The Best things about owning a Tesla for 10 Years

What are the Best things about owning a Tesla and what stands out to me after owning a Tesla for 10 years now?

On the very top must be the Tesla charging network. From day one it was an absolute necessity and total bonus to just rock up at a charging station and plug your car in. Of course the Tesla Satnav knew where they were and guided you. Speeds were not the fastest compared to today but it only ever took maybe 30 minutes to 45 minutes to get a decent distance. Rarely were we twiddling our thumbs but almost always had lunch or coffee for a rest anyways. This of course improved over time as more stations arrived and also availability of chargers was shown on the satnav.

A very closed second comes the Tesla Mobile app. It is the most versatile app connected to any EV car that I have driven. From controlling the cars functions like charging and unlocking etc.

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The most impressive thing that has been added to the app over the years is booking a service when you experience a problem.

So a close third is the addition to Mobile Technicians to the Network of Service Centres! 80% of warranty and servicing jobs can now be done via a network of Mobile Technicians who come to your house or pace of work and are communicating with you via the app regarding their arrival time and the job description and can even receive photos of the original problem.

A fourth positive is the incredible reliability of the actual car. From early Model S where door handles and boot latches failed – the cars are now almost bullet proof. I have not seen a service centre in 7 years or so apart from picking up a test drive car or picking up a new car! It really is astonishing. The last time was when I had to regass the aircondion unit as no other garage Woukd touch an EV in general.

Nobody should of course forget the Tesla OTAs! Over the air updates when you are connected to WIFI! Yes Tesla push out updates regularly to make their cars better. New games, New features like PIN TO DRIVE(Your car won’t drive unless you entered a 4 digit Code).What is most impressive is that some of these features are implemented after discussions with drivers from the regional Tesla Owner Groups! If problems are found on the car or infotainment system they are addressed and fixed with no technician touching the car.

How was the battery on our first car which we kept for 6 years? Well we lost 10 miles (or 5.27%)on range over 70,000 miles and 6 years and we charged it almost exclusively at Superchargers as we had FREE supercharging for the duration of owning the car! The next owner had still 2 years left on the Battery warranty.

Well what are the other impressive things over owning a Mercedes or another car? Tyres and brakes! How many times do you have te replace the tyres? Well on our first Tesla Model Y (2022) we fitted almost immediately Michelin CrossClimate 2 Tyres for Cold weather use and the occasional snow. The tyres lasted for over 30,000 miles and were still on 4-5mm when we handed the car over to Tesla. They also worked in 30 degrees in Spain and -10 in County Durham.

We’ll also drive a lot over the Pennines to the Lake District and to Manchester. Airport and Hilary’s family is from the Wirral originally. So we drive a lot in the Northeast near Durham, Darlington and Middlesbrough and of course Yorkshire. So it seems more like to encounter colder weather in the winter. I was also a little sick of changing. Wheels from pure winter tyres (Nokian Winter tyres) to Michelin Pilot Sports. It always seemed a hassle. But that is what we did while we were still working and needed a 100% weather proof car for usage in all weathers and conditions. I bought in the end a 2nd hand set of alloy wheels and had the winters tyres on those. That made life easier as regularly tyre fitters would destroy the TYRE Sensors when changing the tyres over from winter to summer tyres!

For the last 10 years I have swapped in winter to Winter or Cold weather tyres as my wife was workingt as a GP and had to go out and visit patients at any time of day or weather.

So in 2022 when my wife retired we decided to go for All Season Tyres and swap the “summer tyres” out in November. The swap was great and I sold the Hancook EV summer tyres to a Tesla Owners Group friend for £200.

However now that we have got the new Model Y Juniper again with Awd (all wheel drive) would we swap tyres again?

Well I was so impressed with the Cross Climate 2 tyres from Michelin that I was hankering after them for the winter again. Also I used them in Spain inn35 degrees heat. Remember they are good for temperatures below 7 degrees not just for snow and ice where they give you better grip than a summer tyre.

So after scouring the internet for some prices and usually getting stuck with black circle prices I just went and did a general search on the internet and ASDA TYRES came out cheapest.

So I ordered and paid and everything seems included – also fitting at a local tyre fitting centre that I know well as I pass it every time I go to the local tip. Bridgegate Tyre Centre which are part of the HIQ AUTOCARE Group.

So I waited my one hour to got them fitted and everything was done behind the scenes.

The only criticism I had was that the tyre pressure was not adjusted to 42 PSI but overfilled to 45.

Here is a photo of the old tyres with foam and surprisingly they are Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres:

The tyres have done 6098 miles and have 6 mm still on them.I have driven them at 136mph in Germany on the motorway.

I have just applied with Michelin for my £100 Tesla Owners Supporter discount and see how quickly I will get it. So this brings the price down to £225 per 255/40 R20 Y tyre. I go the optional 20” wheels on and not the 19 so this is the biggest tyre/wheel I had on an EV. First impressions after 100 miles at on the motorway and country road that they are NOT any noisier.

I will write additions to this article once I have done some more miles.

Just some musings from me in this hot and sunny weather on solar capture methods and getting passive income from the sun!😀
I can only recommend to people to install Solar on their roofs as much as they can afford and are allowed by their local Grid company! Go big and reap the rewards and buy a battery or two or three!
Don’t go below 20kw on batteries as you need it for overnight and in the winter!
Go for 10-13kw in solar install because that is what they usually allow you to do!
We got over £1100 this quarter alone for the FIT TARIFF (not available anymore) on 4kw solar install from 2011, but export tariffs still pay you £0.15 per kWh! AND the saving you are making on your electric bill. Even our new West facing installation from 2023 saves us a lot and generates enough to fill one EV BATTERY car per day!
We are just hampered by our grid capacity to replace our gas boiler and we need to upgrade our one phase to three phases in the next few years! Maybe I relinquish my private pension money after all?
Also the savings on CO2 goes into the thousands of kgs !
Very happy with the sunny weather-just in case anybody is moaning about the heat!😂

There are good sources of information on YouTube:
EVMAN, MR EV, Everything Electric Show, electriccarvirgin.com (my own 😀)

Don’t sign up with the first company that comes your way.Get good recommendations and three quotes and also compare Solar tech!
There are now Solar panels that have two sides to them and there are panels that are optimised for low lighting levels for duller parts of U.K. like Scotland or the North.There are panels that can installed as fence panels or in your garden free standing and there are panels that have 450watts and therefore you need less of them if you have a small roof! Also you can them integrated in your roof or even roof tiles that capture solar are not that far off!
Best you go to Everything Electric Show Farnborough next October and compare them from different manufacturers /people.
However you have to stay in your house for another 8-10 years minimum to get the benefits of this investment.

As you can see from the photos, we are only really one full year in with our solar and battery production but this year looks like a bumper year and will surpass all stats from last year.Sonwe’ll see in January 2026 what we got! Watch this space!

After a few test drives of Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 and a good chat to the sales people we decided not to proceed with their offers!

However the Polstar 3 and 4 did not suit us at all! The software interface is very child like and complicated with loads of submenus and they even need shortcuts creating to get to most used functions! Not good at all! Satnav also looked not good and integrated with chargers.

Prices were also at first looking very good but then we looked at the demonstrators and added all the extras we liked and were 20-30k over budget!

So we looked again and booked a test drive withdrawal Model Y and we were offered this time a test drive for 24h!

So yes thank you Tesla Newcastle for the 24h test drive. It helped a lot!

Car is 90% different to old Model Y and it feels like a different car events kit is familiar inside! New suspension, new materials and better materials inside! Better fit and finish and also sound deadening.It feels like a Mercedes of old in fit and finish ! Soft materials and not hard plastics! Even the boot is fully carpeted!

A touch screen even for rear passengers now to control Radio, Aircon and seat heating.Also games and Netflix/Youtube/Disney can be watched from the rear screen !

Electric seat controls for the rear passenger seats as well ! Also electric bench folding from the boot!

Overall great improvements and we are glad to have ordered it! Car took 5 weeks to come from Giga Factory Berlin!

So we ordered our new car and collected it on the 21st June! Not only did Tesla made us a perfect trade-in offer for Blue Voyager (50% from new price) but also we got 0% interest free PCP on Red Dwarf!

So here is Red Dwarf on Collection Day and on our first road trip to Bicester Supercharged Day !

You might want to read the Tesla Impact report and the steps that Tesla takes to make its vehicles, production facilities and logistics have or will become netzero and have less of an impact on the environment than other car manufacturers !

Not only does Tesla do cars but Grid balancing battery storage at the Gigawatt level but also does home batteries and solar installations throughout the world. Their software is used to monitor and balance the grid in a two 24h operational monitoring centres that get their information fed via SpaceX Starlink internet network to the mothership and to the National Grid operators of each country.

Their software can analyse batteries in their grid balancing Megapacks (Storage of 1 Megawatt of Ekectricity) to individual cell level and knows when any cell in a battery will fail or about to fail and so avoids outages and replaces them ! 

See harmonyenergy.com for details !

Also did you know that 8 million people worldwide die of air pollution ! I did not!

We know from scientific studies that thousands die from air pollution  related illnesses in the UK alone! 

And fossil fuel funded parties like Reform like to hide this from us! Ask them where is there money coming from and they will go very quiet! Nigel never answers those questions!

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2024-extended-version-tesla-impact-report.pdf

Another test drive and this time Hilary drove the car.Of course we drove to Corbridge, Larch Cottage, and Tebay.

Great drive and we even tried Park Assist as part of the Lauch Edition EAP package. It actually works!!!
Very surprised! It chooses a bay and you tick and press start on the screen and it moves forwards and backwards and does the steering wheel and parks perfectly between the lines! Amazing!
New Model Y suspension on all roads that I know and have driven hundreds of times on are taken 100% better.

Anybody been to Eldon from Bishop – there are some roads that really take the biscuit and this Model Y takes it no problems, where with the old ones I get some shakes etc.
They had a red registered Model Y onntje Forecourt but not washed, so it was not really seeing the colour but it still looks great.
Thank you Newcastle Service centre for the kind loan of the car!

Oh my God Elon I have sinned – please forgive me as I have sinned and test driven two alternative cars to Model Y refresh!
We went to Headlamp Hall Hall Hotel following an invitation from Polestar (electric brand of Volvo now owned by a Chinese company but still designed in Sweden).
First impressions when we arrived at Headlam Hall was that they had a lot of test drive cars all around and Headlam Hall has invested in a lot of car chargers!

We were here to test drive a Polestar 3 and also I was hoping to snatch a test drive of a Polestar 4.
On arriving we walked past a Polestar 3 charging and we found that the car has a lot of stickers on the car that will stay on forever. It said it has a 111kwh battery and 400kwh charging.
Well no wonder the car weighs in at 2.5 tons! (Tesla Model Y weighs in at 1.9tons)
After registering and indeed snatching a test drive for a Polestar 4 we set off on the much bigger Polestar 3.
The Polestar 3 is basically the same size as a Tesla Model S – almost 5 meters long.
The drive was good and it did not feel as big and heavy as it actually is.Actually quite nimble.
However I found it a little jerky when set to full regenerative braking.As soon as you let loose of the acceleration pedal it tries to stop and there is no give on the throttle. I felt it needs getting use to but I was not convinced.
Also the extras to make the car more luxurious are very pricey and bring the car to a much higher price than the Tesla Model Y( with a lot of the packs it brings it to £80,000), but this car is not really in the Model Y class and should not be seen as competition. Currently all Polestar choice plans ( good old PCP) offer 0% APR! and a few thousand off the list price)
If you are in the market for a new Model S or Audi Etron I would go for this car.
For our life style and needs this car is far too big and heavy! It is also an ideal towing car, but we don’t have a need for that either!

The Polestar 4 Dual Motor can actually tow 2000kg – so very good tow car as well and the towbar is fully electric to come out from underneath the car and retracts.So for carrying bikes on the back and towing a caravan ideal.

One thing that Polestar offer is a Northern Dealership with Trade-In facility of your current car in Sheffield called ”The Space“. Otherwise all Polestars are serviced via Volvo dealerships.Not sure I have seen one near us recently!

Would I buy it? No! Too heavy and personally I don’t like the Android interface on the touchscreen!

Had a great testdrive of the Tesla Model Y Juniper last Saturday at Tatton Park in Manchester! They let me lose in the car for an hour and really enjoyed driving it.

Suspension much better, Materials inside much better, Radio and Sound system much better, Quieter inside even with bigger 20 inch wheels, wireless phone charger charges phone through thick phone case, seats slightly bigger and better side bolsters .
However front indicators are almost invisible as they are totally integrated in the very bright front light bar and might cause issues at roundabouts when people can’t see you turning.However not found that to be a problem on the test drive – or people where just in ore of the car too much and let me turn wherever I wanted!😀
I love the silver but it is an expensive extra and the most expensive colour to have.I think it is £2500 extra plus the gorgeous 20 inch wheels.
Anyways is it enough to tempt buyers away from the Chinese BYD, MG and other similar sized car like the VW ID6 or even KIA EV6 and Huandai EV 6 and Polestar 3,4? Well apart from BYD and MG all other cars mentioned in my list are more expensive with the optional extras as they all come in at £60,000 plus extras!

The Tesla Model Y is £55,000 with all the extras! Heated seats,Ventilated Seats, 15 Speaker Stereo, Electric front driver memory seats, Electric front and rear seats, Adaptive Matrix LED front lights, 2 rear Foglights,2 Rear white reversing lights, Front camera, 6 dashcams while driving and parking, Dashcam footage watchable on phone app, Phone app key,Watch app key, Front 15inch screen,Rear 8inch screen, front trunk space, Aircon with dog mode, camp mode and remote defrost mode. Windscreen wipers heated,

I’d rather have a Model Y as it integrates perfectly with my iPhone, Apple Watch as a key and controller for my charging and integrates with apps like Teslafi and TEZLAB which I use now for many years to check efficiency and battery health etc.
What do I mean by integration:

The new Tesla app lets me via Siri voice command/Apple shortcuts:
Open Boot,Unlock Frunk, open charge port,unlock car.Already messages and calendar sync for years now and Satnav integrates with calendar.So my car already knows in the first drive that I want to go on the first Sunday of the month to the Church Mouse Tesla Owners meeting or the Blacksmitch Arms in Swainby!😀
More details here:
Electriccarvirgin.com

Maybe I am just too shy or just don’t like selling stuff but for the last 8 years I have never monetised this site.

So here are my referral codes for apps and sites that I can wholeheartedly recommend because I use them for years and never been let down!

Tesla Referral Code:

Sharing my referral link for when you order your Tesla. You’ll get £1,000 off the purchase of a Tesla product(car or powerwall battery). I get £500 worth of credit in the Tesla Shop.
http://ts.la/heiko3571

Teslafi (see above what Teslafi does) referral Code: Each friend that uses your code when signing up will receive a one month trial instead of two weeks.(For Tesla cars only !)
* You will also receive a $5 credit on your TeslaFi account when they subscribe to a paid subscription. https://www.teslafi.com/signup.php?referred=Heiko

If you want to make Octopus your Energy supplier because you have a smartmeter and a compatible car or charger for Octopus Intelligent Tariff (7pence overnight and 22 pence daytime.Here is my Referral link : We will both get £50 in free electricity when you use this code:

Your Octopus Energy Referral code
Use this link to sign up to Octopus – https://share.octopus.energy/clean-dodo-726

Here are some stats on Roadtrips we made with our Tesla Model Y over the last two years and 30,000 miles.

Here is my Referral Code for Teslafi.com that gives you a 30 day trial and me $5 off my next renewal.😀

https://www.teslafi.com/signup.php?referred=Heiko

In 2023 we decide to have our own battery storage, so we can a) store excessive solar production and b) fill our boots at night with a cheap tariff and use it the next day when electricity is expensive.

How did we go about it?

After watching excessive amounts of YouTube videos and went to several EV / Alternative energy shows we felt we had finally all the information that we needed to decide on a battery manufacturer.

Tesla Powerwalls were the best ones! So in August 2022 we put a deposit down to get on the waiting list for some powerwalls.

We heard nothing for months and in November 2022 we finally received a bill for a survey from Northern Powergrid and that all our require two were fulfilled and we count have another 10kw of export.Not sure what that meant we all handed it over to our installer and he said he still hasn’t got a powerwall for us.

So in March 2023 we finally got the call that there was a cancellation and we could have that powerwall installed next week. So they did.But they asked us the 2nd powerwall will be cheaper and more cost effective and you probably would go for a whole day on the cheap tariff.

So we ordered another one with some extra solar to save the VAT and also to cover the West side sun when the southeast side would fade out.

So in August/September 2023 all was installed and we could save money.We would save about £300-400 per month and the whole system would be paid off in 5-6 years.

However in October our smartmeters packed up and the whole of 4 months our meters could not be read and only in late December did the finally give us finally a smart meter replacement date.

In February 2024 we got our new smartmeters installed and they are excellent.No more communication errors and all working fine.We got even £800 of our £1200 overspend back.Thanks Octopus.

Why it has transformed our lives? Well we can now capture every 50 watt of solar that we produce.We can use either the excess or the charge for our washing machine, EVs or other electric machinery during the day and don’t have schedule everything during the night.Washing and driers can be run during the day and washing can be processed during the day.

Finally done some upgrades to my Model Y that I had on my Model S and better ! Only 24,000 miles later!
Fancied a new colour in the footwells! Sooo blue! Just like the outside colour of the car!
Alcantara covering in the centre console plastic! Sooo worth it! Prevents scratching from cans and drink utensils and phones and keys!
And folks I have done them all myself-that is a small miracle with my two left hands – in my Model S a Dashcam guy did all that for me!

After watching some installation videos on YouTube I really managed to install all the bits and pieces and my photos below are a testament to how easy they can be installed.

Greendrive-accessories.com is the Website (Warehouse in France) and they ship to U.K. without any customs tariff or problems within a week.Can highly recommend.

Thanks YouTube !😀

Voyager II (Model Y LR AWD) heaving its Innerts examined after two years and 24,000 miles of faultless motoring!

Brakes look brand new. Suspension parts much upgraded over Model S and less to go wrong even over the Model 3 engineering.Very happy bunny it looks all good!
However Battery coolant a little low and not full but could be because of spanish hot summer driving!
Also frunk much easier to take to pieces.
Apparently 6 bolts over 18 Bolts on a Model 3-so much improved serviceability!

Dan from Hogg Mot changing the Windscreen wipers and fitting one LED light that I could not reach !
Very satisfying knowing that your car is well built and will hold together for a few years yet!

I feel better now as Dan had to take out the whole driver footwell panel to fit the LED footwell light as it was not budging when trying to poke it out!
Got lovely blue footwells now.
Almost forgot : Tyres are very evenly worn as well – no problems here with the wheel alignment – he said even tyre rotation is a waste of time on the Model Y.

I visited this site with the TESLA OWNERS GROUP today! It is located just outside Cottingham just a few miles West of Hull.

This is what clean reserve grid power looks like. It can replace a few coal powered plants AND smooths out the grid and puts extra power in into the grid in peak times!
All of the electricity is green that goes in here as the DOGGER BANK Windfarm electricity is brought onshore right next to the substation over an 180 mile cable!

It cost £80 million and was built in only 12 months but most of that time was due to site problems and constructed the road.

Also this site was build and owned by a UK company but TESLA installed the batteries and operates the site remotely (via Starlink Internet connection) with software that decides automatically when power is needed by the grid . The warranty on the COBALT FREE batteries is 20 years.Harmony is replicating this concept together with TESLA now all over the world and are already on 6 other sites in the U.K. and in Poland,France,Germany,Australia and New Zealand.

You can invest in this company and their clean energy concept with the HarmonyEnergy Investment Trust!

Click to access Harmony-Energy-final.pdf

I recently drove my son’s high powered Audi to a Tesla Ownersgroup Coffee Morning.This one was called :Bring your alternative Car .

I thought I bring my son’s 2018 Audi RS3 and what I thought was a modern car! A liked the ride and was in awe of the power and control of the power via 4Wheel drive etc – it never makes you feel scared – it is very surefooted.
However how does it compare to my Tesla and here is a list of things that the Audi does not have even though the Tesla Audi RS3 are in the same price bracket:
No Touchscreen.You have to select letters for input with a wheel on the centre console.
No voice control.
Buttons everywhere scattered around the dashboard that have funny symbols and you have to guess what the mean.
My car has NO PHYSICAL KEY,No Start/Stop or POWER ON Button.The Brake pedal activates your car.

The Tesla satnav syncs your diary with your phone.So I enter the car at 9:00 am and the car knows I want to be in Newcastle at an appointment and it takes the location from the diary on my phone automatically.
Phone contacts are synced to the car and you can ring swiftly anybody hands free and via voice control.
Your smartphone and smartwatch can be keys and also the car syncs your preferences for seat settings,Mirrors and driving style (sporty or Chilled) with your phone key.Furthermore the settings for other driving settings like tegenartive braking and driving setting like Brake/hill hold at traffic lights or roll or creep forward can be set via for individual drivers controlled by the phone key.

So you think your Tesla can be easily stolen when somebody nicks your phone? How many times have you searched for you physical car key and lost it in the morning and wasted minutes to search for it?
Well Tesla have another trick up their sleeves
After intense lobbying from the Tesla U.K. Ownersgroup and after a few thefts on the U.K. because of relay fraud (Range Rover still suffering from that and no changes have been made to older cars.) Tesla have intruduced to ALL cars EVER made and released in U.K. and worldwide since 2013 a software key of 4 Random digits that you have to enter before you can drive the car on the big screen.
So you trust your money being save in the bank with a 4 digit code and so does Tesla.

Also your Glove compartment is protected by a 4 digit code.
All these improvements came over time from Tesla with over-the-air(wifi) software updates.Recently I received an update that improved the colour processing of the cameras.I received new mapping data.
These software updates last for about 20-40 in updates installing but for the download you still can use your car.

To summarise I think for the same price I prefer my Tesla over the Audi.All the functions add up to a great car that is sooo easy and smooth to drive that my neighbour told me recently that she drives to her husband’s office in the town and leaves her Lexus at the office and pinches her husband’s Tesla all the time now ! 😀

See my other articles in this blog on what I think about our Tesla on a 3860 mile drive to the South of Spain and back and our 8 year Tesla journey including a 1500 mile trip to the furthest North of Scotland around the NC500 tourist trail .

Bucket List Epic Roadtrip with our Tesla Model Y

Day 0: Packing started.Taking my Space Saver Wheel and all the charging cables including the Granny Charger and the extensions cables and the SCHUKO adapter purchased from Tesla Shop.Packing two high viz wests in the door cart and also having the BIP&GO Motorway Toll Tag, ordered weeks ago, in the Glove compartment.Going to put washing equipment like extendable brush for windscreen in the front frunk.Adding to that the spray bottle of window cleaner and bug spray which turns out to be the best two useful bottles of cleaner.Also added 5 l bottle of windscreen wash and a foldable bucket. I would recommend actually putting motorway tag on the windscreen now on the planning/packing day as not much time availed at Eurotunnel and suddenly it is needed.Also put the Air critique sticker on the drivers side windscreen now.

Booking Eurotunnel basic ticket and using Tesco vouchers to offset some of the cost.Also booking first night in Folkestone Holiday Inn and will have our first day and night driving down.Will arrive at lunchtime in Calais and are planning to drive to LeMans from there.Bordeaux next and then Burgos in Spain and South from Madrid somewhere near Toledo.Following day on Day 5 arriving in Estepona.

Day 1: Packing went all smoothly and also taking 12V coolbag with us.First stop at Grantham supercharger and trip so far going very smoothly.Coolbag working but not really tested yet as it got frozen packs in.Looks like a long journey to Folkestone.Next stop is at Dartford and quite difficult to find at the back of the service centre.Dartford crossing costs £2.50.For Southbound it is a Bridge and for Northbound/./ it is a Tunnel.We had a good night sleep at the Folkestone Holiday Inn but why is the M11 a one lane motorway when it is just used as a lorry car park and not the nearby airfield with shower facilities?

Day 2: Folkestone to Le Mans 4.5 hours. The tunnel was very uneventful and got quite quick through the passport control. In a Tesla you are heading for the “Large” cars and go into the carriage that is wide and high for vans.Never go to Freight.Also the driving on the right was ok.However we did not stick the motorway toll tag on and were scrambling for a credit card.never again!Toll Tag gets you through the 30km/h lane and much much quicker and almost becomes a game as you overtake a lot of cars.

Day 3: Le Mans to Bordeaux: Chose a privately hosted overnight stay and were a bit cramped.Only an en-suite bedroom and a toilet not in the room but next door.However the host was very friendly and booked us a restaurant in Le Mans town centre,which we found eventually up the cathedral steps and fountain in the old part of town.Very nice restaurant and meal.We’re able to park car safely in puclic free car park at the bottom of the cathedral.

Day 3 continued: After a good night sleep in Le Mans we went off to Bordeaux.Another private residence just outside Bordeaux.The photos show it like almost separate little lodges within the house.Not sure how it was constructed but there were three rooms so erstes by a room divider which was then the shower room with toilet behind.

Also we spent a few hours actually in Bordeaux and it is a very nice city.We found parking in the town centre as my wife’s ambition was to see the “mirror lake”.

Bordeaux June 2023

Day 4 Bordeaux to Burgos: Apart from having the freedom of sleeping in different places every night we also have the freedom of eating in different places every lunch time and dinner.We usually did not have breakfast in the accommodation.Just had brunch on the way.

In France every Motorway services is called “Aire de (name of region)“, so we stopped in a place that had a picnic sign up.Motorway services are only coming up every 40km,so you have to be a little patient if you just missed one.I think they alternate every 20km just a picnic spot and no fuel .So you only ever have to roughly wait 20km for a toilet.

Day 4 & 5 were spent in Burgos and Manzaranas.Not very remarkable towns but had good food and ok accomodation.

Day 5 : Finally arrived in Estepona and Forest Hills Accomodation .Swimmingpool was good and not always full and booked another week to enjoy the fruits of our long drive a bit longer.

What have we learned?

I think we would go on a longer roadtrip again with using booking.com for our Accommodation again.I think I would pack my clothes differently. I think I would just pick out if my suitcase the clothes I need for next day and just take it in my Gadget Rucksack.Also for a “summer“ holiday I packed too many long and warm clothes.The Tesla Satnav was very good and gives great information on the Tesla supercharger network.Especially on the location of superchargers and the stalls available to you.we never felt any range anxiety and felt we had enough resources around us.However use the supercharger app and Plugshare in conjunction with the Tesla Satnav to find local chargers and with the supercharger app you can check out the facilities at Superchargers regarding toilets and supermarkets or restaurants nearby!

Teslafi.com Summary of the Roadtrip

Teslafi referral code which gives you a 30 day trial period and me $5 off my next subscription:

https://www.teslafi.com/signup.php?referred=Heiko

Photos of Supercharging locations in France and Spain

Octopus referral code if you like saving money on your electricity bill and get a cheap EV tariff like I get.7 pence overnight and 22pence during peak hours.Tbis code will give you £50 off your first electric bill and myself as well! Copy this link into your browser:

https://share.octopus.energy/clean-dodo-726