Why doesn't "My Tesla" allow me to control my Tesla?

[Boatguy]

I'm away from home this week (with my MS) and wanted to check on the charging status of my car while doing some other work on my computer. But of course, that's not possible. It strikes me as very odd that "My Tesla" on the Tesla website, does not allow me to monitor or control my car. In order to do that, I need my phone.

I appreciate the need to sell cars and "My Tesla" is very focused on the short window between order and delivery, but after you take delivery, then nothing. Tesla's marketing, which has never been brilliant, seems to have missed the most fundamental truth in sales/marketing which is "your current customers, are your best customers". In other words, it's easier to sell another car to an existing owner, then acquire a new customer.

There are of course a plethora of other websites and apps that provide monitoring and control of the car. But nothing from Tesla. Once you take delivery, "My Tesla" is no very useful. Does anyone else think that an official web app for your car would a useful thing and that Tesla is really missing an opportunity to stay closer to its customers?

 

[msnow]

I'm away from home this week (with my MS) and wanted to check on the charging status of my car while doing some other work on my computer. But of course, that's not possible. It strikes me as very odd that "My Tesla" on the Tesla website, does not allow me to monitor or control my car. In order to do that, I need my phone.

I appreciate the need to sell cars and "My Tesla" is very focused on the short window between order and delivery, but after you take delivery, then nothing. Tesla's marketing, which has never been brilliant, seems to have missed the most fundamental truth in sales/marketing which is "your current customers, are your best customers". In other words, it's easier to sell another car to an existing owner, then acquire a new customer.

There are of course a plethora of other websites and apps that provide monitoring and control of the car. But nothing from Tesla. Once you take delivery, "My Tesla" is no very useful. Does anyone else think that an official web app for your car would a useful thing and that Tesla is really missing an opportunity to stay closer to its customers?

Yeah, I think there's an opportunity there particularly if they allow some ability to change settings on the car as well as logging. I also think the mobile app should have much more.

 

[ecarfan]

Once you take delivery, "My Tesla" is no very useful. Does anyone else think that an official web app for your car would a useful thing and that Tesla is really missing an opportunity to stay closer to its customers?

Hmmm...not seeing it. I always have my phone with me. I usually do not have my notebook computer with me. I don't care much about the "My Tesla" page on the Tesla website. I want the phone app to do more, of course, and this has been discussed quite a bit on TMC.

 

[msnow]

Hmmm...not seeing it. I always have my phone with me. I usually do not have my notebook computer with me. I don't care much about the "My Tesla" page on the Tesla website. I want the phone app to do more, of course, and this has been discussed quite a bit on TMC.

Not trying to sell you but if Tesla allowed access to some of the useful REST data you could eliminate third party logging apps like Visible Tesla, Teslalog and TeslaFi in addition to settings. I agree with you that the phone app should be prioritized though.

 

[TexasEV]

I'm away from home this week (with my MS) and wanted to check on the charging status of my car while doing some other work on my computer. But of course, that's not possible. It strikes me as very odd that "My Tesla" on the Tesla website, does not allow me to monitor or control my car. In order to do that, I need my phone.

I appreciate the need to sell cars and "My Tesla" is very focused on the short window between order and delivery, but after you take delivery, then nothing. Tesla's marketing, which has never been brilliant, seems to have missed the most fundamental truth in sales/marketing which is "your current customers, are your best customers". In other words, it's easier to sell another car to an existing owner, then acquire a new customer.

There are of course a plethora of other websites and apps that provide monitoring and control of the car. But nothing from Tesla. Once you take delivery, "My Tesla" is no very useful. Does anyone else think that an official web app for your car would a useful thing and that Tesla is really missing an opportunity to stay closer to its customers?

Seems superfluous to me, a solution in search of a problem. When would someone have their computer with them but not their phone? Tesla has more important software priorities.

 

[Boatguy]

Seems superfluous to me, a solution in search of a problem. When would someone have their computer with them but not their phone? Tesla has more important software priorities.

In at least once case that was reported in TMC, the owner locked his phone, and possibly fob, inside the car. In any case, the owner had access to neither and was saved from his problem by accessing www.evmote.com from the phone of a passerby.

The existence, and continued existence of third party sites suggests that there is some need for this. It would also just be good marketing to keep owners connected to the Tesla web site where they control content and messaging and can monitor feature usage. Putting your customers in the hands of third parties for basic functionality is never wise.

 

[ArtInCT]

I pretty much always have my cell phone with me. Not true with my iPad which is a WiFi only version. I would love to have Tesla make the Tesla iPhone app more robust. Perhaps they will do that in future releases. They should try to make MyTesla a bit more functional. At present MyTesla really does not do much for me. I find the EVTripping.com website a step in the right direction. And hope that website will become more robust over time.