MarcG's Tesla Model S P85D videos

[MarcG]

Hey everyone,

I've had my P85D for over a year and have published several videos on this forum, but they're pretty scattered across various threads.
So I thought I'd create my own "channel" of videos in this thread, similar to what Bjorn did :biggrin:

We'll start with the P85D delivery videos! It's in 2 parts due to the limitation of my GoPro, so apologies for that.
As some may recall, I got the first known delivery of a P85D model on 12/12/2014. It was at the Fremont factory, and I was told it was the 2nd P85D ever delivered!


MarcG's P85D delivery part 1

MarcG's P85D delivery part 2

 

[MarcG]

Auto-closing charge port

The P85D was the first in the Model S line to receive the updated auto-closing charge port, so I took a short video of how that works since it hadn't been seen before:

 

[MarcG]

Charging to 100% at supercharger

It was interesting to see the current bounce around a lot at the end of a supercharge, when SoC had already hit 100% - I'm told this is the battery "rebalancing":

 

[MarcG]

First Firmware 7.0 test drive with AutoPilot!

The most exciting day (or night) since the delivery of my P85D!
Firmware version 7.0 was released to my car (I seem to be the first on this forum) so I went out for a test drive immediately after it was done :biggrin:

 

[Andyw2100]

Thanks for starting to put all your videos in one place, Marc!

I'm fairly certain I've seen them all, "as they were released," so to speak, but this thread will prove very useful for lots of people who have not yet had the privilege of watching your excellent videos.

 

[JenniferQ]

Agree. Thanks, MarcG. It's nice to have them all together.

Tried to give you some love, but got the usual "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to MarcG again."

 

[MarcG]

Awww thanks guys!! I'll post more videos later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[MarcG]

Firmware 7.0: AutoPark in parallel parking spaces!

As part of Firmware 7.0, AutoPark was introduced. This first iteration of AutoPark allows the Model S to park itself (with the driver still present in the driver seat) into parallel parking spaces:

 

[MarcG]

AutoPilot handling sharper curves at highway speed

In firmware 7.0, taking curves that are on the sharper end with AutoPilot engaged had mixed results. On my regular commute to work, the HOV (carpool) lane I take has such a curve and AP had difficulty handling it by staying in the proper lane:

 

[MarcG]

Ludicrous upgrades started!

In late-November 2015, Tesla finally started performing Ludicrous upgrades on P85Ds that were purchased before the Ludicrous announcement earlier that summer.

I met up with @yo mama, the first person on TMC who got the upgrade, to compare my P85D (without the Ludicrous upgrade - yet!) to his P85D (the underline indicates the Ludicrous upgrade).

We did a side-by-side launch from a traffic light onto a highway onramp, and I also drove the two cars to compare highway acceleration: 50 to 80 mph, and 60 to 85 mph.


Side-by-side launch from a traffic light

Highway speed acceleration comparison

 

[MarcG]

NA Supercharger locations - plan for 2015

Since I got my P85D in December 2014, I've kept track of the supercharger (SC) buildout in North America by taking a snapshot of the images that Tesla posts on their SC website every few weeks.

The "2015" section of the supercharger web page showed the forecast of where Tesla thought they would end the year with, but in late-November the SC team probably realized that they were too optimistic on the SC buildout.

The website was therefore updated again to replace the 11/22 image with one that removed a fair number of planned SC locations for the 2015 map:

 

[MarcG]

Launch Mode!

In a subsequent but still early version of Firmware 7.0, more specifically 2.9.40, Tesla introduced a feature called Launch Mode.

Available only in Performance and dual-motor versions (P85D and P90D, with or without Ludicrous), this feature allows the car to load torque in the motors at a standstill so that the car launches forward as quickly as possible when the brake pedal is released.

The procedure to invoke Launch Mode is somewhat complex, which is why I had a hard time getting it to engage:

 

[MarcG]

Inaccurate trip meter readings

Since upgrading to 7.0, the trip meters started acting up and updating at different times, instead of the usual 0.1 mile increment all together.

For example, the Since Last Charge meter would stay stuck at 59.2 miles while Trip Meter A would jump from 7.7 to 8.7 miles (with nothing in-between).

As of today 24-Feb-2016, this is still not fixed in 7.1 and has become a source of frustration when trying to keep track of trip data, such as consumption/efficiency.

More details can be found in this thread: Trip meters not updating in 0.1 increments

 

[MarcG]

Firmware 7.1 is here!

In early January, Tesla released Firmware 7.1 with some significant new features and improvements over 7.0, such as Summon, perpendicular parking, and various AutoPilot enhancements.

After upgrading, I took my car on a test drive and shot the below video:

 

[MarcG]

Perpendicular Parking in 7.1

As part of Firmware 7.1, perpendicular parking was introduced:

 

[MarcG]

Summon in 7.1

As part of Firmware 7.1, Summon was introduced. This allowed the car to move forward or backward without anyone behind the driver's seat!

 

[MarcG]

Timed "Nags" to Hold Steering Wheel?

There were some theories floating in the Firmware 7.1 discussion thread that Tesla introduced a nag to "Hold Steering Wheel" based on a timer, meaning the "Hold Steering Wheel" message would appear after a specific amount of time while driving with AutoPilot engaged.

I took a couple of longish videos to confirm or disprove that theory:

 

[MarcG]

AP Speed Limit Restriction to 5mph over Limit

Another "feature" that was implemented in Firmware 7.1 limited the speed which AutoPilot allowed when driving on an undivided road, namely 5mph over the speed limit.

I found a way to temporarily "trick" AP into allow a higher limit than the 5mph over the speed limit and shot this video to demonstrate it:

 

[MarcG]

Updated Vehicle Graphics in 7.1

A more welcome feature of Firmware 7.1 displayed trucks and motorcycles in the Instrument Cluster with updated graphics that appropriately represented these types of vehicles - short video without comments below.

 

[MarcG]

Auto Summon "feature" in 7.1

As part of the Summon features introduced in Firmware 7.1, version 2.17.37 (and prior 7.1 versions) had the ability to initiate Summon by tapping the Park button at the end of the gear stalk twice.
This caused people who didn't know this to accidentally initiate Summon, which was blamed for an incident involving major damage..
Tesla subsequently removed the automation of this feature by forcing the user to select a direction on the 17" center display after double-tapping the Park button.