Advice Needed: Convincing Husband to Go Tesla

[SageBrush]

Also - while this thread is still so active - question for everyone:

The M3 doesn't lose battery for non-use, does it? Say I park it with 50% charge on a Saturday, would I still be good the following Saturday to drive it home? This would only be a once a year occurence, definitely not often.

No problem for one week.

You are describing what is called 'vampire drain' in the forum. It happens because the car is always a little bit awake. If it did not work that way you would not be able to contact the car with your telephone in addition to a bunch of other services and functions you will quickly learn to take for granted and then wonder why ICE cars are so bloody stupid.. Energy losses are up to 1% a day, but I'm used to seeing less.

And honestly, if you get used to thinking of your car as a smartphone with wheels and a BIG battery, you will feel right at home.

Congrats -- you are buying the best car on the planet -- period.

 

[ElectricIAC]

It will drain some according to features activated as well as keeping itself warm or cooler depending on weather. Don’t be afraid to park it at 90% as the pack will balance itself which is good for it. Ours sit/sat regularly at that level on and off the charger.

 

[SageBrush]

Don’t be afraid to park it at 90%

No problem with 90%, or even 100% if there is a good reason to do so but for the longest and best battery life try to keep charging below 80% on a daily basis. My battery routine charging meanders between 20 - 70% in the summer and 20 - 80% in the winter.

 

[brucet999]

Any modern Tesla with recent firmware has Hold driving mode, which will bring the car to a complete stop without hitting the brakes.

It’s only pre-Raven S/X that didn’t get that in a firmware update last year, because of the hardware differences.

How does that work? How does it know where to stop?

"Any modern Tesla…"
That hurts! All this time I thought I was joyfully driving a modern car.

 

[drtimhill]

His main concern: "I just don't understand how it….works." I've told him to do some research like I have, but he still can't seem to grasp what makes the wheels physically move, how there's no transmission or gears, things like that. He's hesitant putting money down on a piece of technology that he can't understand.

Does he have a smartphone? Does he know how that works?

 

[brucet999]

I've personally not seen the blue in real life though - seems like it would be a little flashy, like turn-heads noticeable?

It is. I still get compliments from people on the color of "Blue Max", my 2015 MS.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

How does that work? How does it know where to stop?

It's an alternative to Creep or Roll, so it's behavior when you're at low speed with your foot off the accelerator.

Creep applies power to move you.
Roll applies no power and lets the car glide.
Hold applies braking force to slow the car to a stop and hold the car still.

 

[NJturtlePower]

Well I'm definitely not leaving him due to a lack of Tesla understanding, haha.

I really do think once we have it and drive it for a few days, all of his reservations will be gone and he'll be hooked. Thank you everyone for your sources, experiences, and opinions - I'm hoping we'll have a nice long discussion over dinner tonight to get him on the same page.

There's plenty of way to convince him... after dinner if you know what I mean...haha

But really, you should check out some of our local Tesla NJ FB groups... often have meetups in the Cherry Hill areas and all around the state. It's really a great community to be a part of. Tesla Model 3 New Jersey

I came straight from a Hemi V8 to my Model 3 and can't imagine going back now... Never drove one until delivery day and took all of 30min on the road to feel comfortable.

Good luck, hope to see ya on the road in a Tesla soon!

 

[ElectricIAC]

There's plenty of way to convince him... after dinner if you know what I mean...haha

But really, you should check out some of our local Tesla NJ FB groups... often have meetups in the Cherry Hill areas and all around the state. It's really a great community to be a part of. Tesla Model 3 New Jersey

I came straight from a Hemi V8 to my Model 3 and can't imagine going back now... Never drove one until delivery day and took all of 30min on the road to feel comfortable.

Good luck, hope to see ya on the road in a Tesla soon!

Neither likes sudden turns when stock, lol.

 

[Saghost]

How does that work? How does it know where to stop?

"Any modern Tesla…"
That hurts! All this time I thought I was joyfully driving a modern car.

Where it stops is determined by where you release the accelerator. It seems weird at first, but after an hour or two it seems more natural than any other car behavior.

I didn’t want to say from the last nine months, because older 3s have it too. I did not intend to insult your beautiful, modern car.

 

[Saghost]

Also - while this thread is still so active - question for everyone:

The M3 doesn't lose battery for non-use, does it? Say I park it with 50% charge on a Saturday, would I still be good the following Saturday to drive it home? This would only be a once a year occurence, definitely not often.

All about your choice of settings. Sentry mode eats about a mile per hour running all the cameras.

There’s a preprocessing mode for smart summon that at one point was enabled by default that eats a bunch more.

If you turn everything off the car uses very little power when unplugged, and you should be fine.

 

[ellienovember]

It does lose some charge just sitting. How much is a function of several variables, most of which you have control over. If you leave Sentry Mode or Summon Standby on, those can burn about a mile an hour. Sentry will shut itself off at 20% to protect you. Even if you turn off the various bonus features, count on losing a mile or two daily. Your week-long scenario should be just fine. Oh, and in warm weather, Cabin Overheat Protection can use up battery keeping the car from getting super hot; again, it's optional to use.

I would respectfully disagree. If you turn off all the optional drains, you should lose maybe 7-15 miles in a week. So if you leave it at 50%, you come home to 45%. YMMV.

No problem for one week.

You are describing what is called 'vampire drain' in the forum. It happens because the car is always a little bit awake. If it did not work that way you would not be able to contact the car with your telephone in addition to a bunch of other services and functions you will quickly learn to take for granted and then wonder why ICE cars are so bloody stupid.. Energy losses are up to 1% a day, but I'm used to seeing less.

And honestly, if you get used to thinking of your car as a smartphone with wheels and a BIG battery, you will feel right at home.

Congrats -- you are buying the best car on the planet -- period.

It will drain some according to features activated as well as keeping itself warm or cooler depending on weather. Don’t be afraid to park it at 90% as the pack will balance itself which is good for it. Ours sit/sat regularly at that level on and off the charger.

Sorry to answer multiquotes at once but the reason this would happen is I volunteer at a summer camp for kids with cancer (I had cancer as a child and this camp gave me a childhood) and I drive about 30 minutes from home to the campground, park my car and never touch it until it's time to leave the next week. It is during the last week of June, so temps could reach in the 90s or so, obviously inside a car much warmer. And it would only be shaded by trees a portion of the day, otherwise in direct sunlight. Turning off Sentry mode and any other features would make sense. But I'd be essentially leaving home at 100%, driving ~25 miles, then leaving it for a week with no ability to recharge. I'd hope I'd be okay.

 

[ellienovember]

There's plenty of way to convince him... after dinner if you know what I mean...haha

But really, you should check out some of our local Tesla NJ FB groups... often have meetups in the Cherry Hill areas and all around the state. It's really a great community to be a part of. Tesla Model 3 New Jersey

I came straight from a Hemi V8 to my Model 3 and can't imagine going back now... Never drove one until delivery day and took all of 30min on the road to feel comfortable.

Good luck, hope to see ya on the road in a Tesla soon!

Awesome, I just joined that fb group yesterday! Kudos to buying it without driving it, I was halfway sold before I test drove it but the test drive totally sold me. I basically live in Cherry Hill so I'd hope to be at some meetups one day!

 

[pl8dlikafiddle]

Sorry to answer multiquotes at once but the reason this would happen is I volunteer at a summer camp for kids with cancer (I had cancer as a child and this camp gave me a childhood) and I drive about 30 minutes from home to the campground, park my car and never touch it until it's time to leave the next week. It is during the last week of June, so temps could reach in the 90s or so. And it would only be shaded by trees a portion of the day, otherwise in direct sunlight. Turning off Sentry mode and any other features would make sense. But I'd be essentially leaving home at 100%, driving ~25 miles, then leaving it for a week with no ability to recharge. I'd hope I'd be okay.

For a 50 mile round trip, I wouldn’t bother charging to 100%. 90% would be plenty.

My personal experience is vampire drain seems to be worse in cooler weather. When I leave my car at work and it is in the 30-40F, it seems to lose around 1-2% in 8-10 hours.

We parked our model 3 at Disney World for 5 days and it was in the 75-85F, and the car lost 2% total over 5 days in 75-80F weather.

Turning off sentry mode and not checking the Tesla app and waking up the car helps combat vampire drain.

 

[SageBrush]

I'd hope I'd be okay.

The car will be fine, but do yourself and the car a favor and get in the habit of parking facing south-ish, putting up a front windshield sunscreen, and cracking open a few windows.

No reason to turn your car into a greenhouse oven

 

[vickh]

The car will be fine, but do yourself and the car a favor and get in the habit of parking facing south-ish, putting up a front windshield sunscreen, and cracking open a few windows.

No reason to turn your car into a greenhouse oven

Great advice about facing south. My car got up to 150 in the AZ heat/sun (had to park uncovered and didn't have the vent option then.

I've bought some roof shades now for the next summer. Don't look that great but should help greenhouse as well

 

[Fernand]

Anyway, congrats! I had planned to get a 240 volt outlet done, but I was getting by on a beefy extension cord at 120 volts, so I put it off. It's been a year. There's a supercharger 5 miles away when I really need to pump it up, but leaving it plugged in after I get home, 12 hours gives about 60 miles. And there are times when I can just leave it plugged in 24x7 and fully charge. If you fit into 50-60 miles driving a day, and some days off, you don't even have to rush on the 240 volt installation. Plus you have a SuperCharger in Marlton it looks like, and another in Philadelphia. And then there are more generic charging spots coming on-line all the time, some stores, hotels, shopping malls, etc. You don't live in the Gobi Desert.
.

 

[ElectricIAC]

Can’t say I agree with not going 240v right away. It’s just so refreshing not having to worry about making an extra stop to charge because you have a full charge daily. As a tradesman your husband surely must know an electrician they can trust not to gouge you.

 

[Fernand]

I'm sure they'll get to it soon. I'm just sayin' it's not a do or die thing, especially if you're within 4 miles of a Supercharger. And if you normally don't drive over 50 miles a day, it's kind of a non-issue, you top it up when you can. And whether 120 or 240 you still have the chore of remembering to plug it in. No joke, I just remembered and went out and plugged it in.

Yeah of course it's nice to have everything perfect, but I wouldn't e.g. delay delivery because my 240 is not ready.
.

 

[SageBrush]

Yeah of course it's nice to have everything perfect, but I wouldn't e.g. delay delivery because my 240 is not ready.
.

Agreed !

A 240v installation is sweet but does not have to be in place before the car arrives. OP will receive both Fed and NJ tax credits that will cover a large fraction of the EVSE/installation costs