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Elon Musk To Traverse The U.S. Using A Model S In 6 Day Trip
- wtvanhest 13y agoHe should do it in 7 and take some breaks to see some stuff. Source: I've done it in 6 and 7 days, 7 was way more fun, way more relaxing and I learned more.
- raverbashing 13y agoHe can go in 6 days and come back in more days, taking his time then...
- prawn 13y agoMaking it a bit of a showcase of US sights could broaden the appeal of the crossing, furthering business aims plus motivating people to see their country.
- mrich 13y agoThat's more than 700km per day. So given the speed limit it means you are spending most of the week in the car. How is this fun?
- rtkwe 13y agoAt interstate speeds (~75mph/120kmph) that's just under 6 hours a day in the car. That leaves a short but reasonably good amount of time to sight see at either end or in the middle of each day.
- rthomas6 13y agoHaha, "speed limit". Edit: I feel like I should explain that I'm referring to driving on the rural roads with no cars around, in the middle of nowhere.
- famo 13y agoOn the seventh day he shall rest.
- dredmorbius 13y agoI prefer taking a couple of weeks or more myself.
- kgermino 13y agoDepends on where you go. For instance, I've looked at driving Milwaukee to SF and would plan on doing it in 2.5 days. On the other hand, I've driven Chicago to Yellowstone and we took 4 days to get there. The biggest difference I see is that 80 is he most mind numbingly boring road in this country whereas (at least until Utah, even where Wyoming is a pretty drive there's not too much worth stopping for) along 90 or 94 there are many more spectacular views and places to check out along the way. Not to mention that the back roads on the northern end are far more interesting than driving the mile grid through cornfields :)
- oijaf888 13y agoI-10 is far more boring once you get into Texas and head west imo. 80 wasn't too bad since there were small towns, even if they didn't have much going for them, they at least allowed you to stop for a bit and maybe get a bite to eat. There's not even that in much of West Texas.
- kgermino 13y agoOuch. I probably shouldn't have spoken so absolutely. I've driven in most of the (Continental) U.S. but I've never been much North of Boston (i.e. Maine) or to some of the more desert regions of of the far southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas area). I have flown to San Diego though so maybe I'll just make sure to never drive there :)
- timdorr 13y agoThe big question is when he's going to take that trip. They're supposed to have the cross country capacity only at the end of the year. Why announce it now and wait 4 months to actually do it?
- slantyyz 13y agoI'd love for him to do it during the coldest months of the year in the Northeast, like February. That will either shut up all the naysayers about cold weather distance driving, or it will shut him up (unlikely) about how good the battery is when it's really, really cold.
- avar 13y ago> At 1.5 hrs/day, we will only ever need to > charge when stopping anyway to eat or sightsee, > never just for charging itself. I'm all for the development of electric cars but downplaying having to stop at what's effectively a gas station in the middle of nowhere for 1.5 hours per day is pretty disingenuous. You wouldn't get a lot of people buying a normal gasoline powered car if it took 1.5 hrs to fill it up each time, so electric cars have a lot to make up for in other features if you're using them for road trips like this, rather than just commuting where you're charging overnight.
- michaelry 13y agoThat 1.5 hours represents three(3) thirty(30) minute charges. A supercharge gets 200 miles per 30 minute charge. http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger. This is the beginning of a new way to fuel cars and the charge time technical hurdle (30 minutes) although already small, will be reduced in future battery technologies.
- avar 13y agoSure. It's going to get better. But it's still 1.5h per day spent on the equivalent of a gas station. If you wanted to stop for sightseeing while on the road in a gasoline powered car you'd likely take 10 minutes or so to fill up for the whole day, and then stop somewhere more interesting. I'm just saying that it's disingenuous marketing speak by Elon Musk to try to pass of a 1.5 hr mandatory stop at a place you wouldn't have stopped at unless you needed to as "stopping anyway".
- ph33t 13y agoWonder if he uses the air conditioning? Wonder how many people are in the car? Are there places he can't visit specifically because there aren't charging stations - sorry I don't know his route. I wish him success, but he seems to gloss over a lot of details ...
- lumberjack 13y agoIt would have been much more impressive if he were to execute a non-stop trip making use of the recently revealed battery swapping technology. Is there some reason why they can't yet install them alongside all interstate Tesla superchargers?
- damon_c 13y agoIt's great that he has that kind of free time with as much going on as he has.
- omfg 13y agoI was wondering why someone hadn't done this. It's a bit of dangerous press. If the car breaks down, or runs out of battery for some reason, that's not going to look good. Bit of a gamble.
- prawks 13y agoIf it breaks down, it can be spun as another data point they can use to improve upon.
- shawnbaden 13y agoMost 'normal' people already give electric vehicles a cynical eye. The people who already believe in them don't need more convincing. The cynics need convincing. A breakdown will only make them think "I knew it" while a successful trip will at least add one more argument against their cynicism. Not much of a gamble in my opinion.
- shawnbaden 13y agoHave the trip details (like route) been released yet? Is he only stopping at Supercharger location? I'd like to meet him and follow along a while. I'm not a stalker. Really. :)
- brianbreslin 13y agoAnyone know if he is only charging at tesla stations? What's the route he is planning on taking? Is the idea to get food at each stop? Lastly, doesn't he have like 5 kids, how will they all fit in the tesla??? Edit: He does have 5 kids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Family http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Family
- alanctgardner2 13y agoOne of the design goals with the Model S was to fit Elon's whole family: there are rear-facing seats in the back that fit an extra two people.
- brianbreslin 13y agoah you are correct, hadn't seen that. no room for luggage then. http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/interior http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/interior guess you can have your luggage for each day fedexed in advance if you're elon.
- derekp7 13y agoIs there plans on making the supercharge stations available for other manufacturer's electric cars (although not for free)? The thing that could really make this take off is if they can standardize this technology. After all, I don't think gas cars would be as convenient if you had to fill up only at a Ford gas station, or a Honda station, etc. Even if there are multiple charging standards, just have several charging cables at each "pump".
- stcredzero 13y agoMost cars come with adapters for the various kinds of station.
- robomartin 13y agoI'm surprised they don't develop a really cool looking mini trailer battery pack to double (or more) your range. It could have some extra room for storage. It'd be great for longer distance camping trips and such outings. The other option would be a clean fuel cell technology (hydrogen?).
- stcredzero 13y agoHow about a pack that fits into the "frunk?"
- smackfu 13y agoRemember that this answers the question "Can you get an electric car from coast-to-coast?" and not "Can you use an electric car for your coast-to-coast vacation?" And that Tesla wants you to think it's the latter. Clever marketers.
- jared314 13y agoIt echoes the first coast-to-coast trip by H. Jackson and S Crocker[1] in 1903, except Musk is starting from LA instead of San Francisco. [1] http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_7_2.html http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_7_2....