MY BLUE TESLA

For the past 2 years I've been living with a simple 120V outlet in the garage as a charging solution. A painfully slow charging process, but it covered most of my commute. An occasional ChargePoint hook-up or Supercharger visit to replenish the deficit was necessary which either added some extra cost or ate up personal time.

I recently came across a video which covered a voltage conversion system known as Quick 220:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEyOZ842Tzs

As described in a previous post, I put up with the slowest charging solution available for the last 2 years for several reasons. But 3 - 4 miles of range per hour got irritating and contributed to some range anxiety in the back of my mind. For $300 (including a Quick 220, a Tesla NEMA 6-15 adapter, and a couple of 50-foot extension cords), I get to double my charge speed and increase my range assurance.

- http://www.quick220.com/-A220-15D.html
- http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/nema-6-15

After assembling my kit, I came to realize that my garage outlet is actually part of the same circuit where my bathroom GCFI outlets sit. This meant that the garage outlet was not usable as part of the Quick 220 setup, so I ran extensions cords from two living room outlets (both on separate circuits and on different phases) where they connect to the Quick 220 in the garage, and the Mobile Connector plugs into it via the NEMA 6-15 adapter.

On a typical day, I normally use up about 70 miles of range for commuting and daily errands. When I charge overnight now, I end up with a charge surplus. I leave the house every day with the battery at 90% and a smile. If I'm at home and have the car plugged in for 12 hours, that means I get almost 100 miles in the battery. I normally don't start charging until later in the night when off-peak rates start with about 160 miles of range left in the battery, and by the time off-peak hours end I've replenished back to 90% at 231 miles of range.

I can sleep range anxiety off.