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Just a week after a father-daughter team drove a Tesla S across country from New York to California, another team has driven a Tesla S has across country even faster, from LA to San Diego, in just over 3 days, using only Tesla Supercharger stations for power. And both teams did it in winter!
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Tesla makes record-setting cross-country trip
February 03, 2014|By Robert Duffer, Chicago Tribune
If it can’t be first, Tesla figures to be fastest. The all-electric automaker aimed to set a record for an electric vehicle crossing the United States, Tesla says.
Reversing the path of a father-daughter team that travelled cross country via Tesla’s much-anticipated nationwide superchager network last week, Tesla sent a team from Los Angeles to New York City in just over 3 days in its flagship Model S performance sedan.
The independent team of John and Jill Glenney completed the trip as the final superchargers were energized, giving them title to the first electric car drive across America using only Superchargers.
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The Tesla team of 15 people in two Model S, a balky sleeper van, and another swag wagon traversed 3,464.5 miles in 76.5 hours via a wormlike pattern of superchargers that connect the spaces between major cities. Total energy used from the proprietary superchargers was 1,198.7 kWh, which Tesla has filed as a Guinness World Record achievement for the lowest total charge time for an electric vehicle crossing the country.
And it did it in the peak of winter, completing a two-birds-with-one-stone publicity coup. Public perception of the nascent industry is rife with questions about range anxiety and cold-weather reliability of electric cars. The Tesla route took them through a sandstorm in Utah, subzero temperatures in South Dakota, blizzards in Colorado, Wisconsin and Illinois, and general winter conditions in what has been considered one of the rougher winters in recent history.
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Just a week after a father-daughter team drove a Tesla S across country from New York to California, another team has driven a Tesla S has across country even faster, from LA to San Diego, in just over 3 days, using only Tesla Supercharger stations for power. And both teams did it in winter!
Wow! I make the trip from San Diego to LA in about 2 1/2 hours...
Awesome, taking a little over three days to make the trip in a $70,000.00 vehicle....
Yeah, well... I don't think the point will be lost on many others, who will recognize this for the endurance challenge it was, and the remarkable achievement over public perception.
It really shatters the range issue, shows that cold weather performance is far better than had been rumored, as well as demonstrating the recharging speed of the Supercharger stations and highlighting how many there are already operating.
It's brilliant PR, in my opinion, supporting their planned increase in production this year, and planned next release of an SUV model.
I think it's going to take much much more than a PR stunt in vehicles that cost over $100,000.00 each to convince anyone other that the rabid few EV proponents that these types of vehicles are the wave of the future in anything other than urban environments...
Lets see these people in these $100,000.00 vehicles drive from Houston to LA or Salt Lake City to Reno. Oh wait a minute, they can't. As of mid January 2014, there are only 74 stations operating in the United States and 14 in Europe.
Another interesting thing concerning these Tesla supercharging stations (which will cost upwards of $500,000.00 each):
The California Air Resources Board staff is considering modifying the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulation to exclude battery swapping as a "fast refueling" technology; this change would deny Tesla some of the ZEV credits that the manufacturer might otherwise receive when the battery swapping station is placed in service in California
I think it's going to take much much more than a PR stunt in vehicles that cost over $100,000.00 each to convince anyone other that the rabid few EV proponents that these types of vehicles are the wave of the future in anything other than urban environments...
Establishing that Tesla cars are reliable and perform well is a key step in preparing the way for a successful launch of their ~$35K Model E in a couple of years. For now the fans of the Tesla S have already bought out the entire production run, and the upcoming SUV model appears teed up for just as much success.
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Lets see these people in these $100,000.00 vehicles drive from Houston to LA or Salt Lake City to Reno. Oh wait a minute, they can't. As of mid January 2014, there are only 74 stations operating in the United States and 14 in Europe.
You see the glass as half empty, whereas I see this as a remarkable achievement, considering that they only had 15 stations last July. And in any case, planned expansion of the Tesla network will provide the routes you mentioned by end of year. To see what's coming, go to this website and roll the timeline forward to see the plans.
The California Air Resources Board staff is considering modifying the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulation to exclude battery swapping as a "fast refueling" technology; this change would deny Tesla some of the ZEV credits that the manufacturer might otherwise receive when the battery swapping station is placed in service in California
Maybe, maybe not. Either way the Teslas will continue to roll. They're currently expanding their production facility by 25%.
And dare i say it? Tesla's success pulls the entire EV segment forward.
This is a fun update. These two guys with a taste for Rockstar energy drink just knocked 8 hours off the coast-to-coast travel time for an EV last set by Tesla staffers. And they did it in a non-prepped stock 2013 vehicle.
While they don't seem nearly as organized as I imagine the Tesla team was... for example, they forgot to bring the FasTrak transponder that would have allowed them to bypass a lot of time-eating toll plazas... the details of how they used the Tesla navigation and energy management features to stretch their resources to the limit is fascinating.
And to those skeptics who might say "What's the point?" it effectively demonstrates that a clean, green electric vehicle can not only deliver EPA rated 89 mpg equivalent performance (88 city, 90 hwy), but can do it in a safe luxury automobile that is comfortable for driver and passenger alike, and do it on long stretches of American open road.
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New cross country EV record set in Tesla S
