Drive Sustainable!

Drive Sustainable!
Our club members drive all kinds of EVs (Teslas, BMWs, Jaguars, Leafs, Bolts, Fords, Audis, electric bikes...)

Friday, March 30, 2018

Pre-emptive recall for Tesla Model S

For Tesla Model S owners, Tesla is recalling all vehicles manufactured prior to April 2016. No danger is present, but they have noticed excessive corrosion in the power steering bolts for cars used in cold climates where calcium or magnesium salts are used on the roads (instead of table salt). Tesla will contact those owners and setup a hour-long service appointment for replacement of the bolts. No deaths have been associated with this recall, it a pre-emptive call to prevent future problems.

-Wilson H.

The text of the message (which applies to me):

In order to ensure your safety, Tesla will proactively retrofit a power steering component in all Model S vehicles built before April 2016. (No other Tesla vehicles are affected.) There have been no injuries or accidents due to this component, despite accumulating more than a billion miles of driving.
To be clear, this recall does not apply to any Model X or Model 3 vehicles, only to Model S vehicles built before April 2016.
We have observed excessive corrosion in the power steering bolts, though only in very cold climates, particularly those that frequently use calcium or magnesium road salts, rather than sodium chloride (table salt). Nonetheless, Tesla plans to replace all early Model S power steering bolts in all climates worldwide to account for the possibility that the vehicle may later be used in a highly corrosive environment.
If the bolts fail, the driver is still able to steer the car, but increased force is required due to loss or reduction of power assist. This primarily makes the car harder to drive at low speeds and for parallel parking, but does not materially affect control at high speed, where only small steering wheel force is needed.
Our records show that you own a Model S affected by this voluntary recall. At this time there is no immediate action you need to take and you may continue to drive your Model S. Tesla will contact you to schedule an appointment when parts are available in your region. The retrofit will typically take around an hour.
Thank you for being a Tesla customer, and we apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please contact us by phone at (877) 798‑3752 or by email at ServiceHelpNA@tesla.com.

Looks like Tesla has influenced ALL car makers...

Here's a link to a YouTube channel I subscribe to; this particular show is at the Geneva Automobile Show and it's astounding how many car makers are now promising EVs. Subscribe to channel if you like, it keeps you up-to-date on all things renewable and all things EV.

Here's the video.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Got junk on your trunk?

Here's a notice from club member Mark Holzrichter:

Hey Colorado Model S owners, check the chrome between the tail lights. Mine is showing rust spots. It's just under 2.5 years old. Other chrome looks ok. Denver service center said it's due to magchloride on the roads and is getting me a replacement. I'm not going to bother replacing the chrome on my 17.5 year old Toyota which has similar rust spots.

UPDATE: Mark has had the problem fixed, the two photos of the fixed bright work are below:





The faded and corroded pieces are shown below:






Friday, March 23, 2018

The Custer, SD Rally is progressing

Here's an email from Rod Hoffman, coordinator of the 2018 Custer, SC Tesla Rally
-Wilson Hitchings
=============================

Dear Tesla Enthusiasts,

I am sending this reminder of our5th Annual Tesla Rally to the Black Hills of South Dakota on May 18th – 20th in Custer, South Dakota.  This year we have “graduated” to Supercharger status and local construction is just starting on the eight bank facility – WOO HOO! A photo is attached of the equipment staged on the site.


Attached are details outlined by our sponsor, the Custer Chamber of Commerce.  If you have questions or want other information, please contact Dolsee Davenport, Office Manager & Events Coordinator for the Chamber at (605) 673-2244 or e-mail her above.  Dave, my brother-in-law is still in charge, but he is juggling 4 other events and has asked that Dolsee be the point person for communication.  I also may have duplicated some e-mails so I apologize if this happened.  I am moving away from administration of the event but wanted to reach out personally so everyone has advance information.  Also, please pass this onto others who may be interested – a Tesla is not required to attend.

I will be there again in my (now antique) 2013 Model S85 and we expect several Model 3s this year.

See you in May!

Regards,

Rod

Rod Hoffman, PE
CEO

S & H Consulting LLC
115 Cedar Way | Evergreen, Colorado | 80439
Phone: 303.674.0475 | Cell: 303.517.9430 | Fax: 303.679.9998
E-mail: rodhoffman AT springmail.com

First Factory Tour is now full

We have reached the maximum number of confirmed tour participants for our July tour. Sorry but this means that ride-a-long requests cannot be honored for the same tour. If you are a ride-a-long requester, please plan your own tour and trip schedule. There are four tours a day at Tesla, and you have time to reserve a place the same day as the first group is attending.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Deadline for Factory Tour signup is FRIDAY

This Friday, March 23, is the deadline to notify me that you want to attend the group Tesla Factory Tour in July. We have a few slots left so make sure you email me at info AT csevc DOT com to get details and signup information.
-Wilson Hitchings

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Newest Member is Doug Bursnall

Our latest member is an old friend, Doug Bursnall. Doug is an DSM Conservation Specialist Senior at CSU (Colorado Springs Utilities) and has been the CSU representative for our events with CSU. He just bought a 2018 Chevy Bolt this past weekend so he's joining our ranks as EV owners. Please make him welcome when you meet him!

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

CSU wants us to attend!

Hello!

I've heard that the EV Club's participation at past Efficiency Expos has been one of the hits of the event, and I would like to invite the club to participate again this year. This year's Expo will be held at the CSU building on Mesa Road in Colorado Springs on Saturday June 9th from 9am-1pm. We have the usual space reserved for the EV Club (unless we hear otherwise!).

I sincerely hope you'll accept our invitation to attend this year's event, and I look forward to hearing from you .

Thanks,

Tyson R. Buerkle
Sr. Conservation Specialist
DSM & Renewable Energy Solutions
Colorado Springs Utilities
www.csu.org

Monday, March 12, 2018

Would YOU think of this?

I follow this guy on YouTube and he finally ran out of energy in his Tesla Model S... https://youtu.be/gXTykhmiiug

His 12v battery died while he was sitting on the side of the road, Tesla sent a tow for him (since he's out of warranty, it cost $311). The interesting thing is that he gave advice I would never have thought to do if you run out of energy (so there's nothing to charge the 12v battery with):

  1. Have a screwdriver available for nosecone cars to pry off the nosecode in 2015 and older cars - that's where the 12v jumper terminals are.
  2. Before the car/12v dies, use the screen to open the charge port!
  3. Before the car/12v dies, put the car in TOW mode so it can go on a flatbed; you MUST chock the wheels after doing this because TOW mode is neutral!
I never would've thought to do those things...I'm going to put wheel chocks and a screwdriver in my car now.

-Wilson H.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

2018 Tesla Fremont Tour - Tuesday, July 17

To all those considering participating in our Tesla Fremont Factory Tour this year, we have received a deadline from Tesla to have our intended date and participant list to them soon for a July 2018 visit.

We have sent out a blast email to all our email members asking about your participation in the trip. To save time with back-and-forth emails, we have selected Tuesday, July 17, 2018 @ 11:00am as the date of the tour. We wanted to avoid July 4th week as that is a common family vacation time and would result in fewer people being able to attend. Several club members are driving as a group, but anyone can just meet at the factory if they have RSVP'd to me. It is extremely difficult to coordinate separate drivers on a long trip, so we will simply announce any gatherings we plan for those days and those attending will have to plan their driving schedules accordingly.

We will need the following (please wait for your email!) from each party going:

--owner name
--owner email
--owner VIN or RN
--total number, including owner & guests (max 4)
--mobile phone #

I will gather all this information when you send it and submit to Tesla. If you are NOT on our mailing list but want to go, contact me at info at csevc dot com.

-Wilson Hitchings

From Tesla:

Here is some information about our tours in Fremont that will help guide you, please read carefully:

  • We host factory tours for Tesla owners Monday-Friday promptly at 10am, 11am, 3pm, and 4pm, excluding major holidays
  • Tours last approximately 60 minutes
  • All minors must be accompanied by an adult
  • No toddlers or infants (0 – 36 months old) permitted on the tour
  • The registered Tesla owner must be present for the tour and may bring up to 3 guests
  • Tesla owners may book one tour per calendar year


Friday, March 2, 2018

Impromptu Car Show this Saturday

Hello, everyone!  I will have my new Model 3 in the GOG Trading Post at Noon on Saturday.  So far, we will have 8 cars there, which equals a pretty good gathering!  Interestingly enough, there will be Tesla Model S, X, and 3, a Nissan Leaf, and a Fiat 500e (the ELECTRIC Fiat).  After checking out all the cars, we will go inside the TP and have lunch!

Should be tons of fun!  See you on Saturday!

Mac

=========================
P.S. - For those that may not have received our newsletter, meet at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post about noon to see all these cars, then have lunch.
-Wilson H.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Newsletter notice - did you get one?

A newsletter was sent out yesterday (Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018) via email blast. If you are a member of our club and want our newsletters but did NOT get one, please send me a message and I'll update our mailing list. I recently had a computer crash and believe I fully recovered my email mailing list; please let me know if I need to update our records for you.
-Wilson H.
info at csevc dot com