Living with a car from the future: Tesla Model 3

 That pretty E36 M3ty on Koni's side. Good to know we'll have more options for struts tho, I find the ride on my Performance isn't the best but I don't know enough about cars to really say what I don't like.

Seconded the comments on LFP- my goal vehicle currently, would be something akin to an AWD Cybertruck with an LFP battery as a genuine "it can do everything and I'll own it for decades" vehicle.

Toyman! said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Yep, the permanent magnet nature of the motor is a deal breaker. It looks like every EV manufacturer uses the same basic design. 

Outstanding for regenerative braking and impressive torque, but not so good for a flat tow. 

It's done for torque reasons; the SynRM Motor in the Model 3 (rear motor in the base, front motor in the AWD) is the only real evolution in the formula, but you basically NEED those permanent magnets to get the vehicle moving in the first place. All others that only use electromagnets have too much back EMF to get the car to move well, which is why those motors (like your grinder and such) demand the use of soft starters.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

The interesting bit I've been reading in  Car Market China  and Electric Viking 

 Has been the new version of the Tesla model 3 ( highlander)will have an extra 70 miles range  and in addition to the new styling, have an optional yoke steering wheel like the model S 

The big new is its supposed to be 15% cheaper!       The base Model 3 in China  sells for $32,000 US dollars the highlander is reported to be $27,400. 
     Assuming that is correct.  ( decent credibility from those Sources in the past)    While American model 3 will cost more because of our added safety requirements.   A 15% hair cut with 70  more mile range is promising.   Then we have the various other benefits such as Federal, state and etc. discounts, tax credits and grants. 
  Assumption on my part but if the 3 gets it why wouldn't the Y ? 

There is definitely a refresh coming for the 3, nicknamed Highland (not highlander). They're always looking at ways to decrease production costs so I expect that will be a major focus of the new platform. I'm not sure what percentage of the 3 production is built using the Gigapress, but it wouldn't surprise me if Highland used a structural battery. Everything you read - range numbers, interior specification, selling price - is likely just speculation.

What everyone will notice is the new front end. It's both more attractive and more bland than the current one :) 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I hope I gave sufficient information to confirm this was from what has been credible sources. Not from Tesla. 
    I have 3   Chinese sources who publish in English .One I really trust, ( New Car China ) one is generally straight and the third. Has more speculation than I'm comfortable with.  Not that it's wild or unbelievable  but it's not always right. 
   As far as appearance?  There are only 3 cars ever made that I like the appearance of. 
  The MGTC ,  Jaguar XKE,  Ferrari Testa Rossa.  
 So I'm a very poor judge of styling.  
       

I don't believe any sources about upcoming vehicles unless they're in a release from the manufacturer. This is true for any manufacturer, but especially true for Tesla because they're such extreme clickbait. Also, I am personally aware just how little fact-checking even major outlets (looking at you, Road & Track) do before publishing.

Fair enough.  Probably once burned,  twice shy. Thought process?  
      I come from a different background.  There are sources of information on construction projects in the works.  I used that information in my days of selling to be a valuable resource.   
  CEO's or people with buying power tend to be inundated  with people trying to sell their product.  Thus train their gate keepers to keep out most or make it extremely difficult  to get time with  those people. 
     Salesmen would be in the outer office waiting for their few minutes.  I'd come in without an appointment and be immediately whisked into the inner sanctum. 
     The reason is I brought information busy people didn't have time to research for.     " There's a roofing project on the Capitol building, $3.5. Million.    Scaffolding costs  should be around X a man lift with that sort of reach is y.  With 3 you should be able to complete in the 90days schedule.  
  A few months later I'd get the call for 3 man lifts.  
     My best day was I was on vacation in the middle of nowhere  south Utah and one of my customers spent over $1.6 million with me  without a quote.  He knew and trusted that I'd treat him right.   He expected to make a good profit ( and did)   But speed was important.   He got the equipment he needed in the time required,   based on one phone call.   
  Yes, I had told him about the deal but he still paid  only the price of competitive bidding would have produced. Nothing more.  
  Yes there is a lot of bad and speculative information  around and everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. 
  The example I mentioned?  15% absolutly 
       

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Sorry, interrupted. Absolutely subject to change.  The Chinese market is a lot more competitive than the American market. And a lot more price sensitive.  
    So maybe Elon Musk will pocket that extra profit?   Or maybe he will do as he has already done  repeatedly, lower price to make Legacy companies spend more to stay in the game.  
   Since the legacy companies are used to playing Checkers, I honestly believe that Elon Musk is playing chess or even 3 D chess 

So the new 3 has been unveiled, and it looks like a range bump of 10-12% that is likely from improved aero. Figure that's a range bump of roughly 30 miles on a car with our spec. That's pretty impressive. Remember that the spaceship wheel covers on our car give an extra 3% of range alone. I'm waiting to hear how the new one is different underneath - structural battery packs? I don't care about taillight designs, I want to know the engineering!

Anyhow, that doesn't affect our ownership. What DOES affect our ownership is the fact that the front passenger door started misbehaving. It wouldn't always latch. I discovered fairly quickly that it's because the spring-loaded exterior door handle wasn't retracting quickly. I shot a bit of Tri-Flow into the pivot points and the problem seems to be solved.

So there you go. The first repair to the car, and the car from the future is now exhibiting Old Car Problems :)

Labor Day weekend road trip! Heading in to Denver on a day when the entire population of Denver is heading into the mountains means a lot of stress on the charging network. It also shows the growth of the network in the (nearly) 4 years since we bought the car.  There used to be 14 on the route, now there are 54 and they're faster. There are more in Denver as well. But will there be lines?

The most heavily used charger on our trip was Idaho Springs. It's one where the car defaults to 80% charge to encourage fast turnaround - you can override it. When I told the car to stop there (when we were an hour away), it told me all stalls were currently occupied. I took the chance and rolled up to find one empty spot and one being vacated as we arrived. By the time we got out of the car, the other one had also been claimed so it was a full house. When we left, a Y pulled into the lot just as we pulled out. No lines or waiting that I saw, but it was definitely running at capacity. All the other charging stops were showing good availability. 

I also had a thought when going through Glenwood Canyon. Miles of curves with sharp defects like expansion joints mid-corner. It's the sort of road that sends a shudder through the car, but there's none of that in the Tesla. One thing that's different about EVs is that they don't have a very large drivetrain mass installed inside the car on rubber bushings with no damping. I suspect that's a factor in the car feeling so solid, you don't get that secondary bounce on roads like Glenwood. 

We have begun the habit of doing a lunch stop combined with a big charge to 100% in Idaho Springs just before Denver so we don't have to bother with charging in the city. And we know we'll get a good meal as part of the deal, as we've found both a great bakery and a really good deli there. After a bunch of running around yesterday, we still have 80% SOC to deal with the running around today. Nice. 

A brief look into how our habits have changed, and how the increased density of the charging network has helped.

We went to leave Denver, and the car decided it wanted a single stop in Edwards. We decided to stop in Idaho Springs (just outside Denver) for personal reasons, so I told the car about the stop. It said "OK" and reworked the plan with a single stop in Idaho Springs. It wanted us to charge the car pretty full to be able to do a single stop.

We were done with our thing in Idaho Springs so we unplugged with about 15 minutes left on the stop and hit the road. For some reason, we were doing better than expected on the flat and the climbs at first, so the car decided we'd be okay. I was watching the predicted SoC at arrival. We were still holding steady on consumption on flat ground and climbs, but were not regenerating as much as predicted going down the big passes - probably because I was maybe not exactly at the speed limit. By the time we'd come off the second of the two big descents, the car was estimating we'd have 50 miles left when we got home.

Janel's old Jeep has a tendency for the predicted range to fall dramatically as it gets close to empty and small changes in instantaneous fuel use can have very large percentage changes in range, so having only 50 miles of buffer made her nervous. I wasn't as concerned, but we decided to stop again. By this time, we'd blown past Edwards so we had a choice of Parachute or Glenwood Springs. We decided to stop in Glenwood even though those chargers are slower because Glenwood is a very pretty place. I told the car, it prepped the battery and routed there. It told us we really didn't need to stop - "0 minutes of charging required to resume your trip" - but we plugged in, stretched our legs and took off again after about 5 minutes and 40 miles of increased range.

Made it home with about 90 miles of range and right on the estimate following our departure from Glenwood, so that stop wasn't really necessary. But the point of this is story is to illustrate we're definitely more comfortable with changing plans on the fly. The car plays along with this behavior - if we'd started to put ourselves in a situation where we would have been low on power, it would have warned us that we would either have to slow down or make another stop. It took care of managing charging plans for us (which we ignored), and the fact that there are now chargers about every 50 miles along the interstate corridor means we had a lot of flexibility. Of course, rural routes will have fewer stops available but that will come.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

The ability for the car to tell you where the chargers are, how fast they are, how busy they are, and which ones would be the best stop for your trip is probably the smartest thing Elon did. Making rockets that land themselves is a distant second. Without that function, range anxiety would be substantially worse and he probably wouldn't have sold as many cars. 

Do you know if the car takes the busyness of the charge stations into account when it suggests charging locations? 

I know it tells you what availability is when you request a stop at a charger, but I don't know if it's part of the calculation. That's pretty invisible unless you're driving the same route over and over in the same conditions. I'll see if I can find out. 

Tesla definitely nailed the charging experience. It's up to the other manufacturers to do as well. Ironically, the one other automaker that built a network is busy pissing the rest of them off.

https://chargedevs.com/features/how-automakers-disappointment-in-electrify-america-drove-them-into-teslas-arms-ev-charging-is-changing-part-1/

However, virtually no one was willing to go on the record

…

It’s hard to overstate the disgust and anger at Electrify America among virtually every person we interviewed.

Toyman! said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

The ability for the car to tell you where the chargers are, how fast they are, how busy they are, and which ones would be the best stop for your trip is probably the smartest thing Elon did. Making rockets that land themselves is a distant second. Without that function, range anxiety would be substantially worse and he probably wouldn't have sold as many cars. 

Do you know if the car takes the busyness of the charge stations into account when it suggests charging locations? 

I don't know if it takes busyness into account, but one time it rerouted me to a different supercharger due to what was an apparant outage of some sort at the target supercharger. The car rerouted more than 30 minutes out from the station. 

I have confirmation from a friend who works on the charging side of Tesla that yes, it does take charger availability into account. 
 

This might account for the 100% useage at Idaho Springs this weekend. The system was only routing as many cars as would fit. 

Interesting. My F-150 also knows how busy each charging station is, but has routed me to stations that were full before. Maybe it doesn't care? Or maybe there were no better options? Or maybe it assumes every stall is working at EA chargers, which is adorable.

Keith Tanner said:

I have confirmation from a friend who works on the charging side of Tesla that yes, it does take charger availability into account. 
 

This might account for the 100% useage at Idaho Springs this weekend. The system was only routing as many cars as would fit. 

I wonder if it takes into account how long each car is suggested to charge as well or just if a charger is taken. Would be pretty slick if it had programmed that Y to pull into the lot at the same time you were pulling out.

In reply to iansane :

"Please drive at 73.5 mph to avoid waiting for your scheduled charging window".

If only people were that predictable :) We sometimes charge longer than necessary to finish the trip (eating, hanging out in the sunshine, watching hockey playoffs, banking power for later use after we arrive at our destination) and sometimes leave before we're done. Scheduling that tightly around us would be a challenge.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Unless you're really more predictable than you think and they've got a long term bio on you! *tinfoil hat*

Text is a hard way to convey jest, but it's there...

In reply to iansane :

I just noticed last weekend they'd installed about a dozen Tesla charging station in an otherwise vacant parking lot about 1/4-mile off I10 here. 

Got a note from the car today. Its fourth birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and that means the bumper to bumper warranty will expire. Happy birthday, car of the future.

Tesla is offering to sell me a 2 year extended warranty for $1800. I know the upper control arm ball joints are problematic, but that's an easy fix for someone like myself and the aftermarket has stepped up with improved options. The only thing that has me at all concerned is the big stack of electronics in the center of the dashboard - either the MCU or the screen. Talking to some of my Tesla nerd friends, apparently the MCU2 is not showing any signs of high volume failure. There is the potential that the memory in it might wear out as happened with some of the MCU1 cars, but my car has 4x the memory and hopefully some software tweaks. If the screen is damaged or fails, that's about $1500.

So, as usual, the extended warranty is in the favor of the seller and not the buyer. That's just how insurance works. And it's pretty unlikely we're going to need an MCU replacement during the next two years, so buying an $1800 lottery ticket to potentially save $2500-4000 (guess based on the cost of an MCU2 upgrade to MCU1 cars plus some padding) doesn't seem like a great plan - especially since a damaged screen may not be a warranty claim anyhow.

The powertrain warranty continues for another 4 years, so all the really expensive stuff is still covered. I expect the 12v battery will need replacing at some point, but that's just a 12v battery.

Big changes! One of the things Janel has never liked about the car is the chrome. It's too shiny for her. And apparently Tesla agreed, as they blacked out (most?) of the chrome in later years. Well, it is shiny no more.

You can buy pre-cut vinyl to stick over these, but I bought a 2"x40' roll of 3M 2080 automotive vinyl for less than half the price instead. Meant I had to trim the vinyl myself on the car, but that's easy enough and I have extra for whoopsies and touch-ups. It's not absolutely perfect - there are two spots where I messed up the trimming and there's a sliver of silver visible - but it does the job. I left the mirror base and the fender camera alone because they would be impossible to do well with my skill level.

Interestingly, the V shaped trim right at the back (around the small triangle window) was aging slightly differently. It was turning satin on both sides of the car. Metal vs plastic? No problem now.

I did consider buying some factory black door handles, but apparently there was a running change to their electronics (something about a push signal and not just pull on the chrome ones) so that got nixed.

Tesla offers a power trunk retrofit now. Press a button or use the app to open/close the lid, etc. $800 for a fully integrated, OE-engineered system is not bad at all, but also for $800 Janel and I can open and close our own trunk using our hands. 

I got the pre-cut kit from Amazon a couple years ago when I did mine.  Came with 2 of everything which was good.  The mirrors were the biggest pain in the butt.

Had the car charged to 100% for a road trip last weekend and realized I was using the blended braking. The fact that it's only the first time I've realized it, even though it's been working for a while, kinda sums it up.

Blended braking is when the car can't fully regenerate, so it brings the friction brakes into play to get to the same level of deceleration. This happens in cold weather or when the battery is charged to a very high state of charge. You can tell it's doing it by the indicator on the top of the dash, the little bar in the left section just below PRND and above the speedo. In the picture, it's showing that I'm deploying power (black bar extending to the right from the center). When I'm regenerating, it's a green bar extending to the left from the center. When it runs out of regen and starts using friction brakes, the green line starts turning black at that point so you can tell exactly when it happens. I was busy so I didn't take a picture of this, so you get an old picture that shows you the bar in question.

Once I realized the car was using blended braking, I realized I could feel a slight difference as it transitioned. The level of braking changed slightly, probably because friction brakes have an inconsistent mu depending on temperature and other factors. You could also feel that the brake pedal was hard if you tried to use the friction brakes as the pads were already in contact with the rotors. But since this was at least the third or fourth time I'd driven the car in a blended braking scenario and I'd never noticed, I'm going to say it works pretty well. That's good, because LFP cars will be charged to 100% as a matter of course so they'll be blending a lot.

I also discovered on the last trip that when you look for chargers via the center screen, it now shows a info box that shows current occupancy, how busy it usually is, price, some pictures of the chargers and gives you the ability to check for amenities nearby. If you were looking for a good place to stop on a road trip, it would be pretty useful. I apologize for the blurry pic, I'll take another one and swap it in. 

Slightly related video by local hotshoe Randy Pobst: