Living with a car from the future: Tesla Model 3

Keith Tanner said:

It’s only the “first one is free” scenario if the car gets slower unless you pony up. If the primary reason you got the car was 0-60 sprint times and you’re upset that you can’t keep up with the newest Corvette, here’s your fix. If not, well, you just say “it’s cool they can do that” and carry on. It’s a great alternative to trying to keep up with the hot model of the moment, the only option you have when the Shelby Mustang GT 750 comes out is to sell your GT500. This gets you the equivalent of a GT 600 for the same cost as a set of wheels and tires :)

Anyone know if this was offered to other models? MattM?

I believe that Ludicrous mode was offered as a software upgrade for both Model S and X as long as they were P cars to begin with.  Also, back when ludicrous and the performance package were separate options, you could remove the ludicrous feature and save $10k.  Tesla has mostly eliminated that I think by making ludicrous part of the performance package.  Of course, Full Self Driving remains a software upgrade that includes  a hardware upgrade if you car doesn’t have the new hardware.

Keith with a Model 3 is it possible to have the Sentry System not blast the high beams at people walking down the street? The owner believes that 's how it is and my dogs and I have to put up with it.

As far as I know, the headlight flash is part of Sentry and can’t be turned on/off separately. It’s meant as a warning that Sentry Mode has been triggered, so it’s intended to be a deterrent. The cars are a little nervous, that’s for sure.  You can geofence Sentry so it the car is in a known safe place it won’t engage and won’t flash. But if it’s parked on the street, I can see how an owner might want it turned on. 

It’s just a brief flash and only once per “incident”, so if the car is parked on the side of the street maybe you could arrange your walks so you approach the car from behind. Then you get a taillight flash if you scare the car. 

Update on the black spaceship:

We've had another OTA update. No power bumps, but improved voice recognition capabilities and the "dash cam" system will now store video clips when you honk the horn. For some reason, I find that very entertaining. The resolution of the car on the on-screen display is higher as well. It even has reflections of slowly moving clouds in the roof. These updates are coming more frequently than I expected, and I would talk your ear off in person about the concept of an always-evolving car versus saving all the upgrades for model year jump to encourage people to trade in. It's very owner-friendly but won't move metal the same way as a more traditional method. The performance increases that come with some updates has been discussed in  the Model 3 Performance SCCA reclassification thread so I won't rehash it here.

More light snow has arrived this week, and the car is dealing well with it. Nothing notable, really, just no problems. Janel's love affair with the ability to pre-warm the interior and the seats continues.

I ran in to one of my car buddies today and we talked about the car a bit. His first question was about charging - he assumed we had to visit the Supercharger cluster to fill up like a gas car. The whole concept of the car always being fully charged in the morning is probably going to be the biggest change in how people look at EVs as they become more widespread. I didn't realize it myself before we started living with one. As people come to realize how this works, I think range anxiety will become less of a factor.

We've also had our first problem with the car. Sorta. On Jan 2, the phone app asked for a login. Nothing weird here if you're used to mildly paranoid software. But for some reason, at that point the car "forgot" Janel. She couldn't access it with her phone, which meant she was locked out*. She used the key card to get in and turn the car on so she could get to work. She was able to re-pair her phone with the car so it's normal now, but she wasn't very happy about that. Meanwhile, my phone didn't need anything other than entering the password. An odd glitch.

*Recap on the key system for those who don't know: the car has RFID cards that can be used to unlock the car (tap it on the B pillar) and to turn it on (tap it on the center console). They're very short range. You can also pair your phone to the car via Bluetooth so that it will unlock and turn on when you grab the handle as long as you're close to the car with your phone in your pocket. This "phone key" is so convenient that it's the system you use all the time. You can also identify a key card as a valet key, which locks out the trunk access and limits what information can be accessed on the screen, such as your house.

Keith Tanner said:

I ran in to one of my car buddies today and we talked about the car a bit. His first question was about charging - he assumed we had to visit the Supercharger cluster to fill up like a gas car. The whole concept of the car always being fully charged in the morning is probably going to be the biggest change in how people look at EVs as they become more widespread. I didn't realize it myself before we started living with one. As people come to realize how this works, I think range anxiety will become less of a factor.

 

There are people who think that?  That is the #1 reason why I've wanted an EV for a few years now.

Keith Tanner said:

More on that in-app purchase for the power upgrade. The email I got said it was for "Long Range Dual Motor" cars. I don't know if other variants had the option. But someone has put them on the dyno already, of course.

P3D is the Performance king daddy version. It's about $8,000 more than the Long Range Dual Motor, and includes a slightly more powerful rear motor as well as fatter tires (I think), a rear spoiler (as seen on my car now), different brakes, lowered suspension and a little red line under the DUAL MOTOR badge. On this chart, AWD refers to a "normal" dual motor and AWD+ is that car with the Acceleration Boost option.

Those are some weird looking traces.

Tesla promised a 3.9s 0-60 run. 0-100 kph is 0-62 mph, so it looks like they weren't kidding.

This isn't something we're planning on doing, as Janel is quite happy with the level of acceleration available. Still, this is just not a trick you can pull with most vehicles. It also tells you how much of the performance of these things comes out of software instead of just hardware.

I also discovered on Friday that you cannot honk the horn via the app while the car is driving. I mentioned this to Janel and she said "I know, I tried to do it to you already". So you can tell we are both mature adults.

This is a great thread.  Thanks for taking the time to post everything.  I traded in my supercharged, 7 speed manual C7 Corvette on 9/27 on a Model 3 Performance.  Ordered 9/7 from my driveway via apple pay lol.  The Performance is still on 235 wide tires all around but they ship with Pilot Sport 4S's which has been my go to street tire for the last few years, a brilliant street performance tire imo.  

I have not regretted the move from the C7 to M3P at all, it's hard to accurately describe the driving experience without experiencing it first hand, it's truly unbelievable.  I was not able to fit in the C7 comfortably with a helmet and the roof on and I have plenty of room in the Model 3 thanks to the glass roof so this years AutoX season should be more comfortable.  
 

Like you, we can't stop driving it. We put 2600 miles on my car from 10/3-11/30 (car got dropped off right after delivery to get covered in XPEL, picked it back up 10/3 and I'm storing for the winter and driving my volt).  My wife was completely against getting rid of the C7 but her first trip into Pittsburgh in rush hour traffic and using autopilot, she was hooked.

I laughed at your buddy who thought you had to charge at the superchargers, the biggest problem with these cars is the lack of education around them. I have this argument with people all of the time who say it wont work for them because they live out in the country.  When I ask if they started every day with a full tank of fuel in the garage if they would need to stop for gas they start to understand.

Also reading back through your posts, the 150 to 170kw supercharging rate bump was for the Standard Range cars.  They were limited to 150.  The Long Range cars have always been able to do 250kw charging depending on the supercharger.

Ian F said:

Keith Tanner said:

I ran in to one of my car buddies today and we talked about the car a bit. His first question was about charging - he assumed we had to visit the Supercharger cluster to fill up like a gas car. The whole concept of the car always being fully charged in the morning is probably going to be the biggest change in how people look at EVs as they become more widespread. I didn't realize it myself before we started living with one. As people come to realize how this works, I think range anxiety will become less of a factor.

 

There are people who think that?  That is the #1 reason why I've wanted an EV for a few years now.

Well, there's one less now :) But really, it's how people are used to cars working. You drive them until they need to be fed, then you stop by a car feeding station. Unless you think about it (or have someone point it out), you don't realize that EVs usually work very differently. It's not so much an argument, just a "actually, it works like this" conversation.

I suspect this disconnect is one of the primary reasons people keep bringing up charging time, they assume that every one of their 10 minute gas stops will turn into a 60-90 minute wait where they have to stand beside the car. In reality, as long as your daily mileage is less than the range of the car, charging time doesn't exist.

Congrats on the new Performace, SK360! It's a very different car from a C7, that's for sure. How often do you end up autocrossing it with four people on board because everyone thinks it's funny?

Keith Tanner said:

Ian F said:

Keith Tanner said:

I ran in to one of my car buddies today and we talked about the car a bit. His first question was about charging - he assumed we had to visit the Supercharger cluster to fill up like a gas car. The whole concept of the car always being fully charged in the morning is probably going to be the biggest change in how people look at EVs as they become more widespread. I didn't realize it myself before we started living with one. As people come to realize how this works, I think range anxiety will become less of a factor.

 

There are people who think that?  That is the #1 reason why I've wanted an EV for a few years now.

Well, there's one less now :) But really, it's how people are used to cars working. You drive them until they need to be fed, then you stop by a car feeding station. Unless you think about it (or have someone point it out), you don't realize that EVs usually work very differently. It's not so much an argument, just a "actually, it works like this" conversation.

I suspect this disconnect is one of the primary reasons people keep bringing up charging time, they assume that every one of their 10 minute gas stops will turn into a 60-90 minute wait where they have to stand beside the car. In reality, as long as your daily mileage is less than the range of the car, charging time doesn't exist.

Congrats on the new Performace, SK360! It's a very different car from a C7, that's for sure. How often do you end up autocrossing it with four people on board because everyone thinks it's funny?

Thank you!  Ha, I needed the points at the end of the season (seen too many horror stories of the stock tires getting destroyed in a few runs, I wasn't going to run it at all last year) so I decided to make 1 run and see how it held up all day, only took 1 passenger that time who laughed the entire time. My 1 run was enough to win BS and get the points I needed.  The following week and last event of the year I codrove a friends GTI since I couldn't catch the next person in overall points.

I have RE71Rs in the basement ready for this season just need to grab some wheels.  I'm sure I'll be giving lots of rides.

MrChaos said:

I want a model 3 to work for me, but there are no supercharging locations near me/on my way to work/anywhere i normally go. I also cant charge at home without a complete rewire of the house and cant charge at work.

the closest supercharger is the one in Asheville but it is in the worst location for my commute.

How far is your commute?   Can't plug it in at night on 120V and be ready to go in the morning?

120v is pretty slow charging. A 20A 120V outlet will get you about 48 miles of range on a 12 hour charge. I'd take a closer look at that "rewire the whole house" thought - but there are going to be some people for whom electric just won't work, just like there are places where hydroelectric power won't work.

I do wonder how the Supercharger rollout is going. There were a bunch of clusters planned for the Denver area as well as a couple on the way there that were scheduled to come online in 2019. Looking at the map now, they're scheduled to come online in 2020. They've got to keep ahead of vehicle sales here - although as the rate of charge increases, the number of stations required per vehicle actually goes down. I'd love to see some hard numbers as to the speed of the rollout of new stations.

Fun thing - Mazda is having to recall a bunch of cars because they can have false positives in the collision detection system, which means surprise emergency braking.

If this was a Tesla, there would be a massive fuss about it even though Mazda sells more cars in the US than Tesla does. That's just the nature of conversation these days. However, if it were a Tesla, it would be fixed with an OTA software update. With the Mazda, you have to bring the car to a dealer for a fix, which to me would mean a 500 mile round trip to Denver. So maybe OTA isn't so bad.

Anyhow - to continue with the "Homelink accessory" experiment. I ordered a Homelink unit on Nov 7th. It has to be installed by a service center, of which there are none in this area. I checked with Tesla ahead of time, and they said it would be shipped to the Denver service center and then I could schedule a mobile service call to install. I would be contacted by the service center.

I waited patiently. For Christmas, I gave Janel a Hot Wheels Tesla with a garage door opener taped to the top because her Homelink hadn't arrived. It was a little sad.

Yesterday, I decided it was time for a followup. I called the Denver service center and was unable to get a person. Finally, I gave up on that phone tree and called new vehicle sales. Immediate pickup of the phone and a very helpful girl actually went to check if the part was physically in the building. It was, so now it's just up to schedule a mobile service call for installation. That has to be done via the app, and it wants to set up an appointment at the Denver service center. No answer from Tesla support on this after 24 hours, and reading the Tesla docs I guess I'm supposed to schedule an appointment (in February!) for the service center and they'll review.

So, the Denver service center dropped the ball by not contacting me when my part showed up. I'm surprised this wasn't an automated email when the part was scanned into inventory. Now Tesla is making it difficult to actually arrange the installation via mobile service instead of at a service center. Or at least, their process is a little opaque.

With a Mazda (as noted, more sales than Tesla in the US but no dealership any closer), I wouldn't have the option of a mobile service visit and I'd have to drive to Denver. With a Chebby, there's a local dealership. So the problem here isn't the lack of dealerships, it's the footprint of the manufacturer and a problem with Tesla's workaround.

What's annoying is that this is a module that used to be standard on Model 3s but was decontented. That means it's a straight plug-in that was originally designed to be installed on the assembly line. I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to perform the plug-in, which would save everyone a bunch of time. 

Appointment made, now let's see what happens.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Almost reminds me of a recall on my TDI for the brake light switch.  My options were, A: Schedule a trip to the dealer, figure out how I would get to work since VW didn't provide loaners at the time. Figure out how to get back to the dealer to get the car when it was done. Or B: Order the $6 part from an online vendor and install it myself.  

I chose B. Entire R&R process took about 15 minutes. 

Of course, part of the reason I could do this is a GRMer here worked at a VW dealer and was nice enough to email the recall procedures to me for this and one of the other recall notices I got.  

I do wonder if I could source a junkyard Homelink unit and plug it in. Would the car automatically recognize it, or does it have to be programmed to do so? Looks like they're in the $200-ish range on eBay.

I had to take my 2002 M5 to the dealer (in Denver) to have the airbag computer replaced because, while I could physically replace it, I couldn't code the rest of the car to accept it.

Honestly, if your *house* can't run 240v at all, you may have issues that buying a new car of ANY type cannot solve.

I'm surprised the supercharger network has held up with all the cars as well as it has. It wasn't until the holiday season you saw anything about lines, and even here in the midwest (where we have single-digit chargers in my city) people said it wasn't any worse than when Costco gas is cheaper than the rest- just takes longer. I wonder if they're focusing on rural territories first?

onemanarmy said:

MrChaos said:

I want a model 3 to work for me, but there are no supercharging locations near me/on my way to work/anywhere i normally go. I also cant charge at home without a complete rewire of the house and cant charge at work.

the closest supercharger is the one in Asheville but it is in the worst location for my commute.

 

How far is your commute?   Can't plug it in at night on 120V and be ready to go in the morning?

36 miles 1 way all interstate.

MrChaos said:

onemanarmy said:

MrChaos said:

I want a model 3 to work for me, but there are no supercharging locations near me/on my way to work/anywhere i normally go. I also cant charge at home without a complete rewire of the house and cant charge at work.

the closest supercharger is the one in Asheville but it is in the worst location for my commute.

 

How far is your commute?   Can't plug it in at night on 120V and be ready to go in the morning?

36 miles 1 way all interstate.

Plug in at home to get as much of a charge as possible. Head into Ashville every couple of weeks for lunch and a full charge.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I would be homelink its just power. That is how it was on my old Audi. Maybe the system is tied in more these days, but if its just the bottons on the ceiling I bet its just power.

Ha ha ha! Buttons? Son, this is a Tesla. No standalone units with something as 20th century as buttons.

It'll open the garage door when you get close to it or when you go to leave, as well as allow you to open/close via the touchscreen. The Homelink unit is a peripheral to the car, part of its OS. It's installed behind one of the front wheels inside the fender AFAIK.

In reply to SK360 :

Get back in the gto and drive away slowly.

Yellow c7 4 lyfe

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I simply cannot understand how this is not pnp.

That was a big deal what two decades ago...

Maybe it is. But I don't know for sure. I'm not sure I want to take a $180 gamble to find out.

Batteries aren't PNP in modern BMWs.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Which appears to be a sales move for sure.

Possibly a firmware update? 

Just seems like of all the things you tout the most over the air updates should cover this.

I have known sk360 for a very very long time. 

Agreed, it's technically possible to plug in a unit and have it coded OTA  to match the car. In theory. And it's possible that it's just a PnP, maybe with a reboot. In theory.

But as we know, in theory there's no difference between theory in practice. But in practice, there is. 

Keith Tanner said:

Batteries aren't PNP in modern BMWs.

It was all I could do not to embed a GIF of someone with a nervous-breakdown eye tic... I'm even more thankful that my Mini dealer found our battery to be not up to snuff and replaced it under warranty 300 miles before the warranty expired.

As this has become the place for EVs here's an article about BEVs and Che northern life. https://www.autotrader.ca/newsfeatures/20200114/what-i-learned-driving-evs-in-northern-ontario/