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Delivery of My New
2016 Tesla Model X P90D
with Ludicrous Mode
March 16, 2016

1000 Mile Drive
Tesla Portland Service Center,
Tigard, Oregon to Southern California

The long wait is finally over! I placed my order for this Tesla Model X online on April 15, 2014 and received Reservation Confirmation Number RN332011 and Reservation Sequence Number 9,214.


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The Reservation Confirmation Number is used to track my account and allows Tesla Motors to quickly pull up my account details. The Reservation Sequence Number originally was supposed to indicate my place in the Tesla Motors Model X reservation queue and the order in which I was to be invited to finalize my Model X configuration, options, and packages. However, I think Tesla Motors later eliminated the concept of the Reservation Sequence Number as it made more sense to deliver the Tesla Model X in a sequence that differed from the sequence in which orders were placed. For instance, orders from California, especially orders from the San Francisco Bay Area near the Tesla Motors factory appear to have been delivered first. If problems were to crop up in vehicles delivered early, it would be easier to rectify the problems on those vehicles located near the factory than those scattered around the nation or the world. Tesla Motors also appears to have delivered first to those who ordered fully loaded Model X vehicles and will deliver less expensive configurations later. This will help Tesla Motors obtain a greater profit at the start of production and help to cover production start up costs more than if they delivered the less expensive configurations first.


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Since I live in Vancouver, Washington, and would be taking delivery at the Tigard Service Center near Portland, Oregon, my Model X would not be in the batch of first deliveries that went to California. But since I did order a fully loaded Tesla Model X, it would be early in the queue for those delivered outside California. My VIN Number ends in 000257 so I think it might be the 247th Tesla Model X to be built in the factory.

I was invited by email on December 7, 2015, to configure my Tesla Model X, which I did before the end of that day. On January 14, 2016, I was given an estimated delivery date of February 18, 2016. But, before that date we were notified by the Tesla Portland Service Center that some parts were missing on my Tesla when it was delivered to their service center and it would not be ready to be picked up until the parts arrived and installed. I never got a clear answer as to what parts were missing, but they seemed to say it was some interior trim parts.

On Tuesday, March 15, 2016, I received an email that my Tesla Model X was finally ready to be picked up and invited to come to the service center to finish the paperwork and pick up the vehicle. Unfortunately, at that time we were in extended travel in Southern California. We usually tend to spend part of the winter in a vacation house that we have in Southern California. Because my wife's mother is 94 years old and lives in Southern California, we have been spending more time in Southern California than we had planned. We were in the middle of one of those extended trips when we were notified that our Tesla was ready to be picked up.


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Having already waited almost 2 years since we ordered this car, and then another month for missing parts to arrive and be installed at the service center, we didn't want to wait any longer. We had a number of medical and other appointments arranged for the next two weeks, so the only time we had open to pick up the vehicle at the Tesla Portland Service Center and drive it back down to Southern California was over the next couple of days. Thus we arranged to fly up to Portland the next day and pick the vehicle up at 3pm. Usually we can fly Southwest Airlines direct from Orange County to Portland non-stop for less than $100, but because of our short notice reservation, the cost was over $300.

On Wednesday, March 16, 2016, the flight departed on time around 11:15 AM and arrived into Portland (PDX) at about 1:30 PM. By the time we requested an UberX and drove to the Tesla Service Center in Tigard it was a bit after 2:30 PM, just a bit before our 3:00 PM appointment. We had previously picked up our 2013 Tesla Model S 85 and our 2015 Tesla Model S P85D at this location do didn't have too much trouble finding it this time. But, the Tesla Service Center had expanded since the last time we were here and they had to drive us about 600 yards down the road to their new delivery building.

Tesla staff went over everything about the Model X that was different than our Model S. The vast majority of the features are the same, including the autopilot features. The biggest difference is the doors, especially the falcon wing doors.


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Above is my new Tesla Model X sitting in front of the Portland Tesla Service Center in Tigard, Oregon, before they installed the front license plate holder. The license plate holder was in the Front Trunk (Frunk) before we asked them to install it. Front license plates are required in both Washington and California. I'm not sure about Oregon. The Tesla Service Staff said that a lot of Tesla owners prefer not to mount the front license plate so they don't want to drill holes in the vehicle until they have permission to do so. I was talking to my nephew the other day who is a police officer that works traffic for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and asked him if he has pulled over any Tesla vehicles. He said he has pulled over a few. When I asked him what was the most common offense, he said it was lack of a front license plate. So, I think my fears of being citing for not having a front license plate are justified.

We got into our Tesla Model X and departed the service center around 4:30 PM heading south on the I-5.


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Above photos are from our first Tesla Supercharger stop at Springfield, Oregon, at 5:50 PM. We ate at the Hop Valley Brewing Company Restaurant which is a short walk from the Superchargers. They have a great list of brews that can be seen above. Since I still had a long drive ahead of me before turning in for the evening, I skipped sampling their beer. It took us a bit under an hour to eat and walk back to the car. By that time the car was all charged up and ready for the drive to the next Tesla Supercharger.


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The above photos are from our next Tesla Supercharger stop at Grants Pass, Oregon at about 8:50 PM. There is a Black Bear Restaurant there, but it closes at 9 PM on weekdays. Since it was ten minutes before 9 PM, they did at least let us come in and use the restrooms. There are a number of fast food restaurants across the street that were still open, but we decided to just wait in the car until we had enough charge to make it to the next Tesla Supercharger. We had pulled in with 66 miles left on the battery and only needed to charge up to 117 miles plus some safety margin to get to the next Supercharger.


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The above photos are from the Tesla Supercharger at Mt. Shasta, California. We arrived about around 11:30 PM. We arrived with just 20 miles left on the battery. Evidently I had done a little miscalculating. I did not charge the Tesla all the way to the point where it said we had enough to reach the next Supercharger. I just went on my own calculation that we only had 117 miles to go and added my own safety margin to that. I guess I did not take into consideration the amount of mountain climbing the I-5 would go through from Grants Pass to Mt. Shasta. The Tesla kept warning me to keep my speed under 70 MPH to reach my destination. That was a bit frustrating as the speed limit was 70 MPH for most of this segment. Instead of paying attention to the Tesla warning, I just made sure that I had a safety margin of at least 40 extra miles on the battery for most of the trip by just dropping my speed below 70 MPH occasionally. Eventually I was just 40 miles from my destination and still had a safety margin of 30 miles more than I needed. At that point the Tesla stopped warning me to keep my speed below 70 MPH and I stopped worrying about keeping my speed down to extend the distance I could get on the battery charge. So we arrived with 20 miles of charge still on the battery. Since we were spending the night at the Best Western Plus Tree House right at the Tesla Supercharger, I charged the Tesla up to its full battery capacity. For the rest of the trip I made sure I always charged up to at least the level recommended by the Tesla control panel to reach my next destination, and usually added a good amount of extra charge beyond that. We didn't have a problem with range anxiety for the rest of this trip.



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My wife and I have made several trips in our Tesla Model S north and south between our home in Vancouver, Washington, and our vacation house in Southern California, zipping up and down almost 1,000 miles on the I-5 between them. When heading north we stop in Redding, California. When heading south we stop at Mt. Shasta, California. In this way we avoid driving the curvy mountainous stretch between Mt. Shasta and Redding in the dark. Going south it is about a 7 hour drive from Vancouver to Mt. Shasta including stops at Tesla Superchargers along the way. The second day it is about a 10 to 12 hour drive including stops at Tesla Superchargers. Heading north departing from Southern California it takes about 10 hours to get to Redding. Leaving at 8am puts us into Redding about 6pm, which is before the light is lost after sunset even in winter. Heading north the second day is a about an 8 hour drive from Redding, California, to Vancouver, Washington.

So, we spent the night at the Best Western Plus Tree House Hotel which is right at the Mt. Shasta Tesla Supercharger. Thus we could charge the car up all the way without losing any time waiting for it to charge. Above you can see the brochure for the hotel. There is a good restaurant called Cooper's Bar and Grill at the hotel which serves a free breakfast every morning to hotel guests. The above photo of our Tesla Model X was taken in the morning just before we departed the hotel.


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St. Patrick's Day, Thursday, March 17, 2016! First stop for the day was at the Tesla Supercharger in Corning, California, at about 11:30 AM. There is a Starbucks here with free WiFi and clean restrooms. I purchased a Venti Cold Brew. Cold Brew appears to be a relatively new product at Starbucks and is exactly what I've always been looking for at Starbucks. They've always had Ice Coffee, but that is way more than I ever wanted in sweetness and calories. In the past I always just asked for a regular coffee over ice when I wanted an iced coffee. This new Cold Brew is zero calorie, just like regular hot coffee. It is also a deep rich flavor which is the way I like my coffee. I just added a little bit of milk and some artificial sweetener and it is exactly what I want! Notice in the above photos how empty it is at the Tesla Supercharger. Almost all of the Tesla Superchargers for this entire trip were completely empty. I don't know if people are just staying local for the holiday or what, but we rarely saw another Tesla at any of the Superchargers on this trip and the traffic on the highway was pretty light. This was about a 40 minute stop.


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Next stop: the Tesla Supercharger in Manteca, California, at around 2 PM. Again notice in the above photo how empty it is at the Tesla Supercharger.

The Manteca Tesla Supercharger is about 4 miles off the I-5 exit. I think Tesla placed it half way between I-5 and CA-99 so that cars on either highway can use this Supercharger. There is a good size shopping center at this Tesla Supercharger with a number of eating places. We went into Pete's Restaurant & Brewhouse. They had a good selection of beer on tap, including an option of a "Create Your Own Flight". I could not resist that, especially being St. Patrick's Day. My wife and I shared a flight of 4 different IPA's, which is our favorite. I only drank a little of each as I would need to be sober and wide awake for the remainder of the long drive ahead of us. We had lunch here as we were afraid it would be a mad house at our next stop at Harris Ranch. I received an email earlier in the day with a promotion to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the Harris Ranch Restaurant. We've seen it pretty crowded there at other holidays and figured it might be really busy there today. Thus, we did not have to put our name in for a table in order to eat there today. So instead we ate at Pete's Restaurant & Brewhouse here in Manteca.

Usually I stop at the Roseville Tesla Supercharger after the Corning Tesla Supercharger, but Roseville is quite a bit of a detour away from the I-5. The Manteca Tesla Supercharger is a relatively new location compared to the other Supercharger locations along the I-5. It allows one to bypass the Roseville Tesla Supercharger. However, once we departed this Supercharger, the GPS indicated that we should travel south on CA-99 instead of going back to I-5. We got caught up in about the only traffic on this whole trip heading south on CA-99. Being just after 4 PM it was probably rush hour traffic heading home from Stockton. The GPS then had us head west on CA-132 back to the I-5. That was about 30 miles to get back to the I-5 from CA-99. Much of CA-132 was a 2 lane highway with traffic lights and limited speeds. I would not go that way again. Next time I'll just take CA-120 right back to the I-5 from Manteca which is only about 4 miles.




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Here we are at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, California, at 6:15 PM. The place is pretty empty! Not only is there not a single other Tesla at any of the Supercharging spaces, but even the restaurant is pretty empty. This is not at all what I expected. Whenever I've stopped here in past around dinner time this place has been packed with cars. The Supercharger is also usually pretty busy with Tesla vehicles charging up whenever I have stopped here in the past. This place gets so busy that Tesla expanded it and added a lot more Superchargers since my last visit, which wasn't that long ago. But not today. Totally empty today.


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Above: At 8:38 PM at the last Supercharger for this trip: Tejon Tesla Supercharger in Lebec, California. There are a number of Fast Food Eateries a short walk from the Superchargers including In-n-Out, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Yogurtland among others. We like to stop in at the Iron Skillet Restaurant as they have a larger selection of "real food" including a large salad bar. We noticed a new item on the menu, "Vegetable Skillet", that we decided to try. But, if you are into vegetables, don't order this item. It is mostly potatoes served with a big baked potato. I guess potatoes qualify as vegetables. There were also about 6 small broccoli florets and a couple of carrots. It was kind of sparse on the vegetables considering that we paid extra for a larger portion of vegetables to be included! The food is good here, but don't expect a vegetarian delight at a truck stop!

The charge at this point is enough to get us home as our southern California vacation house is less than 120 miles from the Tejon Tesla Supercharger. We departed Tejon at about 8:45 PM.


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Arrived at our Southern California vacation house at about 11:30 PM. Above are photos of our new 2016 Tesla Model X P90D parked in the driveway. I have to back the Tesla Model X up to the charger in order for the cord to reach the charging port.


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Just some photos taken the following morning, Friday, March 18, 2016, of our new 2016 Tesla Model X P90D. The bright red shows up a lot better in daylight.


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Above are some photos of the open falcon wing doors of the new 2016 Tesla Model X P90D plus some photos of the interior. The black car in the background in the photo is our 2015 Tesla Model S P85D. That is it for our trip of picking up our new Tesla Model X and driving it down to our vacation home. There will be another report when we drive either or both of the Tesla vehicles back up to Vancouver, Washington. But, I'm sure there will be some other Tesla reports and photos posted to this web site before that.

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