Edmunds Model S Long-Term Test

[brianman]

Latest update seems dumb - Philosophical Range Anxiety - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Complains that he might not have enough range, drives 50-60 miles a day, and makes a big deal about how it wouldn't work for him (and the reader) because you can't drive spontaneously around town but isn't willing to even talk about installing at least 30amp service at home to cover his daily needs. weird.

Agreed. Sounds about as mentally deficient as:

I never stray more than 30 meters from a toilet because I might have to go sometime.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Living With an EV for a Week – Day Five | The Truth About Cars where they tested at Fiat 500e for a week, sums up the aversion to change best:

This aversion to change isn’t unique to my religious sect, it’s practically an American virtue. The real impediment to EV proliferation isn’t the range, economy, economics, or availability, it’s change. The average American commutes less than 6 miles in each direction a day. Even with a lunch break where you head home and back to work again we’re talking 24 miles. If you consider the adage of 12,000 miles a year (according to the US census) that expands to a still-manageable 33 miles a day. If we look at the ownership demographics by household, 9.1% of us don’t have any cars, 33.8% of us own one car per household leaving the 57.1% majority owning 2 or more cars. Indeed the “average” household owns 2.8 cars. While I’m of the firm opinion that EV’s can’t fit everyone’s needs, they can satisfy 90-95% of our needs and could easily be that second or third car in the garage. But that would require a change in how we look at transportation.

Right now the car is a freedom device. We know that if we wanted to, we could hop our car/truck/SUV and drive from California to New York. It doesn’t matter to us that we never do, we know we could if we wanted to. The car is more than just transportation, it’s liberty and adventure on wheels. Part of what allows this freedom is the near instant fuelling ability and the range of around 300+ miles. Whenever there is a car that strays from this norm, we point it out. We praise a car if it gets 500 miles of range and damn it to failure if it manages “only” 200. This is part of the reason cited for the slow development of natural gas infrastructure, Americans can’t stomach a 5 minute fill-up every day let alone a multi-hour charge.

(The Fiat 500e, CA compliance car has way less range than an 85 kwh Model S.)

The above piece does later talk about the Model S and Superchargers.

 

[yobigd20]

(The Fiat 500e, CA compliance car has way less range than an 85 kwh Model S.)

Hah, that CA law should be amended to say "and making junk EVs to meet CA EV regulations doesn't count". LOL

 

[Grendal]

Hah, that CA law should be amended to say "and making junk EVs to meet CA EV regulations doesn't count". LOL

Don't get too cranky with California. The state has helped Tesla get to where they are. Their ZEV credits are what gave Tesla the opportunity to hit profit. I don't mind the compliance cars since they are keeping the major manufacturers from really diving into EV's. This gives Tesla the opportunity to cement themselves as the one company doing EV's the way people want to buy them.

 

[dsm363]

Every one of their reviews is like this. Josh is a senior editor and his Editor in Chief Scott didn't even bother to plug the car in the entire weekend. Jeez.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Tesla journalist car loaner program should have a legal disclaimer: if you're a moron, we can take the car back...

 

[TI Sailor]

Tesla journalist car loaner program should have a legal disclaimer: if you're a moron, we can take the car back...

Actually, Edmunds bought their Model S. However, it appears most of their staff haven't driven it very much, or are still married to their ICE machines.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Actually, Edmunds bought their Model S. However, it appears most of their staff haven't driven it very much, or are still married to their ICE machines.

This may be one scenario where the general consumer gets out ahead of the automotive press.

Most people just want a car that can haul all their family and gear from one place to another. Members of the automotive press are invested in the finer points of ICEs and transmissions, while the average person cares a lot less or not at all. It's why Toyota Camry is a top seller despite being trashed in the press on an annual basis for being the definition of vanilla motoring.

An electric car that is inexpensive and easy to charge at home, and has tons more passenger/ cargo space than an ICE vehicle, is going to be appreciated by consumers. Diehard ICE enthusiasts care a lot less about those things. They want to hear an exhaust note.

 

[jerry33]

Diehard ICE enthusiasts care a lot less about those things. They want to hear an exhaust note.

At the car show yesterday, I was asked (as a loud ICE car went by), "Can you make a sound like that?". I replied, "No, but I can approximate it if I eat a lot of beans."

 

[PopSmith]

I find it funny that they are denying themselves the "full-tank" benefit that EVs can give their owners. Plug it in at night (when the car just sits in a garage for 6+ hours) and you've got a full charge (or "full-tank") every morning. Range anxiety? What range anxiety?

 

[bareyb]

Journalists know that a negative review of the MS would generate a TON of traffic to their site because negative reviews are so rare. I take everything they say with a grain of salt.

 

[tdiggity]

This issue seems interesting: Ominous Noise - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Don't think I've heard of this issue before.

 

[qwk]

This issue seems interesting: Ominous Noise - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Don't think I've heard of this issue before.

This sounds like the drive unit needs replacement.

 

[TonyWilliams]

This sounds like the drive unit needs replacement.

This is a "signature" sound of a bad motor in the Rav4 EV. My motor was replaced this spring. Tesla has replaced a bunch of other motors so far, but they keep popping up (one just yesterday that Toyota refused warranty on unless the car was shipped to California).

Caveat emptor.

Toyota Rav4EV Tesla Motor Noise - YouTube

 

[tdiggity]

Edmunds seems to be having a slightly above avg number of issues. Will be interesting to see what they have to say when they are done with their long term test.

 

[jerry33]

Edmunds seems to be having a slightly above avg number of issues. Will be interesting to see what they have to say when they are done with their long term test.

With many different drivers, some of whom aren't really sold on EVs of any kind, that's really no surprise. I've found that often equipment works better for folks that really want it to work.

 

[K5ING]

Also, everyone who takes the car out wants to see "what she'll do". It's probably been driven pretty hard by all those people. The average private owner will play with it during the first couple of weeks, then settle down to average driving for the most part.

 

[dmckinstry]

This issue seems interesting: Ominous Noise - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Don't think I've heard of this issue before.

I wish they'd made a little louder recording. I have to put my ear right up to my laptop speakers to even hear it. I can't even tell that is a motor noise rather than road or wind noise.

 

[cwerdna]

Edmunds seems to be having a slightly above avg number of issues. Will be interesting to see what they have to say when they are done with their long term test.

I haven't followed closely but have only skimmed the more recent entries. It seems most of the issues they've reported have been seen by others here at least a few times a piece.

Re: drive unit replacement, here are a couple entries from this forum where people have reported theirs being replaced:
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 4
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 4
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 5

There are definitely many other posts on the above.

Examples of Rav4 EV (aka "poor man's Tesla") motor replacements:
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum View topic - Traction Motor Replacement
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum , can you hear it in yours?
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum , can you hear it in yours?

 

[qwk]

Does anybody know the vin# on this car? I have seen it posted somewhere, but cannot find it now.

- - - Updated - - -

I haven't followed closely but have only skimmed the more recent entries. It seems most of the issues they've reported have been seen by others here at least a few times a piece.

Re: drive unit replacement, here are a couple entries from this forum where people have reported theirs being replaced:
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 4
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 4
Strong Noise when driving above 67mph - Page 5

There are definitely many other posts on the above.

Examples of Rav4 EV (aka "poor man's Tesla") motor replacements:
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum View topic - Traction Motor Replacement
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum , can you hear it in yours?
Toyota Rav4 EV Forum , can you hear it in yours?

While some of those may be legit replacements for being loud, I have a feeling that Tesla has replaced quite a few that make a little noise due to the whining noise the customer makes. My car has a tiny bit of noise at about 60mph, but it's not something that I would want a drive unit replacement for, but somebody else might.