Considering the Model 3 and have a few queries.

[nightowl]

1. When building the car online there's very few options to say the least and I would like the Long Range version but with different wheels and also with the black interior but not the wood trim, is it possible to spec the car with different wheels (such as the silver ones I've seen plenty of in photos or even the ones that come on the performance model) and a different trim to the wood (without paying extra for the black/white interior)?

2. What range are people getting in the real world, and what type of driving is this?

3. What is involved (holes in walls etc) in order to get a charger fitted at home/work, can they be fitted outside rather than in a garage etc and are the charge points lockable?

4. How irritating are the windscreen wipers and not being able to control them properly without using the main console? I imagine it's quite distracting changing settings on the wipers having to delve into the computer menus whilst driving?

Any help appreciated.

1. What bothers you about the wheels? If it's how weird the aero wheels look, the caps can be removed easily. Just an idea You can get wraps to cover the wood trim (seen one when browsing Abstract Ocean's website but originally this was one of the reasons I chose white interior instead.)

2. I don't tend to make many long journeys but I travelled to a couple of places that are roughly 180 miles away. I'm overly paranoid about ensuring I have enough charge so despite having the Long Range car I've stopped off roughly half-way just to top up at a supercharger in either direction (as well as charging overnight at the destination.) On the most recent trip, setting off with the battery charged to around 85% I worked out after arriving that had I not topped up at a supercharger I would've ended up with about 15% battery remaining. This was with air conditioning on and mostly motorway driving. In contrast, my commute to work is 10 miles either way and involves a fair amount of stop-start traffic for part of it, and I have the air conditioning on. I use about 10% of the battery.

3. I'm waiting for a charger to be installed. In my case it will be outside, with an additional consumer unit being installed alongside the meter (which is in one of those external meter boxes with a door, so the cabling will be run along the wall outside as far as I am aware.)

4. The windscreen wipers used to be REALLY annoying. They have improved significantly in recent updates. Easy enough to press the button to trigger a manual wipe if needed. Interacting with the screen while driving is pretty distracting (even for changing temperature etc.) The voice commands should help with this but that seems a tad flaky at the moment.

 

[snerkler]

1. Already answered above
2. Haven’t quite worked out but did do a 200 mile journey at varying speeds with room to spare (LR version) - late October with heavy rain for significant stretches
3. Depends on location of your e meter and where you want the charger. In my case opposite sides of the house so involved routing cable under floors and along garage ceiling before it went through wall to outside charger (Tesla)! No lock but switch off electricity supply to it if going on holiday. Where I am I think the risk of someone doing a sneaky charge is low!
4. Much improved recently - possibly through combination of software updates and application of Rain X to my windscreen. Has been working a treat

Auto is better now on the latest firmware (2019.40.1.1+) due to “smart rain” update.

View attachment 496326

I don’t use the manual modes unless I have to, auto is good when it works, but when it goes mad at full speed when there isn’t anything to wipe it gets pretty irritating so I have to pick a manual mode. The ideal world would be that the manual modes don’t need to exist.

WRT interior trim customisation, don't bother with cheapo vinyl products from amazon/eBay. They suck and are virtually impossible to put on without leaving you car looking like it was styled by a 5 year old.

I’ve only covered the piano black centre console with Matrix textured vinyl from a company called Abstract Ocean. Admittedly they are 5x more expensive, but was relatively painless to stick on while they look pretty much factory fitted. Have to stress though, it took me about 45 mins to install with a lot of care and patience.

I’ve not done the dash trim yet, but have read it requires even more time and patience.

For every horror story there’s 10s if not 100s (1000s?) of happy satisfied customers enjoying their Teslas

Most of the time you will be able to leave them in Auto.

After the last software update, my auto wipers are as good as any other version I've had.

1. What bothers you about the wheels? If it's how weird the aero wheels look, the caps can be removed easily. Just an idea You can get wraps to cover the wood trim (seen one when browsing Abstract Ocean's website but originally this was one of the reasons I chose white interior instead.)

2. I don't tend to make many long journeys but I travelled to a couple of places that are roughly 180 miles away. I'm overly paranoid about ensuring I have enough charge so despite having the Long Range car I've stopped off roughly half-way just to top up at a supercharger in either direction (as well as charging overnight at the destination.) On the most recent trip, setting off with the battery charged to around 85% I worked out after arriving that had I not topped up at a supercharger I would've ended up with about 15% battery remaining. This was with air conditioning on and mostly motorway driving. In contrast, my commute to work is 10 miles either way and involves a fair amount of stop-start traffic for part of it, and I have the air conditioning on. I use about 10% of the battery.

3. I'm waiting for a charger to be installed. In my case it will be outside, with an additional consumer unit being installed alongside the meter (which is in one of those external meter boxes with a door, so the cabling will be run along the wall outside as far as I am aware.)

4. The windscreen wipers used to be REALLY annoying. They have improved significantly in recent updates. Easy enough to press the button to trigger a manual wipe if needed. Interacting with the screen while driving is pretty distracting (even for changing temperature etc.) The voice commands should help with this but that seems a tad flaky at the moment.

Thanks again for all of the replies. OK so the window wipers may be OK (most of the time) but at least there's a manual override. TBH the ones in my X5 aren't great and often go like the clappers for no reason.

Of more concern is the mileage folk are getting. One of the reasons I've not gone electric before was due to the low range, but with the Model 3 claiming to get 300+ I thought that it sounded good as from where I am I'd be able to get to pretty much any location in the UK without needing a charge, however if you only get 200 miles then that could mean charging on the way which I'm not overly keen on.

 

[Jason71]

Have you seen the standard wheels without the caps? They are pretty nice. You just need a centre cap and nut covers which are readily available?

 

[R.A.G]

Ref the wood trim, I couldn’t stand it before the car was delivered and planned on some kind of wrap/cover as soon as I got the car.... but I actually really like it now and really wouldn’t bother changing it.

Its obviously very subjective but I was surprised how much better it looks in the flesh.

 

[mo.dilwar]

Thanks again for all of the replies. OK so the window wipers may be OK (most of the time) but at least there's a manual override. TBH the ones in my X5 aren't great and often go like the clappers for no reason.

Of more concern is the mileage folk are getting. One of the reasons I've not gone electric before was due to the low range, but with the Model 3 claiming to get 300+ I thought that it sounded good as from where I am I'd be able to get to pretty much any location in the UK without needing a charge, however if you only get 200 miles then that could mean charging on the way which I'm not overly keen on.

I would suspect you could get around 230ish miles in a worst case scenario with the LR. In any case if you need to do say 300 miles to get your destination, it’s probably no more than 10-15 stop (enough to have a quick whizz and brag a coffee/sandwich) at a supercharger.

 

[nightowl]

if you only get 200 miles then that could mean charging on the way which I'm not overly keen on.

Environmental factors affect the distance you can get. Cold weather affects the battery performance, and also makes people want to have the heating on. Heated seats are nice but de-misting the windows and also being warm in general (not just my bottom and back!) tend to be my priorities. The air conditioning uses quite a lot of power - but it's REALLY nice to be able to pre-warm the car (via the app) whilst eating breakfast so that when I set off to work I'm not spending several minutes sat in a cold car waiting to be able to see out of the windows.

Stopping to charge can be a bit of an inconvenience but it gives me a chance to take a break on a long trip. Supercharging is pretty quick (admittedly not as fast as putting petrol in a car but enough time to grab a coffee and a snack at services whilst you wait.)

 

[Cwmwd]

you only need to push the stalk button for a wipe

You can press a button on the left stalk to do a single wipe if required

the wipers take a press of the manual wipe button on the stalk as a hint

just press the button on the tip of the left stork. I seldom need to touch the wiper settings on the touchscreen while driving.

press the button to trigger a manual wipe if needed

Worth pointing out that pressing the button also brings up the wiper controls on the touch screen so you can adjust the speed if you need to without digging around UI.

 

[snerkler]

Have you seen the standard wheels without the caps? They are pretty nice. You just need a centre cap and nut covers which are readily available?

No I haven't tbh, I didn't realise you could take the aero covers off until it was mentioned earlier.

Ref the wood trim, I couldn’t stand it before the car was delivered and planned on some kind of wrap/cover as soon as I got the car.... but I actually really like it now and really wouldn’t bother changing it.

Its obviously very subjective but I was surprised how much better it looks in the flesh.

TBH if it was a lot of hassle to change I'd just put up with it. I do wonder who thought the wood was a good idea though, doesn't seem in keeping with the rest of the car imo.

I would suspect you could get around 230ish miles in a worst case scenario with the LR. In any case if you need to do say 300 miles to get your destination, it’s probably no more than 10-15 stop (enough to have a quick whizz and brag a coffee/sandwich) at a supercharger.

90% of the time it wouldn't be an issue as I don't do a lot of mileage, but we do plan on at least one UK holiday/year and I'm the kind of person that just wants to get to the destination ASAP with as little to no stops as possible. Also having to 'plan' where I can stop is a slight inconvenience.

Environmental factors affect the distance you can get. Cold weather affects the battery performance, and also makes people want to have the heating on. Heated seats are nice but de-misting the windows and also being warm in general (not just my bottom and back!) tend to be my priorities. The air conditioning uses quite a lot of power - but it's REALLY nice to be able to pre-warm the car (via the app) whilst eating breakfast so that when I set off to work I'm not spending several minutes sat in a cold car waiting to be able to see out of the windows.

Stopping to charge can be a bit of an inconvenience but it gives me a chance to take a break on a long trip. Supercharging is pretty quick (admittedly not as fast as putting petrol in a car but enough time to grab a coffee and a snack at services whilst you wait.)

I guess that's OK as long as there's a charger free. I know my brother's partner had a nightmare on one journey with no vacant chargers and broken chargers.

I know this is part and parcel of electric cars, but I was hoping that the long range could keep the 'inconvenience' down to a minimum.

 

[snerkler]

Worth pointing out that pressing the button also brings up the wiper controls on the touch screen so you can adjust the speed if you need to without digging around UI.

Useful to know, thanks.

 

[MrBadger]

The Model 3 (and other vehicles) do not like short trips. So lots of short trips will not show good efficiency. Longer trips average out much better. But there are lots of things that can affect an EV range, many of which can affect the range of an ICE, but you don't really notice. Higher speed, wet roads, use of heater, weight, tyre pressures, ambient temperature etc.

The Model 3 LR 310 mile range (ignore the 348 mile range, thats to allow you to compare vehicle ranges and like MPG figures, has little bearing on reality) is based on a fictitious, but achievable consumption of approx 225W/mile. The LR battery is approx 70kW, so thats a 100% charge vehicle, when new, at warm temperature. As battery gets cooler or older, capacity drops, so range will too. Also, you invariable never charge an EV to 100%, nor allow it to drop to 0% - you will shorten the life of the battery. Playing safe, 20%-90% is a good indicator, so safe usable 70% battery capacity - many though go 10% and below, likewise 95% or higher - car will not like being <10% >90% for periods of time. The rest is journey specific and how much battery you need when you arrive. Also, car loses energy overnight, some user choice (sentry, climate pre condition), some small amounts unavoidable.

We recently drove 240+220 miles over 2 days, 80% efficiency (302+282 miles battery miles used), driven exactly as we would have same journey with our previous car - 5:00 and 4:40 driving duration. Departed 88%, arrived 62%, charged twice on way as part of comfort stops (12 mins and 36 mins - latter was to get us at destination with enough battery to get a decent way back had we got no option to charge near destination). Return 62%, arrive 54%, two charges; 41 mins, a particularly slow charge before setting off, so car was 'cold' and 37 mins on return let including quick bite to eat.

So 4 charges sound a lot, but reality is, only one was 'not part of normal journey' and in reality would normally be an overnight charge rather than something I had to babysit. Thinking out loud, 460 miles was 584 miles of battery used including overnight sentry mode. (292Wh/mile trip). So 242 miles real range vs 310 miles manufacturers, if you used 0-100% of battery capacity, 170 miles if you keep within 20-90%. If it was very wet, numbers would be worse, maybe 150 miles at 20-90%.

Conversely, we have also got around 180Wh/mile driving with less heater/AC on several 15 or so mile journeys, still in 'cold' weather setting off first thing in morning. So you can achieve >310 mile range. I expect 300 mile range to be regularly obtainable when it warms up and less reliant on heater usage.


I should also add. An EV is not a ICE vehicle. There are a few things where you need to adjust your mindset. Charging and range is one. With an EV, you can leave home each morning with a (nearly) full tank of 'petrol'. When you arrive at your destination, you need to have enough left in the battery to get to the next charger, and a convenient time frame to perform that charge. With an EV, that often comes from multiple short stops (battery does not have linear charge rate, so 20-80% normally results in fastest charging) - however instead of standing in cold with fuel pump nozzle in hand, you can be sitting/standing/sleeping in warm doing something useful/enjoyable.

 

[nightowl]

In the 2 months I've had my car I've been to 7 or 8 superchargers and haven't had trouble finding a free spot. Obviously as more Tesla cars sell in the UK, demand will increase but I'd expect more superchargers to get built as well. A (fairly hefty) idle fee applies if a car is plugged in but not charging for several minutes which discourages people from occupying a supercharger unnecessarily, so people should move on pretty quickly when they've finished.

As well as staying within 20%-90% as much as possible for the sake of the health of the battery, it also charges quickest up to about 80% or so and then slows down. I charge to 90% at a supercharger and if I want to maximise range it just seems to make more sense to set that charging overnight at home before setting off rather than sit waiting for longer at a supercharger.

For my regular work commute, I just plug in overnight at home to top up each day. No more checking the fuel gauge on the way home thinking "should I fill up yet?" as I know I'll always have enough battery for short journeys. Just need to plan ahead for longer journeys - which I think about when having a look at details of the proposed route. As I mentioned, it gives me a reason to take a break.

The car can include superchargers on the route automatically, but there's also the option to just pick one to go to (and see how busy it is) - which will automatically prepare the battery for optimal supercharging conditions 15 minutes or so before you arrive (just warms the battery.) So it's pretty convenient in that respect.

Obviously, charging time wise it is not ideal when compared to a petrol car. That's pretty much the only negative point though. I was worried about this when considering EVs originally but figured that it was still worth getting one anyway. No regrets here.

 

[snerkler]

The Model 3 (and other vehicles) do not like short trips. So lots of short trips will not show good efficiency. Longer trips average out much better. But there are lots of things that can affect an EV range, many of which can affect the range of an ICE, but you don't really notice. Higher speed, wet roads, use of heater, weight, tyre pressures, ambient temperature etc.

The Model 3 LR 310 mile range (ignore the 348 mile range, thats to allow you to compare vehicle ranges and like MPG figures, has little bearing on reality) is based on a fictitious, but achievable consumption of approx 225W/mile. The LR battery is approx 70kW, so thats a 100% charge vehicle, when new, at warm temperature. As battery gets cooler or older, capacity drops, so range will too. Also, you invariable never charge an EV to 100%, nor allow it to drop to 0% - you will shorten the life of the battery. Playing safe, 20%-90% is a good indicator, so safe usable 70% battery capacity - many though go 10% and below, likewise 95% or higher - car will not like being <10% >90% for periods of time. The rest is journey specific and how much battery you need when you arrive. Also, car loses energy overnight, some user choice (sentry, climate pre condition), some small amounts unavoidable.

We recently drove 240+220 miles over 2 days, 80% efficiency (302+282 miles battery miles used), driven exactly as we would have same journey with our previous car - 5:00 and 4:40 driving duration. Departed 88%, arrived 62%, charged twice on way as part of comfort stops (12 mins and 36 mins - latter was to get us at destination with enough battery to get a decent way back had we got no option to charge near destination). Return 62%, arrive 54%, two charges; 41 mins, a particularly slow charge before setting off, so car was 'cold' and 37 mins on return let including quick bite to eat.

So 4 charges sound a lot, but reality is, only one was 'not part of normal journey' and in reality would normally be an overnight charge rather than something I had to babysit. Thinking out loud, 460 miles was 584 miles of battery used including overnight sentry mode. (292Wh/mile trip). So 242 miles real range vs 310 miles manufacturers, if you used 0-100% of battery capacity, 170 miles if you keep within 20-90%. If it was very wet, numbers would be worse, maybe 150 miles at 20-90%.

Conversely, we have also got around 180Wh/mile driving with less heater/AC on several 15 or so mile journeys, still in 'cold' weather setting off first thing in morning. So you can achieve >310 mile range. I expect 300 mile range to be regularly obtainable when it warms up and less reliant on heater usage.


I should also add. An EV is not a ICE vehicle. There are a few things where you need to adjust your mindset. Charging and range is one. With an EV, you can leave home each morning with a (nearly) full tank of 'petrol'. When you arrive at your destination, you need to have enough left in the battery to get to the next charger, and a convenient time frame to perform that charge. With an EV, that often comes from multiple short stops (battery does not have linear charge rate, so 20-80% normally results in fastest charging) - however instead of standing in cold with fuel pump nozzle in hand, you can be sitting/standing/sleeping in warm doing something useful/enjoyable.

In the 2 months I've had my car I've been to 7 or 8 superchargers and haven't had trouble finding a free spot. Obviously as more Tesla cars sell in the UK, demand will increase but I'd expect more superchargers to get built as well. A (fairly hefty) idle fee applies if a car is plugged in but not charging for several minutes which discourages people from occupying a supercharger unnecessarily, so people should move on pretty quickly when they've finished.

As well as staying within 20%-90% as much as possible for the sake of the health of the battery, it also charges quickest up to about 80% or so and then slows down. I charge to 90% at a supercharger and if I want to maximise range it just seems to make more sense to set that charging overnight at home before setting off rather than sit waiting for longer at a supercharger.

For my regular work commute, I just plug in overnight at home to top up each day. No more checking the fuel gauge on the way home thinking "should I fill up yet?" as I know I'll always have enough battery for short journeys. Just need to plan ahead for longer journeys - which I think about when having a look at details of the proposed route. As I mentioned, it gives me a reason to take a break.

The car can include superchargers on the route automatically, but there's also the option to just pick one to go to (and see how busy it is) - which will automatically prepare the battery for optimal supercharging conditions 15 minutes or so before you arrive (just warms the battery.) So it's pretty convenient in that respect.

Obviously, charging time wise it is not ideal when compared to a petrol car. That's pretty much the only negative point though. I was worried about this when considering EVs originally but figured that it was still worth getting one anyway. No regrets here.

Thanks. Whilst I appreciate that you don't get good efficiency with short trips (just like Petrol and Diesel cars) does this affect the battery in a negative way, ie shorten it's life or anything? If you went from doing lots of short journeys to then doing one long journey would you get good efficiency on the long journey (as you would a petrol/diesel car) or would you have to 'condition' the battery to getting good efficiency, ie you won't get good efficiency until you've done several long runs in a row?

As for superchargers they're few and far between in my neck of the woods. How long do 'regular' charges take?

 

[dhrivnak]

.....
2. 70-80mph on the motorway in the current weather/temperature will mean you struggle to get 200 miles out of an LR
...

Really? As I have never seen less than 250 miles in now more than 33,000 of driving and 300 has been reached many times.

 

[mo.dilwar]

...
90% of the time it wouldn't be an issue as I don't do a lot of mileage, but we do plan on at least one UK holiday/year and I'm the kind of person that just wants to get to the destination ASAP with as little to no stops as possible. Also having to 'plan' where I can stop is a slight inconvenience.

That’s the beauty of owning a Tesla over any other EV right now. You virtually don’t have it “plan” your journey at all. Just put in your destination into the built in satnav and the route planner will do the planning for you, with suggested supercharger stop(s) along the way. You can even set the charge % you want to have when you arrive at your final destination.

 

[kevuwk]

Really? As I have never seen less than 250 miles in now more than 33,000 of driving and 300 has been reached many times.

Fair enough I have the performance but the current weather being generally wet and 0-5C gives me an efficiency of around 64%. If the LR is 20% more efficient then fair enough but I suspect you aren’t constantly driving at 70-80mph

 

[snerkler]

That’s the beauty of owning a Tesla over any other EV right now. You virtually don’t have it “plan” your journey at all. Just put in your destination into the built in satnav and the route planner will do the planning for you, with suggested supercharger stop(s) along the way. You can even set the charge % you want to have when you arrive at your final destination.

Planning routes is not a problem for me, having to plan an alternative route just so I pass a charger is more of an issue.

But what I was meaning is, let’s say I have several months of driving no more than 30 miles, often doing 2-3 mile runs, if I then went on a long run would I potentially get 300 miles or would it be massively reduced due to the previous few months of short trips?

Fair enough I have the performance but the current weather being generally wet and 0-5C gives me an efficiency of around 64%. If the LR is 20% more efficient then fair enough but I suspect you aren’t constantly driving at 70-80mph

Id be interested to hear what you get when the weather warms up a bit

 

[snerkler]

Why a it best to keep the battery between 10-90% charged and not charge it to 100%?

 

[vitesse]

2. I can’t give you exact figures as I own an SR+. But ballpark is 65% of quoted range in winter. 80-110% range in warmer weather.

That's pretty much true for me also though I have MS70D

Just as with a conventional car, in winter the longer the journey the better the range will be as the battery warms up but it can take a while before optimal temperature is reached (more than half an hour of normal driving).

 

[MrBadger]

You can even set the charge % you want to have when you arrive at your final destination.

Where do you set that please? I’ve looked and never found anything and seems to use something like 20%. Knowing that would remove a major criticism I have of the Tesla sat nav.

 

[mo.dilwar]

Why a it best to keep the battery between 10-90% charged and not charge it to 100%?

There’s some battery hocus-pocus that reduces its degradation of you follow this practice.

There is no real harm in charging to 100% just before a long trip. But key thing is when the battery is at 100% for the first part of your journey you will not get any regen, which in the long run will be less efficient.