Tesla moments

[int32_t]

After a weekend of snow (just a weekend; it all melted again) and about 150 km of driving last week, my Model 3 was looking more grey than blue. The wand wash bay was occupied, but I was first in line, and a pickup pulled up behind me. For several minutes I enjoyed the beats, but as it became clear the character in the carwash was being thorough (which is fine; I was too), I got out and shook out the floor mats.

I was about to hop back in when the guy from the truck approached me and said "Hi!" He wanted to know how long I'd had it, and if I liked my car, because his wife is interested in one. It's only been a few months, but I told him it's fun to drive and it's been solid so far, although it hasn't experienced winter yet. When I said it's RWD, he thought that would be a problem on snow and ice, but I said I know a few Model 3 owners who've had no issues in the snow in their RWD vehicles, when using good winter tires, possibly because of its good 48/52 weight distribution. Just then the wash bay freed up, so I didn't get to the part about snowflakes, "losing" range, and the impact of cold weather on efficiency and charging, so I hope he talks to somebody else too lest he be surprised later!

 

[bmah]

Last night I stopped by a local fire station. No my car was not on fire, this was the pick-up point for some emergency supplies I'd ordered from our local CERT (community emergency response team). Several volunteers were directing traffic and helping fetch and load things...starting with a dozen (empty) water containers into the back of my Model S (we had room for all but two, which I tossed on the back seat). At this point someone asked, "Hey doesn't this car have a trunk in the front too?" I figured that was a good place to put the two fire extinguishers I was picking up as well, so I popped the frunk and we loaded those in. That made several other people gather around, with the usual comments and questions: "Wow you have a lot of storage!" "Where's the engine?" "It really runs on electricity?" "This car looks great!" "How much do these cost?" Seriously, we probably could have kept talking for another 20 minutes but I had to move out of the way for the next car picking up stuff.

It felt kind of weird to get this kind of attention only 40 miles from the Tesla factory, but I was reminded that: 1) not everybody has seen a Tesla up close or knows anything about them, 2) they're still unusual enough to be interesting, and 3) even an old pre-refresh Model S can still draw a crowd, 4) particularly when you open the frunk.

Bruce.

 

[RogerHScott]

an old pre-refresh Model S

You just mean the best car, ever, right?

 

[RebeccaB]

Last night I stopped by a local fire station. No my car was not on fire, this was the pick-up point for some emergency supplies I'd ordered from our local CERT (community emergency response team). Several volunteers were directing traffic and helping fetch and load things...starting with a dozen (empty) water containers into the back of my Model S (we had room for all but two, which I tossed on the back seat). At this point someone asked, "Hey doesn't this car have a trunk in the front too?" I figured that was a good place to put the two fire extinguishers I was picking up as well, so I popped the frunk and we loaded those in. That made several other people gather around, with the usual comments and questions: "Wow you have a lot of storage!" "Where's the engine?" "It really runs on electricity?" "This car looks great!" "How much do these cost?" Seriously, we probably could have kept talking for another 20 minutes but I had to move out of the way for the next car picking up stuff.

It felt kind of weird to get this kind of attention only 40 miles from the Tesla factory, but I was reminded that: 1) not everybody has seen a Tesla up close or knows anything about them, 2) they're still unusual enough to be interesting, and 3) even an old pre-refresh Model S can still draw a crowd, 4) particularly when you open the frunk.

Bruce.

Hello from northern VT where I get asked about my M3 RWD a lot. Although there are a lot more on the road here now (especially in Burlington area), the amount is relative. VT just released figures on their emissions goals, which are way below anticipated. Turns out, even with Teslas being more common now, and even in a "green" state, all EVs are still less than 3% of the cars on the road. We have a long way to go. My favorite question from a curious person "Is this a Ferrari?" My response: "No, it's better."

 

[NormP]

sort of a reverse-Tesla-moment: drove the X to the club where we keep our sailboat (and where I have a marine 240V/50A socket adapter for my charger). Took the boat out for the afternoon, which after leaving the harbour involves a following a straight channel west for about 2 (nautical) miles until the lake opens up, so as usual I hit the Autopilot button to hold the course. Then after a moment I reached out an gave the helm a tug... until I remembered that I *don't* have to hold the wheel in the boat, just the Tesla. That car has me too well trained.

 

[Jeff Hudson]

The other morning at my local Hardee's the shift manager who knew I drove a Tesla came up to me and asked if "it" could drive itself. I asked if he was referring to the new Summon feature and he answered he didn't know he just wanted to see it in action. I pulled out my phone, fired up the Tesla app (I choose to preferentially use the key fob) and showed him the Smart Summon app feature. I said if I press and hold this button the car should back out and come to me. He said "well do it" and I said I had not done it yet myself so I wasn't too pleased about using it for the first time in a small parking lot with traffic. He said he understood, then used his headset to query his crew "Is anybody in the drive through?" he said the coast was clear and I could see down the street both directions and determined I had at least 30 seconds before the situation changed. I pressed and held the Smart Summon button and my Model 3 backed out of the parking space and proceeded to come toward us with a little steering dance (who knows why, there was no change to the parking lot environment) and stopped right in front of us. The traveled distance was about 75 feet in about 20 seconds. He was amazed as was I. I have no doubt this Smart Summon feature is a bit of showmanship at present but I also see it as the first step down the path of FSD.

 

[RebeccaB]

Hello from northern VT where I get asked about my M3 RWD a lot. Although there are a lot more on the road here now (especially in Burlington area), the amount is relative. VT just released figures on their emissions goals, which are way below anticipated. Turns out, even with Teslas being more common now, and even in a "green" state, all EVs are still less than 3% of the cars on the road. We have a long way to go. My favorite question from a curious person "Is this a Ferrari?" My response: "No, it's better."

And I should clarify, the GOAL for emissions in the state is below expectation; emissions themselves are way above where they should be for state to meet goal.

 

[Sans-gas]

Last night I stopped by a local fire station. No my car was not on fire, this was the pick-up point for some emergency supplies I'd ordered from our local CERT (community emergency response team). Several volunteers were directing traffic and helping fetch and load things...starting with a dozen (empty) water containers into the back of my Model S (we had room for all but two, which I tossed on the back seat). At this point someone asked, "Hey doesn't this car have a trunk in the front too?" I figured that was a good place to put the two fire extinguishers I was picking up as well, so I popped the frunk and we loaded those in. That made several other people gather around, with the usual comments and questions: "Wow you have a lot of storage!" "Where's the engine?" "It really runs on electricity?" "This car looks great!" "How much do these cost?" Seriously, we probably could have kept talking for another 20 minutes but I had to move out of the way for the next car picking up stuff.

It felt kind of weird to get this kind of attention only 40 miles from the Tesla factory, but I was reminded that: 1) not everybody has seen a Tesla up close or knows anything about them, 2) they're still unusual enough to be interesting, and 3) even an old pre-refresh Model S can still draw a crowd, 4) particularly when you open the frunk.

Bruce.

I love to take random strangers for “test drives” but my grown children made me stop. It’s a great way to introduce EV to the general public. Tesla doesn’t do advertisement! It’s unfortunate. I think just advertising “Dog Mode” would be a huge draw.

 

[jj88]

"How much do these cost?"
Our 3 SR+ was $40k. We paid $43,500, because the paint and 19" wheels. We were all set to buy another Leaf. The top model and battery were ~$42k. Same with the Niro. In a magazine, I read the Ford Fusion ICE, with all options, was ~40k. I didn't see many options I'm missing, compared to our 3.
That said, I think our 3 was a pretty good buy. It's way ahead of the others. (except Nissan offered the full rebate, and 1% financing. That would have saved us $8000. It takes a lot for me to walk away from money like that. We did, and never looked back!)

 

[Bob M]

I went on a 2k mile national parks trip with 2 relatives from North Carolina where they know almost nothing about Teslas. We talked about them all during the 6 day trip until they got tired of hearing about them. It kept coming up because we had rented a fully loaded Escalade with every whistle and bell you can imagine. They kept wanting to know if my M3 had “that” .i usually was able to say “Yes”. I could not get them to dedicate time to a test drive while we were on the trip. Denver was the only location on our route with a dealership. Amazingly, the Hilton owned hotel we stayed at the last night had the only supercharger station I was aware of on our route. I got them to go down to look at the 4 Teslas parked charging. The S and X owners were there and gave them the grand tour of their cars with such a great deal of smIling enthusiasm that my relatives both went from skeptical to finally very positive. The owners agreed with me that the greatest enjoyment of owning a Tesla is still showing them to others.

 

[derkan]

It felt kind of weird to get this kind of attention only 40 miles from the Tesla factory, but I was reminded that: 1) not everybody has seen a Tesla up close or knows anything about them, 2) they're still unusual enough to be interesting, and 3) even an old pre-refresh Model S can still draw a crowd, 4) particularly when you open the frunk.

Bruce.

I wonder if it's time to create a one-pager FAQ or all your Tesla myths debunked, print it out, laminate it and keep it in the car for such situations

 

[SmartElectric]

I wonder if it's time to create a one-pager FAQ or all your Tesla myths debunked, print it out, laminate it and keep it in the car for such situations

It's been done:
What it's like to own a Tesla Model S - A cartoonist's review of his magical space car - The Oatmeal

 

[wdolson]

I just got back from a 2000 mile round trip to California. Had to visit the company I work for and deal with family business. Had some Tesla ups and downs. At my sister's I had to use the cable kit the car came with and the only compatible plug was the standard 120V, though it was a 20A plug. The car sat for two days charging at 4 Mi/Hr. We were hauling stuff with their truck (we sold my father's house a little over a year ago and my sister had most of the stuff moved to a storage locker near her, we were sorting stuff) so my car wasn't really needed, but it was annoying.

They have a big property with a number of different connectors. I did a recon one day and found a 6-50 outlet. I'll make sure I can plug into that next time. They had a TT30 available, but that is only marginally better than 20A/120V.

My sister's partner used to restore cars and had a large workshop with a number of cars undergoing restoration, but he can't work on them anymore because of some health problems. We walked into his shop and I was hit with the pungent smell of gasoline. We opened up the shop as best we could without creating any sparks and I think it was a lawn tractor stashed at one of the big garage doors that was leaking. Made me think about one of the many upsides of electric vehicles.

My sister is a petroleum Geologist and was very anti-EV until we had a heated debate a few weeks ago via text message. She just dropped it and didn't mention is again though she did admit over the weekend that EVs might have a future, but they were never going to replace trucks. I just said we'll know one way or the other in a couple of years...

Unlike my last trip to CA, every hotel except one I stayed in this time had a destination charger and that made life very easy. The destination charger at the La Quinta in Morgan Hill is very nice. they have 4X Tesla chargers and 4X J1772 chargers. The one that didn't have a destination charger was literally next door to one. Starting out with a 90% charge gives you an opportunity to skip the first supercharger on your route most of the time.

At Shasta yesterday I charged at the old charger at the hotel and was the only car there. I met a couple from Columbia who were curious about Teslas. I gave them a bit of a spiel and they were impressed at the range.

 

[brucet999]

" They had a TT30 available, but that is only marginally better than 20A/120V."

You call 5.7 kW only marginally better than 1.9 kW? I could get 57 kWh overnight (during 10pm to 8am super off peak rates time) when I was using NEMA 10-30.

 

[Saghost]

" They had a TT30 available, but that is only marginally better than 20A/120V."

You call 5.7 kW only marginally better than 1.9 kW? I could get 57 kWh overnight (during 10pm to 8am super off peak rates time) when I was using NEMA 10-30.

TT-30 is 120V at 30A - so 24A charging, 2.88 kW nominal. Half the speed of a 14-30 or 10-30 because of the lower voltage.

 

[Jeff Hudson]

" They had a TT30 available, but that is only marginally better than 20A/120V."

You call 5.7 kW only marginally better than 1.9 kW? I could get 57 kWh overnight (during 10pm to 8am super off peak rates time) when I was using NEMA 10-30.

I am not familiar with TT30 but according to wikipedia it is 120V 30A (TT30R) which would provide a maximum of 3.6 kW and at the nominal 80% would be 2.78 kW.

 

[brucet999]

TT-30 is 120V at 30A - so 24A charging, 2.88 kW nominal. Half the speed of a 14-30 or 10-30 because of the lower voltage.

Ah, thanks to you and @Ticobird for the correction. When my google search finally got past all the TT30 pistol links to pictures of a TT30 outlet, it looked to me like my old 10-30 dryer outlet.

 

[Saghost]

Ah, thanks for the correction. When my google search finally got past all the TT30 pistol links to pictures of a TT30 outlet, it looked to me like my old 10-30 dryer outlet.

They do look very similar, but they are wired very differently. The TT-30 is for "Travel Trailers" and is mostly found in older RV parks ("30 amp service" vs 240V "50 amp service" via 14-50.)

 

[wdolson]

They do look very similar, but they are wired very differently. The TT-30 is for "Travel Trailers" and is mostly found in older RV parks ("30 amp service" vs 240V "50 amp service" via 14-50.)

I did some research while there and smaller RVs have TT30 while larger ones often have 14-50. They have two people living on the property in trailers. One is a small one with a TT30 plug and the other is larger. The plug cover on the RV says 3 phase (the lettering was faded and hard to read in places, but I did see 3 phase), but it looked about the size of a 14-50 outlet. I think it might have been. It was in use so I couldn't unplug and check.

 

[Kevin-rf]

Realizing Sentry Mode caught you being a tad unsafe in the parkinglot...