Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

New member with questions

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hi all,

I'm thinking of ordering but wanted to get a couple questions answered.

1. Are there any hidden charges related to purchasing? I'm expecting HST, but is there anything weird, like duty or customs charges that will arrive unexpectedly later?

2. do I really need the Winter package? It seems a bit silly since I would rarely have rear passengers and i park in a garage both at home and the office. I can presumably warm the car up from the remote app, so heater wipers seem gimmicky to me. Happy to hear opinions.

3. How accurate is the range. For the Ottawa guys, is it possible to drive to Pembroke (~180kms each way) and back on a single charge?

4. Would a P85D ordered now include LTE or still 3G?

These might be basic questions but I'm totally new to the potential EV experience

Steve
 
1. No hidden charges. A few extras that you should expect like license plate charge, etc. But nothing substantial. BTW, I'm from TO. The Toronto store staff is really good at telling you everything re Canada and Ontario. I would call them or the Montreal store.

2. I have the winter package. I like the heated seats and steering wheel. Probably not necessary but most owners from northern climates (including US tend to purchase it. You are right that the car can be pre-warmed - and it heats up quickly. I have heard that if you are trying to extend range it is more efficient to heat the seats and keep the cabin temp a bit lower.

3. Range is greatly affected in cold weather - especially when you originally head out and the battery is cold. It takes about 20 minutes to warm up unless you do that by last-minute charging of the car about 20 minutes before you head out. You could do that trip return in the summer if you are careful with the speed, but in the winter you would definitely need to recharge in Pembroke.

4. Don't know this answer. Store staff can tell you. P85D gets less range though than S85D.

Love my car!
 
1. As from Biker.

2. No, in my opinion. I have no evidence that it does much. Just gone through a S. Ont. winter without it. I consider it a questionable frill.

3. As from Biker. Even the summer trip depends on terrain, however. Although you would be going up and down to the same amount (physically nothing else is possible), the efficiency of the battery goes down more when you go uphill than it goes up when you go downhill.

4. I doubt that LTE is coming to Canada in this car any time soon, for a few reasons. Anyhow, Elon Musk seems to have announced it generally in 2013, so…yes, ask Tesla in Toronto. I'm not sure that the car needs 4G or even LTE (the former not enough of an upgrade), and there's the question of having to pay for data access beyond 3G. Still, one day 3G will be gone…
 
The rear heated seats are great for my kids and get a lot of use. For me, it's one of the most important options because I often don't need heat, and they do, and it's so much better than heating the entire cabin. But if you don't have passengers in the back then you probably don't need it. The heater wipers really should be called a heated windshield since it is just a heating element on the wipers (embedded in the windshield) when they are at the resting stage of the windshield. It's good for melting ice and snow after thaw/freeze cycles when wipers can freeze to the windshield but if you're garage parking most of the time you won't need it. I missed out on the heated steering wheel.

I wouldn't be surprised if all new Model S's rolling off the line now have LTE capability. My Leaf is still on 2G!
 
The heated wipers are pretty much useless but I have used the heated steering wheel every time I have driven the car. The heated rear seats have only been used occasionally and don't help if you have a child <8 since they will be in booster or car seats.
 
Steve, welcome to the forum!

About #3: I drove from Ottawa to North Bay without a stop last Fall and had about 80km left over, and Pembroke is quite a bit less than half way, so the return trip is definitely doable. In winter, though, 360km is pushing it. You'd be better to have a meal or stay at the Pembroke Best Western hotel where they have a 48A Sun Country Highway charging station. You don't have to charge completely, just add enough to get home safely, until the car shows say 250km of rated range.

If you're still not sure about ordering, go for it - literally the best car ever!
 
Steve, welcome to the forum! Just my 2 cents on #3; if you frequent Pembroke and that is your family, relatives or you own the location, you could install a charger there and you'll be fine. You just do your stuff there while the car is charging.
One of the beauties of electric car is that the charger is cheap and easy to install.
 
Thanks everyone. This has been a great help - happy to see such a vibrant community around the Tesla.

Just need to figure out if I want the regular 85D or if I want to spend the big bucks for the "go fast" P85D. Leaning towards the latter for the cool factor, but I think any Tesla is pretty cool relative to other cars and saving money is always a good thing.

Peter_M and hiroshiy, regarding charging, my parents happen to have an unused dryer receptacle just inside the door from their garage, so I could probably donate a short 220v extension to them and charge enough to get home over a couple of hours. By my calculations it wouldn't take too long to put enough charge back into the car to get back to civilization.
 
Thanks everyone. This has been a great help - happy to see such a vibrant community around the Tesla.

Just need to figure out if I want the regular 85D or if I want to spend the big bucks for the "go fast" P85D. Leaning towards the latter for the cool factor, but I think any Tesla is pretty cool relative to other cars and saving money is always a good thing.

Peter_M and hiroshiy, regarding charging, my parents happen to have an unused dryer receptacle just inside the door from their garage, so I could probably donate a short 220v extension to them and charge enough to get home over a couple of hours. By my calculations it wouldn't take too long to put enough charge back into the car to get back to civilization.

That's great, and you're almost set. Dryer outlets are typically 30A so you can safely draw 24A continuous, that means at 220V you'll get around 5kW. That's approximately 25km per hour, so:
Round trip 360km x 1.3 buffer = 468
468 - 380 = 88
So in summer you can do roundtrip and anything you charge in Pembroke is a safety margin. In winter you need to at least charge 100km worth of range there, that means 4 hours with your dryer socket. With P85D you might need more.

Also I would recommend to have an electrician check the wiring before serious winter, as you would be relying on it and would like to keep it safe.
 
On the dryer outlet ... you might not need any extension as you get a charging cable and 220V adapter with the Tesla.

On P85D ... that's what I have. I have never had anything closest to the fastest car on the road before, and I love it. Two negatives to consider; you get a little less range (not total agreement out on the forums, but think between 5 and 10%), there is much less space in the frunk (although I am not sure what the frunk difference is between the S85D and the P85D).

The regular S85 is also pretty powerful and quick off the start, but I have had a few loaners that are not dual drive this past winter and I really do prefer the dual motors in the snow.

If you can afford this car, you can't go wrong though. It is awesome - any flavour, any colour.
 
The Tesla adapter will not fit the 30A dryer outlet unless you saw off the neutral blade.
 

Attachments

  • 240Vreceptacles.jpg
    240Vreceptacles.jpg
    111 KB · Views: 181
On P85D ... that's what I have. I have never had anything closest to the fastest car on the road before, and I love it. Two negatives to consider; you get a little less range (not total agreement out on the forums, but think between 5 and 10%), there is much less space in the frunk (although I am not sure what the frunk difference is between the S85D and the P85D).
/QUOTE]

Well even if I got the regular 85 it would still have a "D" so the frunk will be smaller regardless. Previous to my Macan I had a Cayman S, so smaller frunk space would still be "acreage" relative to that :smile:
 
I wouldn't recommend that, since the 14-50 adaptor tells the car that it's OK to charge at up to 40A, so you could blow the breaker (or worse) unless you're careful to reduce the current to 24A every time you use it. A better option is to buy the 10-30 adaptor and get an adaptor or extension cord made up with a 10-30 receptacle at one end and a 14-30 plug at the other end. See http://cosmacelf.net/Home Made Adapters.pdf for details.

I wouldn't have to hack anything. My parents' place also has an unused 14-50 stove plug in the same general vicinity. I just need to get/make a short extension cord to get it out to the garage. My father is a retired electrical guy so I already have all he help I need on-site. :smile:
 
The Tesla adapter will not fit the 30A dryer outlet unless you saw off the neutral blade.

I wouldn't recommend that, since the 14-50 adaptor tells the car that it's OK to charge at up to 40A, so you could blow the breaker (or worse) unless you're careful to reduce the current to 24A every time you use it. A better option is to buy the 10-30 adaptor and get an adaptor or extension cord made up with a 10-30 receptacle at one end and a 14-30 plug at the other end. See http://cosmacelf.net/Home%20Made%20Adapters.pdf for details.

- - - Updated - - -

Just need to figure out if I want the regular 85D or if I want to spend the big bucks for the "go fast" P85D. Leaning towards the latter for the cool factor, but I think any Tesla is pretty cool relative to other cars and saving money is always a good thing.

You'll hear lots of opinions on both sides of this, but I drove the P85D last week and I came away thinking the acceleration was truly awesome, but not at all wishing I had it, particularly given the incremental cost. It's just way more than I would ever want or need on the roads. The S85 is still impressively fast off the start and can accelerate to pass on a highway very quickly and effortlessly. As for dual-motor, if it had been available when I bought my car, I might have got it for winter driving, but now that I've driven the RWD version through two winters, I don't think I'd pay that incremental cost either. The RWD version has been excellent in Ottawa winters.

Everyone's priorities are different, but for me, the 85 is an awesome car for a lot less money than the 85D or P85D. AWD adds some comfort in winter, especially if you do a lot of driving on poorly-cleared roads, and to me P85D is really just to show the amazing things you can do with an electric car.
 
You'll hear lots of opinions on both sides of this, but I drove the P85D last week and I came away thinking the acceleration was truly awesome, but not at all wishing I had it, particularly given the incremental cost. It's just way more than I would ever want or need on the roads.

We must have crossed paths last week since I was at the same Ottawa event. Now less than a week later I have a buyer for my 11 month old Porsche and I am building an endless number of Tesla configurations. :biggrin:

The sensless 20 year old in me is screaming for the P85D, but the 50 year old in me is saying "Now son, let's not do something stupid". I hate that old guy voice in my head, but as you pointed out, there really isn't much need to break the speed limit in 3 seconds.
 
In the regular S85, the speed and acceleration are already more than I need. I don't get the massive need for massive speed thing, and when I was 20, I wouldn't have gotten it either. I'm also not interested in wearing out my tires every few months.