Subtle Changes to Model S Design Studio 7-24-2015

Interesting that Tesla seems to be saying that air suspension increases range. That sounds strange to me.

Perhaps they are hanging onto that slight advantage of lowering the car at highway speed... Hard to see what else it could be...

Air suspension in max range is probably a bug. If you start a new design studio session and select max range, it doesn't show air suspension. But when you select max performance and then change it back to max range, it shows air suspension.

tstafford said:

Interesting that Tesla seems to be saying that air suspension increases range. That sounds strange to me.

Click to expand...

They don't. If the air suspension is selected (like, if you tried "max performance") before you press on "max range", it'll stay. But the "max range" button does not select the air suspension for you.

ArtInCT said:

Any other things different that I may have missed?

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The year in the post title? :tongue:

Prices remain the same, it appears.

spottyq said:

They don't. If the air suspension is selected (like, if you tried "max performance") before you press on "max range", it'll stay. But the "max range" button does not select the air suspension for you.

Click to expand...

Ahh. That`s exactly what I did.

tstafford said:

Interesting that Tesla seems to be saying that air suspension increases range. That sounds strange to me.

Click to expand...

the auto lowering of suspension at highway speeds decreases drag, therefore increasing range.

They've always said that, but never quantified it.

tstafford said:

Interesting that Tesla seems to be saying that air suspension increases range. That sounds strange to me.

Click to expand...

Air suspension lowered at highway speeds was found to be about 1% better in some of Bjorn Nyland's videos.

I noticed a problem with the new Max Range and Max Performance buttons. When you open the design studio, 19" wheels are selected. When you click on Max Range still 19" wheels are selected. That makes sense because in a blog post JB Straubel said 19" wheels provide 3% more range. Then when you click on Max Performance, 21" wheels are selected. That makes also sense because in the same blog post JB said 21" wheels provide the best performance and handling. However when you then go back and click on Max Range button again, the 21" wheels remain selected although they were not selected the last the time this button was clicked. This is obviously a design error. I would contact Tesla and report this problem but in the past I reported many website problem and none were fixed and all the messages I sent were redirected to sales people who have no control over website issues. So if anybody from Tesla is reading this, I wish you would add "Website Feedback" to the topic list on this contact form.

Update: Same problem with smart air suspension. When you click Max Range, it is not selected but when you click Max Performance and then click Max Range again, the previous selection doesn't clear and it remains selected.

Matteo said:

Same problem with smart air suspension. When you click Max Range, it is not selected but when you click Max Performance and then click Max Range again, the previous selection doesn't clear and it remains selected.

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I don't think that's an error. Air suspension has so little effect on range, it doesn't matter if it's selected or deselected when you press max range. Not re-selecting 19" tires is an error though.

donv said:

They've always said that, but never quantified it.

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In one of Bjørn's videos, he did some tests and came to the conclusion that it was a relatively small difference. IIRC, ~1%-2%.

Brass Guy said:

I don't think that's an error. Air suspension has so little effect on range

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It might have little effect on range but it has $2500 effect on price. What you said would be true if air suspension was free. Right now the same button shows two different prices depending on order of sequence in pressing the button. $2500 of that price difference is because of air suspension. To clarify:

Open design studio > click on Max Range > Price = $88,000
Open design studio > click on Max Performance > click on Max Range > Price = $95,000

Somebody opening that page, playing around and then pressing on Max range would see $95,000. They would think "that is a lot of money to get the maximum range version, oh well I better check out the new Porsche models." You don't need to spend $95,000 to get Max range. That's the error. I think most people would agree that the same button performing two different tasks is a design error. In the first instance the website is telling the user air suspension is not needed for Max Range. In the second instance it is telling air suspension is needed.

Air suspension has so little effect on range, it doesn't matter if it's selected or deselected

Click to expand...

That is what you are saying. But the website says air suspension is needed for Max range. That's what it means when that option is selected when you press Max Range button. However it sometimes also says it is not needed for Max range. Therefore the website contradicts what it says at different times.

At this point an interesting question comes to mind. Which of these is better for Tesla?
A) Correcting mistakes Tesla makes that have a negative effect on user experience.
B) Finding reasons or explanations for mistakes Tesla makes.
I think I prefer A but I understand there is a tendency in this forum towards B even though this is bad for Tesla IMO.

tstafford said:

Interesting that Tesla seems to be saying that air suspension increases range. That sounds strange to me.

Click to expand...

Air suspension will make about a 0.3% difference in range. Thats it!

donv said:

They've always said that, but never quantified it.

Click to expand...

Air suspension makes a big difference if you have a steep driveway. As a bonus it makes exiting and entering easier.

detlefo said:

Air suspension makes a big difference if you have a steep driveway. As a bonus it makes exiting and entering easier.

Click to expand...

This is the main reason I opted for it with mine (in addition to better snow clearance)...
Thanks for mentioning the entering/exiting ease, too... was really curious about that.

Air suspension does increase range by lowering the car and decreasing drag. It is a great until it breaks and then you could be looking at a $4,000 to a $8,000 repair bill depending on how many struts have to be replaced.

Today the error with the Max Range button has changed but not in a good way. It is now worse.

Yesterday 24 Jul 2015
Open design studio......................................> click on Max Range > Price = $88,000 (includes just 5 kWh upgrade)
Open design studio > click on Max Performance > click on Max Range > Price = $95,000 (includes 5 kWh upgrade + 21" wheels + air suspension)

Today 25 Jul 2015
Open design studio......................................> click on Max Range > Price = $88,000 (includes just 5 kWh upgrade)
Open design studio > click on Max Performance > click on Max Range > Price = $97,500 (includes 5 kWh upgrade + 21" wheels + air suspension + autopilot)

Correct version should be
Open design studio......................................> click on Max Range > Price = $88,000 (includes just 5 kWh upgrade)
Open design studio > click on Max Performance > click on Max Range > Price = $88,000 (includes just 5 kWh upgrade)

The downside with this error is that, some people are not very technically minded. They might think Tesla keeps changing what you need to get maximum range. Instead recognizing that this is a browser cache issue and incorrect javascript programming, they might think Tesla is playing with the options. Especially if somebody visits the site on different days and sees different prices for the same button, it would look like Tesla is changing their mind about what you need to get maximum range. The design studio already looks like it is trying to trick you with the prices after savings. These errors don't help.