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I actually got stranded once for some hours because of the mileage indicator! Was driving back from a campsite that I turned out to not have charging compatibi

I actually got stranded once for some hours because of the mileage indicator! Was driving back from a campsite that I turned out to not have charging compatibility with, but thought I had plenty of margin to get to the nearest charger. As I drove through the mountains however, I began noticing that a.) my battery was depleting much faster than expected and b.) I wasn’t seeing any houses and very few motorists. I watched with increasing dread as the trip miles began converging with the battery miles, as my friends in the car got more and more quiet. We reached the inflection point, and the best I could do was hope we’d encounter somewhere with a plug that might be able to get us the rest of the way. Eventually though the milage indicator reached zero, and I pulled off the road to what I thought was a campsite but turned out to be a sort of rest stop with no power plugs in sight. To make matters worse I was in a mountain valley and had no phone signal, and hiking wasn’t an option as it was pretty hot and we had no water. We were there for hours until I was able to flag down a nice older couple and get a ride to a place with cell signal, where I was able to get a tow truck capable of transporting my car (turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking, and tesla’s service doesn’t have infinite coverage) to the charger I was trying to get to. Ironically that last part was probably the most frustrating. The charging spot was full save one spot in the back, which my tow truck guy Mel couldn’t get back to. No sweat I thought, I’ll just try asking someone to swap, but people in their cars pretended to ignore me, and one couple leaving theirs just walked away, as I asked if they could move so we could unload my dead car. Had a sudden wave of empathy for the people I usually walk away from who ask me for spare change lol. Eventually someone left and I was able to charge and resume the 6 hour road trip home. Biggest lesson learned was that slow is fast, keep it at 60 if you want the milage meter to not die as quick.

JohnFen 3y ago
> it was pretty hot and we had no water. Another take-home lesson: if you're driving out of range of civilization, carry water along with your first aid supplies.
- squarefoot 3y ago
  This a hundred times. Years ago, on a hot summer day, my girlfriend and I were stranded on the highway after a big truck overturned blocking the entire driveway. We were on my then motorcycle, but couldn't drive in any directions as the next exit was way beyond the overturned truck and it was blocked cars everywhere. We were extremely lucky I brought a couple frozen water plastic bottles in the bags, so although we had to wait until dark (6-7 hours) before they could eventually free the highway, we never went out of water. Since that episode, I always took at least one plastic bottle of frozen water when doing motorcycle trips.
- rampant_ai 3y ago
  Some other things to keep in mind regarding any phones in your group if you end up stranded: If you're in an emergency and your phone says you have no signal, call 911 anyway. It'll attempt to reach any network in range that the phone is compatible with, not just the network you're subscribed to. Some phones nowadays will show "Emergency calls only" when this is the case, but it doesn't appear to be 100% consistent, so again, call anyway. Also turn on battery saver and when you're not actively trying to call, keep the phone in airplane mode. If you don't it'll repeatedly try to reach a tower which will drain your battery quickly. Don't power it off unless you don't plan to use it for the rest of the day, because booting up uses a lot of energy.
Dalewyn 3y ago
This really is an extreme and specific example, but risks like this are why most people want lots (lots) of range and why gas/diesel cars won't die out any time soon. The sheer ease of mind that comes with having densely packed energy that can be replenished at a moment's notice practically anywhere should not be disregarded easily. Maybe battery tech can get there some day, but it's certainly not today.
- detourdog 3y ago
  I got an i3 with a range extender and a 2 gallon gas tank. The gas tank range can't exceed the battery range and still be an EV. I use the battery almost all the time but knowing I can gas and go 80 miles is great. I drove 1,400 miles to Florida and back. It wasn't noticeably worse experience than an ICE.
  - bumby 3y ago
    I'm curious if they recommend purging the tank (or using the gas) periodically? Gas does expire.
    - avidiax 3y ago
      They have a maintenance cycle that forces the engine to run sometimes. That uses up some of the fuel and keeps all the parts lubricated.
  - avidiax 3y ago
    https://www.motortrend.com/features/how-to-hack-a-bmw-i3-for-more-driving-range/ https://www.motortrend.com/features/how-to-hack-a-bmw-i3-for... Your car probably has a 2.4 gallon tank, but it's been electronically limited to 1.9 gallons.
    - detourdog 3y ago
      It depends on the model year/battery size. That was a US only implementation and as you know there is a work around. The other European feature that should be available in the USA is the ability to set when the REX starts to kick in. The USA requires the REX to kick in at 6% charge. The problem at that level is that the battery can't compensate during short high power drawls. There is a cheat code that enables the REX to kick in a 25% charge remaining. This seems to provide more on demand amperage but I'm not sure what is happening. Hills and wind have a larger effect on speed when off the REX. The REX is just a tiny motor that maintains the battery level but doesn't connect directly to the electric drive train.
kmlx 3y ago
> Ironically that last part was probably the most frustrating. and the most disappointing.
cortesoft 3y ago
Did you have your destination entered into the navigation? I find the estimates to be fairly accurate when you tell it exactly where you are going, at least within 5% or so. I always enter my full trip into the planner before I start, and it hasn’t failed me so far.
pjc50 3y ago
> slow is fast, keep it at 60 if you want the milage meter to not die as quick This also works in petrol cars: the air resistance efficiency falloff is dramatic at higher speeds.
- prewett 3y ago
  Air resistance is proportional to v^2. My dad told a story once where he was driving out west borrowing one of his brother's cars with a broken speedometer. After he got back he said to his brother, "the car just seemed to top out at a certain point" and his brother said "yeah, that's about 85 mph" (the national speed limit was 55 mph at that time). So at 85 mph the air resistance equaled the force the engine could apply and the car wouldn't go any faster.
  - klaff 3y ago
    Force is proportional to square of speed but power = force*speed so proportional to speed^3.
    - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
      That's not how this works. First, the force that is proportional to the square of the speed is the drag force, which means it's the force you need to supply just to keep the speed from dropping. Power = force * speed is a different "force" - it's the force produced by the engine. Second, power output of an engine typically has an RPM where it peaks. Past that point, more speed means less power output, which means much less force output, because the force is the power divided by the speed. But force needed still increases as the square of speed.
      - klaff 3y ago
        It's exactly how it works and the math is not complicated. Suppose you have a vehicle w/ 3 m^2 frontal area, drag coefficient of 0.3 and it's travelling at 30 m/s. Using this calculator https://www.symbolab.com/calculator/physics/drag-equation https://www.symbolab.com/calculator/physics/drag-equation you can find that will require about 500 N of force (use density of 1.225). The power at that operating point is the product of speed and force, or 30 m/s * 500 N = 15 kW. Now let's change the speed to 40 m/s. That bumps the force to about 900 N. Now we would calculate power as 40 m/s * 900 N = 36 kW. Changing these numbers to horsepower we get 20 hp and 48 hp. The force goes with the square, the power goes with cube. There are assumptions here - for example, if you have a headwind this statement is no longer true because the speed in the drag equation is the air speed of the vehicle (goes up with headwind / down with tailwind) but the third speed factor is the ground speed of the vehicle (because that's based on the physics "work is equal to force times distance" and power is the rate of work). The graph of an internal combustion engine's power at wide-open throttle vs. engine speed is irrelevant, unless you are trying to figure out which gear ratios would let the engine make enough power to drive the vehicle under those conditions.
johntiger1 3y ago
It's a very humbling experience to be ignored by so many folks, glad you reflected on that. The story about the couple just flat out walking away strikes me as obtusely anti-social, but sadly not unexpected in our day and age. Just out of curiosity, where was this?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- hot_gril 3y ago
  Crown Vic owners to other Vic owners: Wave and smile, leave friendly notes in parking lots. Tesla owners to other Tesla owners: > people in their cars pretended to ignore me
- malwrar 3y ago
  I went camping somewhere at/near Sequoia National Forest (forgot where) and was traveling to the charger at Inyokern. I think we got stuck on highway 178, about 3/4 of the way there.
- cyanydeez 3y ago
  Also, normal people don't buy tesla
KingLancelot 3y ago
[dead]
dinom 3y ago
> able to get a tow truck capable of transporting my car (turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking Sounds incredibly short-sighted that the regenerative braking can't be temporarily disabled by the driver... two people can push a "regular" car to a nearby gas station in a pinch. Even one person can push a smaller car around a parking lot if necessary. That said, they often send out full/flat bed tow trucks these days for almost any reason. Edit: fixed "breaking" to "braking"
- sib 3y ago
  If you put the car in car wash mode, you would be able to push the car: Controls > Service > Car Wash Mode And then "Enable Free Roll"
  - dinom 3y ago
    thank you
  - firesteelrain 3y ago
    ... assuming you have battery (which he didn't)
    - dinom 3y ago
      Yeah, that's a fair point but isn't it true that a mostly discharged battery will still have enough charge to perform some limited functions. E.g. even in a normal car I think a dead battery can power the lights even though the starter only "clicks". Nonetheless, I'm a rather conservative type of person and see your point so in my "dream car" I might want a way to manually put the car in neutral (or free-roll mode, whatever you want to call it). That's why locking hubs came to my mind in a prior reply.
      - firesteelrain 3y ago
        For the Tesla, it shut itself off in this story. Regardless of whether it may have had some juice left
yafbum 3y ago
Tbh though, going up a mountain is insanely more energy consuming than regular driving, so the range indicator can't possibly take this into consideration ahead of time unless you chart a specific trip. In the other direction, I've had the experience of the battery charge level continuously increasing while going down a long mountain road - infinite range!
- bumby 3y ago
  According to TSLA, it takes into account elevation though...
  - jodrellblank 3y ago
    "unless you chart a specific trip"
    - pests 3y ago
      He did chart a trip.
      - lowbloodsugar 3y ago
        Using the trip counter isn't the same as entering the destination in navigation. If you tell navigation your destination it will tell you if you're going to make it or not. If you start driving like a madman halfway through it will reevaluate and start navigating you to a charger. I rented one for a week and took it up into the mountains, far from a charger. It was scary, but we made it back with 17% charge once I stopped passing everyone every time there was a dotted line.
        pests 3y ago
        I'm aware - pretty sure they did chart the trip in autopilot though from my reading. Telling the autopilot system you are headed to a supercharger also starts pre-warming the battery.
nmridul 3y ago
>> (turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking, and tesla’s service doesn’t have infinite coverage) Is there a service for "On demand battery charging". A mini truck carrying a generator that can be called to the location. Could charge premium from the EVs that are too tired to move.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  I think AAA has something like that now
- hotpotamus 3y ago
  I get that you just need a little juice to get to a real charger, but you'd probably need several 10's of kilowatts to get a decent charge in 10-20 minutes, and that's getting into fairly heavy equipment. No reason it wouldn't be somewhat feasible though.
- kccqzy 3y ago
  Yup: https://lightningsystems.com/lightning-mobile/ https://lightningsystems.com/lightning-mobile/
- cyanydeez 3y ago
  You'd think they could fit a generator function and charge during tow
perfectritone 3y ago
The last paragraph firmly places this story in America.
- notyourwork 3y ago
  Maybe though I know a lot of foreigners in America that act like this. So is it an American problem of a societal problem?
  - sebzim4500 3y ago
    There are plenty of people outside of America that also act like this. It is a humanity problem.
- achates 3y ago
  No one outside of America is rude.
  - darthrupert 3y ago
    We're they rude or afraid?
- hot_gril 3y ago
  Sounds more like Bay Area specifically. Realized whenever I traveled outside that normal people actually make eye contact or otherwise acknowledge your presence, and now I'm living happily elsewhere in CA (though not just for that reason). Like a stereotypical old mother, I blame tech addiction.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
Another option - although that depends on availability - would be roadside assistance, that can ironically bring a diesel generator to your car to give it some charge.
jollyllama 3y ago
You meet the nicest people in a Tesla... not. [0] [0] https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-motorcycle-touring/hondas-nicest-people-ad-1966-zm0z21jfzbut/ https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-motorcycle-tourin...
api 3y ago
There's an app called PlugShare where people have flagged locations with regular 120V and 240V plugs as well as off the beaten path chargers. There's even some people with home chargers that have left a way to contact them in an emergency and they'll let you charge if you ask nicely. Haven't used any of the latter but they exist.
- sharadov 3y ago
  Thank you!
jodrellblank 3y ago
Slightly off topic, but how come you were going on a multi-hour drive anywhere with no water, let alone into a remote mountainous area on a hot day? I'm uncomfortably aware how quickly vehicles take me to inconvenient, if not dangerous, distances. 10 miles away is a short distance to drive but three hours to walk. Even fifteen minutes on a bike is a tedious walking distance back if it breaks down. For how easy it is to put or keep some bottled water in a car, why not do that all the time?
- square_usual 3y ago
  You need vastly different amounts of water for going on a road trip vs hiking, so reading charitably I assume GP didn't have enough water, especially for a hike of unknown length.
01100011 3y ago
FWIW, I was stranded due to a bug in the fuel level indicator and mileage remaining estimate on my 2017 Subaru Outback. Subaru knows about the issue but you have to bring it to their attention if you want a fix. Not giving Tesla a pass here, just mentioning that it's not unique to them.
- treyd 3y ago
  >Subaru knows about the issue but you have to bring it to their attention if you want a fix. This seems incredibly irresponsible when people could die from being stranded when the meter lies about being able to get home like the other commenter described.
  - hooloovoo_zoo 3y ago
    As a fellow 2017 Outback owner, Subaru at least sent out a notice to have this fixed for free in April 2019.
    - 01100011 3y ago
      I never got that notice. There is also a firmware bug related to undercharging the battery(shutting the charger off too early) which was also not communicated to me and resulting in getting stranded with a dead battery. Fortunately the car was in a retail parking lot that time and not in the middle of nowhere on the 5 freeway in central CA like when we ran out of gas.
      - hooloovoo_zoo 3y ago
        I’m sympathetic I’m just saying they’re not totally ignoring the problem. There was a battery related class action too https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/
7thaccount 3y ago
On a highway my hood latch broke (old car) and it flew up at 50 mph and crushed my windshield. I had no service (but knew the other carrier would have full bars) and spent over an hour waving at every car trying to get someone to stop to let me call my parents (I was 18 and not exactly intimidating). It was a crazy experience as I'd obviously had an accident. Nobody would help. Finally I just stood in the road like a crazy person and a nice family stopped and one of their kids was on the carrier I needed. It was far enough from a nearby town to be at least a few hours walk and not before nightfall.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  I know what gender you are.
  - Incipient 3y ago
    Apache helicopter? I wouldn't stop for one of them either.
- NLPaep 3y ago
  In the US and probably elsewhere, 911 works if any carrier has service
iJohnDoe 3y ago
I’ll admit, it’s somewhat comforting to see Tesla owners are treating other Tesla owners poorly. I thought you guys only treated everyone else badly. Seems like so many Tesla owners drive like complete jerks. Drive way too close to people (tailgating). Drive way too fast all time, even in neighborhoods. Drive way too aggressively. Drive way too entitled. I’ve seen some crazy stuff from people driving a Tesla. Driving on the shoulder when traffic backs up. Zipping around people to steal parking spots. Tesla owners posting videos online of anyone that walks by their car. We won’t park near a Tesla at all these days. I guess that campaign is working to their advantage. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35468855 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35468855
- hot_gril 3y ago
  You can say this about pretty much any car that isn't super basic like a Corolla. The uniquely Tesla thing used to be driving incredibly distracted due to the giant iPad in the cockpit, but other cars have that too now.
- AtlasBarfed 3y ago
  1) younger drivers 2) male drivers 3) intelligent drivers that think rules don't apply to them (see: HACKER news) 4) affluent drivers, a lot of the BMW crowd 5) single drivers (if you have a kid, you slow down in general)
LevGoldstein 3y ago
> people in their cars pretended to ignore me, and one couple leaving theirs just walked away, as I asked if they could move so we could unload my dead car I wonder if they would have started responding if you motioned the tow truck driver to unload your car directly behind them, in a position that would obviously seriously inconvenience the other driver(s) or prevent them from leaving entirely...of course, also mentioning that was your plan to them loudly so you're sure they can hear.
hot_gril 3y ago
> turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking Maybe the non-bed truck could've simply charged your car by pulling it :D
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
originalvichy 3y ago
You can’t disable regen? Even on cheaper EVs putting the car into neutral disables regen.
fsckboy 3y ago
> turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking towing a car with regenerative braking seems like a great way to charge it! Elon needs to put somebody on this.

JohnFen 3y ago

> it was pretty hot and we had no water. Another take-home lesson: if you're driving out of range of civilization, carry water along with your first aid supplies.

squarefoot 3y ago
This a hundred times. Years ago, on a hot summer day, my girlfriend and I were stranded on the highway after a big truck overturned blocking the entire driveway. We were on my then motorcycle, but couldn't drive in any directions as the next exit was way beyond the overturned truck and it was blocked cars everywhere. We were extremely lucky I brought a couple frozen water plastic bottles in the bags, so although we had to wait until dark (6-7 hours) before they could eventually free the highway, we never went out of water. Since that episode, I always took at least one plastic bottle of frozen water when doing motorcycle trips.
rampant_ai 3y ago
Some other things to keep in mind regarding any phones in your group if you end up stranded: If you're in an emergency and your phone says you have no signal, call 911 anyway. It'll attempt to reach any network in range that the phone is compatible with, not just the network you're subscribed to. Some phones nowadays will show "Emergency calls only" when this is the case, but it doesn't appear to be 100% consistent, so again, call anyway. Also turn on battery saver and when you're not actively trying to call, keep the phone in airplane mode. If you don't it'll repeatedly try to reach a tower which will drain your battery quickly. Don't power it off unless you don't plan to use it for the rest of the day, because booting up uses a lot of energy.

Dalewyn 3y ago

This really is an extreme and specific example, but risks like this are why most people want lots (lots) of range and why gas/diesel cars won't die out any time soon. The sheer ease of mind that comes with having densely packed energy that can be replenished at a moment's notice practically anywhere should not be disregarded easily. Maybe battery tech can get there some day, but it's certainly not today.

detourdog 3y ago
I got an i3 with a range extender and a 2 gallon gas tank. The gas tank range can't exceed the battery range and still be an EV. I use the battery almost all the time but knowing I can gas and go 80 miles is great. I drove 1,400 miles to Florida and back. It wasn't noticeably worse experience than an ICE.
- bumby 3y ago
  I'm curious if they recommend purging the tank (or using the gas) periodically? Gas does expire.
  - avidiax 3y ago
    They have a maintenance cycle that forces the engine to run sometimes. That uses up some of the fuel and keeps all the parts lubricated.
- avidiax 3y ago
  https://www.motortrend.com/features/how-to-hack-a-bmw-i3-for-more-driving-range/ https://www.motortrend.com/features/how-to-hack-a-bmw-i3-for... Your car probably has a 2.4 gallon tank, but it's been electronically limited to 1.9 gallons.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    It depends on the model year/battery size. That was a US only implementation and as you know there is a work around. The other European feature that should be available in the USA is the ability to set when the REX starts to kick in. The USA requires the REX to kick in at 6% charge. The problem at that level is that the battery can't compensate during short high power drawls. There is a cheat code that enables the REX to kick in a 25% charge remaining. This seems to provide more on demand amperage but I'm not sure what is happening. Hills and wind have a larger effect on speed when off the REX. The REX is just a tiny motor that maintains the battery level but doesn't connect directly to the electric drive train.

kmlx 3y ago

> Ironically that last part was probably the most frustrating. and the most disappointing.

cortesoft 3y ago

Did you have your destination entered into the navigation? I find the estimates to be fairly accurate when you tell it exactly where you are going, at least within 5% or so. I always enter my full trip into the planner before I start, and it hasn’t failed me so far.

pjc50 3y ago

> slow is fast, keep it at 60 if you want the milage meter to not die as quick This also works in petrol cars: the air resistance efficiency falloff is dramatic at higher speeds.

prewett 3y ago
Air resistance is proportional to v^2. My dad told a story once where he was driving out west borrowing one of his brother's cars with a broken speedometer. After he got back he said to his brother, "the car just seemed to top out at a certain point" and his brother said "yeah, that's about 85 mph" (the national speed limit was 55 mph at that time). So at 85 mph the air resistance equaled the force the engine could apply and the car wouldn't go any faster.
- klaff 3y ago
  Force is proportional to square of speed but power = force*speed so proportional to speed^3.
  - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
    That's not how this works. First, the force that is proportional to the square of the speed is the drag force, which means it's the force you need to supply just to keep the speed from dropping. Power = force * speed is a different "force" - it's the force produced by the engine. Second, power output of an engine typically has an RPM where it peaks. Past that point, more speed means less power output, which means much less force output, because the force is the power divided by the speed. But force needed still increases as the square of speed.
    - klaff 3y ago
      It's exactly how it works and the math is not complicated. Suppose you have a vehicle w/ 3 m^2 frontal area, drag coefficient of 0.3 and it's travelling at 30 m/s. Using this calculator https://www.symbolab.com/calculator/physics/drag-equation https://www.symbolab.com/calculator/physics/drag-equation you can find that will require about 500 N of force (use density of 1.225). The power at that operating point is the product of speed and force, or 30 m/s * 500 N = 15 kW. Now let's change the speed to 40 m/s. That bumps the force to about 900 N. Now we would calculate power as 40 m/s * 900 N = 36 kW. Changing these numbers to horsepower we get 20 hp and 48 hp. The force goes with the square, the power goes with cube. There are assumptions here - for example, if you have a headwind this statement is no longer true because the speed in the drag equation is the air speed of the vehicle (goes up with headwind / down with tailwind) but the third speed factor is the ground speed of the vehicle (because that's based on the physics "work is equal to force times distance" and power is the rate of work). The graph of an internal combustion engine's power at wide-open throttle vs. engine speed is irrelevant, unless you are trying to figure out which gear ratios would let the engine make enough power to drive the vehicle under those conditions.

johntiger1 3y ago

It's a very humbling experience to be ignored by so many folks, glad you reflected on that. The story about the couple just flat out walking away strikes me as obtusely anti-social, but sadly not unexpected in our day and age. Just out of curiosity, where was this?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
hot_gril 3y ago
Crown Vic owners to other Vic owners: Wave and smile, leave friendly notes in parking lots. Tesla owners to other Tesla owners: > people in their cars pretended to ignore me
malwrar 3y ago
I went camping somewhere at/near Sequoia National Forest (forgot where) and was traveling to the charger at Inyokern. I think we got stuck on highway 178, about 3/4 of the way there.
cyanydeez 3y ago
Also, normal people don't buy tesla

KingLancelot 3y ago

[dead]

dinom 3y ago

> able to get a tow truck capable of transporting my car (turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking Sounds incredibly short-sighted that the regenerative braking can't be temporarily disabled by the driver... two people can push a "regular" car to a nearby gas station in a pinch. Even one person can push a smaller car around a parking lot if necessary. That said, they often send out full/flat bed tow trucks these days for almost any reason. Edit: fixed "breaking" to "braking"

sib 3y ago
If you put the car in car wash mode, you would be able to push the car: Controls > Service > Car Wash Mode And then "Enable Free Roll"
- dinom 3y ago
  thank you
- firesteelrain 3y ago
  ... assuming you have battery (which he didn't)
  - dinom 3y ago
    Yeah, that's a fair point but isn't it true that a mostly discharged battery will still have enough charge to perform some limited functions. E.g. even in a normal car I think a dead battery can power the lights even though the starter only "clicks". Nonetheless, I'm a rather conservative type of person and see your point so in my "dream car" I might want a way to manually put the car in neutral (or free-roll mode, whatever you want to call it). That's why locking hubs came to my mind in a prior reply.
    - firesteelrain 3y ago
      For the Tesla, it shut itself off in this story. Regardless of whether it may have had some juice left

yafbum 3y ago

Tbh though, going up a mountain is insanely more energy consuming than regular driving, so the range indicator can't possibly take this into consideration ahead of time unless you chart a specific trip. In the other direction, I've had the experience of the battery charge level continuously increasing while going down a long mountain road - infinite range!

bumby 3y ago
According to TSLA, it takes into account elevation though...
- jodrellblank 3y ago
  "unless you chart a specific trip"
  - pests 3y ago
    He did chart a trip.
    - lowbloodsugar 3y ago
      Using the trip counter isn't the same as entering the destination in navigation. If you tell navigation your destination it will tell you if you're going to make it or not. If you start driving like a madman halfway through it will reevaluate and start navigating you to a charger. I rented one for a week and took it up into the mountains, far from a charger. It was scary, but we made it back with 17% charge once I stopped passing everyone every time there was a dotted line.
      - pests 3y ago
        I'm aware - pretty sure they did chart the trip in autopilot though from my reading. Telling the autopilot system you are headed to a supercharger also starts pre-warming the battery.

nmridul 3y ago

>> (turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking, and tesla’s service doesn’t have infinite coverage) Is there a service for "On demand battery charging". A mini truck carrying a generator that can be called to the location. Could charge premium from the EVs that are too tired to move.

mrguyorama 3y ago
I think AAA has something like that now
hotpotamus 3y ago
I get that you just need a little juice to get to a real charger, but you'd probably need several 10's of kilowatts to get a decent charge in 10-20 minutes, and that's getting into fairly heavy equipment. No reason it wouldn't be somewhat feasible though.
kccqzy 3y ago
Yup: https://lightningsystems.com/lightning-mobile/ https://lightningsystems.com/lightning-mobile/
cyanydeez 3y ago
You'd think they could fit a generator function and charge during tow

perfectritone 3y ago

The last paragraph firmly places this story in America.

notyourwork 3y ago
Maybe though I know a lot of foreigners in America that act like this. So is it an American problem of a societal problem?
- sebzim4500 3y ago
  There are plenty of people outside of America that also act like this. It is a humanity problem.
achates 3y ago
No one outside of America is rude.
- darthrupert 3y ago
  We're they rude or afraid?
hot_gril 3y ago
Sounds more like Bay Area specifically. Realized whenever I traveled outside that normal people actually make eye contact or otherwise acknowledge your presence, and now I'm living happily elsewhere in CA (though not just for that reason). Like a stereotypical old mother, I blame tech addiction.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

Another option - although that depends on availability - would be roadside assistance, that can ironically bring a diesel generator to your car to give it some charge.

jollyllama 3y ago

You meet the nicest people in a Tesla... not. [0] [0] https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-motorcycle-touring/hondas-nicest-people-ad-1966-zm0z21jfzbut/ https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-motorcycle-tourin...

api 3y ago

There's an app called PlugShare where people have flagged locations with regular 120V and 240V plugs as well as off the beaten path chargers. There's even some people with home chargers that have left a way to contact them in an emergency and they'll let you charge if you ask nicely. Haven't used any of the latter but they exist.

sharadov 3y ago
Thank you!

jodrellblank 3y ago

Slightly off topic, but how come you were going on a multi-hour drive anywhere with no water, let alone into a remote mountainous area on a hot day? I'm uncomfortably aware how quickly vehicles take me to inconvenient, if not dangerous, distances. 10 miles away is a short distance to drive but three hours to walk. Even fifteen minutes on a bike is a tedious walking distance back if it breaks down. For how easy it is to put or keep some bottled water in a car, why not do that all the time?

square_usual 3y ago
You need vastly different amounts of water for going on a road trip vs hiking, so reading charitably I assume GP didn't have enough water, especially for a hike of unknown length.

01100011 3y ago

FWIW, I was stranded due to a bug in the fuel level indicator and mileage remaining estimate on my 2017 Subaru Outback. Subaru knows about the issue but you have to bring it to their attention if you want a fix. Not giving Tesla a pass here, just mentioning that it's not unique to them.

treyd 3y ago
>Subaru knows about the issue but you have to bring it to their attention if you want a fix. This seems incredibly irresponsible when people could die from being stranded when the meter lies about being able to get home like the other commenter described.
- hooloovoo_zoo 3y ago
  As a fellow 2017 Outback owner, Subaru at least sent out a notice to have this fixed for free in April 2019.
  - 01100011 3y ago
    I never got that notice. There is also a firmware bug related to undercharging the battery(shutting the charger off too early) which was also not communicated to me and resulting in getting stranded with a dead battery. Fortunately the car was in a retail parking lot that time and not in the middle of nowhere on the 5 freeway in central CA like when we ran out of gas.
    - hooloovoo_zoo 3y ago
      I’m sympathetic I’m just saying they’re not totally ignoring the problem. There was a battery related class action too https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/ https://www.subarubatterysettlement.com/

7thaccount 3y ago

On a highway my hood latch broke (old car) and it flew up at 50 mph and crushed my windshield. I had no service (but knew the other carrier would have full bars) and spent over an hour waving at every car trying to get someone to stop to let me call my parents (I was 18 and not exactly intimidating). It was a crazy experience as I'd obviously had an accident. Nobody would help. Finally I just stood in the road like a crazy person and a nice family stopped and one of their kids was on the carrier I needed. It was far enough from a nearby town to be at least a few hours walk and not before nightfall.

willcipriano 3y ago
I know what gender you are.
- Incipient 3y ago
  Apache helicopter? I wouldn't stop for one of them either.
NLPaep 3y ago
In the US and probably elsewhere, 911 works if any carrier has service

iJohnDoe 3y ago

I’ll admit, it’s somewhat comforting to see Tesla owners are treating other Tesla owners poorly. I thought you guys only treated everyone else badly. Seems like so many Tesla owners drive like complete jerks. Drive way too close to people (tailgating). Drive way too fast all time, even in neighborhoods. Drive way too aggressively. Drive way too entitled. I’ve seen some crazy stuff from people driving a Tesla. Driving on the shoulder when traffic backs up. Zipping around people to steal parking spots. Tesla owners posting videos online of anyone that walks by their car. We won’t park near a Tesla at all these days. I guess that campaign is working to their advantage. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35468855 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35468855

hot_gril 3y ago
You can say this about pretty much any car that isn't super basic like a Corolla. The uniquely Tesla thing used to be driving incredibly distracted due to the giant iPad in the cockpit, but other cars have that too now.
AtlasBarfed 3y ago
1) younger drivers 2) male drivers 3) intelligent drivers that think rules don't apply to them (see: HACKER news) 4) affluent drivers, a lot of the BMW crowd 5) single drivers (if you have a kid, you slow down in general)

LevGoldstein 3y ago

> people in their cars pretended to ignore me, and one couple leaving theirs just walked away, as I asked if they could move so we could unload my dead car I wonder if they would have started responding if you motioned the tow truck driver to unload your car directly behind them, in a position that would obviously seriously inconvenience the other driver(s) or prevent them from leaving entirely...of course, also mentioning that was your plan to them loudly so you're sure they can hear.

hot_gril 3y ago

> turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking Maybe the non-bed truck could've simply charged your car by pulling it :D

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

originalvichy 3y ago

You can’t disable regen? Even on cheaper EVs putting the car into neutral disables regen.

fsckboy 3y ago

> turns out you need one that has a full bed because of the regenerative breaking towing a car with regenerative braking seems like a great way to charge it! Elon needs to put somebody on this.