Awaiting Delivery on Inventory Model S

[Dbox95]

Very excited to be awaiting delivery on a new Model S I purchased from inventory!

Here are some details:
-Model S 100D
-Obsidian Black Metallic Paint
-Glass Roof
-19" Slipstream Wheels
-Cream Premium Interior
-Figured Ash Wood décor
-Light Headliner
-Enhanced Autopilot
-72amp Charger Upgrade
-Smart Air Suspension
-Premium Interior Package
-Premium Sound
-Subzero Weather Package

I had originally designed one online that included a sunroof and grey 19" wheels without premium but decided to go ahead with the inventory car (50 miles) to avoid the wait and uncertainty on tax laws. Hopefully delivery from CO doesn't take too long!

I've spent time and expect to spend much more on this great forum getting up to speed but do have some questions. Apologies if these sort of newbie questions should be posted elsewhere. Please feel free to educate me on forum decorum and I'll get in line.

Here are a few items on my mind:
1) Debating home charging option. I have access to EV charging stations at work but do want to charge at home. Debating between 14-50 outlet and HPWC. Given the 72amp charger, would folks recommend the HPWC with a 90amp circuit? I live in MA and have contacted my local electrician to see what the cost would be for the two options. If someone else is from the Boston area (I'm SW of the city) and has a recommended installer, I'm all ears!

2) They sent me a "Welcome to Tesla" email with a link to activate my account. However, I get an error that the server didn't respond when I click. Anything I can be doing in the meantime while they sort this out?

3) My insurance quote wasn't too bad. Monthly premiums will go up by $21 when I replace my current 2007 ML350 with the Model S. Does this sound right to folks? Again, I live and insure in MA.

4) Any suggestions on apps outside of the Tesla app? I downloaded it but can't do anything since I can't activate my account through the email link mentioned above. Any other apps I should consider? I don't need to get too technical, just looking for the best experience / functionality.

5) Any accessories in particular I should consider? I think dealership is going to give me all weather floor mats, but considering mat for trunk. We're a skiing family and it appears the best option for a ski rack is the "seasucker" suction mount for the glass roof. Good news is that they offer a veteran discount. I'm going to order that unless anyone here recommends something different? What other accessories are worth considering?

6) I really like the red caliper colors. I recognize some may consider this as "faking" a performance upgrade, but I don't see it that way and really like the look. I've seen a few threads on this and it looks like getting them painted / powder coated is much cheaper than replacing via Tesla and selling the old ones. Any advice on this one?

7) Lastly, as a MA resident who drives often in RI for work, are there any particular laws or advantages to an EV that I should be aware of outside of the occasional EV parking spot?

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this community, I've already learned a bunch and will spend more time researching on here. If anyone feels like responding to my specific questions, I'd be most grateful!

 

[arcus]

Welcome!

1) Debating home charging option. I have access to EV charging stations at work but do want to charge at home. Debating between 14-50 outlet and HPWC. Given the 72amp charger, would folks recommend the HPWC with a 90amp circuit? I live in MA and have contacted my local electrician to see what the cost would be for the two options. If someone else is from the Boston area (I'm SW of the city) and has a recommended installer, I'm all ears!

What is your daily driving range? I have 240 V 30 A circuit in the garage and it gives me ~17 miles of charge per hour. Enough to charge overnight. You also have the charger at work, so unless you drive a lot every day I would not go for HPWC. Search the forum, there a few threads about HPWC vs NEMA 14-50.

2) They sent me a "Welcome to Tesla" email with a link to activate my account. However, I get an error that the server didn't respond when I click. Anything I can be doing in the meantime while they sort this out?

Most of these things take time, but I would contact DS if it has been in that state for more than couple of days.

3) My insurance quote wasn't too bad. Monthly premiums will go up by $21 when I replace my current 2007 ML350 with the Model S. Does this sound right to folks? Again, I live and insure in MA.

Everyone's insurance situation will be different (age, history of incidents/claims, credit score etc.), so there's no good or bad answer to this unfortunately.

4) Any suggestions on apps outside of the Tesla app? I downloaded it but can't do anything since I can't activate my account through the email link mentioned above. Any other apps I should consider? I don't need to get too technical, just looking for the best experience / functionality.

Tesla app for a start, PlugShare to see where to charge outside of SC, ChargePoint for L2 charging, Waze for traffic alerts - this does it for me. Others might chime in with more.

5) Any accessories in particular I should consider? I think dealership is going to give me all weather floor mats, but considering mat for trunk. We're a skiing family and it appears the best option for a ski rack is the "seasucker" suction mount for the glass roof. Good news is that they offer a veteran discount. I'm going to order that unless anyone here recommends something different? What other accessories are worth considering?

I bought the trunk cargo organizer (aftermarket, goes to that hole under the floor in the trunk).

6) I really like the red caliper colors. I recognize some may consider this as "faking" a performance upgrade, but I don't see it that way and really like the look. I've seen a few threads on this and it looks like getting them painted / powder coated is much cheaper than replacing via Tesla and selling the old ones. Any advice on this one?

Matter of personal preference I guess. I like the sport(ier) look of red calipers, but I have a hard time justifying it. I actually like the original Tesla color (navy-blue-ish).

 

[Dbox95]

Thanks Arcus!

My commute is 35 miles each way when I go into the the office (typically 3 days per week.) I figure I'll try to charge at work more often than not to save on the home electricity bill. After reading, it appears the general recommendation is to avoid charging to 100% so I'll factor that into my thinking.

I'll do some more reading on the home charging pro/cons.

Thanks for your initial reply!

 

[whitex]

Charging options depend mostly on your driving pattern. If you drive all they then charge all night, 40A will do just fine. The only time you need more if you ever come home with low charge and need a lot of charge in a relatively short time. We have 2, 40A (NEMA 14-50 on 50A cct) and 80A charger (HPWC on 100A cct). My wife charges at 48A and I charge at 40A, except for maybe once a year when borrow her charger for a quick 80A charge session. The second factor is whether your house can feed 72A sustained load - check with your electrician. Lastly, NEMA 14-50 is the least expensive option. If you do decide to go with the HPWC, I would wire it for the highest current your house can provide, since the cost increase isn't usually that much to get thicker wires and higher value breaker - you can always set the charge current to less.

As for accessories, nobody mentioned a ChaDeMo adapter yet - you may not use it often, but when you do it's a real timesaver. Also, you may want to identify what charging networks are present around your area, and get free accounts with rfid cards setup in case you ever want to use them.

 

[arcus]

After reading, it appears the general recommendation is to avoid charging to 100% so I'll factor that into my thinking.

That's correct. Only charge to 100% if you intend to use that charge immediately (don't let the car "sit" in that state for too long. For daily use, set it to either 80 or 90 percent and you will be fine.

 

[Dbox95]

Happy to report that I have been driving my new vehicle since Dec 26th and everything has gone well. Still working on getting a proper charger installed at home but have been able to get by with a combination of charging at work, slow (114v) charging at home and one trip to the Dedham SC (more to try it out than a real need.)

I've joined Chargepoint (needed for access to chargers at work) and evGo since it seemed like they have a bunch of charging stations in the NE area. Also purchased the Remote S app which I've been using in addition to the standard Tesla app. Really like the Remote S app since it allows some functionality through my watch (i.e. turning on HVAC and monitoring charging.)

Waiting shipment on all weather mats that the dealership ordered for me. Debating ordering trunk all weather mat and tire repair kit online. Also ordered some upgraded LED lights from Abstract Ocean that I'll install when I have a chance as I don't like how dim the OEM lights are - especially in the trunk area. I also purchased a Seasucker Ski Rack - great company to work with. I haven't used it yet, but quality of the rack seems excellent and I'd endorse it for anyone looking for a ski rack solution for a glass roof model S.

So far, I've been surprised by the reduced range but suspect that's primarily due to the lousy cold weather we've had along with me driving a little aggressively as I test out the performance. Car drives great! I've attached a photo in case anyone wants a look - but it's a pretty standard look. As you might notice, I decided to switch from the standard silver wheels to grey and really like the look.

In terms of other driving experiences, I did discover today that the wipers and spray seem to do a lousy job cleaning my windshield when I'm on the highway and there is a lot of spray with salt / dirt being kicked up. Not sure if it's the aim of the spray or just how it is but hoping I can get it improved. Also, autopilot isn't quite as reliable as I would have hoped. On side roads it occasionally seems to be on it's way out of the lane and into the shoulder before I step in. It also seems to weave in the lane more than I'd like which feels a little unsettling - especially when there are cars in the adjacent lanes. I'm hoping I'll get more used to it and it will continue to improve (I've had two firmware updates since I picked it up.)

I'm still interested in getting the calipers red. Anyone have a recommendation for a place near Boston that does good work? I found one place that does high end work but the quote was $1,800 for powder coating the calipers which seems really high. A place in FL that seems to do a ton of them quoted me $700 but that would require getting them off myself and shipping them down there. Any advice would be most appreciated!

 

[A-Wimoweh]

Autopilot is not intended to be used on side roads, at least not yet. It currently cannot handle red lights, cross traffic, stop signs, etc. Please do not use it outside of its intended environment, we don't need more bad publicity from autopilot accidents. It never comes across as using autopilot in the wrong way, instead it just makes autopilot look unreliable.