Tin Poodle

Earlier I mentioned about the planning involved in making a cross country trip...with a Tesla...pulling a trailer...for the first time.  Since this was our first trip with the trailer much of the planning relied on educated guesses as to whether we could make it to the next destination pulling the trailer. For most of these segments I was pretty confident we would get there. Except for one segment that stood out from all the others...crossing the Continental Divide.  With 94 miles between Superchargers the distance wasn't the problem.  On flat terrain the range with the trailer is 170+ miles.  It was the elevation change.  Almost 5000 feet gain in between the start and Vail Pass.  Then another 15 miles downhill to the next Supercharger. Elevation profile Grade and elevation changes Elevation gain of this magnitude consumes energy rapidly and decreases range just as rapidly.  For example on flat ground the Model X consumes the a...

Elevation map Henderson, NV to Rifle, CO Approximately 75% interstate, 25% state roads Rolling mountain terrain and high deserts Weather mostly clear.  Light tail winds.  Rain on one day. Average speed on highway 55 Actual miles 763 Rated miles 1134 Actual kWh used 367 Average Wh/mi 481 Estimated range with MX90D and Bowlus 171 miles (based on 81.8 kWh usable)

And yes...that is an actual fortune cookie from lunch in Glenwood Springs Colorado!! Everyone we've met on the road has been super nice. From the guy at Zion who helped us back into a tight site (to be fair it was tight because his truck was blocking part of the road). To the guy in Colorado who lent us his lighter to start a fire (some backpackers in Zion broke mine when I lent it to them). And the gal at the state park who checked us in to our campsite and told us what trails to hike (interspersed in a fifteen minute, no breath, non-stop monologue about her injured hand, her horses, yada-yada-yada). We've given plenty of tours of the Tin Poodle. And we've taken plenty of tours of other trailers. An Alto belonging to a couple from Washington State (we learned about stove top camping toasters). A newer Airstream from a couple on the West Coast (Nancy was drooling over the propane baking oven). And an older Airstream named Lucil...

I mentioned in the last post the Tesla in vehicle trip planner.  The trip planner is part of the Tesla navigation system. Every time you use the navigation system to go from point A to point B the software plots out a route (turn here, go x miles, turn there, etc).  Same as every other navigation system (Waze, Google Maps, Garmin).  In addition the Tesla nav system also estimates how much energy you need to get from A to B. Imagine if a normal gas car had this navigation system.  Let's say you want to go on a thousand mile trip starting with a full tank of gas.  The nav would say you can't make it with just one tank of gas.  It would tell you how many times you need to fill up, navigate you to the gas stations to fill up, and tell you how much gas to put in at each gas station. Well that's what the Tesla navigation does except with electricity and chargers instead of gas and gas stations.  It tells you if you can make it from point A to ...

Official statistician tldr; We haven't "run out of gas" Model X90D pulling trailer 485Wh/mi (early estimate for flat and 55mph) Estimated range pulling trailer 170 miles Long version We haven't "run out of gas"...yet When taking a trip in an electric vehicle, or any vehicle for that matter, it's important to know you can make it to the next gas station (or charging opportunity in our case).  I've been driving electric for almost ten years.  From short trips around town to long trips as far as Maine and North Carolina.  I've never "run out of gas".  What's different with this trip is pulling a trailer decreases "gas mileage" and range between charges.  How much of a range hit we'll take traveling back is the big unknown. There are not a lot of people pulling trailers with electric vehicles.  Different trailers affect range differently.  Weather, speed, and elevation changes all affect range. There are ...

Although the Tin Poodle is comfy and cozy, storage space is at a premium.  We've done a pretty good job at utilizing space.  But sometimes you need a little more space temporarily. Take laundry for instance.  After folding the laundry into a basket we might not have time to put it away immediately.  The shower has a fair amount of unused space.  We thought it would be a good idea to store the laundry basket in the shower when not in use.  Here's a picture of the shower. So just before we leave for a hike Nancy puts the basket with her clean, folded clothes onto the bench and we take off.  After the hike I'm sitting at the table having lunch when I hear this dripping sound.  I look in the shower and I find that the laundry basket with clothes is partly filled with water and most of the folded clothes are wet! Turns out when Nancy put the basket in the shower she slightly caught the shower control handle and turned it on.  Luckily o...

Three dogs travelling cross country.  We need our heads examined...right? <rhetorical question, don't answer in comments!> The girls have actually been great travellers.  On the road they sleep mostly.  Occasionally they visit us up front. Outside they like hanging out in the shade after a long hike or walk. When it was too hot midday in the desert they hang out with us inside. They love their big brother  And Ellie loves Millie??? Nap time