Hatched a Tesla

[jray3]

I appreciate driving diversity, so could probably get used to jumping between a Tesla and the i-MiEV as Fiddler John and JoeS do, though what a night and day difference! I had the privilege of using a friend's Model S 60 for the weekend. We went to a wedding 130 miles away and also spent a long day ferrying a summer reunion gaggle of 12 y/o girls around for a day of roller skating, playground hopping, ice cream, movie and dinner out. I was reminded of Beldar Conehead's daughter driving sequence..., but had a blast instead!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdEsH1Ai1jg

I've driven a Model S 85P before, but the plain Jane S 60 had all the power and speed I could ever use while remaining a semi-responsible citizen.....what a car! The stalk controls are reversed from an i-MiEV, so I kept shifting out of Drive while trying to pulse the windshield wipers, and I didn't care for the front headrests, which are more like a ball to balance on rather than a cradle for your cranium. My wife couldn't manage a nap in the passenger seat since her head could not rest. One other gripe was that the two energy management displays were not in sync. Range Remaining estimates on the dash were often upwards 30 miles different from the center display, even when choosing the closest of several different averaging options (Last 5 miles, 15, 30, etc.). Of course, the instantaneous RR readings were crazy, between 20 and many hundreds of miles remaining...

The S60 started a SuperCharge session from very low SOC at 90 kW, and continued pulling big amps for far longer than I expected. When I disconnected 73 minutes later at 94% SOC it was still drawing 10 kW! (just because I was curious, and it enabled one long charging stop rather than two stops.)

Lastly, my woman of pure logic refused to drive the car because "There's no way we're buying one, so why should I try what I can't have?"..... :lol:

 

[Don]

Lastly, my woman of pure logic refused to drive the car because "There's no way we're buying one, so why should I try what I can't have?"..... :lol:

What a practical gal!! - That's been my motto for most of my life

Our new Volt came with a 3 month free trial with OnStar (including turn by turn Nav and 4G WiFi data) plus a 3 month trial for Sirius XM Radio and I've not activated either. I suppose there are things about both that I *might* like and maybe even occasionally use (I don't know that for a fact as I've never tried either) but as infrequently as we use the car and as ridiculous as their monthly (or annual) charges are for either service, why get used to something I'll never be willing to pay for. My wife is like yours - Made perfect sense to her too

Don

 

[JoeS]

Hi jray3, glad you had a chance for an extended Tesla test drive - with a gaggle of 12-y/o girls notwithstanding.

I found your comments interesting - certainly more insightful than talking with typical (around here) suburban Tesla owners who appear clueless... I mean, some of them don't understand so many of the car's programmable features available to them and some are fearful of taking a 'long' trip of a couple of hundred miles to Tahoe. Anyway, to a few points you made -

1. Alternating between the i-MiEV and our Tesla S85 has both my wife and myself turning on the windshield wipers on the i-MiEV (that's where the shift stalk is on the Tesla) or grabbing the wrong lever on the Tesla to signal a turn - evidence that we sure quickly become creatures of habit. By far, the most significant difference is in the need for a nuanced accelerator foot on the Tesla, contrasted with my i-MiEV leadfoot (except when hypermiling). Our plain-vanilla Tesla has better acceleration than any normal everyday driver needs, IMO... that said, sometimes it is soooo satisfying. :roll:

2. Headrests - hadn't noticed anything untoward, but at least they're not pushing our heads forward like the i-MiEV's, nor are the back ones intruding into our field of view. Haven't been rear-ended, so I might change my tune... Rearward visibility on the Tesla S is not good, but it does have a rear-view camera that can be engaged at any time - some drivers swear by it and always have it engaged.

3. Regarding energy management: Tesla allows you to configure the dashboard display to show either %SoC or "distance" (and 'distance' to be either 'ideal' or 'rated'). I have mine set to SoC, and rely on it implicitly. For the life of me I don't understand why people use that dashboard number as a RR, because, as we all know, that number can change all over the map depending on how the car is driven. In contrast, the main display has this wonderful graph which, on any given trip to a destination entered into the Nav system, incredibly accurately predicts what the SoC will be when one arrives at the destination while driving 'normally' (a little above the speed limit seems to match) - I'm told its algorithm takes into account changes of elevation, speed, inside/outside air temps, and I've been told (but I'm skeptical) windspeed and wind direction. Absolutely reliable, and has totally done away with any 'range anxiety' anyone may have, especially as this graph also displays how one is performing relative to the prediction during the passage. In contrast, I've never paid any attention to the 'range' numbers in the other graph on the main display - the one that shows energy consumption graphs over the various timeframes you indicated. Let's suss that out when you visit.

4. Charging - I've never yet charged our Tesla to 100% and only charged it to 95% a few times; otherwise, it's usually no more than 80% on our trips, and have only dropped slightly below 15%SoC a couple of times. Your 73 minutes at a SuperCharger is longer than I've ever spent at one! I still need to do a 100% slow balance charge one of these days...

My wife loves 'her' Tesla, but is occasionally wistful over the brilliant red color of her previous Gen1 Honda Insight... happily, she also loves her i-MiEV and she's getting better than me at setting the mechanical charging timer to have it stop at 13 bars.

We've now done over 50,000 miles in two years on our 'used' Tesla, and consider it second-to-none as the ideal long-distance cruiser. Wife just came back from Medford with it and I'll be going up to Oregon again in a week or so for a quick fresh California apricot delivery trip as soon as they're ripe (don't ask). Never use the Tesla locally, except to pick up multiple friends at the airport.

Hope not to jinx this, but so far our Tesla maintenance has been one set of windshield wipers. The tires were brand new when I bought the car (the previous owner wanted to keep his 21" wheels so he gave me the brand-new 19" wheels and tires off his new Tesla), and the Michelin tires with 50K miles on them are still good. The major items Tesla replaced on my car under warranty were the sunroof (it chattered a bit, so they gave me the latest-generation new one) and the motor/drivetrain after our Florida trip (it had a barely-audible hum which they recorded and Tesla Engineering said to replace the whole thing). Uh, no other costs, although I bought some high-end windshield wipers which I have yet to replace. I haven't taken the car in for service, but do need to crawl under it and change the brake fluid and drivetrain fluid (just as I need to do on the i-MiEVs).

The big negatives are both insurance (which is affected by mileage driven) and California DMV registration costs (which just went up).

i still think I have the best of both worlds: a city car (i-MiEV) and a country car (Tesla S).

 

[JoeS]

On the road again... exploring and visiting friends.

From San Francisco Peninsula, up the coast to avoid the Interstate 5 road closure (fire) into Medford Oregon to retrieve wife, then back up the coast to Astoria, in Washington missed connecting with jray3 by one day, then over to Vancouver Island where we met up with Sandange north of Nanaimo (it's a small world, as they missed us at home by a day), over to the mainland and visited a 101-year-old (!) friend in Sechelt, into Vancouver and up to Whistler (had no idea mountain biking was so popular). We were heading for Banff and Canada's Jasper National Park but the forecast was for snow and since my Tesla's tires are now approaching 60,000 miles (but still good tread) we turned south driving through some incredibly scenic country and are now in eastern Washington slowly heading home, far short of our 12,000-mile trip last year.

British Columbia has a very well-developed electric car charging network and my CHAdeMO adapter has been getting a real workout. Interestingly, lots of venturesome Bolts are logging into PlugShare. All the DCFC stations I've come across are combined CHAdeMO/CCS.

Making good use of the TeslaWinds app on the Tesla browser which gives a real-time calculated vector-resultant of prevailing winds. Disconcerting to be travelling at 65 mph with the display showing the apparent wind as 80mph (15mph headwind). Our lifetime battery-to-wheels consumption is 295Wh/mi which I'm told is pretty good for a Tesla S, and on this trip so far we're at 278Wh/mi.

Still carrying the spare tire with me, but swapped out the huge floor jack for a small lightweight 12v scissor jack. Have a couple of brand-new expensive top-of-the line recommended windshield wipers in the frunk, just in case. I need to cull my huge heavy box of adapters as J1772 stations are everywhere, with most of them being free (for now).

Knocking on wood (resoundingly) we have had zero maintenance and zero issues and zero battery degradation with our Tesla after the warranty expired. Before that, Tesla had replaced the drivetrain and sunroof under warranty. Just get in and drive it. Simply a decadent way to travel long distances...

 

[JoeS]

A recent post about air filtration prompted the following -

With our air quality significantly affected by the fires, during our recent (just pre-Caldor fire) Tesla trip to Lake Tahoe I rigged up a 12v battery (fed from the car's aux outlet through a resistor and diode) which fed a small 12v inverter which powered our portable Coway AP-1512 Hepa home filtration unit sitting strapped in the back seat of the car - it's physically large but lightweight. Set the car on recirculate and with the air purifier set to Eco (it's dormant but constantly monitors the air quality and wakes up if there's dirty air) and drawing negligible power (<30W) we had a good trip to Tahoe with a passenger who had never before taken an EV trip (he was totally gobsmacked).

I didn't think the air purifier was working until I opened the car's back door in heavily-polluted South Lake Tahoe and within seconds the air purifier not only woke up but went into high gear massively sucking air through the unit!

This worked so well that a week or so ago I did the same thing with my i-MiEV, using a small Headway LiFePO4 4S '12v' pack. Sorry, no photos, but the next time I rig up this contraption I'll take a few shots and post them.

Yeah, I know, the newer Teslas have built-in biohazard Hepa filtration, but this kluge works just fine, thank you.

 

[pbui19]

bought an used 2016 90D April2021, have already logged ~12kmiles. I decided to drive instead of flying for work the last 2-month (July through Aug) between SF BayArea-Salina,KS-Houston,TX-Palmdale,CA. The SCharging & auto-steering+adaptive-cruise are just a paradigm shift. It's like being on a road trip with 1.5 person(s ?)

 

[PV1]

So, through a fun series of events, I have a Model X P100D sitting in the driveway tonight instead of the Bolt.

It’s actually a loaner while my friend has his Tesla worked on. We switched cars for the night on his offer.

 

[PV1]

Model 3 calling my name? Behind the wheel view of a demo at Tesla. View attachment 4486AB22-60A0-479A-A418-CFB4B9C2C247.jpeg

 

[JoeS]

Nah, PV1, go for a Model Y as it's more practical from a stuff-carrying perspective and can be ordered with a hitch. Earlier this year I talked two friends (both EV newbies) into getting them - one in Nashville (we agree not to talk politics) and he absolutely loves it and just came back from a 2000-mile trip up to Buffalo via Virginia! Same for the other friend who this week came back also from a 1500-mile jaunt up to Oregon.

I'm still debating, as the hitch load limit is, uh, marginal for towing my trimaran and i just don't want to get a used Model X but I need something since I've sworn off ICE.

Don't forget, we're spoiled rotten by the i-MiEV's capaciousness and flat floor!

Meanwhile, my Model S was barely used in these last 1-1/2 years because of the pandemic as it serves only as our long-distance car while the i-MiEVs continue performing yeoman service. We were going to cross Canada last Fall (as we forgot to go up the Newfoundland previously) ... and then again this Fall, but stuff happens...

 

[PV1]

If I buy new, I’d go for the Y. As it is right now, used are going $10,000 above new prices out this way. The Model 3 is going for new prices. I have a lead on a well-taken care of 3 that has a good service history (which is currently high on my priority list due to friends with the S and X having a lot of expensive problems lately).

As for towing, I want to, but I have doubts that interstate travel will ever be the same after this… global event, is over. There are aftermarket hitches available for the 3, and the car is rated for 2,000 pound towing over in Europe. Knowing Tesla, there are minimal changes between cars for different regions, so I suspect that Model 3 sold here are structurally built for the task. The idea in my head right now is to pull an ultralight camper and just travel for a while. The trailer I’m looking at is 1,800 lbs, fully equipped, yet extremely aerodynamic. I had the opportunity to see one in person earlier this year and liked what I saw. But on second thought, I can just sleep in the car and get a gym membership for shower access for the added cost of the trailer itself and extra energy at the Superchargers (which are half the cost of DCQC in Pennsylvania).

On that last point, traveling with the Bolt costs as much as driving a gas car at ~30 MPG. I did a 400-mile trip earlier this year. I pulled 61.4 kWh total from two quick charges at a total cost of $39.36. The Superchargers near that quick charger cost $0.35/kWh. This would be a cost of $21.49 for the same 61.4 kWh. In reality, the Model 3 goes further than the Bolt and is more energy efficient at highway speeds, so I likely would’ve pulled less from the Supercharger with the Model 3. Regardless, the same energy at the Supercharger rate would equate to 62 MPG at $3.35/gallon. Plus, Greenlots and EVGo are owned and operated by oil and gas companies (Shell and NRG).

Please note that I’m definitely not getting a Tesla to save money. This is more just thinking out loud.

 

[PV1]

Well, Hello there.

 

[jray3]

Sooper! Vital Stats on your M3? A friend recently bought an LiFePO4 M3 out of inventory in Seattle. First confirmation I'd heard of Chinese batteries going into US production...

 

[PV1]

I've known the previous owner for a few years now. He's taken extremely good care of the car, the only mark on it is curb rash on the right rear wheel from someone else he let drive.

It's a 2018 with 12,500 miles, and has the Enhanced Autopilot, which includes Navigate on Autopilot and Smart Summon (basically all the features of the current Full Self Driving package minus the FSD computer and ability to react to stop signs and stop lights). It also has free premium connectivity, which is satellite maps and music streaming (new cars either have to pay Tesla $10/month or hotspot from a phone).

Midnight Silver Metallic, Aero Wheels with the covers removed, Black interior, and all five seats are heated. Long range AWD version with 310 mile range (non-performance but still smokes the Bolt), and has the charge port upgrade to support 250 kW :!: Supercharging.

Cost just a hair under a new base Model 3 LR. To build this car new (MSM, Full Self-driving) would be over $60,000. I don't have the power trunklid or the refreshed center console, but the car does come with a 3-year history of little service. Fun fact, this specific car is also the first Model 3 I've ever driven 3 years ago.

 

[JoeS]

Fun fact, this specific car is also the first Model 3 I've ever driven 3 years ago.

Love at first drive! Congratulations! Truly effortless long-distance cruiser.

 

[PV1]

Thanks. When I got the call that he was selling it, I initially passed, but the more research I did on the market and more the Bolt battery saga drags out, it became an offer almost too good to pass up.

Supposedly, we have new battery packs coming starting this month from GM/LG. If that all pans out, the Bolt would then have a new pack, 30 miles more range than original, and a fresh battery warranty. If GM ends up buying them all back, I already have a long range replacement car before another 100,000+ car shoppers hit the market all at once. If things go south financially, the 3 will hold its value, especially with the price bump from Tesla on new models. I figure I can't really lose.

Looking forward to the first road trip in it this weekend, and still working on a clever name.

 

[beespeckled]

Lovely ride!

 

[PV1]

Still thinking about a name for the car. I have it narrowed down to:

1. Eagle 5
From Spaceballs, which Tesla draws influence from (Ludicrous Speed, Plaid) https://spaceballs.fandom.com/wiki/Eagle_5

2. Delta Flyer
From Star Trek: Voyager https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Delta_Flyer_type

3. Dark Helmet
From Spaceballs, the main antagonist https://spaceballs.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Helmet

 

[ed5000]

Congrats PV1! One of my coworkers has almost the same Model 3, also a 2018 with FSD and same color except for the interior which is white. Not sure about the summons - I'll have to ask.

He did order himself a new Model S in a pearl white about a year ago which he should have gotten last month but it's taking a while so he might back out and eat the $100 deposit. I think it would be cool if he gets it. He said he would have two Teslas to drive around for a while.

 

[PV1]

Thanks. We took a drive yesterday, and met two twin Model 3 at the Superchargers, so it's a good thing I didn't get it to stand out. :lol: The white interior would be a must in hot climates (the side windows have no infrared filtering, so the black seats get hot fast).

It's not clear if non-FSD 2021's have basic Summon (forward/backward remote control) or not, but you need Enhanced Autopilot or FSD to have Smart Summon (able to drive a short distance to a set target). Navigate on Autopilot tends to be overzealous on lane changes, wanting the left lane at each interchange in my area. I don't drive fast enough for that. So, I'm glad that this car only has EAP, as I do use auto lane change a lot (put on a turn signal and the car handles changing lanes).

What a gamechanger the Superchargers are. We charged twice on an all-day trip, spending 20 minutes at each charger to go from 50% to 90%. The trip was 500 miles total on less than $20. This would've required at least 2-hours of charging with the Bolt.

Did your coworker originally order the refreshed S with the yoke steering? I saw one at the service center a couple weeks back, and the interior looks to be a serious upgrade.

 

[JoeS]

...What a gamechanger the Superchargers are. We charged twice on an all-day trip, spending 20 minutes at each charger to go from 50% to 90%. The trip was 500 miles total on less than $20. This would've required at least 2-hours of charging with the Bolt...

With time, you'll get the hang of minimizing time loss when charging on long trips. Some tricks -

1. Attempt to never ever wait for the car to charge - something else should always be a priority. Hey, on long trips even a walk in the park is beneficial.
2. When the car is stopped, it is always plugged in (even J1772). That applies to every bathroom/coffee break, as even ten minutes of charging at a SC helps.
3. Keep the SoC low in order to maximize the charging kW. The only time I charge above 70%-80% is if I'm spending time eating or have a really long hop to the next SC. When at a Supercharger and plotting my next SC destination, I plan on leaving as soon as the destination SoC shows 15%-20%, Waiting longer is a waste of time.
4. Even though the Tesla has seven different Range Remaining numbers (count them!), there is only one metric you can rely on: the "SoC at Destination" when the destination is entered into your Nav. It's incredibly accurate and the trip green line provides continuous feedback on how one is performing relative to the prediction. To me this offers true long distance peace-of-mind. Its algorithm contains altitude, temperature (inside and outside), speed (I'm told, crowdsourced over the route), battery capacity, and I was told (but cannot confirm) windspeed/direction along the route. I would hope that they've been continuously improving this algorithm. Unlike the i-MiEV, it does NOT take the driver's driving characteristics into account - this provides a consistent frame of reference and, if needed, a bit of hypermiling can easily bring the SoC endpoint up.