First Model 3 Highland drive planning

[SamWhu30]

I'm awaiting delivery of my M3 Highland RWD which is my first EV.

In mid February I will be driving myself and a couple of friends to Nottingham for a football match from Essex, the drive is about 150miles.

I will have to pay for parking when I get there but I was looking on an app where people rent their driveways that have EV chargers.

I have found a driveway that is £25 for 5 hours and they have a 7kw charger and the other option would be using the superchargers that are on route or using the supercharger that is really close to the stadium which I could park at as we arrive for 20 mins or so and then move to a car park, but there's always a chance that on the match day it's going to be busy.

In the 5 hours that my car would be on the drive I could get about 80% charge (according to my calculations) which would cost about £17.50 on a supercharger, meaning that the parking would cost about £7.50 which isn't bad considering how close it is to my destination and haven't got the worry of people hitting your car in a busy car park. Obviously depending on how much battery I use on the way up there I might not even need 80% charge.

I'm unsure what would be the best thing to do? I don't want it to feel like a lot of hassle for the passengers as I'm not used to EV driving and charging. I'm assuming that getting to Nottingham will be fine without charging on the way (I take it that the cold weather and 70mph roads won't kill the battery that much that I can't do 150 miles)

What are peoples thoughts?

TIA

 

[WannabeOwner]

Do they literally just give it to you and that’s it?

Oh dear. Were you expecting more than that?

Basically, yes.

You have to sign their Tablet, and the act of doing that "enables" the car. Up until then you can check it, get in, turn everything on, config it (I think). But you can't drive-it-away. Not sure what their current procedure is - they may ask you to sign at the outset (you show them your ID (never been asked for proof of payment, but worth having that with you too, I've only ever paid cash so dunno about Lease etc.), they give you the key-card). But I have had "Have a look at the car first" as well. Either way is fine, they aren't going to fix anything (its just a multi-storey carpark). But if you sign, move to charger, and then inspect you can still register a fault (and for the first hundred miles or so afterwards.

But ... if you can't figure something out then there are people on hand to help - "ish"

I've collected a car from Bluewater. There were 2 guys there (so minimal "support") at a rickety wooden table in the open air on level-2 of a multi storey carpark. I counted around 200 new parked cars as I left ... I know that Tesla have also used the top level at times, because people have complained that their car was covered in Sahara sand (and had been "washed" with a dry cloth ) so they may shift more than 200-a-day there.

I have also collected from Staines, and they had a similar number of cars (in an open air derelict"! parking lot - at least the reception staff there had a tent (I kid you not) to work from). Plenty of bright-young-things floating around to help out (we had a problem getting Mobile Connection from the car - "pilot-error" though)

I’ve had it before when picking up a new car and the dealer tells you every small detail about the car which is great but can be a bit tedious, this is going the complete opposite direction

2015 my first Model-S it was in the showroom, they whipped the sheet off and did the whole TaDa! thing. And spent an hour going through everything one-to-one (and I needed most of that as there was a lot of not-seen-that-before stuff)

June 2019 I had one of the very first Model-3 in UK, it was like the start of La Mons with them lined up (inside the warehouse they had bought next to the original Heathrow service centre). There was a power-point presentation to a dozen or two people (every 30 minutes or so, they were shifting 100-a-day even then, but now Bluewater / Staines do at least 200-a-day at peak). Much better than your (and my) experience of dealers over the years, ad the chap had been trained to make that presentation, whereas the dealers I have had in the past have varied from very-good to I-know-more-than-you.

Then I picked up a new MS (them's a lot of money, compared to an M3) ... and got the same M3 PowerPoint presentation ...

Then they dispensed with PowerPoint and went to "Here's the keys, now buzz off 'coz we have a car transporter arriving in 10 minutes and need the space" ...

If you can take an existing owner with you I think that would be worthwhile. Otherwise watching the videos, before you go, will do. Its taken me at least an hour to go through everything when I have taken-a-mate for his first Tesla (and those mates have invariable done-same for their mates ... recognising the benefit)

 

[spdpsba]

You have to sign their Tablet,

No signing now a days. You just complete your app formalities that is it and you can go. You can leave in 2 minutes if you do not want to check the car