An interesting journey last night

Picking my son and 3 of his friends up from Gatwick yesterday. Had been a bit out during the day so car charge was down a bit and while plugged in at home it didn't quite get to a level I wanted it before I had to leave. Technically I should have been able to make the trip there and back with 8% spare at the start.

So off I go and figure don't want to run it so close so I'll try the new Gridserve with 4 Tesla chargers as I could give it a 5 - 10 quick boost, buy a coffee and all I'd need. Punch this into the nav and use 4% of the battery in preheating. I get there to find our car no longer DC charges. We got it back a week ago from a body shop for a dent someone put into a door in parking lot plus getting rims sorted. Guessing they disconnected the HV battery and maybe haven't plugged something back in. Tried 2 Tesla chargers (One of which saw another Tesla charging on OK) and 2 of the other non-Tesla chargers and none worked.

So burned 4% pre-heating. Car says now I should get home with 4% so I normally trust that to be pretty accurate. Picked everyone up and decided to go 60 instead of 70 to be on the safe side anyway...

That was not enough, about 2 miles in my arrival dropped from 4% to 3, another 2 miles roughly and my arrival was 2%, clearly seemed wasn't going to make to so dropped further down to 55mph. That seemed to do the trick. And it got up to 3% and seemed to stay there the whole time.

A few points from this:

1. Tesla range estimations on battery arrival are amazingly accurate but it cannot of course account for you adding 4 more adults and all their luggage in before you set off. That extra weight in a Model 3 makes a massive difference. I had to go at 55mph to get the efficiency I'd have got with just me in the car at 70mph.

2. If you've had the car in a garage, even if it's just a dent. I guess they disconnect the battery for safety reasons, check both AC and DC charging before you need to use it in anger.

3. Was planning on being a two EV household but has made me wobble a little that maybe one car still needs to be an ICE or PHEV. Yes they can break down but as long as running you can probably always put fuel in the tank. Distance I did yesterday would be about 1/3rd a tank of diesel.

4. Going 55mph in a motorway is the slowest I've ever done. Hope I don't have to crawl home like that again. It's unfitting for a Model 3 Performance.

"Nachhaltige E-Mobilität: Tesla Model 3 aufladen mit einem Typ 2-Stecker" by verchmarco is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[phxazcraig]

For the first though the roads are pretty empty at 1am so they should really be able to move over long before. I think a lot where things like white van men who wouldn't have cruise, just poor driving abilities

Teslas won't change lanes in their TACC. How many other manufacturers are the same?

 

[FastLaneJB]

Teslas won't change lanes in their TACC. How many other manufacturers are the same?

True most of them will not chsnge a lane, none of them can do it legally in the UK without driver input either. How many drivers though are prepared to go 15mph below the speed limit when most are normally doing 10 over just because they cannot be bothered to move the steering wheel to get into another lane?

 

[phxazcraig]

True most of them will not chsnge a lane, none of them can do it legally in the UK without driver input either. How many drivers though are prepared to go 15mph below the speed limit when most are normally doing 10 over just because they cannot be bothered to move the steering wheel to get into another lane?

Apparently most of the ones behind you.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Apparently most of the ones behind you.

Indeed. That was what surprised me, it's not the normal way most seem to drive in this country but I guess I've never gone slow enough to find out that some just want to stick in the slow lane no matter what.

 

[debrooker]

nearly 3 years in, i get a sweaky bum with anything at 10% or less so will always charge if the car thinks that - plus its against my religon to do 65 on a clear motorway

 

[FastLaneJB]

nearly 3 years in, i get a sweaky bum with anything at 10% or less so will always charge if the car thinks that - plus its against my religon to do 65 on a clear motorway

Yeah it wasn’t ideal for sure and I think I’m subscribed to the same religion but I had to be bad and slow down. I of course went to see a priest the day after to repent my sins

 

[Oxid8ter]

If you were having issues with SuC, could you potentially have sought out an 11kW AC Charger? Not ideal for you/your passengers but better than being stuck on a hard shoulder had you have run out of juice

Just playing devils advocate, I do get it as (like @debrooker) I get twitchy under 10% - but part of that is as I rarely do longer trips where I don't get home with spare charge.

 

[FastLaneJB]

If you were having issues with SuC, could you potentially have sought out an 11kW AC Charger? Not ideal for you/your passengers but better than being stuck on a hard shoulder had you have run out of juice

Just playing devils advocate, I do get it as (like @debrooker) I get twitchy under 10% - but part of that is as I rarely do longer trips where I don't get home with spare charge.

That was I guess going to be only option but probably would mean a reasonable detour and absolutely not making it home if I couldn't find one that worked. A steady 55mph seemed to be doing the trick and it did that overall, that was the quicker way of doing it I think.

I mean not that I've not had fuel issues in the past where I've been in the middle of nowhere, left it pretty late to fill up as nav says there's a fuel station nearby only to find it's now a hand car wash and no longer a working petrol station. Never ran out and maybe in all the years of driving an ICE, it's like 2 - 3 times where I've been pretty low and all frankly my own fault for just not filling up sooner. So that's maybe once every 10 years.

I suspect with an EV, this might be a more common occurrence due to the shorter range they have. It's bound to happen more than once every 10 years I think and I do a lot less miles these days than I used to.

 

[spdpsba]

That was I guess going to be only option but probably would mean a reasonable detour and absolutely not making it home if I couldn't find one that worked. A

As I mentioned before, I think we all need to keep the Sainsbury one as a back up - in dire situations. Some of their chargers are mainly in areas that have SC void. Unfortunately they do not have a charger app, we just have to search using Sainsbury locations or this website.

Smart Charge - Ultra-Rapid Electric Vehicle Charging Powered by Sainsbury's

Locations page for Smart Charge

smartcharge.co.uk

 

[FastLaneJB]

As I mentioned before, I think we all need to keep the Sainsbury one as a back up - in dire situations. Some of their chargers are mainly in areas that have SC void. Unfortunately they do not have a charger app, we just have to search using Sainsbury locations or this website.

Smart Charge - Ultra-Rapid Electric Vehicle Charging Powered by Sainsbury's

Locations page for Smart Charge

smartcharge.co.uk

Ultra rapid wouldn't help if the car was not DC charging.

 

[spdpsba]

Ultra rapid wouldn't help if the car was not DC charging.

It is a trial as the Sainsbury was on your way and little detour needed. If this is a known harness issue then they normally resolve after few miles of driving. But to be honest, I wasn’t sure what the issue was with your car.

 

[karlos22]

Interestingly I have had the opposite experience, since owning a Tesla i drive about twice the amount of miles I used to.

It is also worth noting that 0% is not always 0%. The car might drive another 10 or 20 miles beyond that, but I wouldn’t plan on it. Always good to have in your back pocket though.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Interestingly I have had the opposite experience, since owning a Tesla i drive about twice the amount of miles I used to.

It is also worth noting that 0% is not always 0%. The car might drive another 10 or 20 miles beyond that, but I wouldn’t plan on it. Always good to have in your back pocket though.

Yeah I was aware of that but as you say trying to avoid it. I think with like 2% or so it had a power limit but not much really and the car never complained so it seemed happy I’d make it back at all times. I’m guessing if I hadn’t slowed down though it would have warned me to do it to make it to my destination.

It also interestingly never tried to add a Supercharger stop either.

 

[karlos22]

Yeah I was aware of that but as you say trying to avoid it. I think with like 2% or so it had a power limit but not much really and the car never complained so it seemed happy I’d make it back at all times. I’m guessing if I hadn’t slowed down though it would have warned me to do it to make it to my destination.

It also interestingly never tried to add a Supercharger stop either.

In theory it should at least try and prevent you from running out of charge but I have never tested that theory in anger haha.

 

[FastLaneJB]

In theory it should at least try and prevent you from running out of charge but I have never tested that theory in anger haha.

Yes I assume it would have told me to slow down to make it but I guess as I did it myself before it got to that point it didn't.

Was also expecting it to keep trying to stick in supercharger stops but it didn't.

 

[spdpsba]

trying to stick in supercharger stops but it didn't.

I understand why the car didn’t do that as DC wasn’t possible there is no point stopping for a super charge. The same I experienced was when my DC charger stopped because of the harness issue - the car didn’t give any SC options at all and I was in the middle of France going towards Italy. I understand why it didn’t give the option as the software says there is a problem but after 30 minutes I was able to DC charge but the error message didn’t disappear and the navigation didn’t give any SC option. Again I understand the rational as there was a hardware issue but the car was still SCing.

Not sure what the ideal solution would be in that scenario. I am not sure this specific issue has been alerted to the engineers. The issue is car supercharges but software error message continues leading to no navigation SC support. But there is a real hardware issue of the harness failure that can stop the SCing at anytime.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Tried it again yesterday on the Superchargers in Norwich and working fine. Seems OK but if it plays up again will have Tesla look at it.

I suspect once my LR Highland comes, we won’t use the Performance for longer trips anymore so chance it won’t even get used with Superchargers or public chargers again while we have it.

 

[MrBadger]

I would still get Tesla to take a look. It’s likely to be remote diagnostics so won’t be any hastle.

And as it sounds like the car is not a keeper, if you get it checked then at least you aren’t passing the buck to the new unwitting owners.

Also covers your arse if they have the same fault and look on here to find that you sold a car with a known fault without declaring it.

 

[FastLaneJB]

I would still get Tesla to take a look. It’s likely to be remote diagnostics so won’t be any hastle.

And as it sounds like the car is not a keeper, if you get it checked then at least you aren’t passing the buck to the new unwitting owners.

Also covers your arse if they have the same fault and look on here to find that you sold a car with a known fault without declaring it.

It’s a lease so wouldn’t be us selling it. It’ll still have a years warranty also by that point as it’s a 3 year lease.

I’m in two minds, it’s played balled all times other than one time including 2 times after it. I am more inclined to sit it out as it’s somewhat of an inconvenience to take it in also.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Coming back hoke today. Had 20% to get home so plenty but feeling a bit under the weather so my wife drives. By about 25% into the trip the arrival is 10% and not 20%. Obviously any suggestions to not drive it so hard or so fast goes no where so went to the v4 chargers in Newmarket for a few mins top up to cover her inefficient driving.

Works again so feel Tesla must have done something remotely when we raised the ticket, maybe just rebooted something but ultimately seems to be working OK.