I'm amazed at what owners don't know

[MrABRanch]

Wow, not, like, a way of life? A daily obsession? An extension of your soul?

-Alex

Exactly! What's up with human beings, I mean I wave at other Model 3 drivers merrily and often they stare back blankly, more often than I get a wave back, as if it's just another car, on the road going from A to B, probably thinking 'why is that strange man waving at me'

 

[PACEMD]

Exactly! What's up with human beings, I mean I wave at other Model 3 drivers merrily and often they stare back blankly, more often than I get a wave back, as if it's just another car, on the road going from A to B, probably thinking 'why is that strange man waving at me'

I know, right? People are about the craziest people you'll ever meet...........

 

[SeanM]

Happened to park next to an identical Model 3 (well at least outwardly -she had ap I don't) at Costco. We started talking about the car - she had hers over a year, me 3 months.
She had no idea about this forum (which I referred her to)
She didn't know what sentry mode was (or that she could record an accident or.....) , etc.
The stuff that we know and discuss on here is not wide spread knowledge or apparently important to many drivers, but maybe Tesla could be a little more forthcoming about educating people about the car (at least the ones that don't inhabit youtube)
Later in the day I parked near a police car in a lot known for break ins. I asked him if it was still as bad, he said yes and asked if I had Sentry mode on. I said yes (but told him video is only available if the usb works and mine has been stopping intermittently for no reason). He didn't know that it isn't recorded automatically (but there is no reason he should - I was impressed that he knew about sentry and wanted to make sure I used it).

You will be surprised how some people are buying a car just as a 'mode of transportation', they have no attachment to it. For them, they only look for some safety features, HVAC, cruise control, a stereo system, gps... to name a few as these are basis features in today's cars.

These folks don't waste their time or money to accessorize their car (like many of us in here do), solely because they don't want to spend any more money on the car than what they paid, as they don't mind swapping to a newer car if their old one starts giving any issues.

 

[dwyche]

Interesting thread... As a new MS owner it took me a while to figure out that people talking about their new M3's weren't talking about BMWs. After less than a week with the MS I really don't miss the BMW 340 I traded in for it - despite it's having a manual transmission!

Back to the various points raised about the OP's comment - I can't imagine having a very-high-tech automobile and *not* reading the manual. I will however also note that I've already learned a few things from this site (and youtube) that aren't in the docs. I guess it really does take a village...

 

[petecrayton]

Not really surprising since she got her car before Sentry Mode existed and if she doesn't follow this and other forums or Tesla blogs, she may not be aware of all the updates in the meantime. As for the owner's manual, even if she had read it when she first got the car, she may not have known to go back and reread it after every softcopy update to learn about newly added features. After all, with just about any other car brand you may have owned in the past, the car you bought remained the same over the course of ownership. They didn't get magical over-the-air updates and new features. And there was no need to reread the manual in its entirety because it was a static hardcopy document.

The paradigm shift that people have to make is that Teslas should be thought of as computers-on-wheels rather than as traditional cars. Even so, there are many computer users who don't know what that latest patch or update to the operating system provides.

That pretty much describes me. I get regular updates to my '17MS, but can't always read what was included when in a hurry to go. Then I forget to access it later. I have seen references here to "sentry mode", but have no idea if that is just for new vehicles or has been downloaded to my car. If I have it, I don't know how to use it.

 

[NIKOLA696]

Happened to park next to an identical Model 3 (well at least outwardly -she had ap I don't) at Costco. We started talking about the car - she had hers over a year, me 3 months.
She had no idea about this forum (which I referred her to)
She didn't know what sentry mode was (or that she could record an accident or.....) , etc.
The stuff that we know and discuss on here is not wide spread knowledge or apparently important to many drivers, but maybe Tesla could be a little more forthcoming about educating people about the car (at least the ones that don't inhabit youtube)
Later in the day I parked near a police car in a lot known for break ins. I asked him if it was still as bad, he said yes and asked if I had Sentry mode on. I said yes (but told him video is only available if the usb works and mine has been stopping intermittently for no reason). He didn't know that it isn't recorded automatically (but there is no reason he should - I was impressed that he knew about sentry and wanted to make sure I used it).

Getting a high quality thumb drive should solve the problem.

 

[PACEMD]

Seems a number of folks haven't figured out ICE vehicles either. The Facebook Model 3 group just had a discussion about what happens if your Model 3 runs out of battery power on the road. Multiple people said it's just like an ICE machine. If you run out of gas you call a tow truck and they tow you to a service station. What?

 

[Vestniek]

I know Tesla does not want to spend money on ads, but honestly, the questions and the disinformation are out there. Something needs to be done to bridge the information gap.

 

[Ctyler]

Recently, I was topping-off at a Supercharger so I was sitting in the car. There were several available plugs, but a guy parked right next to me to charge. He obviously wasn't aware of the pairing thing. I was tempted to say something, but my wife was with me and I felt funny so I let it go. The guy walked away and when he came-back about 5 minutes later, he had me roll-down my window and asked me if there was any way to speed-up charging. I then proceeded to hop-up on my soap box and gave him a lesson.

Tesla should send an email once per week to new owners with tips. Most people can't absorb all of these features in one sitting but if you give them one a week, they can try it out, absorb it and then be ready for the next one. Maybe have it come from their delivery specialist's email address so it is a little more personal. I think that would go a long way to helping owners enjoy their cars more. These cars can do so many things, it's a shame to let those go to waste.

I had the exact same experience with the exact same thought (although I was by myself) and I was also happy to educate the guy when he came over to me. He’d had his Model 3 for 6 months and had no clue about the shared chargers and the conversation led to many other things he was unaware of. He congratulated himself for coming over to ask me about the speed of the charge because I had so much info for him.

I would recommend to everyone that purchases a Tesla to start watching YouTube videos (there are a ton - I stop watching channels that were initially helpful when I realize that I now know more than they do and sign up for newsletters like Elecktrek to stay up to speed.

This forum is great too - I plan to re-read my manual now because of one commenters recommendation as I realized there’s probably lots more there in the year since I read it initially.

 

[Earthurb]

I see Tesla suffering through typical growth issues - they don't have the manpower in place to service the growing customer base. I've seen it happen to many companies. Hopefully this is just growing pains and not the sign of impending doom.[/QUOTE]

It’s very typical but unfortunate. The Model 3 operates like a computer with constant upgrades. How many of you stay on top of every software update that you use on your home computer? I don’t. No time. I talk to owners all the time who didn’t realize this or that has been upgraded. It’s just being human. That being said, having a car like this requires us to think differently about how we drive and hence, pay more attention to the gadgets and gizmos that make the car amazing. Simply reading the release notes after every update would answer numerous questions.

People just want to get behind the wheel and DRIVE!!

 

[Guy V]

"forum people" are the very small minority of owners who care and know about their cars. the overwhelming majority of owners want a tesla because its cool or status and have no F'in idea of features the car has. all anyone here needs to do is join the model 3 owners group on facebook..... some of the ridiculous questions there will make you think how the F did this person gather enough pennies to buy this car without having the basic knowledge of how the car even moves

To be fair, just to get into a Tesla and press the go pedal is a lifetime driving experience change significant enough to fully satisfy most with their purchase.

 

[Guy V]

Not surprising that some don't know (you learn new things all the time) but others don't even try. Back in the VCR days many people were unable to set the clock; flashing 12:00.

Well, some people would put all of their AV equipment on a master switch to fight vampire drain and didn't worry about the VCR clock if all they wanted to use it for was Play a movie tape from Blockbuster.

 

[Mandamus]

Happened to park next to an identical Model 3 (well at least outwardly -she had ap I don't) at Costco. We started talking about the car - she had hers over a year, me 3 months.
She had no idea about this forum (which I referred her to)
She didn't know what sentry mode was (or that she could record an accident or.....) , etc.
The stuff that we know and discuss on here is not wide spread knowledge or apparently important to many drivers, but maybe Tesla could be a little more forthcoming about educating people about the car (at least the ones that don't inhabit youtube)
Later in the day I parked near a police car in a lot known for break ins. I asked him if it was still as bad, he said yes and asked if I had Sentry mode on. I said yes (but told him video is only available if the usb works and mine has been stopping intermittently for no reason). He didn't know that it isn't recorded automatically (but there is no reason he should - I was impressed that he knew about sentry and wanted to make sure I used it).

 

[Mandamus]

You should have told her to check into the Facebook page for women owners of Teslas - Tesla Divas. It's very informative, fun and there's no 'mansplaining' involved.

 

[Manitoba Keith]

Well, some people would put all of their AV equipment on a master switch to fight vampire drain and didn't worry about the VCR clock if all they wanted to use it for was Play a movie tape from Blockbuster.

BUT, when the time switched back from Daylight to Standard time did the VCR blink 11:00?

 

[sceptic]

You should have told her to check into the Facebook page for women owners of Teslas - Tesla Divas. It's very informative, fun and there's no 'mansplaining' involved.

I would have if I had known about it (not on facebook )

That pretty much describes me. I get regular updates to my '17MS, but can't always read what was included when in a hurry to go. Then I forget to access it later. I have seen references here to "sentry mode", but have no idea if that is just for new vehicles or has been downloaded to my car. If I have it, I don't know how to use it.

Since we (she and I) live in an area with maybe the highest number of Tesla M3 break ins in the country it may be more important to us than most, but the ability to download the previous 10 minutes of driving if you are in an accident or witness one is pretty valuable and linked to knowing about sentry and having a usb as has been demonstrated with some quite startling you tube videos.

Getting a high quality thumb drive should solve the problem.

I wish that was the solution, but it's happened with many (high quality) drives and what is most frustrating is that it shows camera is working, then I come back to car with sentry on but NO alerts and camera is disabled (eg asterik saying usb is too slow, etc. - the exact same one that worked multiple days before and after resetting car or reinserting usb or other random magic will work again for some days)

 

[Petrocelli]

Most owners of pretty much anything with more than 10 functions have no idea what the heck it can do.

 

[qdeathstar]

I haven't needed to charge at one so I don't know what is out in the wild but I did design around a ChargePoint charger for a parking garage and that was a 480V 3-phase charger that output like 24kW. So it sounds like these are out there, I am not an expert at what charging is available out there but I juts wanted to throw that out there.

I think this is extremely rare. Because 480v three phase will be extremely expensive to installed. Your talking molded case breakers which is like $1000 and up just for the breaker... if the single phase 208/240v wall chargers run 500 dollars i can only imagine what an even larger unit would cost.

No for profit company is going to want to spend that much for a single charger when they can either put one 50 amp single phase charger at a fraction of the cost or multiple ones for the same cost.

I wired and installed ev chargers for tesla at a state park in my area and originally they wanted three three phase 208v chargers each running at 100amps... once they found out that was going to cost 25,000 dollars they decided to go with 208 single phase chargers, two sharing one 100 amp circuit and another on a 40 amp circuit. That was done for $7500, tesla provided that chargers.

 

[mmiketa]

I think this is extremely rare. Because 480v three phase will be extremely expensive to installed. Your talking molded case breakers which is like $1000 and up just for the breaker... if the single phase 208/240v wall chargers run 500 dollars i can only imagine what an even larger unit would cost.

No for profit company is going to want to spend that much for a single charger when they can either put one 50 amp single phase charger at a fraction of the cost or multiple ones for the same cost.

I wired and installed ev chargers for tesla at a state park in my area and originally they wanted three three phase 208v chargers each running at 100amps... once they found out that was going to cost 25,000 dollars they decided to go with 208 single phase chargers, two sharing one 100 amp circuit and another on a 40 amp circuit. That was done for $7500, tesla provided that chargers.

I don't know where you're getting that from, 480V is going to be cheaper because if you increase the voltage you decrease the amps meaning your wire size, breaker size, etc gets smaller. And a lot of the equipment is rated 600V for both applications.

 

[qdeathstar]

I don't know where you're getting that from, 480V is going to be cheaper because if you increase the voltage you decrease the amps meaning your wire size, breaker size, etc gets smaller. And a lot of the equipment is rated 600V for both applications.

Nope. The wire least expensive part of the job. The equipment is not rated for 600v.


Here is a 240v single phase panel:

Square D Homeline 100 Amp 30-Space 60-Circuit Indoor Main Breaker Plug-On Neutral Load Center with Cover-HOM3060M100PC - The Home Depot

$100 bucks

Here is a 208v three phase panel

Square D QO 200 Amp 30-Space 30-Circuit 3-Phase Main Breaker Load Center-QO330MQ200 - The Home Depot

$500 dollars

Here is a 480v three phase panel


Square D by Schneider Electric NF442L2C Panelboard Parts & Accessories - Crescent Electric Supply Company

$2500 dollars

plus you need a service disconnect to meet code as well as the enclosure and cover, since they are sold differently.

Also, don’t forget you aren’t choosing 480v to provide the same charge rate as a single phase 240v system, it’s because you want to charge faster.


Here is a 480v charger:

https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Wallbox-Networked-Commercial-Charging/dp/B06ZY6N3S6

14 grand....

We all know a wall charger is $500 bucks.


QED?