Back home from Norway

Ferry from Lofoten

As I wrote in my previous post we took the ferry from Moskenes to Bodø at 07:00 on Friday.

We left the cabin at 04:30 to make sure we got there on time. It was just 89km, but Google Maps told me it would take me 1 hour and 30 minutes. Due to the snow, wind and darkness it took us 1:48 to get there. In time for the ferry!

After 3 hours and 15 minutes we arrived in Bodø to head towards the SuperCharger in Grong. A 512km drive.

To Grong

The trip to Grong was long. Nothing really special to mention. Ice and snow on the roads, that is mainly it. A exhausting and long drive mainly.

Fiskevägen all over again!

We took the Fiskevägen route. This time from Grong to Krokom where I took it the other way around last year.

The 240km trip took us 4 hours and 30 minutes. We took it slowly since the view is just awesome!

Halfway we stopped in Rötviken to take a break and charge. Just as last year it was just a 3,6kW charger. It added only 4km of range while we took a break. We did it mainly for the show.

Free 50kW CHAdeMO charger

Getting from the Krokom (Sweden) SuperCharger to the one in Mora (Sweden) is over 300km and I don’t like such long stretches. At home I already found a free CHAdeMO charger in Sveg which is a small town along the E45 from Krokom to Mora.

I should be just a matter of plug in and hit the start button. It was!

This charger is also part of the Green Highway. Much better than the 3,6kW charger in Rötviken!

We stayed in a Hotel in Sveg. So during our dinner in Sveg the car could fully charge.

‘Almost’ Home

From Sveg we followed the E45 towards Göteborg and down to Malmö and into Denmark. Slept in Bremen and drove the last 600km home.

This part of the trip was not that special. We just drove for 2 days 🙂

Energy Consumption

When I left home I hit the reset button for both trip counters. The end result is 5.571,3km with a total energy consumption of 1,179kWh. That averages to 212Wh/km.

Last day before we head back

Aurora Borealis

One of the things we can for was the Aurora Borealis, also called the ‘Northern Lights’.

For two nights we had clear skies and saw a beautiful display. You can find enough pictures on the internet, so I won’t post all of them!

Route home

The route home from the Lofoten Islands is going to be 3.000km. Our guess is that it will take us 4 to 5 days. Not due to the charging, but because you simply can not drive very fast through Norway and Sweden.

Ferry from the Lofoten

We will be taking the ferry from Moskenes to Bodø. The Hurtigruten from Stamsun to Bodø was not an option this time as it leaves late at night.

This part of the trip probably won’t be very special. I hope that Fiskevägen will be as nice as it was last year. Besides from that we are not expecting any highlights anymore.

Snow performance of a RWD Model S

Waking up with snow

When we went to best last night the forecast said there would be 1 to 2cm of snowfall. Well, this morning it showed differently. It was 20 to 30cm!

At first it all looked good, the sun was shining and we wanted to go out for a hike through the mountains in the fresh snow.

More snow

The weather turned however and more and more snow came down on us. No hiking yet, so we started to play some cards.

After a few hours the father of the house owner showed up with his tractor to clear the driveway. We could go out!

Eventually we had about 30cm of snow over a period of 14 hours.

RWD in the snow

Most people (including Tesla) talk about the snow performance of the Dual Motor Model S. Mine however is a RWD 85kWh from September 2013.

With the Hankook i-cept Evo 2 (W320) tyres it however performs just fine. Sure, it sometimes slips and traction control has to kick in quite often, but overall it works just fine.

Eventually we went out hiking and to get there we had to drive through fresh snow. Not a problem at all.

Obviously the Dual-Motor is a no-brainer when you live in these conditions, but a RWD Model S probably outperforms most other RWD vehicles, if not all.

Frozen charge port

After we went hiking we drove back to the cabin. At the cabin I wanted to plug in again, but the charge port would not open. It was frozen.

It are just a few drops of water which can cause the port to freeze. The solution is simple. Take any credit card format plastic card and use it to force the port open. Simple as that!