All About Us

Foreword

Before Peter gets into all the technical detail of hows and whens and “Omg, for the amount of money you just spent, why can’t they just deliver the thing?” I would like to introduce us.  Actually, I would really like to introduce Peter because the car and the trip is really his baby.  I have known Peter since we were both 16 and I don’t think I even seen him that excited about anything.  Pretty girls maybe an exception.  But that’s just a maybe.

Peter and I met in our 11^th grade honors physics class.  We sat next to each other, probably because my last name starts with an R and his with a S.  I just transferred from another school and was having a bit a rough time and an honors physics class in which I had no interest in certainly was not helping the situation.   I don’t remember what I was thinking about during the time, but I bet you it had little to do with physics and a lot to do with when this hell called “junior year” was going to be over.  And Peter… Well, I’m not sure what he was thinking, mostly because he spent 90% of the class asleep.  Not even sitting up pretending to be awake, but with his head straight on the desk.  I say 90% because occasionally he would wake up, usually when the teacher was explaining something really complicated, walk up to the blackboard and proceed to explain to the teacher where he made a mistake in his calculations.  This was awesome because that would usually take up the rest of the class period.  I mean who wants to learn about physics when you can watch your desk mate go at it with a teacher? I should add here that Peter was right during most of these arguments, at least that’s what he tells me.

I may not have been very good at physics but I was pretty good at picking friends because after a couple of these show downs with the teacher, I knew I needed to be friends with this guy.   Like this is the kind of bold, daring,” take life by the horns” individual you need to have along on your life journey.  And my instincts were right on.  Peter and I certainly had a share of our adventures together through what has been almost a 20 year-long friendship.  So when in 2009 Peter became super excited about an all-electric car called Tesla and had the idea to drive it across the country, I immediately said, “I’m in!”  (Nothing to do with the fact that I say “yes” to every possible travel experience I can afford and/or fit in my schedule).  Driving cross country in a car that runs on a battery and has to be charged every 300 miles may seem like a crazy idea to some, but with Peter in the driver’s seat, it’s going to be a piece of cake.  With icing and sprinkles.

See you on the road!  I’ll be joining Peter for ElectricRoadTripS from LA on December 26^th.  And stay tuned for our blog.

-L

Here are some common questions I get from friends when I tell them about the road trip I have planned with my new car.

1. Why did you set up this web page?

I’ve been wanting to take this road trip for years, and talking to all my friends about it for almost that long (I’m sure some have been tired of hearing about it for almost as long!). Many wanted to join me but are unable to so I set this page up to let all my friends follow me.

2. Why do you have to go to California to pick it up?/So everybody has to pick up their cars out west?

Yes, Tesla has a dealer near me, it’s in Washington DC, about 20 miles from my house in Maryland.  Tesla would also be happy to deliver my car where ever I want (my house, my office, my local OPEC office) as part of the standard delivery fee.  This trip is for pure fun. It is also to prove to myself (and others) that I can sell my regular old car and completely switch over to an all electric. If I can drive it back from the west coast without problems, then there isn’t a reason to ever need my old gasoline-powered car again!

3.  Can you really drive it on a road trip? Where are you going to plug in?

We will see! In reality I know you can drive the Model S on road trips, in fact a great couple, Steve and Jesse, already drove a Model S from California to D.C. a few months ago. Check out their trip story at teslamodelsxc.wordpress.com. I can also plug in my car anywhere to charge including the outlet that your computer is plugged into right now. While that would be slow, it definitely works. I will have an easier time along my route where Tesla has already installed Superchargers. These chargers are suppose to charge at about 150 miles of range in about 30 minutes. I’m looking forward to trying them out and posting videos of them working! They will make quick work of getting us back on the road in just about the time we eat our lunch . Unfortunately Tesla has only started installing these and I’ll only be able to use four of them along my route.  I may have something else up my sleeve for those other times, but I’ll save that for later…

4. Why and when did you order your car?

Back in 2008/2009 I had already installed a solar system on my house and I wanted to take the next step, moving to an electric car (EV). I looked around and found that if I wanted an EV, I could buy a Tesla Roadster (too impractical for my day to day life storage wise) or build my own. I quickly set aside the idea of building my own as Tesla announced that they were developing a four door sedan, with great range, and it would be a BMW 5 series equivalent. The day they announced that due to customer demand they were starting to accept reservations, I was in! (for a car that still needed to be designed, a factory that itself still needed to be built, setup, and staffed). That was March 27, 2009 and I was already a little late that morning at 6am, 173 people had already beaten me there! I can’t believe that not even four years later they now have a flawless design complete, certified, a factory, and a production line that already exceeds the original desired production rates.

We’d love to hear from everyone as we cross the country in this trip.

Shoot us email at ElectricRoadTripS@gmail.com
Or follow this adventure real time on twitter at @ElectricRdTripS