Hi... does the "D"-generation car have the motorized charge port door? Secondly, is it retrofittable? -m
Yes, motorized (at least for the P85D) and I was informed no, not retrofittable, but I'm sure that somebody could do it (unless it depends on the internal software, and even then...)
Just another part that can break, and potentially leave you stranded without the ability to open the charge port. Have you ever needed a motorized gas door on an ICE vehicle? Why is this needed?
I mean, I guess, but hand crank windows took a fair amount of effort, took a long time to fully open/close, and could only be done if you were actually sitting in the seat adjacent to the window. In other words, they had substantial advantages. On the other hand, a motorized charge port door provides little to no advantage. It's really easy, takes a fraction of a second, and you're already there right next to it when you need to close it. If they were going to motorize anything, it should have been pulling down the frunk once you've set it down on the first latch point.
The motorized door is no doubt designed to work with the self-plugging HPWC that will charge your car when it goes off to park itself.
There have been a couple of occasions where I was pretty sure I had closed the chargeport door and heard the click as well only to see it dangling open (and the in-car display showing it so) once I started driving off. Had to pull over and close it again. Definitely not user error here This motorized door would help in all those instances.
I once saw a car (a Lincoln, I think) that had power operated coat hooks in the headliner. Press a button, and they disappeared flush into the roof. This kind of makes me think of that.
My '88 Jeep Cherokee has a motorized antenna. Still going strong after all those years, so maybe the charge port won't be that unreliable.
It wasn't your imagination. This happens to me about once every three weeks. Very annoying. The motorized door almost sounds like a hardware fix for crappy software. I don't expect it to work any better...
Have you asked TM to fix it? Sounds like a weak magnet or poor alignment. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people on threads here and over at TM forums who say "but who needs that"? What on earth has "need" got to do with anything? I am pretty sure none of us needs electric windows or a panoramic roof or a radio or satnav or a car that accelerates 0-60 in 4s, or leather seats or electric seats or heated seats or automatic headlights or cruise control or multi-coat metallic paint or 21" turbine wheels. Need is completely irrelevant. Also I doubt they'd engineer it so that motorised implied locked. The current charge port door can be easily opened by pulling it; there's no lock. I'd expect the motorised one to be the same. In the UK at least the gas door is required by law to have a lock, and I know lots of people who have been stranded because they can't get it to open so can't fuel their car. My mum had this the very first time she tried to fill a car after she bought it. There are often manual release cables hidden behind panels in the trunk for just this purpose.
I have forgotten to close the charge door on my volt on a few occasions. Of course, the car does not remind you until after you have been driving for a minute or so, and dont want to get out to fix the problem until you reach your destination. On these few occasions, I have definitely thought "a motorized charge door would be nice" That being said, I would never pay extra for that feature, as out of thousands of trips, I have only needed it 2x, and even then, not having the feature really did not cause any real harm, I just looked silly driving down the road with an open charge door.
On occasion, I've had my charge port door open when I turn on the vehicle. I noticed that it only happens if the port did not lock (*clack*) after I closed it. This is more likely to happen when I pull out the charge handle and close the door immediately with the other hand. When I turn on the car the port would lock and sometimes the port door would open at that time. If I don't hear it lock, I reopen the door with the charge handle button (it does not unlock *clack* at this time) then close it again and make sure it does the *clack*. It is an inconvenience that would be remedied by a powered door. Or a software update.
So in the MotorTrend photos, they showed the P85D frunk (might not be final production version) which does not have the secondary latch. So, maybe they are using a latch system similar to the trunk/liftgate?? There's hope.
I've had several motorized gas doors on ICE vehicles. Did I "need" them? No, but it was nice to have.
Why isn't the motorized charge port door on all new cars coming out of the factory? Wouldn't it make production simpler instead of putting it solely on dual motor cars?
I'm sure in time this will happen. Need to use up inventory. Also allows testing in the field on fewer cars to reduce risk.