Educating other Model S owners

TexasEV · Aug 3, 2014

Apparently there are some Model S owners out there who don't read TMC or belong to local owners groups, and may not have even read the entire owners manual, so they don't know what it is they don't know about the car. We can help by educating the Tesla driving community when we encounter such an owner. For example, today I was at the Columbus, TX supercharger and said hello to the one other driver there. We started talking and he was telling me about how slow the supercharging is when he sits in the car with the air conditioning running. I said I didn't think the A/C made much difference, and he showed me how the charge rate was so much less than he'd gotten other times. What I saw first was the rated range of 263 miles! He had heard of the rate tapering, but didn't think about it and didn't understand how slow the last 5 or 10% of charging is. More importantly, he was still operating in the gas station "fill 'er up" mode and he didn't need to be sitting there complaining about slow charging, because he was heading to the San Marcos supercharger 93 miles away before going home only 30 miles from there! It never occurred to him to charge less than fully even if he was going to another supercharger less than half the range away. He said it made perfect sense when I explained it, he just never thought about it that way.

He also wasn't aware of superchargers being paired and how to try to avoid one based on that. Also he was just living with his home 14-50 charging at only 30A, not realizing it meant there was a problem somewhere.

Now I'm wondering who is the more typical owner, him or me?

bollar · Aug 3, 2014

TexasEV said:
Now I'm wondering who is the more typical owner, him or me?

He is, by far, and growing.

blc1017 · Aug 3, 2014

I encountered a gentleman and his family at the Corning supercharger on our way to Oregon. He had had the car six weeks; he told me he was at zero range (traveling from Berkeley) by the time he arrived at Corning. I sat with him in his car and explained how he could calculate actual remaining range, and also optimal driving to conserve energy. The forums are incredibly useful places for this kind of information, and I recall picking up my car and being given the recommendation by the service specialist about joining the forums. No need...as an early adopter, I was voracious about getting any information I could while I waited for my car.

Larry93428 · Aug 3, 2014

One of the reasons given for Tesla's sales concept is that they can train the new-to-EV owner, while the auto dealer system has not the interest or capability. Tremendous growth is predicted, there are going to be very many new owners. Tesla had better make the system more intuitive and have classes.
I certainly was not prepared by Tesla for the challenges I confronted, especially levels 1 and 2 and ChadeMo.
3 months now and I am still fighting the user interface.
Tesla needs to give better tutoring.

Ssssly · Aug 3, 2014

Wrt to charging, perhaps simple signage from Tesla's site posted at the charger would help.

TexasEV · Aug 3, 2014

Larry93535 said:
One of the reasons given for Tesla's sales concept is that they can train the new-to-EV owner, while the auto dealer system has not the interest or capability. Tremendous growth is predicted, there are going to be very many new owners. Tesla had better make the system more intuitive and have classes.
I certainly was not prepared by Tesla for the challenges I confronted, especially levels 1 and 2 and ChadeMo.
3 months now and I am still fighting the user interface.
Tesla needs to give better tutoring.

What fights are you having with the user interface? What is your challenge with charging? Post your questions here, there are lots of owners willing to help.
By the way if you have a VIN in the 30,000's, you do not have Signature Red. That was the dark red color of the early Signature cars. You have Multi-coat red.

brianman · Aug 3, 2014

"Educating other Model S owners"

The #1 thing we can do to educate Model S owners that aren't already here is to send them here. I make a point of that in every supercharger conversation. Something like "are you on TMC?" If the answer is "yes, I'm ___" then I've put a face to a name. If the answer is "No", then I've provided the most useful source for concentrated Tesla knowledge that I've found.

Wattson · Aug 3, 2014

brianman, I agree that TMC can be a great resource for owners, and I too send people this way when they have not heard of it. As Tesla grows larger, they will be selling to non-enthusiast drivers. I believe these non-enthusiast drivers need info from Tesla directly.

I propose that a "map" of the Supercharger be a pop-up on the 17" with outline of the stalls colored:

Green = Plug in at this stall for 100% capability of the supercharger. Most will understand the green color as a preferred option.
Amber = Plug in at this stall for less than 100% capability (the supercharger cabinet is already in use by another stall) Most will understand amber as a second choice option.
Red = Supercharger stall off-line. No power at this plug.

On my recent road trip I encountered several non-enthusiast Model S owners who plugged in at the shared plug to my Model S and took some of my power. I even politely educated them, and in several cases they just ignored me.

Bardlebee · Aug 3, 2014

bollar said:
He is, by far, and growing.

I agree with this sentiment. I think most owners have a lot of money and with that money they can make a purchasing decision such as the Model S on a simple whim. New flavor of the week attitude comes to mind. I was discussing with a store manager about this topic and she said its about fifty fifty if the people picking up the car know what they are getting into. Some have a lot of money and just buy on a whim and some buy with knowledge, money or no.

Not being derogatory about the "making it rain" context I am throwing down here, plenty of people with many can ALSO be fanatics and know everything. But its clear that someone who was stretching for this car would definitely know everything about it before going for it, unlike those who didn't.

MikeC · Aug 3, 2014

Wattson said:
On my recent road trip I encountered several non-enthusiast Model S owners who plugged in at the shared plug to my Model S and took some of my power. I even politely educated them, and in several cases they just ignored me.

My understanding is the person that plugs in first gets as much power as they can take and the second person only gets what's left over.

yobigd20 · Aug 4, 2014

MikeC said:
My understanding is the person that plugs in first gets as much power as they can take and the second person only gets what's left over.

yes I believe thats the way it works too. nobody can "steal your power". if you started charging first you got all the power you need and the other guy's is capped and has to wait for more power until yours starts tapering down and his then starts to taper up to his max.

mgboyes · Aug 4, 2014

yobigd20 said:
yes I believe thats the way it works too. nobody can "steal your power". if you started charging first you got all the power you need and the other guy's is capped and has to wait for more power until yours starts tapering down and his then starts to taper up to his max.

My understanding is that the first vehicle is guaranteed 90kW (which is equivalent to "nobody can steal your power" for 90kW v1 supercharger cabinets) if they can use it, and the second car gets whatever's left. So on a 120kW or 135kW cabinet you can be running at 120kW and drop down to 90kW when a second car plugs in (but this isn't a huge hassle as achieving 120kW is a fairly short-lived situation anyway since it quickly tapers off).

- - - Updated - - -

TexasEV said:
What fights are you having with the user interface? What is your challenge with charging? Post your questions here, there are lots of owners willing to help.
By the way if you have a VIN in the 30,000's, you do not have Signature Red. That was the dark red color of the early Signature cars. You have Multi-coat red.

You're probably right about this vehicle, but FYI there are now sig red cars in the UK with VINs in the 35000 - 42000 range

Wattson · Aug 4, 2014

yobigd20 said:
yes I believe thats the way it works too. nobody can "steal your power". if you started charging first you got all the power you need and the other guy's is capped and has to wait for more power until yours starts tapering down and his then starts to taper up to his max.

As others have said "took some power" is a bit dramatic. But it is true, when I arrive at 20 rated miles left my car is able to pull 120kW. And when someone arrives immediately after me, they reduce my power to 90kW. It delayed me a few minutes. No big deal. More important was they didn't listen to my suggestions they move so THEIR power level would be higher.

Lawsteve · Aug 4, 2014

Funny timing on this thread. I was at the Port St Lucie supercharger yesterday on the way home to Tampa. There was another model S there when I arrived. Didn't make a note of the station number he was on when I parked, so before I plugged in I asked him which number he was on. His response was "oh, does that make a difference?" I politely explained, and then moved on to a nice snack at the nearby TGI Fridays restaurant (using the 25% Tesla discount I learned about on this site).

Vip · Aug 4, 2014

I was at the Supercharger at Highland Park over the weekend. This lady pulls up while we are charging. First she has trouble backing up into the space and parks so far away from the charger that the cord doesn't reach. Then when she gets back in the car to back up she nearly takes out the charger! Then she opens the trunk and starts taking out the UMC but later realizes she doesn't need it.

NigelM · Aug 4, 2014

Vip said:
Then she opens the trunk and starts taking out the UMC but later realizes she doesn't need it.

You should have offered some help (educating other owners and all that); I've had owners (supercharger virgins) ask me what they have to do when they get to a supercharger, it's not obvious for folks who've never even seen a supercharger before.

Larry93428 · Aug 4, 2014

TexasEV said:
What fights are you having with the user interface? What is your challenge with charging? Post your questions here, there are lots of owners willing to help.
By the way if you have a VIN in the 30,000's, you do not have Signature Red. That was the dark red color of the early Signature cars. You have Multi-coat red.

Hi Texas and All
Thank you.
There was no introduction to charging from Tesla. I got my garages wired for 220 OK and was fine at home but was ignorant about public charging. Again, with the mass of new owners coming, Tesla is going to have to do a lot of training.
.
I am still struggling with the right thumb wheel. Right now I have been asking over at :
Tomorrow on Fox News... (kidding) Road Debris
about the energy graph. It was on the demo car, is not in the Owner's Manual and I can't get it up. Not being an cell user, the many happy features on the 17" are new to me, still plowing through them but having a good time doing it.
.
I got the color corrected. A miss-understanding on my part.
.
I love this car, the First Successful Electric Car. I saw the First Big Step For Mankind and now another giant one!
~Larry

Vip · Aug 4, 2014

Nigel, She was there with another female friend who pulled the supercharger cord out at the same time so there was really no time for me to help her. I would have been happy to help if I felt she was not doing anything correctly.

tomas · Aug 4, 2014

Larry93535 said:
Hi Texas and All
Thank you.
There was no introduction to charging from Tesla. I got my garages wired for 220 OK and was fine at home but was ignorant about public charging. Again, with the mass of new owners coming, Tesla is going to have to do a lot of training.
.
I am still struggling with the right thumb wheel. Right now I have been asking over at :
Tomorrow on Fox News... (kidding) Road Debris
about the energy graph. It was on the demo car, is not in the Owner's Manual and I can't get it up. Not being an cell user, the many happy features on the 17" are new to me, still plowing through them but having a good time doing it.
.
I got the color corrected. A miss-understanding on my part.
.
I love this car, the First Successful Electric Car. I saw the First Big Step For Mankind and now another giant one!
~Larry

Larry is correct. Compulsory training is right first step. Forum is nice, for those of us who have time or know it well, but think about trying to navigate with the current search function and all of the flotsam and jetsam of a zillion posts when all you need is primer or answer to question at hand???

Yes there's RTFM and RTFWS which has most of this info, but most people do not take the time.

Unfortunately, IMHO Tesla delivery specialists are not qualified to teach a course, nor could you expect them to be. Only someone who owns/lives with car day-to-day could do it effectively. Maybe a small group of us "experienced owners" should self-organize, prepare a primer course, and fly it past to Tesla to see if they would allow TMC to operate newbie training sessions at service centers. That would get Tesla Motors out of legal implications as well. If they don't want to do it, we could post as sticky on forum. Happy to organize, so interested vets plz PM me.

brianman · Aug 4, 2014

Vip said:
First she has trouble backing up into the space and parks so far away from the charger that the cord doesn't reach.

One thing I've picked up at track events, is that it's often extremely effective and appreciated to offer to assist with parking. No judgements, no chuckling. Just hand signals can go a long way in helping people park more quickly and properly, and also helps "burn off" some "waiting for my charge" time.

As an example, I met a guy at Ellensburg who never heard of TMC (so I educated him

) and was making note of his difficulties (new to this vehicle) with parking backwards. Led to an interesting discussion about the vehicle shape, and the good/bad of cameras vs. "natural" rear visibility, etc.

He also didn't know about the numbering system and had issues with the second stall (I forget it's number @ Ellensburg) -- which on multiple occassions I've had trouble getting to work.

Charging efficiency can definitely be a team sport.

Educating other Model S owners

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