A lot of people have suggested just using a ski bag. That's an excellent suggestion, I'm not sure why I hadn't really thought of it. I sometimes go with friends that snowboard so I have to be able to fit skis and at least one snowboard in my car. I guess I assumed that large ones that could hold skis, snowboards, etc and were waterproof would be pretty expensive. I believe I spent about $40 on making the ski box.
Over on the Tesla Motors Club forum, member t56301 came up with a very innovative way to use the Sea Sucker rack with his Model X and still maintain access to both falcon wing doors. He installed the rack sideways on the rear hatch glass. He also reports that it didn't have much affect on his range that he noticed.
If you go skiing everyday, as I do (poor me...), your bag will quickly get wet, musty and full of rot and mildew. A hard box is the way to go. I can't believe that Yakima or Thule haven't thought of creating one, not just for EV or Telsa, but for all cars as more and more skiers are carrying their gear inside the vehicle.
+Matteo Omenetti oh yeah. Haha, I didn't think of that. Although, I'm really liking the general utility of my box. I can use it whenever I need to transport dirty/messy stuff in my Model X.
In front of and behind the Falcon doors are two solid cross sections about 6-8" wide. Between the doors is roughly 8" wide. So, if you can cross mount ahead and behind, you can center mount a rack that would stack the skis say 2-4 deep one over the other.
Nerdy Engineer, I love what you did! How much did you spend on supplies to make that box? Also, I would maximize the width of the box to fit tightly between the two seats, leave the back of the box open, so it's much easier to load the skis. Further, upon returning home from skiing and after emptying the box, tip it up to drain the melted snow.
Hey Bret, I'm looking at the Model X. I'm in Denver and curious about a couple of things. Which Model X do you own? When you go skiing do you have to stop at the SC in Silverthorne? What's your ski area of choice? Is so hard to estimate range since cold and hill climbs can have so much impact. Would love to hear your thoughts and some tips.
+Dominic LaGiglia I wasn't able to ski much this past winter due to The Nerdy Engineer 2.0 arriving. I have a 90D. The handful of times I did go, I went to Winter Park. I was able to go there and back on a single charge. There's also 2 universal chargers in the parking garage in the town of Winter Park. In previous years, I skied A-Basin, Keystone, and Breck mostly. You should be able to go there and back on a single charge if you drive conservatively, although, it might be better to swing by the Silverthorne supercharger to add a little range on your way up. Some of the more expensive hotels also have EV chargers, but I never stayed at any of those. I would definitely recommend getting the 100D. The elevation gain of the mountains really eats up a lot of range. You can try playing with EVTripPlanner.com to get an idea of if you need to charge or not. And check out Plugshare to see what other charging options there are. As for tips, I'd recommend dressing a little warmer than you normally would so that you don't need to run the heat as high. And the other thing you can do is slow down. It's amazing how much less energy it takes to go 60mph vs 70mph. The slower you go, the more range you'll have. Also, if you're going to supercharge, it's best to do it while the battery is still warm from driving, not after sitting in the cold all day. Let me know what you end up deciding!
Could a stronger box carry a bike inside an X standing up? It would have to have to have something stronger for the frame, with rings for straps to hold the bike tight. Do you have any suggestions like metal pipe or PVC or something? (I don't have an X yet, but I am thinking about famous X owner Bjorn Nyland. He just told me in on facebooks' messaging, he may try to make one!
+Jim Whitehead I don't think the roof on the Model X isn't tall enough for a road bike, I'm not sure about a mountain bike. A road bike will just barely fit in the Model X if you out it on its side and turn the front wheel so that it goes down behind the second row seats. I haven't tried taking the wheels off though. That make enough of a difference.
+jattwhiskey604 haha yeah, I specifically talk about sea sucker ski racks in the beginning. I even show some pictures of it. The other negative with sea sucker racks is that they're really going to hurt your range.
+jattwhiskey604 haha, no problem. I wasn't sure if you were joking or not. The amount of range reduction would greatly increase with speed. It could be significant at highway speeds. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 30%, but in truth I don't actually know for sure.
I don't know if you saw this or not, but over on the Tesla Motors Club forum, member t56301 came up with a very innovative way to use the Sea Sucker rack with his Model X and still maintain access to both falcon wing doors. He installed the rack sideways on the rear hatch glass. He said that in this configuration, he didn't notice much loss of range.
The Nerdy Engineer sweet I will check that out on the forums. Also I thought of another way to store skis inside. You can get one of those travel ski bags and place them inside.
The Nerdy Engineer Hi! Yes extremely lucky, I ordered it the day after Tesla removed it from their page! :-) and I get ventilated seats and free charging as well :-) I had a S85 before, but when I started to watch your videoes I had to change :-)))
Yes, but I wanted something bigger that I could throw all of my gear in and not worry about the dirt and snowmelt getting all over the car. I also wanted something that would work well for any dirty/wet gear.
For the 6-seat Model X a skibag (with wheels) is a simple and good transportation of skis www.swixsport.com/Products/Gear/Ski-Pole-Bags Great videos, but crappy sound. You really should be more "nerdy" with the recordings. Use a lavalier mic and sync in post-prod :-) Easy in FC Pro X.
+Hallstein Sørebø thanks for the suggestion about audio. I bought a shotgun mic for my camera recently to help improve the audio, but as you noticed, it still sucks. I really like your idea about a lavalier mic. I'll give that a shot. Thanks!
Thanks, I also love my Model X and appreciate your videos ! Tip: I record sound in my camera and also use a Zoom H1 with a Røde lav.mic. (Low cost gear compared to most wireless systems) Then I let FinalCut Pro X sync these two sound tracks. In post-prod I tune down the camera sound and keep the lav-sound. A little extra effort but works fine.
+Mmmkay11 yeah, but I wanted something that could hold a couple of pairs of skis and snowboards if necessary. Huge ski bags like that are pretty expensive too.
