Get Amped Tour: Seattle, 7/6 - 7/8

[BriansTesla]

My wife and I had our test drive on Saturday in the 11:00 slot in the black performance model. Overall, we were very impressed with the looks, fit and finish and the comfort front and back. Requires a good duck to get in but lots of headroom for the driver once seated.

First driving impression was of a very quiet interior and amazing acceleration (my wife says I gave her whiplash). I have driven a few cars as fast but none that accelerate so smoothly. Our copilot said to drive over the potholes to feel the suspension, which I did until one made a nasty sound so I stopped that.

I said I wanted to try a panic stop, did that but the copilot didn't seem to appreciate it and after a discussion about wear and tear on the car he admitted his stomach couldn't handle it. I felt the brakes to be adequate but not as inspiring as the acceleration. I think the brakes could be improved and I think it could be done with regen.

I understand that Roadster drivers like the accel-decel of their go pedals but I think the Model S is a different car and needs to drive with subtlety and to me this means it needs to coast without effort on the part of the driver. I would also like the regen to be regulated by the brake pedal and to be able to put back lots more energy into the batteries than with the current programming.

Having had a lot of experience with different cars and in particular with electric conversions, I believe the word which best describes the way to efficient operation is "coasting". It is simply the way to the least energy consumption. In hypermiling, you avoid stops at the bottom of hills, use the brakes as little as possible, and regen as much as you can if you have to slow down. Kinetic energy (speed) and potential energy (altitude) are king.

Here is a video without much interesting other that the copilots discussion of my panic stop and his hand floating as we accelerated away.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

that's funny - I saw the panic stop and his excuse :wink: Not too much of a panic stop though
I did my panic stop from 110 (full car) they are probably trying to make the brakes and tires last for a couple more weeks!

 

[nleggatt]

Regarding the wine. I heard it as well and it was told it was the sound of the inverter as a result of alot demand put on it. Was only there for a second.

 

[TEG]

I thought motor and drive-train noise was extremely well controlled. From what I can tell, my LEAF has more motor / inverter noise than Model S. On the other hand, Model S has a hint of tire noise and wind noise. It is a very quiet car, but targeting a segment where silence is expected...

 

[Todd Burch]

I waited for an opening and came down hard on the accelerator to quickly merge into traffic. I was shocked when the car moved much slower than I was expecting and a whine emitted from behind the center of the dashboard (not the back). The stability/traction control must have kicked in and it severely limited the acceleration until we were going in a straight line. It was way too heavy handed.

Any chance there was a bump or slick spot on he turn that caused the wheels to lose contact for a moment?

If it really is too aggressive, at least it can be improved with a firmware update in your garage!

 

[Discoducky]

Any chance there was a bump or slick spot on he turn that caused the wheels to lose contact for a moment?

If it really is too aggressive, at least it can be improved with a firmware update in your garage!

I believe there was if this is the turn back onto Aurora with the turn onto Dexter afterward. I noticed a similar delay only because there was a splatter of asphalt and some minor gravel from the repaving of Aurora. My recollection is that when I floored it, making that right 90 degree turn, as soon as the rear tires were both on Aurora it was rocketship time. Then I aimed for the 3 manhole covers (I drove the course beforehand to compare how my frontwheel drive car handled the same route) which the Model S ate up as we hit 60MPH. I feel there is a good balance of traction control while aggressively turning from a stopped position. IMHO :biggrin:

 

[iridium]

I was there as well and posted by thoughts at the link below.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the pacific blue model in person since it was charging at the time. Does anyone happen to have pictures of the one at the event?

http://bit.ly/NzZpgD

 

[VolkerP]

Sorry for the Off Topic. :redface:

Mate, great that you chime in on a discussion of regenerative breaking in a Model S Seattle test drive thread! You seem to follow the Model S launch very closely. I think your first hand experiences on regen are very welcome on this forum. Mods, would you consider moving the discussion to the Model S regen thread?

 

[Francis Lau]

Why couldn't the Seattle test drive route be like this one? :biggrin:

 

[AnOutsider]

Mate, great that you chime in on a discussion of regenerative breaking in a Model S Seattle test drive thread! You seem to follow the Model S launch very closely. I think your first hand experiences on regen are very welcome on this forum. Mods, would you consider moving the discussion to the Model S regen thread?

Posts about regen went here, I tried to keep as many relevant posts in this thread as possible.

 

[teslasguy]

Why couldn't the Seattle test drive route be like this one? :biggrin:

I'm pretty sure this is how the DC course will be setup! ;-)
Amazing video. Saw it yesterday and had to watch it again today.

 

[Brian H]

Hey, Vegi. Welcome to the forums. When the system lets you, can you add your # to your signature (bottomof your posts) or your profile (or whatever it's called; to the left of your posts)? Thanks!

Um, yours isn't there, brianman.
:biggrin:

 

[brianman]

Um, yours isn't there, brianman.
:biggrin:

Mine's far less interesting. Re-read the part I quoted from his post. It sounds like he's probably a single-digit.

 

[Brian H]

This assumes the regen system can exert enough motor drag to reach the friction threshold of the contact patches. Given that there is a limit to the amount of energy the motor can dump back into the batteries when operating as a generator in regen mode, I thought it was significantly less than that.

I think it's the max; a rep responded to a suggestion the regen be stronger by saying that with the greater weight of the car (vs the Roadster, e.g.) the max the system could handle was being fed from the regen without the tires breaking loose. IIRC

 

[Brian H]

Why couldn't the Seattle test drive route be like this one? :biggrin:

Yikes! I wonder how many sets of tires they burned thru in that shoot?

That's more drifting and donuts in one video than I've seen lifetime live plus on film.

 

[gocken2]

I think it's the max; a rep responded to a suggestion the regen be stronger by saying that with the greater weight of the car (vs the Roadster, e.g.) the max the system could handle was being fed from the regen without the tires breaking loose. IIRC

I really can't believe that its the max regen without the tires breaking loose. I owned a Toyota RAV4 and at 80K miles I got the brakes checked. The rear brakes were still like new. The brake cylinders were bad so I was only stopping with the front 2 tires the whole time and this deceleration was significantly more than the Model S with it's "Max" regen. It's got to be either Tesla has decided to turn the regen way down for something like "driving experience" or it's close to the max recharge rate that the batteries can comfortably handle. At the moment I believe the first which means that an update to the software may provide stronger regen.

 

[gocken2]

I may be wrong above. It may actually be the max regen without the tires beaking loose for the worst road conditions. I am thinking ice and snow.

 

[MikeK]

I heard that same high pitch tone in the MSP I drove every time I punched it straightline, too. I did several "regen down to 30 mph, punch it up to 60 mph" runs along the highway and heard that sound each time at max motor exertion, so I didn't think it was related to the traction control. Seemed more related to inverter/current delivery.

At the Palo Alto event today, we were told that there is a connector through which very high current passes under heavy acceleration. It's AC, and the particular frequency causes the connector to physically vibrate, which is audible in the car. Apparently, they are considering modifying the frequency so that the connector will not whine audibly.

(Cross-posted here and in the regen thread, since this discussion got split when the posts were moved.)

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

At the Palo Alto event today, we were told that there is a connector through which very high current passes under heavy acceleration. It's AC, and the particular frequency causes the connector to physically vibrate, which is audible in the car. Apparently, they are considering modifying the frequency so that the connector will not whine audibly.

(Cross-posted here and in the regen thread, since this discussion got split when the posts were moved.)

Happened again in the non-perf Silver car at Palo Alto yesterday when my host, Nick, punched it in a straight line. Matt, the co-pilot, said the same thing about changing the frequency soon.

 

[AnOutsider]

Happened again in the non-perf Silver car at Palo Alto yesterday when my host, Nick, punched it in a straight line. Matt, the co-pilot, said the same thing about changing the frequency soon.

I sorta liked the whine...