrow lane and I would worry about parking in most UK car parks as it is wide! 

For now, I guess we will wait for the smaller Model 3 - we got an early deposit down!

Day 6 - Last Night

Called in to see friends at Bagshot and now back home at Newbury. There is enough charge left to get it back to the rapid at Chargemaster HQ, so no need to plug in at home - I can save our 'leccy bill :-)

Tonight is likely to be the last time there will be a Tesla on our driveway for a long time! We have a deposit on the forthcoming Model 3, but that probably won't arrive until late 2018 at the earliest.

Day 6 - Norton Park Supercharger

Clearly Tesla need to add more Superchargers in certain locations and hopefully this is "in the works". I stopped at Norton Park near Winchester and the two bays were in use. Another Model S arrived after me and that driver had to wait almost 40 mins to just start charging!

Day 6 - Marlborough etc.

I have done a lot of motorway miles over last few days, so today I am sticking to A roads around nearby counties!

My first stop was at the lovely Marlborough - got a good parking spot, had a walk and browsed some shops for a while.

Got time for stops in Salisbury, a pub near Winchester and a brief stop in New Forest.

Day 6 - Tesla at 78K miles

On my journey yesterday the odometer clicked over to 78,000 miles so probably worth me mentioning a bit about the car.

It will be 3 years old in June so has done a lot of miles a year, but that is to be expected given that it is an "experience" car that award winners will want to drive!

Overall it is in good condition and everything works. The trim and bodywork has stood up well, but careless drivers have skuffed the alloy wheels!  Of course the car has benefited from constant OTA upgrades to the software, so the main screen is almost identical to our Dec 2016 car in USA.

However, compared to our car, you can see that things (such as seats, trim, stalks, etc.) have improved over the years. Our car does have the "premium" upgrade and New Generation seats, but I suspect this P85 model was top of the range at the time.

I did have one worrying glitch where both displays froze with the speedo fixed on 67 mph!  Car drove fine, so I stopped when safe and rebooted computer by holding down both scroll wheels on steering wheel. I doubt most "experience week" drivers would have known to do that though...

On that topic, I am not keen on the "old style" speedometer, but I guess if you haven't used the "new style", it is probably fine.

Day 5 - Newbury

Good journey back from Keele services with not much traffic except for a few junctions on M40. Staying 40 mins was probably a bit excessive as despite some fast driving, I still got back to Newbury with over 80 miles left.

The longer journeys are now done - over 800 miles since I collected. On charge for the night so should have decent range for the morning.

Day 5 - Keele Supercharger

Got enough charge at Parkgate to make it here OK. Will be here at least 40 mins to get enough charge to make it back to Newbury (and some contingency).  I say "at least" because if someone charges next to me, my kW will go down.

The lesson of last few days is that I wish all my family and friends had off road parking and an EV charger, so I could charge overnight! I guess one day my wish will come true?

Day 5 - Parkgate

Again no overnight charging at Caernarfon, but had sufficient range to get to Parkgate. My friends have a Zoe so managing to grab a few hours on their charger while we have lunch, etc.

Day 4 - Caernarfon

A bit later than planned, I arrived at Caernarfon to see family. I stopped briefly by the Menai Straights, but this photo with my tablet was a bit rubbish!

Over 500 miles driven since I collected the car!

Day 4 - Free Charging at Nantwich

Unfortunately I left my friends near Northampton a bit later than planned this morning!  As I couldn't charge overnight, I popped to the Supercharger at Northampton before heading North up the M1.

My original plan had been to go to North Wales via the Warrington Supercharger, where I would get a late lunch. Unfortunately it became clear it was a BAD plan as the friday traffic on the M6 turned​ more and more red on the sat nav screen! I really should have left earlier...

As I was making slow progress on M6, I decided to stop at Keele North service area, get some food and consider my options. From info in Tesla forums, it is possible to use the service road to access the Supercharger on the South side. However, due to warnings about the heavy truck risk, I chickened out and paid Ecotricity £6 for 30 mins on the rapid, using the CHAdeMO adapter.

Over my lunch I found there was a free rapid in Nantwich and as I needed more charge, I headed there. Fortunately it was only a tiny detour from my revised route to North Wales, now avoiding the M6.

In Nantwich I found a great ice cream shop and had a walk round the nice town.  My free charge got me to 90% full, so no need to stop again today!

Day 3 - South Mimms Supercharger

Left Kent to head to Northampton and Dartford Tunnel busy - no surprise. Arrived at South Mimms to use supercharger and already driven over 260 miles!

12 bays here and two other Model S left as I arrived so just me charging and getting proper supercharger speed!

Day 2 - Kent

The Supercharger at Reading had got to 40kW when I returned to car and after another 15 mins it was at 220 mile range. So, fuelled by caffeine, I decided to head off to my sister's in Kent, just over 100 miles away.

M25 was already busy, but car coped well with varying traffic speed and (as I already knew) relaxing to drive. The 2014 Model S didn't have TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control) and I can see this would be a nice feature for UK motorways.

I believe you now have to pay for the "Enhanced Autopilot" feature to get TACC, as we don't have it on our late 2016 Model S in USA either.  Not so necessary in our part of Florida as traffic isn't so busy, but might add at some point for other Autopilot features!

Normally a Model S comes with a "Universal Mobile Connector" which allows it to be charged from a 13A socket. This isn't included with the Chargemaster car, so I wasn't able to plug in for an overnight charge at my sister's. Oh well, saves her some 'leccy!

Day 2 - Reading Supercharger

Wow really small bays compared to USA. I could get out of car, but only just. Only 4 stalls and all in use so left car charging at a lowly 24kW. Maybe Elon is right and I should have charged at home overnight ;-) I have no access to app so don't know if it will increase. Fingers crossed and will pop back in 30 after my Americano!

Day 1 - Testing Home Charger

At home we have two Polar electric car chargers. We have a Type 1 (3kW) which is used for my Ampera and a Type 2 (7kW) that we previously used with a Mercedes B250e electric car.

I tested the Type 2 with the Model S but didn't charge for long as tomorrow I'll be visiting the Reading Supercharger on my way to Kent.

Day 1 - Collect Tesla CHAdeMO Adaptor

Over the next few days I will be taking to Model S to areas of the country where Supercharging is yet to arrive.  To help charge in these locations, I was fortunate to borrow a Tesla CHAdeMO Adaptor.  This will allow me to use Ecotricity (and other) Rapid chargers, which will be a lot quicker (50kW) rather than the slower "fast" public called (typically 7kW).

Big Thanks to www.speakev.com member Simon for the loan.

Day 1 - Model S and UK Parking Space

My first attempt at parking a Model S in UK. Not much space on passenger side... Hopefully nobody will dent the door.

Day 1 Collecting Car from Chargemaster

One "challenge" with the experience week is you can't park your own car at Chargemaster HQ. For me, a train from Newbury to Luton was going to be a pain and expensive, so I looked for an alternative.

I used www.justpark.com  and found someone within a few miles who would let me park on their drive for less than half the cost of a train. Also, It took me over a hour less to drive there than the train would have taken. Of course I needed to pay for some petrol, but as I drive an Ampera, it was less than half a gallon plus some 'leccy!

I got an Uber from the driveway to Chargemaster HQ for a fiver and the collection was painless and quick. Sign some forms, pay a deposit and on my way...  oops forgot to take a photo of their HQ!