Sunday
I spent four hours today reading the Model S Owner's Manual. I did find out some new info. Most people know about the crazy acceleration modes "Insane" and "Ludicrous" that allow the Model S to have more power to take off quickly. Today I discovered there is a mode that limits power so you accelerate more slowly. It's called "Chill." I imagine this would come in handy if you have a teenager. Maybe I should tell my wife we need to Tesla and chill.I spent some time researching locations to place my toll road transponder in the new car. Owner forum posts from 2013 to 2015 or so indicated people where having difficulty getting toll roads to pick up the signal from their transponders due to the metallized front windshield of the Tesla. Newer Teslas now have a special area on the windshield near the rear view mirror without metal to overcome this problem. In fact, as I read further into the manual, I found the page with this info on it.
Tuesday
Checked on the price of the wall charger and cables again. Yup. I wasn't imagining things last week. The price is back down to $500 and $520.
Holding off on ordering until I find out if my house can support the wall charger.
Tesla was in the news today as Elon Musk tweeted about possibly taking Tesla private, then elaborated in a blog post on the company site. I have own about two dozen shares of Tesla that I picked up back when it was in the $70 or so range. I've made a nice profit so far. My initial reaction to this news is positive. I agree with Musk's assessment that going private will allow the company to focus more clearly on the future instead of trying to maximum short term earnings. I think this announcement should also strike some fear into the heart of all the Tesla short sellers.
Wednesday
The electrician came out today and verified I have 200 amp service to my house, so can get the wall charger if I want. But he did give me some kinda bad news.My panel box is small and pretty old. I only have 2 empty slots, which would be used up by the circuit for the car charger, whether it's the wall unit or a regular 50 amp NEMA14-50 outlet. If I ever want to add anything in the future I'd need a new panel.
Furthermore, my panel has aluminum bussing inside of it. I have had experience with aluminum wiring before. It was used during the late 60s and early 70s for wiring when copper prices skyrocketed. The problem is aluminum is not as safe a copper. It heats easier and melts easier when high currents are put through it. It also has corrosion problems with connected to a dissimilar metal, such as copper. While aluminum wiring is no longer used (and I don't have it in my house), some electrical panels still use aluminum bussing and builders use these types of panels because they are cheaper than all copper ones. My panel is, unfortunately, of one of the cheap ones. The panel I have has a manufacturer's expected lifetime of 20 years and my house is 28 years old. Yeah, time to replace that.
The new panel will be all copper and have an unlimited lifetime warranty. It will also have more spaces for additional circuits so I can expand in the future. Cost for the new panel: $4,150. I opted to get the panel replaced because, besides the car charger, we also plan to install a tankless water heater in the future. I had one of these in our house in Arizona, but up here, where the weather (and hence, the ground water) gets much colder, a much bigger circuit is needed to power it. The electrician told me the old panel would definitely have to be replaced when I get that installed.
The difference in installing the wiring for the wall charger versus the NEMA outlet is about $500. I went ahead and opted for the wall charger and the cost for that was $1,775 plus another $200 in permit fees (including the permit for the new panel).
Now that I know which charging option I am going with, I went ahead and placed the order with Tesla for the wall charger. Luckily, the price was still $500 with free shipping. As soon as that arrives, I'll schedule the electrical work to be done.
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