Have your say, life with a model S Australia and NZ

[Blue heaven]

Life with a Tesla Model S P100D: How we ended up here
Wheels are going to publish 7 updates over 2 weeks, below is part of the first update:
With each update, I’d love to hear the reaction from readers. Drop us a line at [email protected]. Do you think EVs can make sense in Australia? What is the future of automotive culture going to look like in 10 years’ time? How does the prospect of owning an electric car sound to you?

 

[Saghost]

Not charging at home is giving up a lot of the convenience and flexibility of an EV, but I'll be interested to see what your conclusions are anyway. Tesla obviously still has quite a ways to go in rolling out a supercharger grid in Australia...

 

[Blue heaven]

Not charging at home is giving up a lot of the convenience and flexibility of an EV, but I'll be interested to see what your conclusions are anyway. Tesla obviously still has quite a ways to go in rolling out a supercharger grid in Australia...

Hi Saghost, that was a copy and paste from Wheels magazine, the articles will be written by Cameron Kirby, I'm really keen to see what he has to say.

 

[Blue heaven]

The Roadtrip, Life with a Tesla Model S P100D: The great Aussie roadtrip, minus the fuel

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

My curiosity about Tesla in Australia is how well AP does with the road trains you got down there.

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

My curiosity about Tesla in Australia is how well AP does with the road trains you got down there.

I don't think many people would be encountering 'proper' road trains which most would consider more than two semi trailers (40') long. These are mostly on the inland highways and our supercharging network only runs between Melbourne and Brisbane. There are a few guys that have driven in the inland highways and from Perth to Adelaide which make be able to comment @RichardMcN or @MDK

 

[Blue heaven]

That's true Novo,unlike the sparsely populated North-West of Australia.........

I don't think many people would be encountering 'proper' road trains which most would consider more then two semi trailers (40') long. These are mostly on the inland highways and our supercharging network only runs between Melbourne and Brisbane. There are a few guys that have driven in the inland highways and from Perth to Adelaide which make be able to comment @RichardMcN or @MDK

 

[garyjac]

I object to the title of the entire thread...IS there life without a Model S or X? And, yes, BH, that is a big one.

 

[RichardMcN]

My curiosity about Tesla in Australia is how well AP does with the road trains you got down there.

I don't think many people would be encountering 'proper' road trains which most would consider more than two semi trailers (40') long. These are mostly on the inland highways and our supercharging network only runs between Melbourne and Brisbane. There are a few guys that have driven in the inland highways and from Perth to Adelaide which make be able to comment @RichardMcN or @MDK

Actually oncoming road trains are quite fine on autopilot. With few exceptions, the road round Aust is quite good and wide enough so there is plenty of clearance, and you only encounter a handful of road trains every hour. Mind you I sharpen up and keep a firm hold on the wheel every time I pass one! However meeting an oncoming road train on a narrow bridge on autopilot - no way ! ! !

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Actually oncoming road trains are quite fine on autopilot. With few exceptions, the road round Aust is quite good and wide enough so there is plenty of clearance, and you only encounter a handful of road trains every hour. Mind you I sharpen up and keep a firm hold on the wheel every time I pass one! However meeting an oncoming road train on a narrow bridge on autopilot - no way ! ! !

In the US it's been observed by a fair number of people that AP1 can suffer from truck lust. Where when passing a truck going the same direction the car will actually move towards the truck. There are all kinds of hypothesis as to what's going on. My own hypothesis is the blind spot monitoring doesn't see the trailer (it's too high), and the lack of clear truck/line differentiation causes AP not to see the line. So the car moves towards the truck as if it wasn't there.

What I was curious about is if this ever happens with the road trains. But, it seems like there isn't a whole lot of encounters that would fit when truck lust happens.

I've experienced it a few times with normal semi's (1 or two trailers), but these are times where what seems like hundreds of them an hour. With a truck lust event occurring maybe once in 500 times or so.

 

[RichardMcN]

In the US it's been observed by a fair number of people that AP1 can suffer from truck lust. Where when passing a truck going the same direction the car will actually move towards the truck. There are all kinds of hypothesis as to what's going on. My own hypothesis is the blind spot monitoring doesn't see the trailer (it's too high), and the lack of clear truck/line differentiation causes AP not to see the line. So the car moves towards the truck as if it wasn't there.

What I was curious about is if this ever happens with the road trains. But, it seems like there isn't a whole lot of encounters that would fit when truck lust happens.

I've experienced it a few times with normal semi's (1 or two trailers), but these are times where what seems like hundreds of them an hour. With a truck lust event occurring maybe once in 500 times or so.

Truck lust sounds funny indeed, but probably not if you are experiencing it ! I had something like it in a tunnel a few months ago. AP1 didn't like the tunnel wall and hardly noticed the semi trailer, pushing me towards it.

Road trains are generally found on single lane highways (one lane each way) so not much opportunity for "truck lust" there, and you would never overtake on autopilot !

Interestingly @Blue heaven , who posted that photo above, likes to actually drive his car and refuses to take up the autopilot option !

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

Truck lust sounds funny indeed, but probably not if you are experiencing it ! I had something like it in a tunnel a few months ago. AP1 didn't like the tunnel wall and hardly noticed the semi trailer, pushing me towards it.

Road trains are generally found on single lane highways (one lane each way) so not much opportunity for "truck lust" there, and you would never overtake on autopilot !

Interestingly @Blue heaven , who posted that photo above, likes to actually drive his car and refuses to take up the autopilot option !

I have actually been enjoying the whole process of AP2, seeing the car learn and the updates coming though unleashing new capabilities. I very much use it as an 'experiment' though. I drive almost everywhere myself, I use TACC a lot on the highways but probably less than 1% AP miles for me thus far.