Aug 27, 2015
stevem Oh, I'm so gonna steal that one. That's great!�
Aug 29, 2015
FlaPanther Decided to share one of my Tesla moments, although it happened a couple months ago. I was driving up the Fl Turnpike in Miami about 70 mph with traffic on all sides of me. In front of me a construction pickup truck had a 8 foot step ladder. I watched the step ladder launch from the bed and fly 10-15 feet in the air. It seemed like slow motion. It hit the pavement and bounced once. Then slid directly into my path. Not wanting to cause a serious accident and with no place to go, I drove over the ladder. Centered between the front wheels. There was a thump, a bounce and the ladder shot out from the car under the passenger door. I think it went into the swale area. Looking in the rear view no other cars hit it. I drove to my destination, after the adrenaline rush, and checked for damage. After detailed inspection I found a small scrape below the front passenger door. I love this titanium undercarriage. Safe at any speed.�
Aug 29, 2015
tonybelding I've been having lunch a couple of times a week at a little cafe in my town -- but their parking is not so good, so I've taken to parking the Roadster across the street, under the awning of an abandoned gas station, which makes it pretty visible. I went in today and sat down, and one of the waitresses brought me some tea as usual, and then...
SHE: We've been talking about your car, and we can't figure out what it is.
ME: What do you mean, what it is?
SHE: I think it's a Porsche, but she thinks it's a Prius.
ME: It's a Tesla!
SHE: (yells across to the other room) He says it's a Tesla!
I had not realized the Roadster looks so much like a Prius.�
Aug 29, 2015
jerry33 By your description of where the damage was, that's the aluminium tank armour. The titanium skid plates are small and to the very front of the battery. They keep debris from catching the front of the battery. Agreed that it's safe at any speed.�
Aug 29, 2015
kaneda As I was waiting for my wife outside a supermarket, the driver of the Evoke parked next to me arrived and started to go all crazy on how cool the TMS is, etc.
Her first question was: "Are you married ?"
My wife arrived a few minutes later ...�
Aug 29, 2015
TesAus But the "bounce" that was described might have been the titanium plate lifting the car as it hit the ladder as per the videos that Tesla released at the time the plates were starting to be fitted? These showed the car lifting, as opposed to the plate deflecting or denting as the car coped with concrete blocks, trailer hitches etc.
The dent in the aluminium panel might be as the car returned to normal height from it's bounce as the ladder was exiting stage right?�
Aug 29, 2015
mrElbe True story as told by a Barnes and Noble sales person at the Hamilton Market Place NJ Supercharger.
Irate lady enters store and complains that the vacuum cleaners in the parking lot are not working and there is no slot for the coins.
Sales person tries to explain that these things are chargers for Tesla electric vehicles.
Irate lady tells her in no certain terms that she is full of s--t and leaves in a huff.�
Aug 29, 2015
ecarfan Mind. Blown.�
Aug 29, 2015
Brass Guy Two drive-by moments today.
I was on the way home from a gig in Boston in the right lane as I approached my exit. A woman leaned her head out the window of a car passing in the far left lane, I clearly read her lips, "Nice car!"
Then later carrying a ladder past my car in my mother's driveway, a passing driver yelled out, "That's a beautiful car!"
I'm usually nearly oblivious to all but traffic when I'm driving, so I wonder how often things like that happen that I don't even notice.�
Aug 29, 2015
eloder I think this one wins!�
Aug 29, 2015
Jool Ate at my favorite little Chinese restaurant for lunch and noticed that one of the cooks on break walked over and admired the car. He liked it so much that he went back inside to tell another cook to come out and look at it!�
Aug 29, 2015
beeeerock .... because.... there are ALWAYS vacuum cleaners in Barnes and Noble parking lots... right?
Great story!�
Aug 30, 2015
Gizmo I just picked up my brand new MC Red 85D at the service center in Dedham Mass. I pull into Legacy Place next door and right off the bat I spot 2 people walk into each other because they couldn't stop looking. After I found a parking spot, I pick my head up from my phone to see several people standing around the car taking pictures. Then I wait until the group dispurses and get out to meet a Tesla admirer. We talked about the car for about 20 minutes.Those Tesla moments sure didn't take long�
Aug 30, 2015
jerry33 It could have happened that way, but the two problems in the cars without the skidplates were from short spiky objects rather than long somewhat flat ones. A scrape on the skidplates would be definitive.�
Aug 30, 2015
angelarm1110 some people just can't deal with being out from under their rock. how much you wanna bet she was out there yanking on the cables trying to get them to reach far enough�
Aug 30, 2015
Pete90D This makes me want to put an audio clip with the sound of a vacuum on my thumb drive so if someone pulls up trying this I can make it seem like mine is working�
Aug 30, 2015
Cyclone Be sure to capture video of their facial expressions when you do this!�
Aug 30, 2015
tga I got the same question from a restaurant patio as I drove out of the lot in my Boxster, years ago. My wife was in the passenger seat and started laughing. I pointed to her, and the response from the patio was "No, are you married?"
It's times like this the phrase "You just can't fix stupid!" comes to mind... :scared:
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Oh, obligatory Tesla moment - I was driving to the dump yesterday in the pickup. An S was coming the other way. I pointed, gave a thumbs up, and waved. Got a wave back.�
Aug 30, 2015
tinm Finally took some time to browse through this thread. Reminded me of one of my own Tesla moments... back when I was doing some stuff with the car at the local AAA. The guy behind the counter was so excited that I had a Tesla, and word quickly spread throughout the AAA office. I had to go do a demo outside, and the reaction when I opened the frunk was... well, you know how it goes. Then, when it came time to set up everything in his computer, he discovered that the web form insisted on specifying the number of cylinders in the engine. I was sitting in the waiting area but saw him reach for the phone and call someone. His side of the conversation then went something like this:
"Hi this is so-and-so at the AAA in New Mexico, I have a question."
...
"Well, I'm encountering a problem I have never ever seen before. I am trying to enter a Tesla into the system."
...
"Yes, Tesla. T E S L A. And your screen is requesting number of cylinders, and the car has none."
...
"No really. It's an electric car. I'm getting this error message saying "number of cylinders must be numeric."
...
"Right, I tried that."
...
"But it's a Tesla."
...
"Could we use zero? Let me try zero."
...
"No, it's giving me another error message that number of cylinders must be 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, or 16."
...
"No, it wouldn't take the zero."
...
"No. Do you have some other code? Some sort of universal code to bypass?"
...
"Right. No, it wouldn't do that..."
...
"Number 4? Ok that would equal the horsepower? Match the horsepower of the vehicle? I don't know..."
...
"Ok so we wanna go ahead and use that. Let me see if they'll let me do that..."
...
"What's that? Ok, we're gonna go ahead and use the 4 then...."
...
"Yep it did! Thank you very much. Ok. Bye."
[ Who knew? Tesla Model S has four cylinders.Pretty amazing actually. I would've thought with all the Nissan LEAFs I see around the state, the concept of a) electric cars and b) they have no cylinders, would have made its way into the bureaucratic IT infrastructures by now. ]
�
Aug 30, 2015
46&2 Let's imagine arriving there with a two disk wankel engine...�
Aug 30, 2015
brucet999 Delightfully evil!
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I just checked Tesla Motors Shop Accessories but couldn't find the Dump Trunk one; maybe it's from EVAnnex.�
Aug 30, 2015
ChadS This old chestnut from six years ago might not sound like much of a Tesla moment now, but I thought I'd throw it out there so we can see how far we've come:
Shortly after I got my Roadster, my wife and I decided to try out a longer drive. At one point I was going 50-60mph on a curvy mountain road, and when we got to a straight section I could see an 18-wheeler laboring slowly in the right lane (we were going up a fairly steep part). Unfortunately, I also saw that he was almost to the point where the lanes merged and became one; with all the turns, passing might be difficult. I wanted to get there in front of the truck, so naturally I pressed down on the accelerator - around 55mph going up a steep hill. My wife hit her head restraint hard enough that she got a headache and was mad at me the rest of the day.
OK, even when it happened, it wasn't much of a Tesla moment - my wife was really mad about it and told me I could never accelerate without warning her first (something she still bugs me about). But what made it a "Tesla Moment" for me was how well that story worked to change the minds of people seeing an EV for the first over the next few years. Sure, first I had to get past the ubiquitous "Really? Electric? You mean, all electric? No gas at all?" questions. Back this far, well outside of California, they were surprised to hear that EVs even existed, so they hadn't yet been conditioned by media about "range anxiety". Questions about range and charging time weren't the first questions out; in fact shorter conversations reasonably often didn't even get there. Once it was established that the car was electric, the questions were more often either "Can it go on the freeway?" or "Does it handle hills and mountains OK?"
Of course taking them for a ride has always worked best as an answer, but there have been an enormous number of conversations where that wasn't practical. So the story of my wife's headache became what I used to get across the idea that yes, electric cars can perform. It worked wonderfully, though now in the days of viral P85D launch videos, it seems pretty hokey.�
Aug 30, 2015
mikeash I got this just a couple of weeks ago. A local company organized a little car show for their 16th anniversary (the idea being that their mascot was now old enough to drive) and invited a couple of local owners of cool cars to exhibit. I was there in my Model S along with a Tesla Roadster, a DeLorean, and an Audi R8.
One fellow asked me something like, "How does it do on the highway? Can you get it up to 60?"
I kind of smiled at him and gently informed him that it'll do 0-60 in just over 5 seconds and the top speed is 140MPH. Most amusing!
It was a fun little show overall. I think the best thing about it was how the other three all brought weird, impractical, but cool cars, while I just brought my family car but it fit right in. I kept joking to people that I had more seats than the other three combined.�
Aug 30, 2015
bmah Just slightly less of a head-scratcher...
I used to drive a silver Prius (2005). Now I have a silver Model S. The first time I drove the Model S to my parents' house (on the street I grew up on), I parked in the driveway as I always do. Within about 10 minutes, one of the neighbors (who has known me since I was about 2 years old, or a Really Long Time) stopped by to say hi, saying, "I saw your car parked here in the driveway". Huh? Nobody knew I bought this car. Oh well. We kept talking for about another 5 minutes about random things before he realized this wasn't my usual car and he finally asked, "Wait, did you get a new car? What kind of car is this?" I started explaining what a Tesla Model S is, but within about 30 seconds he "got it" ("This is an electric car! And they make those at the old NUMI plant up in the Bay Area!"). The rest of the conversation was pretty pleasant, although I was left wondering how one could mistake a Model S for a Gen-II Prius (especially since the gentleman in question also drives a Prius of similar vintage).
�
Aug 30, 2015
Andyw2100 I don't think it's that much of a head-scratcher. I think "I saw your car parked here in the driveway" really meant "I saw you get out of that car while looking out my window."�
Aug 30, 2015
bmah Well, he knew my "normal" car was a Prius...he'd seen me drive it for the past ten years and somewhere along the way it was a factor in him buying one. I'll give it to him that my Prius and my Tesla are approximately the same color, otherwise known as "silver accented with bugspots and other gunk you pick up by driving through Central California".�
Aug 31, 2015
Ugliest1 "Some things must be believed to be seen."
Car, check. Silver, check. Parents' house, check. Must be bmah.
If you've ever seen that video of the university-aged kids bouncing and passing basketballs to each other, some in black shirts, some in white (you are told before the video starts to count the number of times a white-shirted student touches the ball), you don't even see the gorilla that suddenly walks calmly into frame, through the group, and out of frame. I don't think I've spoiled the fun for everyone - I knew about it and tried to do the counting while noticing the gorilla, and couldn't do it. The brain is great at filtering out extraneous information. Now, if your neighbour had seen the DRLs...??�
Aug 31, 2015
Cyclone I totally agree. The cars may not look the same, but sedan with the same color at his orients house is what triggers for attention without close inspection.
selective attention test - YouTube�
Aug 31, 2015
Brass Guy Yesterday I did a lot of driving - a bit over 200 miles in total. I figured on "localing" the SC in Dedham for 10-15 minutes on my way from visiting the Seabrook SC construction to southern MA, since I was already down around 55 miles or so by then but still had 80 to go for the day. When I got there, the place was closed, 2 unattended cars in SC stalls, and a gentleman walking around. I asked if he was on a road trip, or just a busy day like me. Turns out he was passing by and didn't know about the Dedham store/SC/SC and just thought he'd stop by. He's not even an owner, just interested and had already been on a test drive out of Natick.
We ended up talking for about 40 minutes, I showed him supercharge.info on my screen, etc... (I got up to 85% charge, but I don't feel guilty.:smile
I apologized for talking his ear off, and he thanked me for the chat. Maybe another Model S sold, who knows!
BTW, judging by the plates (CA and MA EV) the 2 cars in SC stalls were probably an inventory and CPO left by the staff. Do you call that EVing a SC?�
Aug 31, 2015
brianman I think you misunderstood my comment. Added underlines to help clarify. I was referring to a future where mechanics spend a lot more time training for EVs than ICEs.�
Aug 31, 2015
S'toon
I was contemplating this a little while ago. How "mechanics" in the future will be closer to electro-mechanical technicians, learning about how electricity and computer circuitry will drive motors rather than ICEs.�
Aug 31, 2015
ItsNotAboutTheMoney I was thinking that they'd be robots that replace items when the vehicle returns to its hub due to a sensor indicating a problem.�
Aug 31, 2015
brianman Note to future self: Find out where "battery needs goodwill upgrade to 150 kWh capacity" sensor is.�
Sep 1, 2015
FLDarren As do most of u I'm sure, when going through a turn, you lean forward and into the turn. At the apex you punch it launching yourself vertically. Well I leaned forward today in my Nissan Sentra rental when going into a turn. Yeah, I almost smacked my head on the dash because the car stuttered and didn't launch like I expected.
It was a momentary lapse in judgement. I miss my Joules. I will have her back tomorrow afternoon.�
Sep 3, 2015
Pilot_51 On the way home in the usual evening rush hour traffic, going roughly 20 MPH on a freeway ending in a couple miles, a white pickup to my right honked and the guy gave a moderately excited thumbs up, which I quickly returned. The traffic in front of him started slowing down when he honked, and immediately after I returned the thumbs up, he slammed on his brakes to avoid rear ending the car in front. It looked very close and I'm relieved not to be part of the cause of an accident.�
Sep 3, 2015
yo mama My best Tesla moment so far occurred last night. My co-workers got me a bad ass, full-sized Chewbacca costume for my birthday, which I obviously had to wear on the drive home. A wookie driving a P85D isn't something most people see everyday, even in Silicon Valley.�
Sep 3, 2015
FLDarren I've said I would buy Great Dane a stormtrooper outfit someday. I think this convinced me. Thank u.�
Sep 3, 2015
Btrflyl8e I picked up my parents from the airport last night after work, and as it was dinner time, we stopped in the neighborhood Italian joint for a bite. When we approached the host, he asked "are you the people with the Tesla?", and proceeded to talk excitedly about how the owner has one, and he loves the car, did I know it scored 103 out of 100, etc etc. This Tesla talk continued as he showed us to our table, and then a few minutes longer as we were seated. When he left out table, my mom said, " wow, that was something " and I smiled and said "welcome to my LIFE the last 2+ years!"�
Sep 3, 2015
yo mama I highly recommend the acquisition, just make sure your vision isn't too obstructed if you're driving.�
Sep 3, 2015
SW2Fiddler Of which the head MUST be kept in the frunk (when not being worn). Facing forward.
I mean come ON.�
Sep 3, 2015
ecarfan Come on, there needs to be a photo of that! "Hit it Chewie". [emoji3]�
Sep 3, 2015
yo mama That would require me to figure out photo bucket, or something like that, which I should do anyway.
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Best I can do on short notice is: (1) visual evidence of my beautiful new P85D; and (2) wookie driving said P85D
�
Sep 3, 2015
gg_got_a_tesla Oh my gosh, that blue! I can hear Chewie grunting with glee!�
Sep 4, 2015
HHHH That blue with the grey 21's, looks fantastic!�
Sep 4, 2015
yo mama Thank you. I fell in love with the blue right away. I initially wanted the silver rims but the Mrs. persuaded me to go with the grey - apparently it "brings the car together" with the all-black interior. However, I overruled her efforts to remove the carbon fiber spoiler. It may not be of much practical effect but I think it looks slick.�
Sep 4, 2015
Btrflyl8e On our way back from early dinner tonight, we were stopped at a light. To our left and a car length ahead there was a VW beetle with a mom and young boy of around 10. I realized they were both straining to look back at my car. Then, the boy held out a cell phone and took a couple of pics. I was making faces and doing "jazz hands" for his shots, and we were all laughing until the light changed. I love it when it's the kids who know what a Tesla is!�
Sep 5, 2015
beeeerock Has Bjorn been in touch with you yet to find out where to get this costume for his Millennium Falcon? Seems like a 'must have' accessory for him! ;-)�
Sep 5, 2015
yo mama Not yet. However, Bjorn sounds like someone I need to meet.�
Sep 5, 2015
Btrflyl8e Meet Bjorn!
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/24575-Bj�rn-s-Tesla-Model-S-videos�
Sep 6, 2015
Aussie Bob Who would have thought that we would see a Tesla in Ketchikan Alaska - what a moment. We were walking around town during one of our Alaska cruise stops when my wife stopped me and said there is a Tesla!! Of course we had to take pictures.
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Another Tesla moment occurred on our way to my daughter's place in Portland after our Alaska cruise ended in Seattle. We stopped on the trip to her house at Centralia to shop at the outlet Mall. When we were looking for a parking spot my wife pointed out to me that there is a Tesla supercharger station. I was let off to check it out while they shopped. The station has 10 slots and while I was there 6 cars were charging at one time with cars coming and going from California, Oregon and Washington States. The cool thing for me was to see a Handicapped spot designated for The charging station. 4 slots had no parking signs and 6 had 30 minute only parking signs if you were not charging - I.e. ICED.
�
Sep 6, 2015
LoL Rick The cars are becoming more common around here, and of course there is a fair amount of press, so it always surprises me when someone has no idea what it is. At a 4 way stop in the middle of a very busy shopping center parking lot today, a 20ish guy in a Chevy made a left turn across my bow and stopped in the middle of the intersection. He made a motion for me to roll down the window, so I did, and he said "I'm staring at your car and can't figure out what it is! What is it?" I hollered "Tesla" and he said something back that wasn't quite right, so I said it again. At that point there were cars backed up in all four directions but he didn't seem to care. So I just said "Made in California" and moved on.�
Sep 6, 2015
BoerumHill Not a Tesla moment per se but had a really interesting dinner conversation with an Obama administration official last night. I don't want to out him as we have mutual acquaintances and he's a low profile guy, but suffice to say he has about 20K employees under him around the world. Anyway, we were talking about the next election cycle - he's "looking forward to getting fired" LOL as regardless of the outcome it's a political appointee position - and I mentioned that I'm really interested in renewable energy and sustainable transport. He brought up Musk and I told him I was in the market for a Model S. He sees a fair amount around MD/DC and had a million questions. Eventually we had to break off so we could dance with our wives (it was a banquet hall celebration), but he thanked me for the chat. Later on the way out we connected on LinkedIn, and he said he's going to take a closer look at Tesla - possibly order a sedan or Model X. To which his middle school son exclaimed, "Oh, yeah, that would be awesome!"
Just another day in the life of an evangelist.�
Sep 6, 2015
CatB At Hunt Vallet Horse Power (cars and coffee), a young man was telling me all about the term paper he wrote about the Model S, but he had never seen one.
And agree that the young ones "get Tesla" so much faster than their parents, it is so fun!�
Sep 7, 2015
Cyclone So yesterday on the way to dinner, I pull up next to an Aston Martin DB9 at a red light. He notices me and starts revving his engine. The road is clear with no turn-ins/turn-offs for a good bit and when the light goes green, he guns it. Man he looked frustrated from my rear-view mirror! We both get up to 55 (the speed limit) and then just cruise. At the next lift he turns left and a guy in a MB E550 pulls up beside me and gives me a thumbs up from his sunroof! I definitely was sporting a Tesla grin at dinner!�
Sep 7, 2015
LetsGoFast At Starbucks yesterday morning a father and son were checking out my car when I came out. The boy was about 8 or 9 and he asked me if that was my Tesla. I told him that it was and he said "Cool!" We chatted for a moment and the dad asked the son why he was so enthused about the car. The kid rolled his eyes and said "Sheesh, Dad, its only the best car in the world."�
Sep 7, 2015
Ugliest1 1. A bit of a reverse-Tesla Moment here. I had my car in to Vancouver Service for its two-year check and a couple of minor issues (that were fixed). We were on our way to Whistler for a couple of days of biking, so I had my hitch and bikes on the car. When I arrived at Service I took the bikes and rack off, leaving the hitch attached. The staff were very kind allowing my bikes and rack to be stored in the manager�s office, since he was away on vacation. When we got back to pick up the car, it was raining slightly so TJ offered to have me bring the car into the service bay to put the bike rack on. The Moment: while I was doing that, a couple of the staff came over, had noticed our electric-assist bikes, and wanted to know all about them. One of the staff had already been on the web checking a few things out. So it ended up being the equivalent of a Tesla Moment with the staff, except about the e-bikes.
2. Coming back from Whistler, we stopped at a small town just north of Victoria. We hadn�t charged the car since Squamish on the way to Whistler a few days before, and the trusty nav screen was saying I�d have 2% battery left once I got home. So we pulled into a 30A charger while having dinner to get just a bit more for a buffer. While waiting for the server, I had my iPhone out checking to make sure electrons were still flowing. The young server came, and while chatting about the menu she happened to notice the picture of the car on the app, and asked about it.
�What�s that?"
�We have an electric vehicle and this is telling us how the charging is doing.�
"What kind of car?"
"A Tesla - have you heard��
She interrupted �Oh, a Tesla!! My boyfriend is SOOO into those! He can�t wait for the Model 3! I think they�re great too. Is that the one from around here?"
�No, we�re from Victoria, but we did see a black one 5 minutes ago on the highway, didn�t see the plate though"
�What�s your plate?"
�WAT GAS"
�WAT GAS! I know that plate! I saw your car in Victoria and told my boyfriend all about it!"
[Cue the jokes about how everyone in Canada knows everyone else.]�
Sep 7, 2015
Pete90D I don't get asked a lot of questions, which is probably because of the area I live in and the Model S being so common. So I don't have any super interesting stories I guess.
I was at the supercharger the other day and looked in my rear view and saw two guys taking pictures of only my car and I've seen a few people do double takes and look back, almost dangerously too long, as they drive by the car.
While I was borrowing a P85D, some guys chased me down to tell me how much they liked my car. Started asking questions about it and I told them about the performance and they enthusiastically said they had seen the videos on YouTube. Said our goodbyes and as usually I launched at the light. They chased me down, and at the next light asked me if they could snapchat a video of me launching.
Day they announced the P90D, when I was able to upgrade from P85D to P90D, I was at the supercharger with a car I borrowed and some other owners were asking me questions about the Model S. Another guy walks up and answers some of the questions and then the P90D came up and I started talking about what I knew. Turned out the guy that walked up was one of the engineers that built the fuse so the tables were turned and I became the question asker. It was just kind of cool. (Note to Tesla: he was very careful and didn't say a lot about the fuse... so nothing to worry about, no NDAs were harmed in the making of that conversation)
Pulled up to a light one day and when it turned green I saw this bike take off and pull a wheelie so I floored it and as he turns his head to look back for his buddy he sees me a couple lanes over right there with him while the other cars were 1/4 mile back. He seemed surprised
Got pulled over by a cop and something was said that made me say something like, "yeah this has a lot of power" and when I said how much he was like "wow I knew they were nice, but that's insane". I probably should have said, "it's not insane, it's ludicrous...".
Not making jokes, but true story. A while back my dev team was around 12 people and at the time we had 4 people from Canada and they all went to the same school at different times, knew a lot of the same people, but didn't know each other (two had met once). It was kind of a joke at the time just because I was the only American in the office I sit in and I somehow was given honorary Canadian citizenship because I own a labrador and labrador origin is Canadian. I don't think they understand how the citizenship process works, but hey, no paperwork to fill out�
Sep 7, 2015
Barry Here's a Tesla non-moment:
My younger daughter (age 23) came for a visit recently. First time she's been in the Tesla. Without saying anything, I did a launch from a red light. She just looked at me and said, "please don't do that again." She did like the door handles and took a video of them on her cellphone.�
Sep 7, 2015
Pete90D I'm not a father but if I was one I would take that as a good sign she isn't riding in fast cars.�
Sep 7, 2015
stevem I had a new one, sort of. Over the summer I have been giving friends and friend's kids rides. A couple of the kids (my daughter's age, middle school) wanted multiple rides over the summer. No problem. One in particular, kid about 12 was really enjoying it and wanted me to take him and his friends and show them all the gizmos etc. Didn't think anything of it. But was talking to his mom over the weekend. She said that at school the kids were asked about what was the highlight of their summer and she said he thought about it for a minute and said "I got to ride in a Tesla!". I saw this kid at a party yesterday, I asked him if it was true. He said yes. So I gave him my Tesla hat and told him to wear it with pride. He didn't take it off the rest of the day. It was cute to make his day.�
Sep 7, 2015
!S4 You're an awesome guy! That kid will never forget it.�
Sep 8, 2015
Pete90D Picked up some wings from WingStop and put them in the frunk. I looked to the side and three women were staring at me like I was doing something really really bad. No words were said, but I don't think they knew it had a frunk.�
Sep 8, 2015
Mikischu They were probably thinking "Foolish Tesla owner... Don't you know that without an engine, your wings wont stay warm in there?"�
Sep 8, 2015
Pete90D That just reminded me of a news story I saw when I was like 12 where a truck driver cooked chicken and potatoes on his engine while at a truck stop. I've always wanted to try this... guess I'll need a rental now.�
Sep 8, 2015
Andyw2100 You don't need a rental. Just small portions, and use the door handles:
Scalding Hot Door Handles!�
Sep 8, 2015
Cyclone Good one!�
Sep 8, 2015
Pete90D Maybe it is the way I open the doors, but I've never experienced hot door handles. Putting it on the pano would probably work better, bigger portions and all.�
Sep 8, 2015
AlanSqB I know you have a Dual Motor Pete, but if you had a non-D model, you could tell them you're putting them in the "microwave."
"Tesla Frunk Cooking" a.k.a. "Put a Microwave in your Microwave."�
Sep 8, 2015
Andyw2100 Good idea! Plus it would have the added benefit of letting you sit inside the car and be able to tell by looking up when the pano-side of the food was cooked and ready to be turned.�
Sep 8, 2015
brucet999 LOL, really!�
Sep 8, 2015
Cyclone Once both sides are done, do you open the pano and use it as a table?�
Sep 8, 2015
Pete90D So we'll all get together for a cookout sometime? Just circle the cars like wagons on the Oregon trail and get to work!�
Sep 8, 2015
Cyclone I am totally down for a group camp out. One of the reasons of getting the Model S was to explore and see some sights, and make good friends along the way!�
Sep 10, 2015
davewill Tesla, Jr. moment...
Headed to work in my RAV4EV, and a black Model S pulls up behind me at he light at the bottom of the HOV-only off ramp. We both turn left, he catches me at the next stop light and gives me a big thumbs up and a grin. As he takes off, I see it's a P85 (Yeah, the RAV is peppy, but not peppier than a Model S). Made my morning. I sometimes feel like I'm driving a stealth EV.�
Sep 10, 2015
JST I saw a RAV4 EV in Jersey the other day. Didn't realize they sold them there.�
Sep 11, 2015
davewill They didn't. Somebody had to move it from California.�
Sep 11, 2015
MorrisonHiker I saw one in Colorado recently (with Colorado plates) and wondered how they get service. I thought only specific dealerships were allowed to work on them.�
Sep 11, 2015
AlanSqB Green Eyed Motors in Boulder had one of them on their website for sale, maybe it was that one. They seem to have lots of EVs that are CA only like the Fiat. Seems risky to me to buy something you can't get serviced, but maybe they have the service books on it.�
Sep 11, 2015
davewill The final model year was 2014, so any you're seeing advertised now are used vehicles. There are a number of them out of state at this point, and getting them serviced has proven to be doable, although sometimes a Toyota roving engineer has had to step in to help.
There's a good forum for the RAV4EV: Toyota Rav4 EV Forum - Toyota Rav4 EV Forum for the Rav4 Electric Vehicle
Don't want to derail this thread with too much RAV talk.�
Sep 11, 2015
Andyw2100 I was at a grocery store today, parked out in Siberia, to avoid door dings, etc. As I was approaching the car with my groceries I noticed a couple of guys a pretty good distance away, walking in my direction. I put the groceries in the trunk, and then turned to return the cart. When I headed back from returning the cart, the guys had reached the car, and were admiring it. As I approached one of them said, "Beautiful car", and we started talking. They asked me how I liked it and I told them I was really happy with the car, but was having issues with the company lately. I gave them the one example of the change in ranger / valet policy, and they laughed and said that would end up in a law suit. As it turns out, these guys had been considering purchasing a Model S in another state. I gave them my contact info, and said they could call if they had questions.�
Sep 11, 2015
LoL Rick Wednesday evening I pulled into a Burger King (don't you judge me!) for a snack before choir rehearsal. A couple of the employees where in the parking lot as I drove in, and as soon as I got to the counter they started in with the questions. It went something like this
Her: What kind of car is that?
Me: It's a Tesla.
Her: Who makes it?
Me: Tesla. It's a new American car company.
Her: It's so quiet - it's amazing!
Me: It's all electric. No gas engine.
Her: Really? How's it do on (pause) gas?
Me: No gas, but it gets the equivalent of 89 mpg.
Her: Really? That's crazy.
Her - to another employee: It's a Tesla.
Third employee, walking by and overhears this: You got a Tesla? You got a wife?
This went on for about 5 minutes of Tesla time before I could even get my order in. It really caused a stir, with one of the employees running out to look at the car, and taking quite a bit of time to talk to people about it. The manager eventually had to tell her to get back to work.�
Sep 11, 2015
yo mama A recent Tesla moment came in Santa Cruz, CA - a place overrun with old hippies and environmentalists - the kind of place you'd assume would love Teslas. Me, the Mrs., and our kids were at a stop light, not really paying attention to the beat up old Volvo next to us with a million "save the earth" type bumper stickers on it. There was no one else around so I launched, because fun. We stopped at the next red light. The aforementioned Volvo rolls up, stops, and the old hippy driver rolls down his window and flips us off without saying anything. He then took a right at the light and sped off, middle finger still protruding from the driver's window.
We weren't sure what to make of that.�
Sep 11, 2015
igotzzoom Maybe jealous 'cause he can't afford one? :smile:�
Sep 11, 2015
yo mama This story is useless without pictures of the Third employee.�
Sep 11, 2015
ecarfan Perhaps he thought that you were deliberately trying to make his car look bad, or just being a show off, or just wasting energy.�
Sep 11, 2015
yo mama You may be right. My best guess is that I was perceived as "speeding" even though I didn't actually exceed the speed limit. I've been moderately curious if others have elicited similar reactions to launching. As a newbie I'm not 100% sure on the Tesla etiquette here, as I'd like to rep our brand in a not-suck manner.�
Sep 12, 2015
Atlantis
I'm amaze to see how so many people in US know nothing about Tesla after all the hype in news and internet. For god seek, it's a American company! Here, in Portugal, a lot of people have heard about Tesla (almost only guys to be fair) and it's a German's market (40% of sales are German cars, with a lot of BMW, Audi and Mercedes that can be seen here where I live).�
Sep 12, 2015
ecarfan I was in Kennewick, Washington USA last month at a hotel, plugging my S into a 110V outlet out by the pool (Kennewick Supercharger was not open yet).
A couple of guys came up to the car and had no idea what it was, I told them it was "a Tesla", they asked who made it, reply "Tesla", had never heard of "Tesla", didn't know it was an American company, didn't know it was an EV, one seemed unclear on the concept of what an EV was, and their main question was "How fast does it go?"
We are all early adopters at this point, despite the fact that there are about 100,000 of us.�
Sep 12, 2015
Atlantis Well, maybe it's because the guys I know and their friends are almost all car guys (a majority of BMW ones although only some have a BMW), so they read on-line car news and magazines and so, have read about Tesla, but maybe they would not recognize one if they see it...�
Sep 12, 2015
jerry33 I've had quite a few, when I tell them this is a Tesla, say, "Oh, so that's what it looks like. Wow!".�
Sep 12, 2015
Max* Maybe it's where you guys are, I feel they're pretty common here.
Last week was at a carwash, and the cashier lady turn to me and says something along the lines of "that's the future right there!" (this may have been before she tried to upsell my carwash, lol)�
Sep 12, 2015
gg_got_a_tesla I have a more feel-good story in this context. There's this 2-mile stretch from the freeway exit to my home punctuated by a series of all-way Stop signs (8 of them). Two lanes going each way. Speed limit is only 35 but, I love launching all the same quickly to 35-ish and catching up with the car in front.
A few days ago, I was doing the same and after clearing 4 of those intersections, noticed a newish Golf GTI trying hard to catch up in the lane next to me. Slowed down just enough for him to pull up in the left turn lane next to me - he put his right index finger and thumb together in the shape of a "perfect!" sign, flashed a big smile and turned away.�
Sep 13, 2015
TesAus I was sat in my car waiting for my wife and daughters to arrive when a guy returns to his VW golf parked next to mine. He walks past the cars and starts looking at the back. I started to worry that I had reversed in to the low level fence behind, but then he came back to my door and strikes up a conversation.
"I thought it was a Maserati at first, but it hadn't got the trident logo - it's the 100% electric one isn't it?"
We then covered the normal subjects - range, how to charge, where to charge, how much it costs etc.
He was suitably impressed and went on his way after about 5 minutes, with a parting "It's a really nice looking car"�
Sep 13, 2015
igotzzoom Who cares? You bought it, enjoy it! There will always be "haters" and people that make assumptions about you based on the car you drive. Most Teslas I see are driven prudently and reasonably. I would say half or more BMWs are driven aggressively and anti-socially (i3s included in my experience), hence reinforcing the negative stereotype. Enjoying the power every now and then doesn't make you a bad person.�
Sep 13, 2015
beths11
Picture please :biggrin:�
Sep 13, 2015
gg_got_a_tesla Right here:
Tesla moments - Page 141�
Sep 20, 2015
caddieo Although this isn't really outstanding, it's a first-of-its-kind for me so I have to report it. Driving well within the prescribed speed limit inside our gated community, I came up behind a black Porsche 911 that was just dawdling along. Noticing my approach, he turned his hazard blinkers on and pulled off to one side. Shortly after passing him, I saw him pull in behind me and follow me all the way home. I live in a cul-de-sac where he made a u-turn and parked as I entered my driveway and thence my garage. Only then did he drive off. Were it not inside the gates and a member's car, I would probably have called security.�
Sep 30, 2015
Btrflyl8e At work today, I was helping out a colleague in Charlotte. He needed to call to give me some details. I've done a lot of work for his team in the past, so the whole group knows me. When I answered his call, the first thing he said was "do you really drive a Tesla? Zack asked me why I didn't just fax the info to your car, since a Tesla surely has that capability!"
Of course I confirmed that Zack was correct, and then we had a 15 minute Tesla talk! I'm making another road trip to Charlotte next week, so he was adamant that since he owes me big for bailing him out today I have to let him buy me dinner! I think he just wants a ride in the Tesla...�
Oct 1, 2015
DrumCoder I don't have them often (either people don't recognize the car or they do and there's just so many in the area it's not a big deal) but when I went to the Post Office today, one of the employees was coming out and headed straight for my car. "OH MAN IT IS A TESLA! How far can you go on a charge?" Apparently, his coworker inside the lobby working on the machine in the lobby said "It's a Tesla!" and he totally didn't believe her. As I was leaving he mentioned the Model X and then Porsche getting into the game, and then said that anything over $30k was too much for him but he loves them.�
Oct 1, 2015
Max* Our neighbors were having their roof re-shingled, so the contractors send out employees to knock on the doors of the houses nearby to let them know that work is going to be going on.
Them: And o btw would you like your roof re-shingled too while we're in the area?
Me: No thanks.
Them: OK, we also do windows and doors?
Me: No thanks.
Them: OK. Since you're not interested in anything we're selling, I did have one question: I've seen Tesla's around, but how do the door handles open?
And that started about a 15minute convo about Tesla, the no ICE engine, safety, door handles, frunk, the "ipad display", the cost (I always say they start at 70k), and when they reply with that's crazy expensive, I get into gas savings, and that the Model 3 will be out in a few years, etc. etc. etc.
I come back home, my wife asks "who was that?" I told her they were trying to sell us a new roof, but I think I sold them a future Tesla instead.�
Oct 1, 2015
AZ_Doug Having just picked up the car on 9/29, and on my first day driving into the office with my MC Red 90D, I got my first TM.
I was actually on my way home navigating fairly heavy surface street traffic. I was talking to my wife on the BT when I noticed a guy in a Honda behind me craning his neck attempting to read the back of my car. I didn't think much of it, but made a mental note. Fast forward one mile to the next light and I see him once again literally out of his drivers seat peering over the dash, ogling the hips of my girl. I mention to my wife that the guy behind me is holding himself up by his steering wheel trying to get a good look. We both meander our way to the next stop light, in heavy traffic, and I catch him coming by out of the corner of my eye....you know that feeling like someone is standing over your bed while you are sleeping - and you open your eyes? I slowly look to the right and I see this maniac - dead stopped in the right turning late (holding up traffic) leaning halfway out of his driver's side window, yelling something inaudible to me, and motioning to roll down my window. A quick warning to my wife that I have a maniac yelling at me in traffic, and I roll down the window...This Charles Manson look-alike starts asking me "What is that?" and "...You don't need a license plate with that thing"? Clearly not noticing the small Tesla temp tag in the corner of the window, I decide to just go with it..."It's a Tesla...and NO...it doesn't require a license plate!". "That's cool, man". Mr. Manson unfolds back into the driver's window and speeds off. My virginity gone forever!�
Oct 1, 2015
yo mama I attracted the wrong kind of attention from a local sheriff tonight who pulled up along side, motioned for me to roll down my window, and then asked (sternly), "what's the hurry?" I responded with the truth, "my wife asked me to get some milk." So they let me off with a warning.�
Oct 1, 2015
Andyw2100 And a new internet rumor is spawned...�
Oct 2, 2015
beeeerock Driving down the highway yesterday at 90 km/h without the stereo on. Onto some new asphalt and I was marvelling as I always do at just how quiet the car is, without all the Rube Goldberg vibrations. But something was wrong... the music was still on. Quiet, but on. But it wasn't what I'd listen to.
After a moment of contemplation I realized I was listening to the music playing on the big Harley behind me.
Amazing. My windows were up and his speakers aimed back at him in the fairing, and I could still hear it. At 90+ km/h. And he wasn't quite tailgating either. I rolled down a window and the wind noise drowned him out.
Quiet! :biggrin:�
Oct 2, 2015
DavidB :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Yes! Two years runnning, and I still marvel at just how quiet the car is!�
Oct 2, 2015
Cyclone I even get this from pickup trucks and sedans around me on the Interstate. Still surprises me at times.�
Oct 2, 2015
Tourman I was inside a Dunkin Donuts, when this super riced out honda pulled up next to my Tesla in the parking lot, looking over my car wondering what it was. As I walked out with my keyfob in my pocket, I made eye contact and as I approached the car they asked me how you opened the car without handles. I simply said "like that", and the handles presented themselves just like the the Batmobile acts when Batman approaches the vehicle. All I heard was a "woah", then I got in my car and drove away.�
Oct 3, 2015
tonybelding Today I took my white Roadster to a small "classic cars" show in the small town of Evant, Texas. This is rural Texas: cattle, horses and pickup trucks country. I saw the usual mix of people: a few excited about the car, and many who were indifferent, curious, or simply bemused. But my Tesla Moment of the day didn't happen until the show was over and I departed. . .
I stopped at a nearby convenience store to grab a soda. After I got that and was pulling out, I noticed a van in the parking lot with the SolarCity logo on the side! I'd never seen that around here, and a man wearing the SolarCity shirt was standing by it -- getting something out of the van or putting something in, perhaps. I slowed as I passed, made eye contact, and gave him a thumbs-up. He returned the gesture and called back, "Like it!"
I pulled onto the highway and proceeded with a grin on my face, but probably hadn't gone more than a mile when I saw the flashing lights of an "oversized load" approaching. What could it be, some big piece of oil field equipment? Not this time. It was a gigantic tower section for a wind turbine!
And I suddenly realized that this stuff is really happening. Even here, in the home of big oil, reddest of red states, change is afoot. After decades of dreamy talk about some vague, quasi-utopian future of clean and renewable energy, it isn't sci-fi anymore. Mind you, we're still only at the beginning... but it's the beginning of an avalanche.�
Oct 3, 2015
S4WRXTTCS It's my understanding that recently for a very brief time the cost of energy in Texas was negative.
Texas electricity goes negative: Wind power was so plentiful one night that producers paid the state to take it.�
Oct 3, 2015
Btrflyl8e I was heading to a nearby nature preserve to enjoy our first true "cool" fall day. Unfortunately, it's in the 'hood, St Pete's south side. I had all the windows down and pano open, so at a light wasn't surprised to see two guys in a G35 next to me looking over into my car. I smiled, and the driver asked "that a Maserati?" Me, "no, it's a Tesla". He smiled and said " it's a Maserati, right? ". Sigh. " nope, Tesla. ". He said " what's that? " and I replied, "100% Electric Tesla, made in California and faster than a Maserati". The look on his face was priceless. The light changed and I gave it a little extra pedal, then as I made my turn I waved bye, I could see them smiling and nodding as I sped of!�
Oct 3, 2015
yak-55 I had had a similar experience yesterday on I-4 in central Florida. I don't do a lot of freeway cruising, but was enjoying the latest iteration of TACC at something below my set speed (due to traffic). Then a Harley motorcycle pulled (safely) in front of us and began accelerating away aggressively. With the radio off (and windows up) the roar of the Harley was significant-and perfectly synchronized with the P85D matching his acceleration perfectly. My first reaction was, wow, never heard that before(?!?!?) thinking there was something wrong with the car. Then I realized we had the Tesla tractor-beam engaged and were being pulled along by the Klingon on the Harley! Fun.�
Oct 3, 2015
eloder Texas is absolutely prime material for renewable energy. Electricity is going to be ridiculously cheap in Texas in the near future with how their laws and grid system is handled, too.
Even in Ohio I can choose my electricity generation, and a 100% renewable (wind) provider is cheaper than the generic rate you'd get with the utility. Pretty neat stuff. There's a Solar City clone here with no money down, guaranteed maintenance solar power agreements (unfortunately, my roof isn't a great candidate and I have the HOA to go through...).
I truly think people will be taken offguard by the EV, battery, and renewable revolution that's coming.�
Oct 3, 2015
eyespii Caught on my dashcam today! Kids these days...
�
Oct 3, 2015
SW2Fiddler Tell that child that their "Hey, a Tesla! Tesla!!" is about to become my new ringtone.
Because it will make me grin every time!�
Oct 3, 2015
Pilot_51 At first I thought the dad wasn't so enthusiastic because he wasn't as aware of Tesla as his daughter. Went to the YouTube page so I could thumbs-up the video and watched it again with the larger player, then noticing that they were getting out of their own Tesla. It's great to see kids so excited about an EV, even if they don't entirely understand what it means for the future. That brightened my already good mood. :smile:�
Oct 16, 2015
Btrflyl8e Unique Tesla moment... Illustrates the friendships created by TMC and a shared interest and understanding:
Last week I made another road trip to Charlotte. There are 4 of us local FL Tesla Enthusiasts club members who have become good friends, so whenever one of us makes such a trip, we track the traveler live using the LocaToWeb app. On my way back to Tampa this past Tuesday I had reactivated the tracker and my friends were monitoring my progress. They were also blowing up my phone with texts in our group chat, but that's another story.
I had pulled into the St Augustine supercharger and one of my fellow Tesla buddies, Great Dane, texted asking if I was heading to Ocala next. Yes. He then casually asked how many miles it was from St Augustine to Ocala. 90. Didn't think anything of it. I figured he was just living vicariously through me since he was supposed to have left the day before to make HIS first big road trip, but sadly had to cancel due to illness. This is important to the story...
Anyway, I get to Ocala and plug in. I have my drivers door open, sitting back reading more group texts from my Tesla gang. Out of the corner of my eye I see a white Tesla drive by. Great! Another owner to meet! I look up as the car begins to drive in front of me, so I can make eye contact, smile and wave. But, the driver...looks familiar... but, no.. he's sick...and Ocala is over 100 miles from St Pete... but it WAS Great Dane! He had been so looking forward to his road trip, had been feeling so ill for several days, that when he woke up feeling better Tuesday he just decided at that moment I was in St Augustine to take a drive to Ocala and surprise me! We had a lovely dinner at Mimi's, and then a fun drive back to St Pete!
Doubtful anyone would do this in an ICE car club!�
Oct 16, 2015
Cyclone I love this story! I feel the same about some owners in Charlotte and know we would totally do something like this. Btw, I'll be driving to Florida next week, but sadly heading down 95 to Miami�
Oct 16, 2015
Btrflyl8e You should start a track on LocaToWeb and send us a link... You never know who might show up along your route! Stopping in port orange???�
Oct 16, 2015
Cyclone I'll have to check out the app.�
Oct 16, 2015
Great Dane That was a great writeup, Btrflyl8e
on my Ocala trip
Her reaction to the surprise meetup
was priceless
it was the fastest 2 hour trip I ever made
back and fourth within an hour
the car just entertains you the whole way
also looking at another Tesla on the entire way home
was also great�
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