We're still talking about driving, right?My inlet had so many pubes in it after my vic trip…. It all washes out
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Great Aussie EV Road trips - Live to drive - Drive to Live
- Thread starter jeevas123
- Start date
Someone get Dronus some hair clippersGood to hear you made it back. Looking forward to the trip debrief!
Plenty more bugs out there, they just did a reorg and are good to go.
My inlet had so many pubes in it after my vic trip…. It all washes out
So final leg of the Barossa Odyssey, Glenelg to Canberra (with an overnight at Shepparton)
Firstly Autopilot was FANTASTIC on this leg, almost flawless. Was mostly undivided highway from Glenelg to Shepparton, and I had one instance where it thought about taking an exit lane, just indicated once or twice but then realised before it did anything and kept on going. I managed to catch this on video. This I mentioned in my first leg, is a massive improvement over the last time I did a long drive on AP, that was November last year (not sure what version it was back then) where it would sometimes try to take an exit lane, never actually left the lane but was enough of a swerve to be annoying, and no warning, it would either recover itself or I would well before it left the lane. The current behaviour is that it will indicate so you get a warning and almost every time it fixed itself before it even tried to move.
This is reassuring as it suggests there is still work being done on the ancient branch we are on, also slow downs were dramatically reduced, I didn't get a single one on this leg ~14 hours all up almost all on AP. I did get one decent slow down while passing a truck on my first leg, mainly because I wasn't fully ready for it, again caught on video. Felt very dramatic at the time, but when I watched the video back it only actually dropped 3 or 4 kph, the other few I had on that leg would have only dropped 1 or 2 kph so slowdowns definitely seem to have improved considerably. Only had one instance of traffic crossing ahead of us on the highway, this was a truck about 200m ahead of us, which it visualised but didn't react to, again a great improvement.
Range/Charging, no issues, again I'm only in a RWD and I was LOADED, my wife is definitely not a light traveller and for over 2 weeks of travelling we had the boot and frunk (froot?) crammed before we left, with all the wines and bits and pieces we picked up on our travels we were considerably heavier on the way back. I did a lot more efficency stats on my video, based on viewer feedback, so if that interests you it'll all be there once I get a chance to get it all put together and uploaded. I chose hotels that offered charging, though I really only took advantage of it at one of them. Couple of them had Tesla destination chargers, which according to staff/signage were locked to Tesla only, couple others were paid charging and required a type 2 cable. I hadn't really researched this prior, was surprised though that the front desk don't carry a cable which they could loan out, I assume the hotel is getting something out of the paid charging (unless it's just a rental in which case they wouldn't care if you charged or not), never saw any cars charging in the 5 days I was at those hotels, so not sure if that's because not many carry the cable. The only time it partially affected me was on our last night in Shepparton, I would have liked to have charged it overnight, but plan B was just to go to the SC which was a couple blocks away, have breakfast while it charged and it was ready to go before we were as it was on most stops. Many of the wineries had Tesla destination chargers as well, I saw one Porsche destination charger but didn't have my car with me to test it out.
As far as timings, I'll get all that together for the entire trip but there wasn't any considerable difference to driving an ICE vehicle. I almost always tried to time charging stops with lunch, dinner etc, the only leg where there would have been any significant difference was when I went from MEL to ADL via The Great Ocean Road, it would have added about an hour because I drove through the night but that wasn't an A-B type trip, it was sightseeing, etc, so really not an issue. On all of the other legs there was generally just a charging stop or two which was lunch/breakfast, or a quick one for a leg stretch, bathroom break, etc, if you are driving safely in an ICE and stopping every 2.5-3 hours anyway and having a decent lunch, some of those legs actually worked out slightly quicker in the EV if you factor in a 7-8 minute fuel stop which you can't do while you are sitting down for lunch. At worst, it's pretty much a wash unless you are driving 14 hours non-stop through the night where it might add about an hour.
Definitely a marked difference on the back roads between highways when you are travelling through remote areas, much less efficient than regular highway driving and these are the sorts of areas where if you were travelling regularly a Long Range would definitely be handy. For the BNE-SYD-MEL corridor, even though I do the CBR-BNE trip 2 or 3 times a year, I'm more than happy with the RWD and feel that the LR would be overkill.
For costs, we ended up doing about 3800km, spent just under $295 on charging, would have cost a little over $475 in fuel, so definitely a significant saving.
Overall the experience in the Highland was fantastic, extremely comfortable even on the crappiest roads, I just love when those ventilated seats kick in without even thinking about it, you just feel the seat cooling and it's very refreshing. AP just reduces workload and fatigue massively and is a much safer drive as a result. I previously didn't trust it that much on single lane undivided roads, but it was so close to perfect even with vehicles coming around corners directly in front, was really impressed and much more likely to use it more often on these sorts of roads.
I'll get all the video together in the next day or two, so you can see the issues, was fortunate that it worked out that I managed to catch every issue on video, all the efficiency stats etc. (It's funny, when I was driving an ICE vehicle I used to constantly monitor the fuel efficiency and try keep it as high as possible. Since I got the Tesla I never even look at it, it was only comments and requests I got from the videos that forced me to start looking at it. I guess it's the difference between hating having to fuel up more often than I have to at a service station and paying the supidly high prices)
Firstly Autopilot was FANTASTIC on this leg, almost flawless. Was mostly undivided highway from Glenelg to Shepparton, and I had one instance where it thought about taking an exit lane, just indicated once or twice but then realised before it did anything and kept on going. I managed to catch this on video. This I mentioned in my first leg, is a massive improvement over the last time I did a long drive on AP, that was November last year (not sure what version it was back then) where it would sometimes try to take an exit lane, never actually left the lane but was enough of a swerve to be annoying, and no warning, it would either recover itself or I would well before it left the lane. The current behaviour is that it will indicate so you get a warning and almost every time it fixed itself before it even tried to move.
This is reassuring as it suggests there is still work being done on the ancient branch we are on, also slow downs were dramatically reduced, I didn't get a single one on this leg ~14 hours all up almost all on AP. I did get one decent slow down while passing a truck on my first leg, mainly because I wasn't fully ready for it, again caught on video. Felt very dramatic at the time, but when I watched the video back it only actually dropped 3 or 4 kph, the other few I had on that leg would have only dropped 1 or 2 kph so slowdowns definitely seem to have improved considerably. Only had one instance of traffic crossing ahead of us on the highway, this was a truck about 200m ahead of us, which it visualised but didn't react to, again a great improvement.
Range/Charging, no issues, again I'm only in a RWD and I was LOADED, my wife is definitely not a light traveller and for over 2 weeks of travelling we had the boot and frunk (froot?) crammed before we left, with all the wines and bits and pieces we picked up on our travels we were considerably heavier on the way back. I did a lot more efficency stats on my video, based on viewer feedback, so if that interests you it'll all be there once I get a chance to get it all put together and uploaded. I chose hotels that offered charging, though I really only took advantage of it at one of them. Couple of them had Tesla destination chargers, which according to staff/signage were locked to Tesla only, couple others were paid charging and required a type 2 cable. I hadn't really researched this prior, was surprised though that the front desk don't carry a cable which they could loan out, I assume the hotel is getting something out of the paid charging (unless it's just a rental in which case they wouldn't care if you charged or not), never saw any cars charging in the 5 days I was at those hotels, so not sure if that's because not many carry the cable. The only time it partially affected me was on our last night in Shepparton, I would have liked to have charged it overnight, but plan B was just to go to the SC which was a couple blocks away, have breakfast while it charged and it was ready to go before we were as it was on most stops. Many of the wineries had Tesla destination chargers as well, I saw one Porsche destination charger but didn't have my car with me to test it out.
As far as timings, I'll get all that together for the entire trip but there wasn't any considerable difference to driving an ICE vehicle. I almost always tried to time charging stops with lunch, dinner etc, the only leg where there would have been any significant difference was when I went from MEL to ADL via The Great Ocean Road, it would have added about an hour because I drove through the night but that wasn't an A-B type trip, it was sightseeing, etc, so really not an issue. On all of the other legs there was generally just a charging stop or two which was lunch/breakfast, or a quick one for a leg stretch, bathroom break, etc, if you are driving safely in an ICE and stopping every 2.5-3 hours anyway and having a decent lunch, some of those legs actually worked out slightly quicker in the EV if you factor in a 7-8 minute fuel stop which you can't do while you are sitting down for lunch. At worst, it's pretty much a wash unless you are driving 14 hours non-stop through the night where it might add about an hour.
Definitely a marked difference on the back roads between highways when you are travelling through remote areas, much less efficient than regular highway driving and these are the sorts of areas where if you were travelling regularly a Long Range would definitely be handy. For the BNE-SYD-MEL corridor, even though I do the CBR-BNE trip 2 or 3 times a year, I'm more than happy with the RWD and feel that the LR would be overkill.
For costs, we ended up doing about 3800km, spent just under $295 on charging, would have cost a little over $475 in fuel, so definitely a significant saving.
Overall the experience in the Highland was fantastic, extremely comfortable even on the crappiest roads, I just love when those ventilated seats kick in without even thinking about it, you just feel the seat cooling and it's very refreshing. AP just reduces workload and fatigue massively and is a much safer drive as a result. I previously didn't trust it that much on single lane undivided roads, but it was so close to perfect even with vehicles coming around corners directly in front, was really impressed and much more likely to use it more often on these sorts of roads.
I'll get all the video together in the next day or two, so you can see the issues, was fortunate that it worked out that I managed to catch every issue on video, all the efficiency stats etc. (It's funny, when I was driving an ICE vehicle I used to constantly monitor the fuel efficiency and try keep it as high as possible. Since I got the Tesla I never even look at it, it was only comments and requests I got from the videos that forced me to start looking at it. I guess it's the difference between hating having to fuel up more often than I have to at a service station and paying the supidly high prices)
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Nice overview!
I purchased a Type 2 to Type 2 cable (and 5-pin UMC tail) in preparation for my Gregory & Greaves Corner trip in 2022, but never needed either. They aren’t cheap (around $250/$180 respectively) so wondered if I’d wasted my coin. Ironically, I’ve now used the Type 2 cable a bit in Sydney with the kerbside pole chargers, and there are a growing number of public AC chargers that require them, so I am now feeling like that was a worthwhile investment. I’ve yet to use the 5-pin UMC tail.
I suspect hotels don’t offer Type 2 cables for loan because they are a high cost item and they’d go missing too often.
I agree these long trips take no longer in an EV if you plan your stops to sensibly coincide with stops you’d take anyway for lunch, leg-stretches etc.
It’s harder to do this the more remote you go, though, when AC charging becomes the only option. A very leisurely 2-hour lunch stop at Goondiwindi in 2022 only added 140 km range. So it does constrain how far you can drive in a day in more remote areas.
I find the lack of vibration and no “engine” heat in an EV makes driving far less tiring. I did a solo SYD-MEL return trip recently and was a bit apprehensive about how tiring it might be, but I found it easy-peasey.
Yeah, that's funny now I think about it, last couple of CBR to BNE trips we did, we broke up with a night in Port Macquarie mainly because it was getting a bit tiring doing the ~14 hours straight. I did it straight in the Tesla last year and found I was so much less fatigued.
We are going again in July, so not sure if I'll do that straight through or break it up. It is much better breaking it up and not having to drive into the night though. If it was an ICE vehicle without the Tesla level of Auto Pilot, I'd definitely be breaking it up, no question.
I do CBR BNE many times per year, we stay in Newcastle especially if we leave Canberra late in the day. Also a RWD (20” wheels so terrible efficiency lol), quick charge in Campbelltown if you leave Canberra with a full charge and then charge at the hotel in Newcastle while you sleep (gateway inn Newcastle has 3x free Tesla destination chargers). Then an easy 8.5 hour drive to Brisbane on day 2 with the usual charging stops.
Back to your road trip… did you get a lot of stone chips from the country drive? I collected a huge one on the front fender down near Warrnambool somewhere, thankfully it’s due for a respray anyway due to a minor accident. 45k on my model 3 in 2 years and it has collected quite a few stone chips all over the place - inc the bonnet, windshield and side doors.
Since you used AP so much, how were the auto wipers? I don’t use AP anymore due to the dry wiping. Still use TACC however with a quick disable of the auto wipers each time!
I also have a type 2 cable, resisted for a long time but finally bought one due to apartment living and the rise of BYO cable chargers. It’s actually proven to be very useful, but we’re about to move into a house so I suspect it will be gathering dust soon
Yeah, like to stay a little further north than Newy, but will look at it when we plan the trip and decide if we are stopping or not.I do CBR BNE many times per year, we stay in Newcastle especially if we leave Canberra late in the day. Also a RWD (20” wheels so terrible efficiency lol), quick charge in Campbelltown if you leave Canberra with a full charge and then charge at the hotel in Newcastle while you sleep (gateway inn Newcastle has 3x free Tesla destination chargers). Then an easy 8.5 hour drive to Brisbane on day 2 with the usual charging stops.
Back to your road trip… did you get a lot of stone chips from the country drive? I collected a huge one on the front fender down near Warrnambool somewhere, thankfully it’s due for a respray anyway due to a minor accident. 45k on my model 3 in 2 years and it has collected quite a few stone chips all over the place - inc the bonnet, windshield and side doors.
Since you used AP so much, how were the auto wipers? I don’t use AP anymore due to the dry wiping. Still use TACC however with a quick disable of the auto wipers each time!
I also have a type 2 cable, resisted for a long time but finally bought one due to apartment living and the rise of BYO cable chargers. It’s actually proven to be very useful, but we’re about to move into a house so I suspect it will be gathering dust soon
Just got her fully washed yesterday, got one very small stone chip on the bonnet just next to the Tesla T, also got a decent scratch under the rear passenger door from a stick that flicked up.
Got out fairly unscathed, which was surprising given the state of some of the roads. Had a semi that must have been carrying sand and gravel hit a bump while passing me at 100kph got an absolute shower of sand and stones, so was surprised that didn't seem to cause any damage. Another semi on one of those small sections of road which is basically gravel with a small strip of bitumen in the middle, pulled right over as far as I could, but he wasn't slowing for anything, roared past at 100kph flicking all the gravel and stuff up, will have that on the video. So was quite happy how it held up. I did get it ceramic coated just before we left.
For AP and wipers, I had one or two dry wipes leaving ADL, the windscreen was absolutely filthy though, like I was struggling to see through it at times, so had to go to a servo to give it a good clean, so I don't fault the system for that. Other than that no dry wipes, I've had hardly any since 2 or 3 version updates ago. The wiper performance in the rain was faultless also, caught that in the national park in the part 2 video, rain was coming in showers of all different strengths and the wipers were adapting to it perfectly, was really impressed. Actually had to come back on camera as I'd given them only an OK grade in my first comment but quickly saw as the rain changed how good a job they were actually doing. I finally made the switch to one tap for AP, so no TACC anymore for me.
Interesting, definitely hasn’t been the case for my 2022 model 3 so I wonder if there is a difference somewhere.
Although it was so bad for a while I am now scared to use it. I always keep a wet cloth and squeegee in the frunk on long drivers for the inevitable dry wipe on a bug filled windshield haha.
Yeah, with the results I hear varying so widely, I definitely would not say it's solved by a long shot. Clearly they need to work on it, and from comments I've seen from senior engineers in Tesla it seems to be a focus, but it's coming to a point where if they can't make it consistently better than rain sensors (which are also far from perfect) then they probably need to throw in the towel and just retrofit them. I'm fairly confident given all of the things these teams have achieved that they'll get there, I just hope it's soon! I've just been lucky the past couple of months that they've been really good, I was getting dry wipes every few days before that.
Part 3 video is up now -
Playlist with all 3 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRxaePpw25_mjdDFpoh4YRC3dSBTDDaLr
Playlist with all 3 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRxaePpw25_mjdDFpoh4YRC3dSBTDDaLr
Which is quite ridiculous, really.
What other car companies expend a lot of time, effort and “focus” on making their windscreen wipers work properly?
Is the answer zero?
It is but are they perfect? I've never had a rain sensor that works perfectly in all levels of rainfall, especially when the level of rainfall is changing often. In fact when the Tesla system is working right, it's the closest I've seen to being able to quickly adapt as there are sudden harder falls and then when it eases off again and even as you go under an underpass etc. The problem is that it's not consistent.
But yes, nobody bothers to do anything as the rain sensor is the easy cop-out, but if you look at the forums for any vehicle you choose you'll always find someone complaining about Auto Wipers.
The real question is whether the Tesla route turns out to be consistently better or not or they have to finally admit defeat, but like everything I'm glad they just don't accept 'almost good enough' because everyone else does and that they are trying to do better.
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