Adapting to a Glass Cockpit

[bradc]

Finally took delivery of my MS this weekend. Have been putting 100 miles a day on it, finding excuses to take it out for a drive to run an errand or even just for a leisure drive. I really do know what the Tesla Grin is now!

The biggest change for me (aside from the instant acceleration) is using the touchscreen for everything, and adjusting to the dashboard screen. Some of my thoughts/questions below:

1) The speedometer/energy usage meter in the center of the dash.
- What is the point of the energy usage meter on the right? I get that it goes orange when I stomp on the accelerator, and green when I'm coasting. But this permanent placement in the center of the dash seems to overstate its importance. I don't argue that it displays somewhat interesting information, but I don't need to refer to it constantly. Any way to get rid of this?
- I'm finding it hard to adjust to the speedometer. On my previous car with an analog speedometer, I'm used to glancing down, seeing where the needle is, and instantly knowing how fast I'm going. But the MS 'needle' is harder to see, and the numbers on the gauge aren't quite so prominent. I end up looking at the numerical readout, but this feels (very) slightly slower and incurs a small bit of 'mental energy' to understand that number and determine if I need to adjust my speed. Any way to 'amp up' the intensity of the speedometer needle and dial numbers?

2) The information panels to the left and right of the center gage on the dash.
- Can I prevent changes in volume from obscuring the left panel? Because there's no dynamic volume adjustment to compensate for louder conditions at higher speeds, I find myself modulating the volume almost constantly. This overlays the left panel with a sloped volume indicator and number for a few seconds. I want to glance down and see the navigation instructions and am surprised how often the volume display happens to be obscuring the content because I was adjusting the volume. Can I change/remove this volume display? Or alternately, display the nav instructions on the right hand panel?

3) Accessing common controls requires navigating the touchscreen. There's a few things I want to do regularly and I'm a bit frustrated that they're not 'one-touch' away. Because I don't know the menus/screens very well, doing these things requires more looking down from the road than I would like:
- turning headlights on. I prefer to have my headlights on a bit sooner than the "Auto" setting likes, so I end up manually turning on my headlights. This requires navigating through "Controls" every time.
- adjusting fan speed and A/C function. The climate controls seem geared towards controlling a particular temperature, not fan speed. I usually just want the air on and in my face, or not. This requires navigating the climate sub-menu every time, plus closing it to get back to the main screen.
- locking the doors. I can't seem to get auto-lock on drive working (or maybe it is working and I don't know?) What used to be a comfortable switch on the dash now requires navigating a menu, and I still don't know how to tell whether the car is locked or not easily.

4) Media Playback. I have my iPhone paired with the car over Bluetooth. This seems to work well, and I REALLY like that the steering wheel buttons for track skip are integrated. But I'm a bit confused about how things are supposed to work when I get back in the car.
- Should I just press the left steering wheel scroll button to "play" my media again? This doesn't seem to work. Or do I have to press play on the phone? Sometimes when I get back in the car, it seems like I have to use the Media app on the main screen and re-select my iPhone as the media source, even though I never listen to anything else. Am I missing something? Or what's the right way to start playback again when entering the car?

Most of these are just me learning to adjust to a new car and its interface, so I'm hoping some here have some ideas for me.

 

[ken830]

1) I think nearly everyone else loves the energy meter... I certainly do... I don't think that's going to go away (or be optional) anytime soon. I think the analog speedometer is just fine too.. But I agree that a giant needle would be just as clear...

2) Dyanmic volume would be great, and I can't imagine them not adding that in the future... But the pop-up is definitely nice when you manually adjust it. I really can't imagine how you could be adjusting it so frequently that it's constantly obscuring your left-side screen. I agree putting nav on the right would be great.

3) Maybe Tesla should have a hi/low sensitivity option for the auto headlights., but I think you should really try to live with the "auto" settings. For the HVAC... You can just set the temp to "LO", turn off A/C, and configure the right jog wheel to manually control the fan speed. Then you'll never need to touch the HVAC controls again on the touchscreen. BTW.. closing any pop-up screen, just requires a touch anywhere outside the window. You don't need to touch the "X".

Auto lock should work. There's a little lock icon in the dash screen (left of the odometer) that should indicate that it is locked (or unlocked).

4) No idea...

 

[deonb]

1) Yes, hold down the right scroll wheel on the steering wheel for a second. This will allow enter a setting mode which will allow you to customize what you would like to have in that position. Same goes with the left scroll wheel for the left side of the console.

3) If you click on the right-hand scroll wheel (not hold down), there is an option that allows you to set the fan speed.

There is a little lock that is always displayed on the driver console (the small screen where the speedometer is), at the bottom left, which tells you whether the doors are currently locked or not.

- - - Updated - - -

1) I think nearly everyone else loves the energy meter... I certainly do... I don't think that's going to go away (or be optional) anytime soon. I think the analog speedometer is just fine too.. But I agree that a giant needle would be just as clear...

Oh, I thought he meant the energy usage graph. Re-reading I see he means the energy meter. I guess it's like the tachometer on a gas car. Doesn't really tell you anything, but cool to see it go up when you floor it .

Actually, when you're low on battery usage, or if it's cold outside, or if you're fully charged, there are specific limit lines that appear on the energy meter. That gives you an idea of why the car doesn't allow you to draw more power, or can't do regen.

 

[jomo25]

Love the energy meter. It helps to learn to drive most efficiently, esp. When using standard regen. Knowing where coasting is on the accelerator is key in this.

 

[youlikeadajuice]

Love the energy meter. It helps to learn to drive most efficiently, esp. When using standard regen. Knowing where coasting is on the accelerator is key in this.

I agree, the energy meter is extremely useful in helping me drive efficiently. It's great to have an instantaneous readout of my power usage/regen.

 

[bradc]

Thanks for the tips guys. I will check out customizing the information panels on the dash.

As far as the energy usage meter goes, I don't think it's useless. But speed is information I NEED to know (particularly in a car without many audible cues as to how fast you're traveling), whereas energy information is just optional information that can help me fine-tune my driving. It's useful, not critical. To me, energy usage is not really a peer of speed, and I don't know of any other car that sacrifices half the speedometer for optional/interesting data.

I also think part of my speedo trouble is that the blue speedometer needle on black background was a poor choice for visibility. I would prefer a white or orange needle on black background.

 

[jerry33]

I look at the energy meter all the time. The speedometer not so much, and when I need to know the speed I look at the big numbers. the blue analog gauge is just for balance with the energy meter as far as I can tell. The energy meter is great for efficient driving--far better than the Prius' display.

 

[jomo25]

I look at the energy meter all the time. The speedometer not so much, and when I need to know the speed I look at the big numbers. the blue analog gauge is just for balance with the energy meter as far as I can tell. The energy meter is great for efficient driving--far better than the Prius' display.

Agreed. It's as important, if not even moreso than the tachometer on a manual transmission car. In some ICE vehicles, the tach is center and speedometer is aside. So, I think the positioning in the MS is perfect and appropriate IMO.

 

[Kaivball]

Agreed. It's as important, if not even moreso than the tachometer on a manual transmission car. In some ICE vehicles, the tach is center and speedometer is aside. So, I think the positioning in the MS is perfect and appropriate IMO.

I.e. Ferrari and Porsche.

 

[kendallpb]

Finally took delivery of my MS this weekend. Have been putting 100 miles a day on it, finding excuses to take it out for a drive to run an errand or even just for a leisure drive. I really do know what the Tesla Grin is now!

Awesome! :-D

- I'm finding it hard to adjust to the speedometer. On my previous car with an analog speedometer, I'm used to glancing down, seeing where the needle is, and instantly knowing how fast I'm going. But the MS 'needle' is harder to see, and the numbers on the gauge aren't quite so prominent. I end up looking at the numerical readout, but this feels (very) slightly slower and incurs a small bit of 'mental energy' to understand that number and determine if I need to adjust my speed. Any way to 'amp up' the intensity of the speedometer needle and dial numbers?

I find it easier to just read real numbers, versus trying to parse just how far between marks is how many miles above/below the nearest 10s digit. (shrug) And it's way more precise than that guess...to say nothing of how much more precise it is than "well, it's near the 50 minute mark on a clock dial so that must be somewhere around 60ish, give or take." But different strokes, etc.

- - - Updated - - -

I look at the energy meter all the time. The speedometer not so much, and when I need to know the speed I look at the big numbers. the blue analog gauge is just for balance with the energy meter as far as I can tell. The energy meter is great for efficient driving--far better than the Prius' display.

Yeah, the numbers are pretty big/easy to read, IMHO. I agree about the gauge being on the left just to balance. I think someone once asked me why Tesla bothered with the blue gauge on the left, when the number was right there to see. ;-)

 

[jomo25]

I find it easier to just read real numbers, versus trying to parse just how far between marks is how many miles above/below the nearest 10s digit. (shrug) And it's way more precise than that guess...to say nothing of how much more precise it is than "well, it's near the 50 minute mark on a clock dial so that must be somewhere around 60ish, give or take." But different strokes, etc.

Esp when you consider that the meters are somewhat logarithmic-like. I.e. the arc between 20-40 is greater than the amount between 80 and 100. So, using the meter to read the speed isnt exactly easy to do at glance. The big number in the middle, fortunately, is.

 

[ken830]

As far as the energy usage meter goes, I don't think it's useless. But speed is information I NEED to know (particularly in a car without many audible cues as to how fast you're traveling), whereas energy information is just optional information that can help me fine-tune my driving. It's useful, not critical. To me, energy usage is not really a peer of speed, and I don't know of any other car that sacrifices half the speedometer for optional/interesting data.

I'll have to completely disagree here. I would give up the speedometer before I give up the energy meter. I wouldn't even give it a second thought. I could judge my speed fairly well with visual cues and traffic, but I could not usefully judge energy usage anywhere between hard acceleration and full regen.

 

[buzzbuzz]

I'll have to completely disagree here. I would give up the speedometer before I give up the energy meter. I wouldn't even give it a second thought. I could judge my speed fairly well with visual cues and traffic, but I could not usefully judge energy usage anywhere between hard acceleration and full regen.

+1. The energy meter provides energy use information outside of what is being done by your right foot. The information it provides regarding energy consumption while using HVAC, for instance, is a wonderful resource. As I have brought up in many other threads in this forum, driving range is DIRECTLY related to energy consumption. Being able to monitor my energy usage, both in driving and when sitting at lights is something I find extremely helpful and I'm glad that gauge is positioned where it is.

Just my 2 cents...