My Tesla 1 Year Later

[smilepak]

Hi

I am sure there a lot of thread similar to this and each person experience is different, but I still wanted to give my 2 cents as well.

I am at the 2 weeks shy of 1 year mark and have 17k miles on there. Just had my 15k serviced a few weeks ago. I'll just list a few observations via bullets. Note: My observation based upon my living area of Southern California where I do get in the habit of driving from Inland Empire to as far as North Ventura County (approx 80-90ish miles one way) or to San Diego (approx 100 miles - 130 miles) one way.

• Being a 1st time electric vehicle owner is like being a 1st time parent. You get nervous about running out of electric while cruising around town. I carry the charging cable everywhere I go, constantly worrying every miles I drive and have to anxiously look for a charger the minute the get to location, worrying I don't have enough to go elsewhere. But that is somewhat true. Owning an electric vehicle is a life style change and over time you unconsciously adjust and compensate / react accordingly. The Tesla in car map is a great tool. Use it often, use it often, use it often. Even if you are 100% sure you know the direction, use it often to help you gauge your power consumption.

• If you thinking of buying CPO, make sure it is post 2015 model.The pre 2015 model is very noisy in comparison.

• As mention earlier, it is a lifestyle change, you plugin as often as you can where there is an available charging location. However, that does not mean blindly plug in unnecessarily and paying for charging. Over time as you drive and starting to gauge the distance of the area you drive, you will know what is the comfortable zone and when to charge and not charge. But do get into the habit of plug in at night when you get home

• Talk to your power company and charge at night. With Southern California Edison, we have a Time of Use plan where I can charge at night at 12 cents / kw. During the day, I use Solar Panel to of set the day time high charge rate.

• Know your area. If you plan to go far, let say over 60-80 miles one way from your home, plan ahead. How many Super Chargers are there in the area between you and there. If no Super Charger, next best thing is how many Nrg EVgo DC Charger, then how many Blink DC charger, then how many ChargePoint. From that sequence down is the fastest to slowest charging available if you need it.

• Open as many charging station account you can find. You will bound to find one nearby with one of the brand. In the whole year, I've used public charging (not super charger) 5 times, it really helped!

• Don't abuse the Super Charger and use common courtesy. At SuperChargers, I am 80% of the time sit in the car or stand nearby whlie it charge. I do not leave it charging and go have a two hours dinner or some movies. We all have access to the TESLA app and it does notify you when you are close to being full, so there should NEVER be an excuse for leaving it charge longer than needed.

• Tesla, as a company still have a lot of growing up to do. It is still in what I call the DOT.COM startup phase. It tries to be luxury car company. It price point it's car in the S class / 7 series price price point. With that you would assume you are getting top notch service at the service center. Especially when there are no dealers and all own by corporate, so must have better control over quality. That is a false. It is a hit and miss. However, like anything, be involve in the community to help it grow. Send your feedback constantly to corporate so they know and fix the problem. Just don't bitch about it and write negative post on YELP or TMC. With the Model 3 coming, the problem only get worst before it can get better.

• I love the Dual Motors, going up hill even with the 70D, is fantastic. Worth every penny!

At the end of the day, owning an Electric Vehicle really changed my perspective on things and how I drive. Also having the bragging rights that after 17k miles, no gasoline or oil wasted is a pretty awesome thing to gloat about!

Enjoy your Tesla and Keep the Tesla Owner Community Positive.

 

[msnow]

@smilepak - very well said. Great post!

 

[RBowen]

Thanks for the interesting observations. Can you tell me what Tesla did to reduce noise on the post-2015 cars?

 

[whitex]

• If you thinking of buying CPO, make sure it is post 2015 model.The pre 2015 model is very noisy in comparison.

How many pre and post 2015 cars have you driven to make a general conclusion like that? People naturally have a tendency to believe what they own and newer is good, and older must not be as good, but it's often not based on real data. I've had a 2013 and 2015, 2015 is louder (dual motors is one reason) and it also has had more creaks and rattles. A sample of 2 does not a pattern make, but it is a counter example to your generalization. Personally I've driven maybe 6 or 7 different Model S, most loaners, and it doesn't seem the vintage of the car correlates to noise level either - some are louder, some less, the biggest difference seems to be pano - often when I start driving a car with pano roof, I catch myself looking for which window might have gotten left cracked open by accident.

 

[mwulff]

Are you seriously that worried about range? Even if I go 60-80 miles one-way I almost never worry about it. Maybe it's because I know most of the areas I drive through very well. But I consider every-day range worries to be a thing of the past.

For longer trips I just the trip-planner, it's not perfect but with a little monitoring it works very well.

 

[w2830]

• Just don't bitch about it and write negative post on YELP or TMC.

What's so wrong with sharing "negative" feedbacks with owners or owner-to-be? One spent hard earned money on a purchase and not even allowed to be whining even just for the sake of venting? We are consumers that pay full price for the car, not compensated testers. I think it's fair for people to have the right to bitch about their purchases when they are not satisfied.

 

[msnow]

What's so wrong with sharing "negative" feedbacks with owners or owner-to-be? One spent hard earned money on a purchase and not even allowed to be whining even just for the sake of venting? We are consumers that pay full price for the car, not compensated testers. I think it's fair for people to have the right to bitch about their purchases when they are not satisfied.

I understood the OP's comment differently than you. I took it to mean don't just complain on forums like this. People need to let Tesla know so things get better and most people would agree with that.

 

[msnow]

How many pre and post 2015 cars have you driven to make a general conclusion like that? People naturally have a tendency to believe what they own and newer is good, and older must not be as good, but it's often not based on real data. I've had a 2013 and 2015, 2015 is louder (dual motors is one reason) and it also has had more creaks and rattles. A sample of 2 does not a pattern make, but it is a counter example to your generalization. Personally I've driven maybe 6 or 7 different Model S, most loaners, and it doesn't seem the vintage of the car correlates to noise level either - some are louder, some less, the biggest difference seems to be pano - often when I start driving a car with pano roof, I catch myself looking for which window might have gotten left cracked open by accident.

I've never had noise due to the pano. If you have noise coming from up there you should have Tesla check it out. I've seen cars with bad seals and weather stripping causing noise and leaking. Regarding 2015 versus earlier cars I think even Elon, while responding to the CR article on customer complaints, said the later cars (late 2014 and 2015's) were put together better and were under represented in CR's survey. To the extent this impacts noise it would make sense. The cars are always improving.

 

[kort677]

Thanks for the interesting observations. Can you tell me what Tesla did to reduce noise on the post-2015 cars?

Better build quality? the difference between my early '14 and my late '15 is nothing short of remarkable.

 

[tstafford]

Thanks for the update OP. It's nice to hear how owners feel about their real world experiences with the car.

 

[bhzmark]

Noise (or lack of it) is mostly the tires

 

[Xenius]

I love threads like this. As a soon to be owner they are incredibly useful.

 

[buckerine]

I love threads like this. As a soon to be owner they are incredibly useful.

Yep, agreed. Very helpful thread indeed.

I've had a loaner for a few days, as I just put in my deposit. Range anxiety is definitely still there, although like OP said, it's more of a lifestyle change than an actual issue. It requires more advance planning and routing for the "just in case" scenarios.

 

[jbcarioca]

I have a very late '14 (Dec 20) P85D with >25,000 miles. I have zero creaks or rattles, zero problems other than a 12v battery replacement that was a bizarre problem NOT due to Tesla (long story, irrelevant to this thread). Every experience I have had has been positive.

FWIW, until my Tesla my typical car lasted less than a year because i quickly tired of them. The Tesla will not be replaced until, maybe, when my 3 arrives, and maybe I'll just keep them both as well as the other 3 I have on order for another residence.

I feel like a complete Tesla fanboy, although I'm usually quite critical. It is not perfect but it is far closer than any other vehicle I have owned.
My nephew counted all my cars that he could find records of and came up with 46 plus more than a dozen non-car transportation devices.
I suppose I have become a fanboy because nothing else has come close.

The OP certainly described my experiences. I, too, was nervous about lack of range, although now I just prepare for the odd non-supercharger location and ignore all else. A few >1000 miles trips have made me able to prepare without anxiety. I also note the odd selfish behavior from a fellow-Tesla driver but that is more less common than it was with ICE, so I do not regard it as an issue.

One thing that is unexpected is that I have made a few new friends among fellow Tesla drivers. The last time that happened to me was with an airplane, and that was one that has very few owner-pilots, so common interests among them were not a surprise. It always surprises me that most of the tesla drivers I meet bought the car because of how good it is rather than ecological concerns.

One implication of these comments by the OP and others seems to be that Tesla loyalty seems to have little to do with any other BEV. IT makes me wonder what will happen if BMW, MB, et al actually do come up with seriously competitive BEV's. Somehow I think it will end out expanding the market rather than threatening Tesla.

 

[tstafford]

One implication of these comments by the OP and others seems to be that Tesla loyalty seems to have little to do with any other BEV. IT makes me wonder what will happen if BMW, MB, et al actually do come up with seriously competitive BEV's. Somehow I think it will end out expanding the market rather than threatening Tesla.

I think this is definitely the case. The problem I see is that Tesla service and communication is inconsistent - sometimes it's fabulous and other times it's well not so fabulous. My own experiences have been great and I'll continue to be a fanboy but I can see based on stories here why others might be more apprehensive.

 

[smilepak]

Thanks for the interesting observations. Can you tell me what Tesla did to reduce noise on the post-2015 cars?

I had driven three. Two dual motors 85D and S85. The noise mainly was from the motors, especially the dual motors model.

 

[smilepak]

Are you seriously that worried about range? Even if I go 60-80 miles one-way I almost never worry about it. Maybe it's because I know most of the areas I drive through very well. But I consider every-day range worries to be a thing of the past.

For longer trips I just the trip-planner, it's not perfect but with a little monitoring it works very well.

That's mainly for once you reach your destination, you might go elsewhere before heading home. Like to dinner or end up going further to meet up ppl. There unexpected situation and it's good to be ready.

Like if u are going to dinner, suggest to the group a place you know with free charging so you'll have the extra juice to go elsewhere afterwards.

 

[Electroman]

OP seems to make range anxiety much larger than what it is. Yes you need to plan a bit, but there seems to be bit of dramatIzation and exaggeration.

Always looking for a charging station at every destination? Plug in as often as you can at an available charging location?

Give me a break. With Super Chargers strewn around in CA this can't be further from the truth.

 

[smilepak]

One implication of these comments by the OP and others seems to be that Tesla loyalty seems to have little to do with any other BEV. IT makes me wonder what will happen if BMW, MB, et al actually do come up with seriously competitive BEV's. Somehow I think it will end out expanding the market rather than threatening Tesla.

True. I agree open competition market result in better for consumers. Like increases in public charging station, especially the L3/DC for cars with larger capacities.

I'm a fan of Tesla because of what accomplishment it has done now. Overtime they will suffer like all companies, lack of continuous innovation and poor internal controls. Even the mighty GM and Toyota both have periods where they decline to be captured by Hyundai.

But with the network of SC Tesla placed, they have the upper hand even if other BEV comes out something good. A product is only as good as the services it has.

 

[smilepak]

OP seems to make range anxiety much larger than what it is. Yes you need to plan a bit, but there seems to be bit of dramatIzation and exaggeration.

Always looking for a charging station at every destination? Plug in as often as you can at an available charging location?

Give me a break. With Super Chargers strewn around in CA this can't be further from the truth.

Yes a lot of SC, but you have to go out of your way for one. It's might be ok for those who don't care for miles on their car, but those who loan the car can't afford to just waste 20 miles to go out of their route to charge.

Also most people looks at it from a S85 perspective. People with S70 usually have only 200 mile range, unless they charge 100%. So a round trip of 80 miles would be 160 miles giving you just a buffer of 40 miles left.

Well it's just my opinion and urs are diff, doesn't mean they are both wrong.