Fiskevägen and entering Norway

SuperCharging in the cold

Last night we stayed in a hotel in Krokom (Sweden) near the SuperCharger. The idea was to fully charge the battery in the morning and then make the 250km trip from Krokom to the SuperCharger in Grong (Norway).

I didn’t know what to expect from the trip, so I really wanted a full battery before attempting this 250km through the cold.

We were at the Krokom SuperCharger at 07:15 and this is what the dashboard showed me:

Minus 17 Celcius in Krokom

I plugged in with 282km of range left and wanted to charge to 100%, which in my case is 375km of Typical Range (Tesla terminology).

It turned out the battery was so cold due to being outside in -17C the whole night that the SuperCharger would only charge at about 20kW while heating up the battery.

This meant it took 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach 100%. I didn’t expect that. Lesson learned: I should have plugged in at the hotel. All ICEs were plugged in to prevent their engine from freezing. I never expected it to become so cold that night.

Krokom SuperCharger

So I got to watch the sun slowly rise above Krokom while the temperature dropped to -19C.

Fiskevägen

We took the route called Fiskevägen from Krokom (Sweden) to Grong (Norway). This is a fishing route which goes through the mountains from Sweden to Norway. In Sweden it’s route 340 where in Norway it becomes 765 and later turns into the 74.

An amazing route which can’t really be captured on camera. Frozen lakes, snow, more snow and small towns along the road. Oh and deer ofcourse, but those were hard to capture on camera!

The temperature dropped even further, down to -22C. We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures. As soon as you got out of the car you felt the cold hitting you.

Route 340 in Sweden

Green Highway

At the Krokom SuperCharger there was also a regular chargingpoint which I tried. It worked without any RFID card. I plugged in and my car started charging at 22kW (3x32A Type 2).

Green Highway Krokom

I found out that it was from the Green Highway. Looking at the map I saw that there also was a charging point in Rötviken, a place along route 340.

It was 95km from Krokom, so I figured it was a good place to stop, drink and eat something while we charged a bit at 22kW. Well, I turned out differently! I found the charger, but it was only 3.6kW (1x16A Type 2). Dead slow, really unusable in -20C. Being idle with the heater on a Model S consumes more then 3.6kW, so just being there drowned more energy from the battery then the charger could add.

Green Highway Rötviken

This project has been realized with money from the European Union. I really wonder who thought it was a good idea to put up a 3.6kW charger. That takes 30 hours to fully charge a Tesla Model S with a 85kWh battery!

Entering Norway

We continued via Fiskevägen (Route 340) and entered Norway:

Entering Norway

The scenery kept continuing and we also kept climbing until we got above the treeline on route 74:

Route 74 in Norway

Fresh snow and a spectacular view! It was time to take a selfie:

Selfie route 74 Norway

From this mountain pass we started to descend again and finally reach Grong in Norway. The SuperCharger there was covered in snow, so we couldn’t park easily.

Grong SuperCharger

At the SuperCharger it was -3C, a lot less colder then in Sweden.

After charging in Grong we headed towards Mosjøen where we are spending the night.

Energy Consumption

I must be honest, I got some range anxiety when I saw it was -17C in Krokom and knew we had to travel 250km through mountains without any charging options.

The first 95km from Krokom to Rötviken it was around -20C. The heater of the car was set to 19C and both seat heater were on full power. We used 23.60kWh, avering 240Wh/km or 24kWh/100km. This was with an average speed of 60km/h.

The second part was from Rötviken to Grong, 157km. This time we used 32.60kWh, that translates into 208Wh/km or 21kWh/100km. Our average speed was again 60km/h.

From Rötviken we started to ascend, so our consumption went up towards 280Wh/km, that got me a bit worried. Later on however we started to descend and even started to charge the battery again due to the regenerative braking of the Model S. I saw the battery indicator going up, instead of going down!

It was really the unknown which got me. 250km through -20C and no charging options available, but I quickly saw that we were going to reach Grong without any problems.

If you own a Model S and want to visit Sweden and Norway I really recommend that you drive Fiskevägen. What an amazing route!

Last SuperCharger in Sweden, going to Norway

Leaving Sweden

In the past two days we visited Stockholm and continued our journey towards Norway.

We both never visited Stockholm before, so yesterday morning we visited Stockholm. We saw Gamla Stan (Old City) and visited the Abba Museum. (My dad is a Abba fan!)

From there on we continued to the Sollentuna and Gävle SuperChargers. We spend the night in Gävle and today we continued towards the Krokum SuperCharger via the Sundsvall.

Nothing really special actually. It started snowing and the temperatures started to drop, it’s -11 Celcius right now and snow is still falling.

Heading to Norway

Tomorrow we are going to drive from Krokum to the Grong SuperCharger in Norway. This is a 250km trip via what it seems some very small towns.

It looks like we have to cross mountains as well, so we’ll do a 100% charge at the Krokum SuperCharger before heading to Grong in Norway.

250km should be doable under the worst conditions possible with a full battery, so it’s looking good. We’ll be in Norway tomorrow!

Energy Consumption

I’m keeping a detailed spreadsheet with the energy consumption during the trip and we are currently at 225Wh/km over 2200km. That is really not bad, I expected higher consumption.

To Copenhagen and almost in Stockholm

Leaving for Denmark

Yesterday we started our journey to the most Northen SuperCharger in the world, Setermoen in Norway!

We started in Amersfoort (The Netherlands) and from there on drove to the Emsburen SuperCharger in Germany. Charged for a bit and drove towards the Tesla Service Center in Hamburg. Although it’s not listed on the Tesla website or in the navigation, there are two SuperCharger stalls available during opening hours. A gap Tesla still has to fill with a permanent installation somewhere around Hamburg.

From the Tesla Service Center we drove to Rødekro, Middelfart and Køge (all in Denmark) before calling it a day. 900km was enough for that day.

The Køge SuperCharger however is a special one. It’s not completely finished yet, 6 stalls are operational, but it’s looking awesome!

Køge SuperCharger

Visiting Copenhagen and towards Sweden

We stayed the night in a hotel in Køge and the next morning we drove to the SuperCharger at the Tesla Service Center near the airport. Charged for a bit and went into Copenhagen for a quick citytour.

In the early afternoon we left for Sweden and drove to the Löddeköpinge, Lagan, Ödeshög and Tystberga SuperChargers.

Somewhere around the Lagan SuperCharger it started snowing and it didn’t stop for the rest of the day.

Lagan SuperCharger

The Nokian Hakka R2 wintertires work great in the snow. In wet conditions they aren’t the best, but as soon as the road becomes covered in snow you notice what they are made for. I’m really happy with them!

That’s the trip so far. Nothing special, the SuperChargers and my Model S simply work.

Energy consumption is currently at 220Wh/km over 1500km, that’s better then I expected. I’m keeping a detailed spreadsheet with a triplog which I’ll post at the end of my journey.

That’s it for today, Stockholm tomorrow!

Ready for departure to the Arctic

Next week it’s time to leave for the arctic with my Tesla Model S!

Allmost all the preparations are done, I just have to buy some food and drinks and install my winter tyres (Nokian Hakka R2) before I leave.

I’m checking the temperature in Setermoen on a daily basis and this is what I saw last night:

Low temps in Setermoen

Yes, it’s pretty cold and dark there! Just 90 minutes of daylight at this time of year in Setermoen.

Next Tuesday, Jan the 20th my Model S will get a last check at Tilburg before we leave to Denmark on the 21st in the morning. Looking forward to it!

I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from all over the world with tips and tricks, I thank you all who send me information. It’s all welcome!

Driving to the Arctic with my Tesla Model S!

The Tesla SuperCharger Network

The Tesla SuperCharger network keeps expanding rapidly in the US, Europe and Asia. Looking at the community maintained website supercharge.info I saw that the SuperCharger network was slowly expanding to the North of Norway.

I have never seen the Aurora and it’s still on my bucketlist. So watching the SuperCharger network expand I got the crazy idea to drive there with my Tesla Model S!

My father lives on Bali (Indonesia), but I thought it would be a very cool trip to do together. I gave him a call and he promptly answered: YES!

This January we will be driving from Amersfoort (The Netherlands) to the most Northern SuperCharger in the world: Setermoen in Norway!

6500km round-trip

Following the SuperCharger network through Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway it will be a trip of roughly ~3.250km to the most Northern SuperCharger. So in total we will be driving 6.500km using just the Tesla SuperCharger network.

During the trip we’ll encounter rain, snow, temperatures well below -10C and the beautiful nature Sweden and Norway have to offer!

Route to Norway

Above is the route we will follow. The main goal is to only use the SuperCharger network. We might plug in at a regular socket overnight to keep the battery warm during the cold weather, but 90% of our charge should come from the SuperChargers.

Schedule

My father will arrive in the Netherlands on Jan 15th 2015 and we plan to leave the 20th or 21st.

The first day we will try to reach the SuperCharger in Middelfart (Denmark) and stay there for the night. The next day we’ll travel to Copenhagen and continue our journey to Stockholm and towards Norway.

Our current expectation is that the entire trip will to 3 to 4 weeks. We are not in a hurry. We both have never seen Copenhagen nor Stockholm, so we’ll probably stay there to do a quick city tour. Afterwards we’ll slowly continue our journey towards Norway and the Arctic.

If all goes well we should be back in the Netherlands on February ~20th, but we’ll see how it goes!

Preparations

Since we are going to be driving in sub-zero temperatures we have to prepare. We will be driving on remote roads and should be prepared for the fact that we might get stuck. We would rather not get stuck, but you never know.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2

It all starts with a good set of winter tyres! I bought a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 tyres. Tesla owners from Norway and the Northern parts of the USA said they were very happy with these under winter conditions.

‘Better be safe than sorry’ is probably a good thing when going to Sweden and Norway in January and February, so in case we get stuck along the road I bought a Multi-Fuel Stove from XGK:

XGK EX with bottle

The MSR XGK EX Multi-Fuel Stove burns White Gas, Kerosine and Diesel, which makes it suiteable for cooking while temperatures are well below zero. Should be get stuck on a very remote location we should still be able to cook ourselfs a warm meal.

Follow us!

During our trip I’ll be updating this blog and you can follow me on Twitter on @widodh.

We’ll be leaving for Norway somewhere around Jan 20th 2015! We are looking forward to it 🙂