Transport – Page 5

From Tromsø to Trondheim

Power failure

On Thursday we charged my Model S again at Jekta Shoppingcenter since we were taking the Hurtigruten ferry that night to Trondheim and I wanted the battery to be full.

The battery was charged around 14:30, so we headed towards the polar museum in downtown Tromsø.

After driving just 500 meters the city got dark. All lights went out, power failure!

Lucky me that we just finished charging. It took over 2 hours before the power came back. So no Polar Museum since that was closed. We sat in the car for 2 hours since there was nothing to do and it was very cold and windy outside.

Hurtigruten

Since this is also a vacation for us we figured it was nice to take the Hurtigruten ferry from Tromsø to Trondheim. A 2-day and 3 nights trip which takes you through the Fjords here in Norway.

After driving on to the ship the Hurtigruten employee asked for the key of the car. He explained that they need to move the cars as people come on and go off.

I gave him the key and just as we were about to go up, he asked: How does this car work?

He had never driven a Model S before. I gave him a brief walkthrough in 2 minutes, explaining that it’s simply a automatic. D, R and P, that’s all. I didn’t look and him parking the car. Thought it was best to just trust the guy.

After sailing for a day I checked on my phone (WiFi on board) to see how my car was doing. The battery was still at 312km, but it said the car was parked on the dock in Tromsø!

Did they drive the car off again to make some room and forgot to drive it on again? For some peace of mind I wanted to know if it was on the ship. The nice lady at the reception asked the car deck if they could check if a white Tesla was onboard. It was.

Trondheim

Early Sunday morning we arrived in Trondheim at 06:30. Our next destination was Lillehammer, but to get there we had to use the Dombås SuperCharger. 200km from Trondheim. Although the battery was still full enough (290km) I wanted to have some reserve.

The SuperCharger near Trondheim (Klett) was still about a week away from being finished, so that was no option. I called the Tesla Service Center in Trondheim in advance since I heard that they had 22kW charging available. A quick phone call told me that they had 4 22kW chargers available outside the gate. They were accessible 24/7.

After the charge it was time to head to the Dombås SuperCharger!

The most Northern SuperCharger on the planet

Setermoen

After staying the night in Narvik at the Scandic hotel we left for the most Northern SuperCharger on the planet. Setermoen to be exact.

In Narvik it was +2 Celcius and some wet snow was coming down. We figured we were in for a drive on slushy roads again. That was true for the first 30km, but suddenly we started climbing and it started snowing!

I also took a small video of the weather. It was fine to drive in, but as you can see, the roads are covered in snow and visibility sometimes wasn’t that good. Just use your common sense when driving in those conditions.

But finally, after 3346km using just Tesla SuperChargers we arrived in Setermoen!

All the way from the Netherlands we’ve driven to the most Northern SuperCharger! A hard thing to do? No, not at all. Just make sure you adapt to the Swedish and Norwegian conditions. Be prepared, that’s all.

Tromsø

Setermoen was however not our final destination! After charging in Setermoen for a while we continued up North towards Tromsø.

In Tromsø we met with a future Model S owner, Thilo Bubek. When he saw I was making this trip he contacted me so we could meet up. We did and obviously we talked a lot, I mean a lot, about Tesla.

We also came to Tromsø to watch the Aurora Borealis. It happens that Thilo has photography as a hobby and he knew the good places to watch the Aurora.

Aurora at Sommarøy

It took an hour to drive from Tromsø to Sommarøy. We had stood in the -4C with heavy winds for hours and hours, but we saw a beautiful Aurora display! Clear skies with half moon.

At 01:00 we figured it was time to go home, the display was over.

On the way back we made a quick picture of my Model S under the moonlight and a bit of Aurora:

The credits for these pictures go to Thilo Bubek. He’s a lot better in taking pictures then I am!

To Trondheim

Tonight we are taking the Hutigruten coastal ferry from Tromsø to Trondheim. From there we’ll continue our journey back home, using just the SuperChargers again!

We passed the Arctic Circle!

Rain!

This morning we got up a 06:00 again to head to Narvik, a 500km trip from Mosjøen. We stayed the night in a hotel near the SuperCharger. As soon as I got up I went to the SuperCharger to fully charge the battery before breakfast.

When I walked out the hotel it was raining! What!? It also had snowed that night, but that later turned into rain. It was 1C when I got into the car.

The roads were all wet and sluggish, bad driving conditions.

At 07:15 we left the hotel and headed for the Storjord SuperCharger, a trip of 200km. The navigation told us it should take 3 hours, well, it took us 5.

Rain and frozen roads turn into ice. Ice is bad for driving on, so we had to take it slow and stop very often.

we are driving non-studded tires because we also pass countries where studded tires are not allowed and required. I know this is not ideal, but we had to. This morning I really wanted them.

After 2 hours the conditions got better, the rain turned into snow and the roads became less icy. Better conditions for my Nokian Hakka R2 tires.

Finally, at 12:20 we arrived at the Storjord SuperCharger!

New firmware with trip prediction

Last night I got a notification on my iPhone that a new firmware was available for my car. I configured it to update the car over night and this morning I got firmware version 6.1

This firmware brings a new feature where it calculates based on the speed limits, height difference and some other variables how much battery you will have left when you arrive at your destination. It basically tells you if you are going to make it.

We left with our battery charged to 90% and it told us that we would arrive with 29%. We arrived with 30%!

The next two legs of our trip today it also worked flawlessly, it was spot on in predicting.

The Arctic Circle

After charging at Storjord we headed for the Innhavet SuperCharger. Again a 200km trip where we would pass the Arctic Circle!

We started descending and at 650m above sea level we passed the Arctic Circle in windy, snowy and cold conditions, but we made it! Fully electric we drove 3200km from the Netherlands using just the SuperCharger network to the Arctic Circle!

Time for a selfie together with my dad:

And obviously a picture of my Model S parked on the Arctic Circle:

Stuck at the Arctic…

But something else happened there as well! Due to the windy and snow conditions we saw a snow dune to late and couldn’t brake in time. The front of the car got stuck on it.

Nothing really bad. We were prepared, we had two shovels with us, so we dug ourselves out in about 20 minutes.

So I put my dad to work:

After 20 minutes we were on our way again without any permanent damage.

The road to Narvik

After charging at Innhavet we headed for Narvik because there is a special Tesla owner there.

Tesla already blogged about Jens Kratholm. He owns 6 Roadsters and one Model S. Who says electric cars don’t work in the cold?

The road from Innhavet to Narvik was horrible again. Rain, snow, sluggish stuff on the road and a delayed ferry!

After taking the ferry we continued towards Narvik and we got stuck again! I politely pulled over for a Norwegian behind me, but since it was dark and raining I couldn’t see the parking spot properly. It was deep snow which had turned into a slush puppy due to all the rain. I started digging again….

At 19:00 we finally arrived in Narvik and had some coffee at Jens and talked about Tesla 🙂

Jens recommend us the Scandic Hotel in Narvik since it also has charging options. While we didn’t need the charge in Narvik to reach the last SuperCharger in Setermoen it would never hurt to do so.

The Scandic Hotel has two free 22kW (3x32A) chargers available where my Model S is now happily charging from.

Tromsø

Tomorrow we are heading for Setermoen first, the most Northen SuperCharger on the planet! Afterwards we are driving to Tromsø where we will stay for a couple of days and hopefully see the Aurora / Northern Lights.

From Tromsø we will take a 2-day coastal ferry to Trondheim from where we will drive to Oslo and take a ferry back to Denmark. All again using just SuperChargers!