Am I crazy? Model Y without home charger...

[jmd2024]

I am in the market for a new car, and with the tax credits and being a nerd, I have finally begun to consider an EV. Test drove a MY last night and really liked it, but here's the catch.

I live on Staten Island, and my landlord will not be installing a charging option at home. I know there is currently one Supercharger site which is ~10 minutes away from me. The mall has a bunch of public/free chargers, but like 8kWh or some such experience. There is another SC site coming soon which I found out about on the site, and there are some SC sites between my residence and where I work (I have customers between Philadelphia and Long Island).

So here's my ask, since I know of no one around me who owns a Tesla, or any EV.

Am I crazy even considering going EV and relying on the charging infrastructure? Odds are slim I will be anywhere but here in 3 years, and odds are nil that the landlord budges on the charging. I know the prices for SC sites aren't posted, so I am curious if any of my island neighbors can indicate rough costs there, since that's my likely best bet as a frequent fill-up spot. mostly hoping to see that if I did go MY and SC, that my weekly costs would be under the 40ish dollars in gas I am spending currently. If it's 20-30 bucks, and i can do some en route work? No biggie. If it's 30-40 which is basically the cost of gas...then I get to thinking now is not Tesla time still. And, will it be an issue if I am not regularly charging to 100% (like, if its every couple weeks versus every week?)

the other vehicles I was considering are an Ioniq5, which I would be even more limited with on the island for charging, or an ICE Nissan Rogue, which may win out but my company GM is pushing hard for me to get a Y like him lol

thanks in advance!

 

[jmd2024]

You probably understand why we tried dangling our router over the balcony edge and parking the car below. But we are 200' up so it was out of range!

We also did the more logical thing of checking the WiFi networks we could see and trying to see if we knew anyone in those apartments. We did but he refused to let our car have access to his network. At the time I thought we'd only be downloading. He was right since the car also uploads info when connected (at least that's what I see from others posting about how many GB their car has uploaded to tesla overnight.)

I do wireless networking for a living, including support of some SC site WiFi...they can do some crazy traffic.

 

[LostVector]

You probably understand why we tried dangling our router over the balcony edge and parking the car below. But we are 200' up so it was out of range!

We also did the more logical thing of checking the WiFi networks we could see and trying to see if we knew anyone in those apartments. We did but he refused to let our car have access to his network. At the time I thought we'd only be downloading. He was right since the car also uploads info when connected (at least that's what I see from others posting about how many GB their car has uploaded to tesla overnight.)

A directional wifi antenna or dish should cover that distance pretty easily.

 

[stopcrazypp]

A directional wifi antenna or dish should cover that distance pretty easily.

Was going to mention the same thing. As long as there is line of sight (no walls in between), you can reach surprisingly long distances. The only problem is getting power to the router on the bottom.

 

[SidetrackedSue]

Was going to mention the same thing. As long as there is line of sight (no walls in between), you can reach surprisingly long distances. The only problem is getting power to the router on the bottom.

Yes, that's a problem except I have a 55w dc/ac converter so might be able to power it off the car. Except I just realized line of sight may not work with our new setup (we finally have one that gets through the faraday cage walls this old building uses.) I guess I need 3 routers, permanent, cat5 connected balcony (dangling because the balcony walls are concrete) and one by the car. At this point it isn't making sense (especially when you think of the operating temperature required for electronics meant to be used indoors and the fact that we spend at least 4 months of the years under 45*F here.

 

[jmd2024]

Was going to mention the same thing. As long as there is line of sight (no walls in between), you can reach surprisingly long distances. The only problem is getting power to the router on the bottom.

Reach yes. Just don't expect great speeds the further out you go.

 

[father_of_6]

Make yourself a set of cantennas. Decades ago I got my internet connection from a Pringles can.

 

[LostVector]

Yes, that's a problem except I have a 55w dc/ac converter so might be able to power it off the car. Except I just realized line of sight may not work with our new setup (we finally have one that gets through the faraday cage walls this old building uses.) I guess I need 3 routers, permanent, cat5 connected balcony (dangling because the balcony walls are concrete) and one by the car. At this point it isn't making sense (especially when you think of the operating temperature required for electronics meant to be used indoors and the fact that we spend at least 4 months of the years under 45*F here.

If you have line of sight, I’m not certain you need anything on the far end where the Tesla is.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Yes, that's a problem except I have a 55w dc/ac converter so might be able to power it off the car. Except I just realized line of sight may not work with our new setup (we finally have one that gets through the faraday cage walls this old building uses.) I guess I need 3 routers, permanent, cat5 connected balcony (dangling because the balcony walls are concrete) and one by the car. At this point it isn't making sense (especially when you think of the operating temperature required for electronics meant to be used indoors and the fact that we spend at least 4 months of the years under 45*F here.

If your car is going to be attended, there are USB powered travel routers available, you just need to find one with an antenna connection so you can swap the antenna to a directional one. I personally modified a TP link one, soldering my own antenna connector to it.

There are also routers that run off 12V, which might work on the cigarette outlet (assuming you don't have a 16V LV battery).

Others mentioned a good point that if the signal is strong enough, there is a possibility you don't even need a router on the bottom as a bridge.

 

[SidetrackedSue]

If your car is going to be attended, there are USB powered travel routers available, you just need to find one with an antenna connection so you can swap the antenna to a directional one. I personally modified a TP link one, soldering my own antenna connector to it.

There are also routers that run off 12V, which might work on the cigarette outlet (assuming you don't have a 16V LV battery).

Others mentioned a good point that if the signal is strong enough, there is a possibility you don't even need a router on the bottom as a bridge.

When we tried it, we got no signal in the car at the bottom.

Really, what I need is tesla to tell me how big each update is. If I know, I can either use up my 3GB of excess data each month there's a small download, or I can plan the hour long errand to WiFi and update. All your suggestions involve buying more stuff and as I intend to get rid of the tesla as soon as I can, it I will not put any more money into the inconvenience of owning one than I have to.

 

[LostVector]

When we tried it, we got no signal in the car at the bottom.

Really, what I need is tesla to tell me how big each update is. If I know, I can either use up my 3GB of excess data each month there's a small download, or I can plan the hour long errand to WiFi and update. All your suggestions involve buying more stuff and as I intend to get rid of the tesla as soon as I can, it I will not put any more money into the inconvenience of owning one than I have to.

I believe you're missing the detail of "with a directional antenna or dish" that is being discussed. It does not sound like this has been tried yet?

Regardless, if you are planning on getting rid of the car soon, perhaps this isn't a rabbit hole you want to go down. But wifi signals can go much further than 200' with the right equipment.

 

[father_of_6]

I intend to get rid of the tesla as soon as I can, I will not put any more money into the inconvenience of owning one than I have to.

Uhh... then just stop updating it. I haven't updated mine in at least 6 months and I plan on keeping it as long as possible.

 

[SidetrackedSue]

Uhh... then just stop updating it. I haven't updated mine in at least 6 months and I plan on keeping it as long as possible.

Not updating is not an option. First, this car is the only vehicle in this family. My husband loves it and loves that he can get a 'new car' from time to time. So I approve stable updates that will make changes we want, recalls, and new maps and major FSD updates. We don't update instantly which saves us hours of time. It has been 156 days since my last update.

Secondly, the car went in for service and so was updated by tesla as required for warranty work. The fact that update didn't actually 'take' has led to hours of distraction today as tesla pushed downloads to me over LTE for 150 minutes (it took 2 more attempts to get 2023.44.30.30 to work) and then 75 minutes of installing. Not only that but the car is once more insistent that I download the next update but when I look at the release notes it says I'm getting 2024.3.10 (which also shows as currently installed and teslifi shows a download in progress but doesn't identify the download.

 

[jmd2024]

I believe you're missing the detail of "with a directional antenna or dish" that is being discussed. It does not sound like this has been tried yet?

Regardless, if you are planning on getting rid of the car soon, perhaps this isn't a rabbit hole you want to go down. But wifi signals can go much further than 200' with the right equipment.

they can, but again, usability drops dramatically. that's physics. free space path loss, or the rules of 10s and 3s. take your pick. Can i use WiFi 200 feet away from my AP? Maybe. Will it be suboptimal? More than likely.

Also, just because the AP/router can send it out to 200 feet does not mean the client can reply back the same distance. AP and router radios are more powerful and sensitive than a client radio, by regulatory rules. It is entirely possible for an AP/router to send a signal which the client hears, and the client to send a response that the AP does not.

 

[LostVector]

they can, but again, usability drops dramatically. that's physics. free space path loss, or the rules of 10s and 3s. take your pick. Can i use WiFi 200 feet away from my AP? Maybe. Will it be suboptimal? More than likely.

Also, just because the AP/router can send it out to 200 feet does not mean the client can reply back the same distance. AP and router radios are more powerful and sensitive than a client radio, by regulatory rules. It is entirely possible for an AP/router to send a signal which the client hears, and the client to send a response that the AP does not.

You're right about the theory, but do you feel like 200 ft is a worrisome distance for WiFi over a directional antenna?

 

[jmd2024]

You're right about the theory, but do you feel like 200 ft is a worrisome distance for WiFi over a directional antenna?

Officially...it depends. And if anyone else here does wifi for a living, they will get the tongue in cheek reference.

Can you do it? It may work, but when you try to get wifi working over that distance, especially when you introduce the outside environment to it, it's never a simple yes or no.
And, all that directional does is focus the signal to one specific area. You aren't jacking up the power beyond that router/AP's limits (that would be a no no), and the client/car is still the same lower power omnidirectional sending it back.

that said, it can work for some, it can not work for others. When it works, it won't be blazing fast. WiFi was designed originally to work in the worst conditions by providing a connection. Not a fast connection, just a connection. If you want it fast, you have to get client and AP close (like, you aren't going to ever hit your router's max throughput over a distance of 200 feet). Just being clear.

But if you have clear line of sight? sure. but are there trees and bushes in the path, some or all of the year? because those can impact it. If it's raining, that can too. If you are pointing your antenna out a window, do you have some higher end windows that block UV? Because some glass has titanium in it, and that does not let RF through (like, not even a signal on the opposite side of the window). The screen, if it's there, can also impact the RF.

Admittedly, I approach this from the perspective of someone with multiple design certifications in WiFi, and I design for good customer experience and specific requirements, so i don't build a design with an AP that far away from a client. Where some on here can nerd out about electricity and EV tech, I can on the WiFi side of things. So how I would fix that challenge isn't how many would try to do it.

At the end of the day you want your client (the car) as close to the source of the wireless signal as possible for the best and most reliable connection. knowing the kind of bandwidth a tesla will pull at an SC site, the better the connection, the closer the car is to the AP, the faster the speeds, and so on and so forth.

i did try to keep it short, i swear.

 

[Physicslawyer]

For my first MY, I had free supercharging and charged exclusively 4k miles per month at a supercharger. It was about two miles from my house. I didn't mind and found it relaxing. I put the seat back and listened to music or used my phone.

(This was through Budget Long Term Rental, they gave me a new MYP with 4k/month for around $1600/month. This was when the car was 65k to 70k, or whatever craziness they charged. I had it for four or five months through them)

Now that I have a different '22 MYP that I bought, without free charging, I installed a charger at my house. It's much easier.

 

[TesLEEZ]

I am in the market for a new car, and with the tax credits and being a nerd, I have finally begun to consider an EV. Test drove a MY last night and really liked it, but here's the catch.

I live on Staten Island, and my landlord will not be installing a charging option at home. I know there is currently one Supercharger site which is ~10 minutes away from me. The mall has a bunch of public/free chargers, but like 8kWh or some such experience. There is another SC site coming soon which I found out about on the site, and there are some SC sites between my residence and where I work (I have customers between Philadelphia and Long Island).

So here's my ask, since I know of no one around me who owns a Tesla, or any EV.

Am I crazy even considering going EV and relying on the charging infrastructure? Odds are slim I will be anywhere but here in 3 years, and odds are nil that the landlord budges on the charging. I know the prices for SC sites aren't posted, so I am curious if any of my island neighbors can indicate rough costs there, since that's my likely best bet as a frequent fill-up spot. mostly hoping to see that if I did go MY and SC, that my weekly costs would be under the 40ish dollars in gas I am spending currently. If it's 20-30 bucks, and i can do some en route work? No biggie. If it's 30-40 which is basically the cost of gas...then I get to thinking now is not Tesla time still. And, will it be an issue if I am not regularly charging to 100% (like, if its every couple weeks versus every week?)

the other vehicles I was considering are an Ioniq5, which I would be even more limited with on the island for charging, or an ICE Nissan Rogue, which may win out but my company GM is pushing hard for me to get a Y like him lol

thanks in advance!

I personally wouldn't own an EV without a home charger. Supercharging all your trips will hurt your battery life expectancy, and it's not cheaper to supercharge than gasoline.

 

[Dear_OP]

Without the convenience of home charging, you might as well get an ICEV. SC is still not as fast as fueling up gas. Heck I don't even want to line-up at my local Costco pumps just to save a few bux. Time is money. The EV owning novelty will wear off quickly having to do SC every few days IMHO.

Well unless you are an environmental true believer. In that case, perhaps public transit or cycling is truly the way.

 

[Gigga]

Without the convenience of home charging, you might as well get an ICEV. SC is still not as fast as fueling up gas. Heck I don't even want to line-up at my local Costco pumps just to save a few bux. Time is money. The EV owning novelty will wear off quickly having to do SC every few days IMHO.

Well unless you are an environmental true believer. In that case, perhaps public transit or cycling is truly the way.

This comment is not consistent with my experience. As far as the environmental issue is concerned, public transportation or cycling is not a realistic or reasonable option in most of the United States, including where I live (South Florida); perhaps NYC or Boston, but for the most part, public transit is hell on earth, and you definitely can't carry much on a bicycle. Driving an electric car to mitigate pollution is in my opinion, an entirely reasonable (and smart) response to the current situation.

I understand Dear_OP is in a big hurry; this is a personal matter. I'd prefer at home charging, and hopefully in the future, but it doesn't bother me much to charge the car while I do my shopping. From the the standpoint of pure economics, there are costs other than electricity, associated with a fossil fuel car, avoided with an EV, and particularly with a Tesla. And aside from the economics and environmental beneft, I find my MY a total pleasure to drive.

I'd encourage anyone with convenient access to public charging to buy a Tesla (or a different EV if they prefer). Cars last a long time. If you don't have home charging now, perhaps in the future, and no one should miss out on the pleasure of driving an electric car if they can access public charging.