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Does the model 3 need to be fettled to be a daily driver?
- Thread starter plisken
- Start date
I think my expectations have been somewhat dashed already by comments and feedback but regardless, my pattern is generally a daily 15 mile commute (thats in total) and due to complications mentioned earlier in thread, I will likely not be getting a home charger installed, at least not in the near future, so was planning on using public chargers. I'm pretty close to a supercharger so was hoping I could do that every couple of weeks (3 would be ideal but now realise that would be unrealistic) and top up at various other opportune moments.
Alex987854
Member
If the supercharger is nearer home than work, charge on the way home when you need to. Remember to navigate to the SC so the battery will precondition as much as it can and speed up your charge.
It may be worth getting an electrician to have a look at if fitting a charger is possible, and how much it would cost. Only you can know if the convenience of home charging is worth the price.
Remember you can get free charging at many supermarkets as many have AC charging posts available.
My local Aldi store has four charging parking spots, currently free.
A typical shopping visit got me a 20-minute charge amounting to a 5% boost equating to around 15 miles.
That's where EV's "charge little but often" mantra can help.
Just a little faff getting the cable out of the boot and setting it up before entering the shop is all it takes.
My local Aldi store has four charging parking spots, currently free.
A typical shopping visit got me a 20-minute charge amounting to a 5% boost equating to around 15 miles.
That's where EV's "charge little but often" mantra can help.
Just a little faff getting the cable out of the boot and setting it up before entering the shop is all it takes.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
If you have off street parking then the included UMC "Granny" charger would be more than adequate to keep it topped up with your mileage even if you cant fit a dedicated charger
BTW with your short journeys you are going to see a big disparity in how often you need to charge between summer and winter.
MrBadger
Badger out
Don't treat the car as a petrol/diesel car, its not. If you do, think of it as one with a leaky petrol tank and an occasional misfire where you don't get the expected MPG, especially if you do short trips with a bit of a gap between drives.
Today for us is one of those days that shows the cars shortcomings. Last night, we charged to 67%. Today the car has done under 20 miles but used 14% battery. On paper you would have expected 40 miles or so for that amount of depletion. But 5 relatively short drives, some temperature induced battery losses and sentry is not great for efficiency.
When we first got the car, we had to live off public charging. A daily commute of around 13 miles and some other ad-hoc drives during the week. We had to charge roughly every 6 days.
Today for us is one of those days that shows the cars shortcomings. Last night, we charged to 67%. Today the car has done under 20 miles but used 14% battery. On paper you would have expected 40 miles or so for that amount of depletion. But 5 relatively short drives, some temperature induced battery losses and sentry is not great for efficiency.
When we first got the car, we had to live off public charging. A daily commute of around 13 miles and some other ad-hoc drives during the week. We had to charge roughly every 6 days.
I am one that would tell you, given what you said about your lack of ability / desire to install home charging, do not buy a tesla or any other EV. You will not be charging every 2 weeks. Given your stated goal, you will be seriously unhappy with any EV if you cant charge it at home.
While using public charging "will work" given what you have previously said in this thread about a desire for ease of use, going somewhere and sitting for 45 minutes to charge is not going to fit that.
If you are willing to make home charging available for yourself, then you should be fine. If you are not (or will not), you should not buy an EV given your stated priorities. You will be unhappy. You will be charging twice as much as you think. Given the 15 miles a day commute you probably think something like "the car has a 300+ mile range, I can just run to the supercharger every couple of weeks and have plenty left over" and it will NOT work like that at all.
I try to help educate people about this in the model 3 subforum, but yes, this is pretty much how it works. This OP will need to charge about every 6-7 days, but is expecting to be able to go a minimum of 14 days "and have some left over". Given their desire for lack of "fuss", I do not think this is a good fit for them unless they are going to get home charging installed. Failing that, they should cancel their order, or understand (and be willing) to sit at a supercharger every 6-7 days tops.
Have you got the ChargePlace Scotland app? The map of public chargers is here:
15 miles daily will only be about 5% of battery, and with about 1% per day of drain you should be good for a week between charges as that would be 30% over five days so easily managed.
Have you got the ChargePlace Scotland app? The map of public chargers is here:
Depending on where you are you might be able to charge for free. I have my M3 for about 7 weeks now and find that I can use a CPS free charger to keep me fully charged. I went to shop in Montrose yesterday and got a good top up from a 50kw DC rapid charger. There is a 3phase charger about 200 yards from where I work. Both are currently free in Angus.
15 miles daily will only be about 5% of battery, and with about 1% per day of drain you should be good for a week between charges as that would be 30% over five days so easily managed.
15 miles of actual mileage used daily, which is mostly short trips (most likely) will be between 20 and 25 miles of actual range used. The car may have a EPA estimate range of "358 miles" but:
1. You dont charge to 100% all the time (at least not on long range vehicles currently). You will charge to at a max daily of 90%. 90% of 358 is 322.
2. You dont run down to Zero (no one is doing that on an EV). Generally, people would be looking to "fill up" when they hit 20% (approx 71 miles)
322 - 71 = 251 miles. This is the number that someone will be using (90% to 20%).
15 miles driven, given weather and short trips etc will be 20-25 miles used from the cars "range meter". This does not account for sentry mode ( approximately 1 mile an hour of usage) or climate control. People without home charging like to use sentry mode because the car is generally parked outside, but in this specific OPs case its not apparent whether this will be desired, so lets discount Sentry mode usage.
Call the "15 miles driven" 22 miles used, and tack on an additional 6-7 miles for climate use etc and call it total of 27 miles used. That gives 9 days to go between 90% and 20%, not counting on the fact that winter usage is less efficient (about 30%). In actual usage, this OP will be going from 90% to 20% in somewhere between 7-9 days, certainly not 2 weeks, and no where near 3 weeks.
They will also be spending a fair amount of time at a supercharger to charge back up to 90%, due to how the charging speed tapers while supercharging once the battery passes about 60% or so.
This is all when brand new, not counting at all the average 5-7% battery degradation that occurs the first year or so, before it appears to settle down.
I am certainly not down on teslas or model 3s, but really try hard to educate people who dont have (or think they need) home charging because they are going to "fill up every couple weeks" that it wont work like that, so they either need to be prepared for what it ACTUALLY will be, or not get the car.
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I agree that plisken will probably need to charge every week with that type of usage, it is how they arrange that charge that is relevant to their personal circumstances.
As plisken is based in Scotland there is an interesting side option for charging at public stations as much of Scotland offers free public charging. If that can be fitted around their weekly shop or home/work location then the need for a home charger will be greatly reduced - even though desirable by most "normal" users.
As they may only need 30% or so charge per week then it could be charged to 85% and then whether it is up to 6 or 7 days between charges will be less of a problem if it has dropped to 35%. If they regularly go near a charger, whether a SuC or a free charger, during the course of their week may affect how they charge. I often pop my car on charge at the local type 2 three phase charger and then walk the 200 yds to work. A few hours later I collect the car and move it having got a good top up that many might get at home each night. A similar plan may work for plisken. Whilst they have not yet got a car and are exploring the planning options this is an additional option that is quite viable in Scotland, although they should plan on at least a weekly charge to keep the battery in the sweet spot of 20-80% charge.
As plisken is based in Scotland there is an interesting side option for charging at public stations as much of Scotland offers free public charging. If that can be fitted around their weekly shop or home/work location then the need for a home charger will be greatly reduced - even though desirable by most "normal" users.
As they may only need 30% or so charge per week then it could be charged to 85% and then whether it is up to 6 or 7 days between charges will be less of a problem if it has dropped to 35%. If they regularly go near a charger, whether a SuC or a free charger, during the course of their week may affect how they charge. I often pop my car on charge at the local type 2 three phase charger and then walk the 200 yds to work. A few hours later I collect the car and move it having got a good top up that many might get at home each night. A similar plan may work for plisken. Whilst they have not yet got a car and are exploring the planning options this is an additional option that is quite viable in Scotland, although they should plan on at least a weekly charge to keep the battery in the sweet spot of 20-80% charge.
Most have already covered it all, but anyway;
Short answer - no... I have filled the windscreen wiper tank up twice in 14 months of ownership - the car tells you when you need to fill it up
You may have to adjust the tyre pressures for the winter but that's about it really.Charging situation; In summer if you disable sentry mode you'll be fine charging once a week, in winter you may have to charge a bit more often as the cold + very short journeys = disaster for battery charge level!
If your in the central belt; take a trip to Tesco, plug in to the free charging and go in for a coffee - if your in Lanarkshire, head to Strathclyde or Chaterhault park, plug in and go a walk for an hour once or twice a week and it'll be charged (currently) for free
A stone throw away, although I've yet to physically see their charging setup. Having explored the chargeplecescotland and pod point offerings, it seems 7kw type 2 sockets seem to be more common that the 44/50kw ccs (from what I can tell) and wasn't so sure how worthwhile a 7kw Tesco 30 min excuse for a shop would be.
One of these things that one simply skips over when justifying a purchase and would quickly become a right pain in the backside.
I've mostly always owned cars that were considered thirst and while this was never a problem doing the daily commute, it always put a dampener on things when going on trips and such, as the cost quickly rises compared to what it would be in other, maybe smaller cars. I actually used to be in the habit of hiring cars for trips and weekend breaks as it would still work out cheaper than fuelling up some of the things I've owned over the years.
Anyway, I genuinely hoped that a Tesla would make a difference, in so far as still being something a bit special but being economical as well and I kind of still believe this will be possible, just not as trouble free as I had hoped.
Really do appreciate all the comments and advice, even though some of it might not be exactly what I wanted to hear, always best to know.
Mr H
Active Member
You are not taking account of winter I think. Also someone may use sentry mode and warm their car before setting off etc. it’s much better to plan with a pessimistic set of numbers.Have you got the ChargePlace Scotland app? The map of public chargers is here:
Depending on where you are you might be able to charge for free. I have my M3 for about 7 weeks now and find that I can use a CPS free charger to keep me fully charged. I went to shop in Montrose yesterday and got a good top up from a 50kw DC rapid charger. There is a 3phase charger about 200 yards from where I work. Both are currently free in Angus.
15 miles daily will only be about 5% of battery, and with about 1% per day of drain you should be good for a week between charges as that would be 30% over five days so easily managed.
Put some more thought into that extension cable idea to see if you can make it work (at least in the short term). It’ll make your life much easier. Lots of people live off a 3-pin plug and it’d be plenty for your daily commute.
Make sure it’s RCD protected. If it’s a fair distance go for 1.5 or 2.5mm conductors. How far is it?! Routed carefully to avoid physical damage. Protection from rain = upside plastic down box.
The length of the car’s UMC cable means you could leave the end of your extension at the front of the car.
To make that setup a bit more permanent you need a sparky but proof of concept is a good start.
Make sure it’s RCD protected. If it’s a fair distance go for 1.5 or 2.5mm conductors. How far is it?! Routed carefully to avoid physical damage. Protection from rain = upside plastic down box.
The length of the car’s UMC cable means you could leave the end of your extension at the front of the car.
To make that setup a bit more permanent you need a sparky but proof of concept is a good start.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
If you read the manual extension leads with UMC are not recommended.
BUT
In reality they are fine if done properly. I went on holiday recently and charged 10hours every night using the UMC and a 30m 2.5mm extension lead. UMC and extension lead socket went in a water proof box. Worked flawlessly.
In my opinion doing that is far preferable to the hassle of public charging. One of the joys of EVs is the ease of home refueling.
Also note you would get about 7 miles per hour on a umc so with Octopus Go you could get 30ish miles charge (4hours) per day, i.e more than you need. for 5p/KWh. That is a fraction of what public charging will cost. Probably going to save you at least £75 per 1000 miles plus a lot of your time.
I’ve had my M3 for almost 21 months and only done 4200 miles so a similar mileage proposed by the OP. Probably less.
If I couldn’t possibly charge at home, I wouldn’t have bought an EV. There is just too much inconvenience finding somewhere local for a swift top up.
If I were the OP, I’d bite the bullet and get power run properly to where it’s needed now. As time passes, electricians and installers will be getting busy!
it might be an upheaval but in the long run it will be worth it. Charging infrequently is a mistake. You can’t afford to have a low battery in case of an unexpected journey!
If I couldn’t possibly charge at home, I wouldn’t have bought an EV. There is just too much inconvenience finding somewhere local for a swift top up.
If I were the OP, I’d bite the bullet and get power run properly to where it’s needed now. As time passes, electricians and installers will be getting busy!
it might be an upheaval but in the long run it will be worth it. Charging infrequently is a mistake. You can’t afford to have a low battery in case of an unexpected journey!
Don't suppose you have a pic or a link to this "water proof box"?
EDIT: This kind of thing?
I actually considered running an extension to the shed with one of these; WEATHERPROOF OUTDOOR SWITCHED PASSIVE RCD SOCKET on the outside of the shed nearest the car but wasn't sure if the Tesla charger control box itself was waterproof.
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