The Tesla road trip (part one)

It's been a long time since we wanted to test our Tesla over fairly long distances, to experience battery charging outside the comfort and ease of our own home in order to chase away any “range anxieties”. 

This month of May was therefore an opportunity to put the car to the classic test of the “American Road Trip”. So we left Park City earlier this week and first drove to Great Falls, Idaho. Driving was pleasant, quiet and super easy. 

Traffic was smooth and we did our first charging stop at Tremonton in northern Utah. We easily found the charging station, took a short lunch break and everything went perfectly, fast and simply, to our surprise. 

We arrived at our destination around mid-afternoon, checked into our hotel but had some difficulty finding the Tesla station. When we did, just after plugging the car in, it disconnected and charging stopped for some unknown reason. 

I might have made an error, so I restarted the operation and while charging we went for a drink on the banks of the Snake River and found two nice guys and chatted while the car was charging which took less than 25 minutes. 

That said, I found the response from the car's GPS system (Google Maps) a little sluggish, but overall everything went well and we familiarized ourselves well with the Tesla charging process and were pretty pleasantly surprised by its simplicity and speed. 

We also discovered, while looking for other chargers while circling to find the Tesla charger, that Electrify America requires an even different plug adapter than the one we used in Park City for our charging while away from home. 

Finally, and much more annoying, there was nothing around the Tesla stations to clean the bugs crushed on our windshield, so next time we’ll have to pack a spray bottle, a squeegee and towel to clean the windshield during the good season. 

(To be continued)