本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛By Former Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara and his Tesla
One of my favourite movies is Apollo 13. I vividly remember those scenes where the three shivering astronauts, Lovell, Swigert and Haise, are barrelling through space in a tiny frigid capsule, unsure whether they had enough electrical power to make their way home to Mother Earth. The shots of frost forming around the capsule’s windows were particularly haunting.
Last month, I had an Apollo 13-like journey, not in a space capsule but in my beloved Tesla Model S.
Of course my journey was insignificant in comparison to the Apollo saga. I was simply trying to get from a tennis club at Dupont and Christie in midtown Toronto to my home in Richmond Hill. During evening rush hour it is normally a slow but steady 23-kilometre drive straight up Bathurst St. I’d made this trip hundreds of times in all seasons.
The difference this January night was that the temperature was extra-cold even by Toronto standards and to my surprise my Tesla had only 50 kilometres of electricity remaining as I set out. Foolishly I had neglected to charge the batteries at home the night before.
What only Tesla owners know is that the “km remaining” read out on the dash is deceptive. It assumes normal driving conditions. But electric cars use far more electricity in cold weather. At these low temperatures I estimated that I could travel one kilometre for each two kilometres in the readout. At best I could get 25 kilometres from the energy left in the batteries. But with no Tesla charging stations on route, my only option was to try to make it home with the electricity I had Things started out badly and got worse. It was snowing and traffic was mostly at a standstill. It took 10 minutes to drive the 200 metres along Dupont before turning north onto Bathurst. I realized then that I would need to shut down every auxiliary demand on the Tesla batteries. That meant no radio, no headlights and no sources of heat in the car. Every five minutes or so, I would turn on the wipers and defroster for 30 seconds to maintain safe visibility.
As traffic inched along I began to shiver uncontrollably. I was driving in a way that conserved as much electricity as possible. Minimal acceleration, minimal braking. I relied as much as possible on the Tesla’s ability to coast. More than a few fellow travellers honked horns or flashed headlights or both.
Halfway home the readout showed 20 km. It look less and less likely that I would make it. I had visions of the car dying in the middle of the road. I could almost hear the curses of drivers as they inched by me. Would there be any power left to turn emergency flashers on? I started to make plans to find a parking lot where a tow truck could complete the journey home to warmth and a place to plug in and recharge. That would mean waiting for hours in the cold for help — an unpleasant and costly rescue mission that I wanted to avoid.
Aside from the lack of headlights, I committed only one major traffic infraction. With just 10 kilometres left on the readout, I came to a red traffic light at a minor intersection. There was no oncoming traffic. I simply ignored the light and glided my way through. Had I been pulled over the journey would have ended there and then. The batteries would die while I tried to explain my predicament to a cranky, overworked traffic cop.
Over the next two kilometres the snowfall eased but the frost on the windshield thickened. Twenty more seconds for the defroster helped but not that much. Now I was getting close enough so I could imagine ditching the car on an accommodating side street and walking the rest of the way home.
Finally things started to go my way. No more red lights and far less traffic. As I turned into my neighbourhood the indicator read “1 km” and I was half a kilometre from home. Then, at last, I was at my driveway. I had landed.
As I walked in the door, my wife, seeing that I was shivering, asked me where I had been and what had happened. An image of a shivering Tom Hanks flashed in my head. I answered with a question: “Do you remember watching Apollo 13?”
以下是Google 翻译：
我最喜欢的电影之一是阿波罗13号。我清楚地记得那些三个颤抖的宇航员，洛弗尔，斯格格特和海斯在一个微小的寒冷的太空舱中穿过太空的场景，不确定他们是否有足够的电力来回家的母亲地球。在胶囊的窗户周围形成霜冻的镜头特别令人难以忘怀。
上个月，我有一个类似阿波罗13号的旅程，不是在太空舱中，而是在我心爱的特斯拉模型S中。
当然，与阿波罗传奇相比，我的旅程微不足道。我只是想从多伦多市中心的杜邦和克里斯蒂的网球俱乐部到我位于列治文山的家。在傍晚的高峰时段，通常是一个缓慢但稳定的23公里的直达巴瑟斯特街的车道，我在所有季节里都做过这次旅行数百次。
今年1月份晚上的差异是，即使按照多伦多的标准，温度也特别冷，令我惊讶的是，我的特斯拉在我出发时只剩下50公里的电量。愚蠢的是我前一天晚上在家里忽略了给电池充电。
只有特斯拉所有者知道的是，在仪表板上读出的“剩余公里数”是具有欺骗性的。它假设正常驾驶条件。但电动汽车在寒冷天气使用的电量要多得多。在这些低温下，我估计在读数中我可以每两公里行驶一公里。充其量我可以从电池剩余的能量中获得25公里。但是由于路上没有特斯拉充电站，我唯一的选择就是试着用电力把它带回家。事情开始很糟糕而且变得更糟。下雪了，交通大多处于停滞状态。沿着杜邦行驶200米，然后向北转入巴瑟斯特，花了10分钟。我意识到我需要关闭特斯拉电池的每一个辅助需求。这意味着汽车没有收音机，没有前灯和没有热源。每隔五分钟左右，我会打开刮水器和除霜器30秒，以保持安全的能见度。
随着交通的流量，我开始无法控制地颤抖。我驾驶的方式尽可能节省电量。最小的加速度，最小的制动。我尽可能地依赖特斯拉的滑行能力。不止一些旅行者按喇叭或闪光车头灯或两者兼而有之
中途回家显示20公里。我看起来越来越不可能。我看到汽车在路中间死亡。我几乎可以听到司机的诅咒，因为他们在我身边。是否还有任何动力可以打开紧急闪光灯？我开始计划找到一个停车场，拖车可以完成回家的温暖之旅，以及插入和充电的地方。这意味着在寒冷中等待数小时寻求帮助 - 这是我想避免的令人不快和昂贵的救援任务。
除了缺少前灯，我只承担了一次重大交通违规行为。距离读数仅剩10公里，我来到一个小交叉口的红色交通灯。没有迎面而来的交通。我只是忽略了光线并滑过我的路。如果我被拉过那段旅程就会在那里结束。当我试图解释我对一个胡思乱想，过度劳累的交通警察的困境时，电池会死亡。
在接下来的两公里里，降雪缓和但挡风玻璃上的霜冻变厚了。除霜器再过20秒就有所帮助但不是那么多。现在我已经足够接近，所以我可以想象在一条宽窄的小街上放弃汽车，然后在回家的路上走路。
最后事情开始顺其自然了。没有更多的红灯和更少的交通。当我转向我的邻居时，指示器显示为“1 km”，我离家半公里。然后，最后，我在我的车道上。我降落了。
当我走进门时，我的妻子看到我在颤抖，问我去过哪里，发生了什么事。一个颤抖的汤姆汉克斯的形象闪现在我的脑海里。我回答了一个问题：“你还记得看过阿波罗13号吗？”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
One of my favourite movies is Apollo 13. I vividly remember those scenes where the three shivering astronauts, Lovell, Swigert and Haise, are barrelling through space in a tiny frigid capsule, unsure whether they had enough electrical power to make their way home to Mother Earth. The shots of frost forming around the capsule’s windows were particularly haunting.
Last month, I had an Apollo 13-like journey, not in a space capsule but in my beloved Tesla Model S.
Of course my journey was insignificant in comparison to the Apollo saga. I was simply trying to get from a tennis club at Dupont and Christie in midtown Toronto to my home in Richmond Hill. During evening rush hour it is normally a slow but steady 23-kilometre drive straight up Bathurst St. I’d made this trip hundreds of times in all seasons.
The difference this January night was that the temperature was extra-cold even by Toronto standards and to my surprise my Tesla had only 50 kilometres of electricity remaining as I set out. Foolishly I had neglected to charge the batteries at home the night before.
What only Tesla owners know is that the “km remaining” read out on the dash is deceptive. It assumes normal driving conditions. But electric cars use far more electricity in cold weather. At these low temperatures I estimated that I could travel one kilometre for each two kilometres in the readout. At best I could get 25 kilometres from the energy left in the batteries. But with no Tesla charging stations on route, my only option was to try to make it home with the electricity I had Things started out badly and got worse. It was snowing and traffic was mostly at a standstill. It took 10 minutes to drive the 200 metres along Dupont before turning north onto Bathurst. I realized then that I would need to shut down every auxiliary demand on the Tesla batteries. That meant no radio, no headlights and no sources of heat in the car. Every five minutes or so, I would turn on the wipers and defroster for 30 seconds to maintain safe visibility.
As traffic inched along I began to shiver uncontrollably. I was driving in a way that conserved as much electricity as possible. Minimal acceleration, minimal braking. I relied as much as possible on the Tesla’s ability to coast. More than a few fellow travellers honked horns or flashed headlights or both.
Halfway home the readout showed 20 km. It look less and less likely that I would make it. I had visions of the car dying in the middle of the road. I could almost hear the curses of drivers as they inched by me. Would there be any power left to turn emergency flashers on? I started to make plans to find a parking lot where a tow truck could complete the journey home to warmth and a place to plug in and recharge. That would mean waiting for hours in the cold for help — an unpleasant and costly rescue mission that I wanted to avoid.
Aside from the lack of headlights, I committed only one major traffic infraction. With just 10 kilometres left on the readout, I came to a red traffic light at a minor intersection. There was no oncoming traffic. I simply ignored the light and glided my way through. Had I been pulled over the journey would have ended there and then. The batteries would die while I tried to explain my predicament to a cranky, overworked traffic cop.
Over the next two kilometres the snowfall eased but the frost on the windshield thickened. Twenty more seconds for the defroster helped but not that much. Now I was getting close enough so I could imagine ditching the car on an accommodating side street and walking the rest of the way home.
Finally things started to go my way. No more red lights and far less traffic. As I turned into my neighbourhood the indicator read “1 km” and I was half a kilometre from home. Then, at last, I was at my driveway. I had landed.
As I walked in the door, my wife, seeing that I was shivering, asked me where I had been and what had happened. An image of a shivering Tom Hanks flashed in my head. I answered with a question: “Do you remember watching Apollo 13?”
以下是Google 翻译：
我最喜欢的电影之一是阿波罗13号。我清楚地记得那些三个颤抖的宇航员，洛弗尔，斯格格特和海斯在一个微小的寒冷的太空舱中穿过太空的场景，不确定他们是否有足够的电力来回家的母亲地球。在胶囊的窗户周围形成霜冻的镜头特别令人难以忘怀。
上个月，我有一个类似阿波罗13号的旅程，不是在太空舱中，而是在我心爱的特斯拉模型S中。
当然，与阿波罗传奇相比，我的旅程微不足道。我只是想从多伦多市中心的杜邦和克里斯蒂的网球俱乐部到我位于列治文山的家。在傍晚的高峰时段，通常是一个缓慢但稳定的23公里的直达巴瑟斯特街的车道，我在所有季节里都做过这次旅行数百次。
今年1月份晚上的差异是，即使按照多伦多的标准，温度也特别冷，令我惊讶的是，我的特斯拉在我出发时只剩下50公里的电量。愚蠢的是我前一天晚上在家里忽略了给电池充电。
只有特斯拉所有者知道的是，在仪表板上读出的“剩余公里数”是具有欺骗性的。它假设正常驾驶条件。但电动汽车在寒冷天气使用的电量要多得多。在这些低温下，我估计在读数中我可以每两公里行驶一公里。充其量我可以从电池剩余的能量中获得25公里。但是由于路上没有特斯拉充电站，我唯一的选择就是试着用电力把它带回家。事情开始很糟糕而且变得更糟。下雪了，交通大多处于停滞状态。沿着杜邦行驶200米，然后向北转入巴瑟斯特，花了10分钟。我意识到我需要关闭特斯拉电池的每一个辅助需求。这意味着汽车没有收音机，没有前灯和没有热源。每隔五分钟左右，我会打开刮水器和除霜器30秒，以保持安全的能见度。
随着交通的流量，我开始无法控制地颤抖。我驾驶的方式尽可能节省电量。最小的加速度，最小的制动。我尽可能地依赖特斯拉的滑行能力。不止一些旅行者按喇叭或闪光车头灯或两者兼而有之
中途回家显示20公里。我看起来越来越不可能。我看到汽车在路中间死亡。我几乎可以听到司机的诅咒，因为他们在我身边。是否还有任何动力可以打开紧急闪光灯？我开始计划找到一个停车场，拖车可以完成回家的温暖之旅，以及插入和充电的地方。这意味着在寒冷中等待数小时寻求帮助 - 这是我想避免的令人不快和昂贵的救援任务。
除了缺少前灯，我只承担了一次重大交通违规行为。距离读数仅剩10公里，我来到一个小交叉口的红色交通灯。没有迎面而来的交通。我只是忽略了光线并滑过我的路。如果我被拉过那段旅程就会在那里结束。当我试图解释我对一个胡思乱想，过度劳累的交通警察的困境时，电池会死亡。
在接下来的两公里里，降雪缓和但挡风玻璃上的霜冻变厚了。除霜器再过20秒就有所帮助但不是那么多。现在我已经足够接近，所以我可以想象在一条宽窄的小街上放弃汽车，然后在回家的路上走路。
最后事情开始顺其自然了。没有更多的红灯和更少的交通。当我转向我的邻居时，指示器显示为“1 km”，我离家半公里。然后，最后，我在我的车道上。我降落了。
当我走进门时，我的妻子看到我在颤抖，问我去过哪里，发生了什么事。一个颤抖的汤姆汉克斯的形象闪现在我的脑海里。我回答了一个问题：“你还记得看过阿波罗13号吗？”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net