So did anyone watch the "new" Top Gear?

[ik9000]

Or the average UK garage.. if it could get through the entrance in the first place..

and the elephant in the room that they didn't really cover was whether the Tesla charge points currently exist in the UK, and whether they will be available within the next 5,10 and 15 years. I'm willing to bet not many exist outside of London, none are definitely 100% going to be installed in 5 years in the wider UK, and at best the commitment is to "aim to install X number in the next 10-15 years" or similar. But hopefully I'm wrong and I'm just being too cynical.

[directhex]

and the elephant in the room that they didn't really cover was whether the Tesla charge points currently exist in the UK, and whether they will be available within the next 5,10 and 15 years. I'm willing to bet not many exist outside of London, none are definitely 100% going to be installed in 5 years in the wider UK, and at best the commitment is to "aim to install X number in the next 10-15 years" or similar. But hopefully I'm wrong and I'm just being too cynical.

There are 33 Tesla Supercharger locations, and of those, 9 are inside the M25

Tesla sell an optional adapter to use the more common CHAdeMO chargers, which are about half as quick (you may have seen one at a service station or IKEA branch), and there are 726 CHAdeMO locations in the UK (25 inside the M25)

[directhex]

Or the average UK garage.. if it could get through the entrance in the first place..

Tesla Summon

Note: requires various optional extras

[TheAnimus]

Not sure of the point of that feature, is it to make it easier getting in/out of the car?

You still have to connect the power charger to it.

Plus it doesn't play the theme from thunderbirds as standard.

[directhex]

Not sure of the point of that feature, is it to make it easier getting in/out of the car?

Yeah, means you don't need to worry about parking in tight spaces. Plus, if it's raining, your car can be right outside your front door. Assuming a property large enough to have a detached garage.

You still have to connect the power charger to it.

Sure. Or rely on journey chargers only.

Plus it doesn't play the theme from thunderbirds as standard.

Knowing Tesla, this will come up as a $5000 software-enabled option.

[DanceswithUnix]

and the elephant in the room that they didn't really cover was whether the Tesla charge points currently exist in the UK, and whether they will be available within the next 5,10 and 15 years.

As someone who rather likes the idea of having a Tesla, I was wondering if my journey over the weekend was really possible in a model S.

200 miles on the drive up is do-able, but we only stopped for 15 mins on the M1 which wouldn't add much range. Venue was an old castle and we parked in a field so no charging points there despite being in sight of the Drax power station On the way back we again only stopped for 15 minutes for a quick bio break on the M40, I saw charging points there but we probably wouldn't have made it that far in a Tesla.

Usually we aren't in such a tearing hurry, usually we spend 30 to 45 minutes at a service station, but I think this time it would have made a difference. We could have driven up to Yorkshire on the Friday and it looks like there is a hotel just north of Sheffield that has a Tesla charging point, but then if you are staying overnight then *any* charging point would do. But we didn't have time for that.

I am kind of trying to find justification for what would be the crazy expense (basically on credit) of having a Tesla, but in the end my little Alfa got us up there and back with another 200 miles of range indicated on the same tank full.

[TheAnimus]

Sure. Or rely on journey chargers only.

Yeah, I don't think that's a great idea tbh, my friends model S has quite bad powerless when not being used without any trickle charging. He was told it's a software bug but you wouldn't want to leave it off charge for a long weekend say.

They need to make a less hilarious version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI

[TeePee]

so watched EP4. Awful. Absolutely awful.

Sabine is just annoying - under-my-skin grating annoying. Awkward commentary, bad delivery - not ideal for a main presenter
Eddie Jordan is more annoying still.
CE did a rubbish job of hosting the celebs section, Brian Cox started giving a really interesting anecdote about flying in a Typhoon towards Ireland and CE just cut him off. JC would have let that roll and bantered with it, but CE doesn't have that confidence to go with the flow. It's not a live broadcast! they have time to explore avenues and edit later. LAME.

The challenges are tepid compared to the old series, and there isn't the banter and dynamic that the old trio could bring to pass. The large team is too disjointed and there is no genuine camaraderie there.

The only good bit IMO was the Tesla X which was brilliant. Rory Reid again.... Chris Harris in the Vulcan was ok, but it lacked something compared to old series. It felt.... unfinished. Like they'd run out of time/budget/script writers.

IMO they need to ditch CE and EJ, limit Sabine to ragging cars on the track and just let MLB, RR and CH do everything else. Those three love their cars, know their cars, and actually have some screen presence.

Anyone know when the old trio launch their stuff on Amazon?

I thought the Vulcan film was good, but almost switched off afterward when Chris Evans said it was the 'best track film ever on Top Gear'. CE is just bad at everything. I enjoyed RR again, thought the challenge was boring and found Sabine similarly annoying.

[directhex]

we only stopped for 15 mins on the M1 which wouldn't add much range

About 80-100 miles, by my maths.

Venue was an old castle and we parked in a field so no charging points there

In the general case, you'd be surprised - National Trust have a bunch of chargers in their car parks. Mostly in Wales, for some reason.

[cheesemp]

I quite liked episode 4

I think given time it'll work itself out. Chris isn't great but the co-hosts all work in different ways. Chris just needs to learn to take a back seat rather than being the centre of the show.

[Biscuit]

I quite liked episode 4

I think given time it'll work itself out. Chris isn't great but the co-hosts all work in different ways. Chris just needs to learn to take a back seat rather than being the centre of the show.

Does the back seat have an ejector mechanism?

[TeePee]

Does the back seat have an ejector mechanism?

Based on the ratings, his replacement is inevitable.

[DanceswithUnix]

About 80-100 miles, by my maths.

Really?

Tesla say a 10kW charge gets you 29 miles range per hour of charging, the AC outlet at the services appears to be 43kW on AC, 50kW on DC (not sure if it could use either).

So if it can do (50/10)x29 range per hour that would be 145miles per hour of charging, but I was only there for 15m so that's about 36 miles.

But that's just from reading a bit and no practical experience so I could be, well, miles out

[Gerrard]

He was probably thinking of Tesla's own Supercharger, which operate at 120kW. In which case, 15min is around 85 miles (if the battery is low to start with).

[directhex]

Really?

Tesla say a 10kW charge gets you 29 miles range per hour of charging, the AC outlet at the services appears to be 43kW on AC, 50kW on DC (not sure if it could use either).

So if it can do (50/10)x29 range per hour that would be 145miles per hour of charging, but I was only there for 15m so that's about 36 miles.

But that's just from reading a bit and no practical experience so I could be, well, miles out

Ah, I assumed you were at a Supercharger station (e.g. M40 J8A)

The Model S can do 3-phase AC at 22kW only, so that 43kW charger would run at half power (only the Renault Zoe can do 43, and even then only on older or top-spec models)

To use the CHAdeMO plug, you need the EU version of one of these: http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/chademo-adapter

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper rough number is 3 miles per kWh of battery, in an EV.

[DanceswithUnix]

Ah, I assumed you were at a Supercharger station (e.g. M40 J8A)

That's the wrong end of the M40 to be useful, I was heading up the M1 & M18. A 400 mile round trip, I would need a charge somewhere.

Still, an interesting exercise for me. Looking at the charging available perhaps a doubling in chargers across the UK would be enough.

Really though, I need a supercharger in Swansea.