Our first thoughts upon hearing this news were "poor man," but then we watched the video and we had to admit Casey Spencer sounded pretty upbeat (though a bit tired) after the 24 hours spent in his Tesla.
This sounds a bit unreal. I mean, I've owned phones with batteries that didn't last for 24 hours, and they weren't even asked to actually work all this time. Pulling this off in an electric car is truly impressive, if a bit pointless. Still, the man managed to cover over 500 (800 km) miles on a charge, even though the official Tesla Model S range is 265 miles.
It isn't Casey Spencer's first attempt at breaking the 500 miles (800 km) barrier. He set out on this little adventure of his at midnight, in order to avoid heavy traffic and strong winds, and drove between two states non-stop (no info on how he resolved the problems posed by his human bodily functions).
As every driver who's ever tried to drive efficiently, Casey Spencer used all the tricks available: overinflating his tires, not using any of the available onboard gizmos and driving alone.
The alone part could raise some questions on how valid his run is, but that's only if you're a conspiracy freak. Casey didn't do this to enter the Guinness World Book of Records, he doesn't want any special recognition for it, he was just looking to push the limits of his car. And his own limits while at it.
The video shows a tired Casey filming a dark empty road with a voice-over that sounds like an unedited Tesla commercial. But then the board computer is shown, and it reads a distance of 503.3 miles (810 km), with still some energy to go. In fact, he says he'll circle around the charger a little once he gets there, just to get the mileage even higher. Not that's confidence.
The average speed for his journey was 22 mph (35 km/h), as you can clearly see it in the video set on his cruise control system. Unfortunately, Casey doesn't tell us the final distance he managed to cover, but his goal to beat 500 miles (800 km) was clearly achieved. Over-achieved, if you ask us.
The previous record stood at 452.8 miles (728.7 km) and was achieved by the Swede Bjorn Nyland. He drove a loop and also had another person with him, so if you factor all this in, the two results are close enough. Plus, Bjorn went a little crazy and had a 24.2 (39 km/h) mph average speed.
Will this spawn a "beat Casey's record" craze? No idea, but I do know I wouldn't want to travel at 22 mph (35 km/h) for one hour straight, not to mention 24. Especially when we all know what a Tesla Model S can do.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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