Elon Musk’s Second Cousin, Hilton Musk, Takes Tesla Mannequin X On A 1,400 KM Drive From Cape City To Johannesburg
Tesla’s autos should not but accessible for folks to purchase in South Africa. Nevertheless, Rubicon, the most important provider of photo voltaic methods and elements to the industrial & industrial and residential sectors in South Africa, had the honour of bringing within the first ever Tesla car to South Africa. Rubicon’s Mannequin X is the Efficiency model. Rubicon is utilizing the Mannequin X to boost consciousness about electrical autos in South Africa. The Mannequin X can also be a star attraction every time Rubicon has product street exhibits and exhibitions in procuring malls. Rubicon can also be the official distributor of the Tesla Powerwall in South Africa.
Rubicon can also be rolling out an electrical car charging community in collaboration with a number of companions, comparable to Audi South Africa. As a way to get some actual insights on the bottom and study quite a bit concerning the buyer expertise on lengthy street journeys and at charging stations, Rubicon’s Undertaking Supervisor for E-Mobility, Hilton Musk, and his colleague Nick Bailey took Rubicon’s Mannequin X on an extended drive from Cape City to Johannesburg in South Africa, a distance of about 1,400 km. Hilton is definitely Elon Musk’s second cousin. Fairly cool that he received to drive the one Tesla Mannequin X in South Africa from Cape to Johannesburg.
I received an opportunity to speak with Hilton Musk (HM) after the journey and listed below are some highlights from the expertise:
RJK: Please inform us the place you began your street journey and the place was the end level?
HM: We began our journey in Century Metropolis, Cape City, and ended at Mall of Africa, Johannesburg.
RJK: What number of stops to cost did you make and the place did you cease to cost?
HM: We stopped 7 instances to cost, largely caused by the actual fact the rear wheel alignment on the Tesla was out after a tyre change, so we didn’t have cruise management or any of the motive force aids, which value us round 30% vary per cost initially. This was additionally exacerbated by the actual fact we both may solely cost AC at some stations or we received caught by loadshedding* or we discovered that one other driver that scheduled a cost on the similar time we arrived at a charging station.
For the primary leg, we drove at between 90–100 km/h as a result of wheel alignment concern we had. We needed to handle our pace to make sure we had sufficient vary left to achieve the subsequent charging station. After we received that sorted out, we managed a significantly better common of 120 km/h (pace restrict in South Africa) for the remainder of the journey.
*Notice on loadshedding: South Africa is within the midst of its worst ever interval of electrical energy rationing, often called loadshedding, because of demand exceeding accessible provide. That is largely because of frequent breakdowns on the outdated coal energy stations.
We charged on the following places:
- Worcester (day 1) — charged at 16kW AC, because the DC wasn’t working with the Tesla (apparently one thing to do with the charging station elements and voltage necessities of the Tesla). We had been right here for about 3 hours.
- Laingsburg (day 1) — charged at 40kW DC. We had been there for about 2 hours, however charged for about 1 hour of that as we allowed a crew with electrical motorbikes from Electronia to cost first.
- Beaufort West (day 1) — charged at about 50kW DC. We arrived at evening with 7km of vary left. It was an in depth name and we undoubtedly felt vary nervousness pulling into Beaufort West, so we charged to full whereas we had some dinner on the 4 Sheep Restaurant.
- Richmond (day 2) — we charged at 16kW AC. This was the identical unit as Worcester, so we skilled the identical troubles with DC charging there. We spent roughly 3 hours right here as properly.
- Colesberg (day 2) — we arrived on the charging station on the Caltex simply exterior Colesberg, and had been in a position to cost at 75kW. We had been sadly received caught by loadshedding 15 min into the cost, so we moved on to Gariep Dam and waited it out.
- Gariep Dam (day 2) — after ready 1.5 hours for loadshedding to finish, we had been in a position to cost at roughly 50kW DC. We initially skilled some issues with the RFID reader, however a fast name to GridCars sorted us out as they remotely activated the cost session. We charged for about an hour right here.
- Windmill On line casino, Bloemfontein (day 2) — we arrived right here at evening and topped up a bit right here at roughly 40kW DC. We charged for about 30 min earlier than heading to our lodging.
- Windmill On line casino, Bloemfontein (day 3) — we charged at 40kW DC once more to 80% while we had breakfast. We charged for about an hour.
- Ventersburg (day 3) — we charged right here at roughly 50kW DC for about an hour. We needed to wait 10 min earlier than charging DC as there was one other EV driver with a Porsche Taycan charging once we arrived.
- Mall of Africa (day 3) — we charged right here at about 150kW DC. It took roughly 45 min to full.
RJK: What did you do throughout the time the car was charging?
HM: At Worcester we did some procuring and chatted to the general public concerning the Tesla and different EV drivers (particularly the crew from Electronia with the electrical bike) throughout this time.
At Laingsburg — We chatted to the crew from Electronia and the general public concerning the Tesla.
At Beaufort West — We had dinner at 4 Sheep Restaurant with our newfound mates from Electronia. They’ve the perfect lamb shank within the nation.
At Richmond — 3 hours, once more chatted to our mates from Electronia for a bit, fielded questions from the general public concerning the Tesla, after which watched some Netflix on the Tesla infotainment system.
At Colesberg — 15 min, we simply did some pictures earlier than loadshedding hit.
At Gariep Dam — We had a swim within the dam and watched some YouTube by means of the Tesla’s infotainment system.
At Windmill On line casino — The primary evening, 30 min, we grabbed a drink on the on line casino. The following morning, 1 hour, and we grabbed breakfast at Spur.
At Ventersburg — 1 hour, we chatted to the EV driver with the Porsche for some time after which chatted to the general public concerning the Tesla.
Then on the Mall of Africa — 45 min, received a fast chew to eat and loo break earlier than heading residence.
RJK: Did you meet some other EVs at charging stations on the freeway and in addition did you see some other EV on the freeway randomly?
HM: We met up with the Electonia crew at a number of of the stops as much as Richmond. We additionally ran into Jaco from GridCars at Worcester after which the Porsche Taycan driver at Ventersburg. We didn’t see any extra EVs or EV drivers than that. Most of these getting back from the System E had been manner forward of us. I need to say although, it was superior assembly the folks we did alongside the best way and chatting to them concerning the trade and future plans. We made some good mates alongside the best way.
RJK: How was the charging expertise basically? Chargers had been all up? No points with charging stations?
It was a blended expertise. A number of the charging stations didn’t enable us to cost DC, which value us round 3 hours of our journey time at these stations. The remainder of the charging stations labored properly, besides when loadshedding hit us at Colesberg (which was anticipated). The max kW we received was at Mall of Africa, which was 150kW. On the ones we may solely cost AC, we maxed out at 16kW (restricted by the automotive itself). The remainder had been between 30–50kW max.
RJK: How lengthy was your journey in complete?
HM: We left Cape City at 9h00 on 26 Feb and arrived in Joburg at 16h00 on 28 Feb, so the overall journey took us 55 hours. Of this we drove for roughly 30 hours. The remainder of the time was once we slept over at Beaufort West and Bloem.
RJK: Some other info in your journey and expertise you want to share?
HM: This was the primary lengthy distance journey Nick and I had finished within the Tesla, and regardless of all of the challenges we skilled, these challenges truly allowed us to study quite a bit concerning the buyer expertise on such journeys and at charging stations. The data we gained from this expertise and the folks we met alongside the best way had been the highlights of the journey for us and are invaluable to how we strategy the shopper expertise at our personal charging stations throughout the nation.
RJK takeaway: We’re beginning to see extra of those lengthy street journeys in South Africa being documented, which is de facto cool. Simply final week Justus Visagie drove the Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+ from Cape City to Johannesburg in a brand new document time of simply over 19 hours. Justus returned to Cape City from Johannesburg in a BMW i4 M50 in one other document time of simply over 19 hours. Hilton and Nick had been on a distinct mission, they needed to get insights into the shopper expertise round EV charging in South Africa. This helps elevate consciousness and share vital perception into the entire EV driver expertise in South Africa. Fascinating to notice that while Justus discovered all of the chargers free every time he stopped to cost, Nick and Hilton ran into just a few EVs at among the stops. Thrilling instances for South Africa’s EV sector.
Pictures courtesy of Rubicon
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