17 surprises for my first year using the Tesla Model 3

I have a Tesla Model 3 for about a year and it is capable of driving 260 miles without additional charge. When I bought it, I had a hunch what it was capable of and what it wasn’t. But I came across unexpected surprises, despite the fact that I have studied this topic well and have a long driving experience.

I knew that the car would be fast, energetic and quiet. I knew that Tesla would regularly improve software. I knew that a network of charging stations would allow me to go on road trips, of course, with some limitations. During the trip, I was worried about how much the car could drive without recharging.

Here are my discoveries for the year:
1. Public charging stations are often located in completely inappropriate places and are of little use. It turns out that the only places where slow charging makes sense are houses, hotels and offices, those places where you stay for a long time. And although I assumed that I would be charged in this way, but in reality it turned out that there were practically no stations in such places. And charging stations take 2-3 times more money than I would pay at home, inconvenient.

2. I was pleasantly surprised that driving around the city is much nicer in an electric car than in a gasoline car that needs to be refueled once a week or so. Hooks to gas stations spend 10-15 minutes each week. My car is charged during sleep and saves time, unless, of course, parking right at the outlet. And it’s nice to know that you are not burning gasoline. (I knew about that.)

3. I was sure that I would need at least level 2 charging, something that could fully charge my car overnight. This was not easy to do due to my home power panel, so I set it to Level 1. Suddenly, it does a great job. On average, a car drives just 40 miles a day, and for many Level 1 people, more than enough. That is, you do not charge the car completely every day, but the reserve stock is usually enough.

4. I was amazed that my electricity bill decreased when I switched to an electric car, and not vice versa. This is due to the fact that in California, electric vehicle owners get access to a special tariff plan for electricity, which is much cheaper at night. And I began to pump the pool at night, and not during the day, so the total bill became less. And, of course, my spending on gasoline went to zero.

5. You can worry about the range of travel, but this is unreasonable. You can also worry about Level 1. I always swore that I could use nearby superchargers if I had to travel a lot, but in fact I spent only 10 minutes in a year at the station a mile from home.

6. You can really travel by car, but they need to be better planned. Everything will turn out if you stick to the main routes, sometimes you can deviate from the route – but you will have to plan more. It turns out that hunting for exercise can make an adventure out of a regular trip, you feel like a pioneer to some extent, in a good way. However, often sudden detours are not displayed on the maps.

7. It turned out that 30-40 minutes to charge on long road trips is not so scary. First you think: “A car that refuel for 45 minutes?” Yes, this is crazy! In fact, these 45 minutes may seem too short when you plan to eat or go to the store. If you are not on a long journey, you will charge the car only once a day, and if you stay at the hotel with exercise, you will be in time for lunch. The trade-off is that you have a fairly limited selection of restaurants. They should be within walking distance. Fortunately, despite the fact that most charging stations are located near fast foods, there will be at least one non-chain restaurant where you can go. If you can charge a car on a trip during lunch and in hotels during sleep, we can assume that charging time is not wasted at all.

8. While the shortcomings of long road trips require you to compromise, it turns out that driving an electric car is fun and exciting, so much so that while it may seem that it would be right to rent a car on gasoline for travel, many electric car drivers believe that this The compromise is worse than any cons of charging. Yes, I could rent such a car and refuel it in 5 minutes, but I would have to say goodbye to Tesla.

9. I was worried that the autopilot would be more nervous than relaxing, because he had to be watched, and he was still far from perfect. In fact, if you treat him right, he can make driving and long trips relaxing. But I’m not really sure how it will work when it expands to city streets.

10. I was expecting software updates, but I did not expect that there would be an increase in the range of the car, there would be more power and a faster acceleration time from 0 to 60. This is a free upgrade that cars have never seen. Of course, there are stupid updates, but there are also useful ones.

eleven. I expected the cost of the car to fall due to innovation, but I did not expect Tesla to lower the price of my model by a very large amount in just a few months after it went on sale. In six months or a year, of course, it would be so, but not in a couple of months. I would definitely wait all these months to get a longer range and twin-engine unit for the same price I paid for my rear-wheel drive and mid-range.

12. I did not expect Tesla to be so bad at some of the more mundane elements of a car company’s work, such as stock management of repair parts and customer satisfaction. This does not seem to scare away the most ardent fans, but needs to be fixed so that Tesla justifies its high rating and leading sales in the category.

thirteen. I underestimated the ability to control heating and air conditioning when the car is turned off. The engine of the car on gasoline must work in order to be able to do this. And here there is the opportunity to keep the car warm at night or prepare it even before you sit in it.

14. I am addicted to opening keyless doors and ignition. When I get into my old car or even some new one, I resist even just pulling out the key fob to open it remotely. I don’t even want to press the Start button.

fifteen. I do not like to be afraid of hacking in the streets of the city center. I never really worried about previous cars, but now I pay more for garage fees.

16. Yes, there are many articles about how batteries are getting worse, and I have seen a fall from 264 to 244 miles of officially indicated range. It matters for long trips. It is assumed that it will level out, but people who buy a car with a given range should understand that this will only happen for a year or so. Instead of thinking that you are buying a car with a range of 260 miles, you should mean that it is a car with a range of 240 miles, which in the first year will have a bonus range. (And no, the famous “recalibration” mode, which includes full charge / discharge, is a myth, and the idea that you just need to switch the screen to show percentages is almost as stupid.)

17. I did not expect that I would get used to one pedal so quickly that I would even quickly turn on the more extreme version of Tesla. In fact, when I drive a rented car, I must consciously remind myself that the car will ride if I release the brake and will not brake quickly if I release the gas pedal.

Although it’s hard to explain the recent rapid growth of Tesla’s shares, this is partly due to the fact that more and more people are aware of what is listed above and understand that the internal combustion engine is a thing of the past that, like the characters in The Sixth Sense, doesn’t knows that she is dead. Automakers finally wake up and realize that they may have woken up too late.

About the author: Brad Templeton – A software engineer, an evangelist of robotic cars since 2007, worked on Google in his early years. Founder ClarinetHonorary Chairman Electronic Frontier Foundation and director Foresight institute, founder of the faculty in Singularity university.

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