My Tesla experience

Thought I’ll provide brief commentary of my Tesla experience, may relate to some. This post is of my views, and I do not intend to impose my views on anyone.

I currently own 3 Teslas, 2022 M3P, 2022 MY and 2023 MYP, prior I had a 2021 M3 SR+. I have a MX Plaid and CT on order.

I am no Tesla fanboy or a nerd but I am into cars, bikes, aircrafts, anything in mobility.


Pre Tesla

I grew up driving VW - VWs, Audis, Porsches and Skodas. My last ICE cars were SQ7, RS3 and Skoda RS.

My earliest engagement with Tesla was in 2015, when I was keen on a MS. The 7 months wait and the support (concerned of the lack of) made me walk into an Audi dealership. Fast forward to 2021, when there were some 1500 Teslas enroute to Australia, so for the first time, I’m able to get into a Tesla in 3 weeks.


Preparation to electrify

Anxiety and questions questions questions! Thankfully, this forum is a great place. People here are generally helpful. So big thank you to those who reached out to me then.


My journey so far

Range - I travel 25K annually, there is no range anxiety with proper planning. I have a home charger installed, but have not used it regularly (2 times in the last 12 months). I rely on free Chargefox public chargers and solar to juice my EVs.

Savings - I have saved circa $4500 annually from fuel, more if I factor in scheduled services required for an ICE car.

Charging - Fortunately, I have a free 22kW Chargefox charger (3km) and a free council 50kW fast charger (5km) near me. Admittedly, I see myself ‘planning my visit’ now as these stations are getting crowded with the increasing EVs.

Behaviour - Moving into EVs will see some behavioural change. For me, other than planning my journeys in the days to come (I keep my cars’ SOC at 50%), one positive behaviour change I experienced is my health. Instead of paying for gym membership, I chose to walk back home when I charge, walking back when the charge is completed. Walking evolved to running earlier this year. I lost 4kg since.

Service - This is where legacy brands are put to shame. I have 20+ services recoded and every appointment (mobile and on-site) is seamless. Note there is nothing problematic here, just being my OCD self, I schedule a service for anything from stains to the seats, trims to rattles. The longest they had my car was 5 days (loaner provided), to diagnose a rattle on the rear parcel shelf. This issue was looked at before, but seemed to reappear. And after 5 days and 250kms of testing, the culprit is my plastic shopping basket handles vibrating while the car is in motion . We missed that because the basket is contained in the boot’s well. Kudos to the service team.

Service costs - Had 2 alignments and balancing done, one cabin filter change so far, adding up to $600. Try that with Audi.

Accident - I had 2 unfortunate experiences, my M3 SR+ and my M3P were both rear ended. Both took 5 months and 3 months to get back into the road due to lack of parts. Hope Tesla has upped the game since.

Driving - A familiar theme, driving is different from an ICE car, in a good way to me. Acceleration is instant, speed is maintained up/down a slope and regeneration is great.

Quality - Having seen the MS, build quality is definitely better than Fremont. And it has gotten better since 2021.

Comfort - Comfort is generally good, but not on par with the premium brands. The new comfort suspension is way ahead of the previous set up.

Software - I am not fussed with the typical complaints - phantom braking etc, as we are still the beta testers in Tesla speak. I enjoy driving, I do not engage driving aids regularly. Still, I like how the car updates itself and I find something useful like the signal cancelling function.


Think the above covers the ‘daily facets’ of owning an EV.

To this day, Tesla has matured and progressed. I have tried other cars from BYD to Porsche to Cupra to Hyundai, none can match Tesla’s offerings. And it’s my own opinion. I look forward to the competition catching up, offering good options as we transition to more EVs.

Ta.

 

[Tessy Sam]

The 3-phase 5-pin tail for the UMC has only 1 phase physically connected (you can normally see this through the clear barrel) which is why it too is limed to 7.5 kW.

Yes, you are correct. The UMC only uses 1 Phase of the 32A 3-phase socket. The single phase charges at up to 32A continuous.

If the UMC burnt out and if it had to be replaced, I would consider buying an aftermarket 3 phase charger with a 5 pin - 3 phase plug so it can be taken on trips and plugged in at most caravan parks or mechanics workshops if needed. This would charge at 11KWH which is the maximum the MYP would charge on AC.
I would avoid the Tesla wall charger as it is hard wired to the house.

 

[Astro66]

My understanding is the Gen 2 UMC is single phase only, max 32A, 7.5 kW charging

One thing about rooftop solar, is you probably aren't going to want more than 7.5kW going into the car, as your rooftop may struggle to supply this, and you'll pull from the grid.

I'm currently just using the UMC 15Amp socket on an installed 15Amp Single Phase Outlet, pulling 3.6kW, as my home inverter is only 5kW. This gives me about 25km per hour during charging. Which is way more than enough for my daily usage.

 

[JonDarian]

One thing about rooftop solar, is you probably aren't going to want more than 7.5kW going into the car, as your rooftop may struggle to supply this, and you'll pull from the grid.

I'm currently just using the UMC 15Amp socket on an installed 15Amp Single Phase Outlet, pulling 3.6kW, as my home inverter is only 5kW. This gives me about 25km per hour during charging. Which is way more than enough for my daily usage.

I have 20kW of panels feeding a 15kW inverter (on three-phase power).

In the middle of winter (which is usually sunny), I could easily supply the car with 11kW and run the house as well. The problem comes when a cloud slips across and solar production drops. Then I might be pulling a fairly large amount from the grid.

I like the idea of having the capacity to charge at a high rate, but set the car to charge more slowly most of the time. If I ever need to recharge quickly then having 7 to 11kW available is a nice idea.

Like you, I expect to use the UMC for most of my needs. A couple of hours of charging during the day will easily cover my daily consumption.

In Queensland, I am limited to 20A for a single-phase charger, so the UMC with 32A tail seems like a poor choice. If I want more that 15A, I will probably use the Tesla wall connector on a three-phase connection. I have read that it will soon be able to communicate with my Powerwall Gateway 2 to ensure it only charges from surplus solar production. I have been having a prolonged problem with the Powerwall and it looks like it might finally be fixed soon. I will definitely hold off on the wall connector until I know that is fixed, though.

 

[Astro66]

I have 20kW of panels feeding a 15kW inverter (on three-phase power).

Yes. I do need to upgrade. But am holding off till the second EV is purchased. The family wants the MG4 as the second household EV after looking at it, at Fully Charged Live. Looking to purchase next year.

I'm currently running a E-Motorcycle as well as the Tesla. But it's electricity consumption is very light.

 

[JonDarian]

Yes. I do need to upgrade. But am holding off till the second EV is purchased. The family wants the MG4 as the second household EV after looking at it, at Fully Charged Live. Looking to purchase next year.

I'm currently running a E-Motorcycle as well as the Tesla. But it's electricity consumption is very light.

I haven't found an e-motorbike other than the Livewire that can carry a pillion passenger (unless both rider and passenger are quite small). They seem like a great idea otherwise.

 

[Quickst]

One thing about rooftop solar, is you probably aren't going to want more than 7.5kW going into the car

11 kW in winter is easily achievable for me
25kW into a 3 phase 25kW inverter.
For example today the peak net grid export was 15kW and total grid export for the day was 44kWh.
I could have charged at 11kW for 2.5hrs.
Obviously if some cloud appeared or other household loads appears while Im charging, then i will be draw from the grid.
So if the day is a little cloudy I will set the charging rate lower.

In calendar year 2022 I exported 22,700 kWh, so I better use some of that for the MY, otherwise Im giving free money to the Grid operator.

So a short spot of charging for an hour here and there while the sun is shining will keep me ticking over. And my local shopping centre has 2 ChargeFox total 22kW and 2xGen2 HPWC (free) if I need a non solar topup. Its 7pm and there are 2 ChargeFox spots (24/7 free for now )

 

[Vostok]

11 kW in winter is easily achievable for me. 25kW into a 3 phase 25kW inverter.

Oooft… us inner city folk don’t have roofs big enough to support that number of panels. I had my Colorbond removed and new battens installed in order to have new fixings put in the correct spot in order to cram 16 panels almost edge-to-edge on my roof. And invested in the highest power output panels available at the time.

Even with PW2, my lifetime self-powered figure is 57%. I’ll never be able to generate enough solar to cover consumption. And I’m one of the lucky ones with a well oriented and big roof for my suburb. Plenty have roofs a third of the size, or single-plane roofs facing the wrong way, or perpetually overshadowed, or all of the above.

 

[Quickst]

Oooft… us inner city folk

And the apartment folk...

I’ll never be able to generate enough solar to cover consumption

In a way the cheapest way to do solar these days is not to export anything with the pitiful amounts they are paying for Feed in.

 

[paulp]

Oooft… us inner city folk don’t have roofs big enough to support that number of panels. I had my Colorbond removed and new battens installed in order to have new fixings put in the correct spot in order to cram 16 panels almost edge-to-edge on my roof. And invested in the highest power output panels available at the time.

Even with PW2, my lifetime self-powered figure is 57%. I’ll never be able to generate enough solar to cover consumption. And I’m one of the lucky ones with a well oriented and big roof for my suburb. Plenty have roofs a third of the size, or single-plane roofs facing the wrong way, or perpetually overshadowed, or all of the above.

I designed my roof to maximise solar panels, so near flat but facing north. All of it. Unfortunately our planning laws still do not force better integration of solar or even basic solar control of windows.
As a result my lifetime import is below my lifetime export, although with the state of feed-in-tarifs I now try and avoid exporting, but it gets tricky in summer.
Two surprises from it, firstly that I can charge an ev at 24amps 3 phase with no grid power, and secondly the shading on the roof with the air gap below the panels has almost eliminated our aircon use.

 

[Quickst]

secondly the shading on the roof with the air gap below the panels has almost eliminated our aircon use.

Yes that's what I found too. Some of the energy converted to electricity and rest is stopped by the air gap.

The solar array was designed to support EV charging. But it is an expensive way to do it. I'm diverting excess solar elec into electric storage hot water as well but that does not use much.

When batteries cheaper, and Powerwall or some battery supports 3 phase, EV charging will be completely solar

 

[cafz]

When batteries cheaper, and Powerwall or some battery supports 3 phase, EV charging will be completely solar

Redback have a 3-phase battery. Probably not cheap though!

 

[Tessy Sam]

I have a 10KW solar inverter system + I GET FREE ELECTRICITY on WEEKENDS.

I was careful to say that I was charging at up to 7.5KW from my solar panels. Generally, I am charging at around 4 to 5KW and even lower if I have other appliances running. Having said that, my electricity provider gives me FREE ELECTRICITY between 12:00pm and 2:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. I can get 15KWH into the battery in two hours. Then charge at a lower amperage to finish topping up off the solar.

An 11KW AC charger (if I had one) would allow me to get 22KWHs into my battery in those two 'free' hours.

 

[Quickst]

Redback have a 3-phase battery

More expensive than PW2

 

[cafz]

No doubt, a three phase inverter is going to be around three times as expensive as a single-phase one.

 

[RichardV]

When batteries cheaper, and Powerwall or some battery supports 3 phase, EV charging will be completely solar

Redback have a 3-phase battery. Probably not cheap though!

Another option for 3-phase battery is if you have a hybrid 3-phase inverter adding a DC coupled battery gives you a 3 phase battery.

If your concern is monetary then a single phase battery will still give you solar rates, EV charging is effectively at solar feed in rate. It is instantaneous net metering, if you are drawing 10kW across 3 phases from the grid, excluding the battery, then with the battery producing 10kw single phase there is no grid export from a pricing perspective. From a grid stability or self sufficiency point of view, you are exporting 6.66kW on one phase and importing 3.33kW on each of the other two phases.

Having said that, targetting EV charging to utilise home battery storage may not be t best use of this resource. If it is only targetting cloud cover style grid usages with a timer and fixed charge rate to utilise solar then maybe not so bad.

But I think this highlights a current problem with most energy tariffs currently and even most/(some?) battery install configurations. During peak solar production we need to be targetting maximum battery, EV and home, consumption. In our price centric model this means low, lower than feed in solar rates, for these application. Even with amber and its wholesale rates I do not believe you achieve this on most days, the wholesale rate needs to be negative by the amount of the network charges before battery grid consumption is more cost effective than home solar production. Not sure I have nutted this out correctly but from a price signal point of view I think the fixed network charges need to be lower or zero and be charged/recouped as a percentage of energy price per kwh. Unless I am missing something about how pricing works at the wholesale level with variable per kwh and fixed network prices and what is charged to energy retailers and amber style prices direct to consumer.
The free two hour period on weekends seems like the right sort of price signal but I wonder with the current price structure how do the retailers make money here. I don't see the wholesale rates being negative by the amount of the network charges all that often to consistently offer two hours of free consumption.

 

[aliciar]

I have a 10KW solar inverter system + I GET FREE ELECTRICITY on WEEKENDS.

I was careful to say that I was charging at up to 7.5KW from my solar panels. Generally, I am charging at around 4 to 5KW and even lower if I have other appliances running. Having said that, my electricity provider gives me FREE ELECTRICITY between 12:00pm and 2:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. I can get 15KWH into the battery in two hours. Then charge at a lower amperage to finish topping up off the solar.

An 11KW AC charger (if I had one) would allow me to get 22KWHs into my battery in those two 'free' hours.

As you are on the gold coast, could you please let me know which power company you are with that gives the free power on the weekends?

Thanks

 

[RichardV]

No doubt, a three phase inverter is going to be around three times as expensive as a single-phase one.

Not really, more expensive but not 3x.

For a full hybrid 3 phase inverter system difference. If you are talking about the one built into AC coupled batteries these may be closer again in price as the above also includes whats needed for standalone operation rather just grid follow whereas the AC coupled battery would already have that for single and three phase versions. Remember that the power electronics needs in a 3 phase version is a third the 'size' per phase as the single phase variant, which brings costs back down again. More like comparing 3x3.33kW single phase to 10kw 3 phase. But you don't have all of the over head of three individual units.

 

[Vostok]

In a way the cheapest way to do solar these days is not to export anything with the pitiful amounts they are paying for Feed in.

Despite the small size of my system, I still export some solar. This happens once the PW2 is full, my car is full, and it is still sunny and my house is not using much power. But it is a minority of my solar generation.

When I feed in my historical 5-minute usage data into my massive spreadsheet then wash it across grid rateplans from all the retailers, the cheapest grid plan over a 12-month period for me is almost entirely dictated by, in order of significance:

1. Cheapest offpeak grid rate
2. Cheapest daily connection fee
3. FIT almost irrelevant

The result is always a rateplan with one of the majors. The newer kids on the block almost always fail on (2) and often also on (1).

 

[jamesgo]

We don't have a huge solar array in kw cause back when we did it the price was pretty bad but I was smart to do some North and some West to ensure especially in summer you get a good power spread for that afternoon peak.
Then in 2017, I was a early adopter when we put in our Powerwall2, luckily they were cheaper back then.

But yeah i'm in Vic with Amber, so most days the buy price from the grid is 4 to 11c and you can sell back into the grid in afternoon or mornings at 30-40.. some days over 70c feed-in. Luckily smartshift does the auto-buy/selling for you. I referred my parents with their large solar array so we'll see how that goes for them. The nice thing about the wholesale rate is the wind farms seem to do well overnight to keep the price low.

Before Amber I was with AGL with their EV and BYO Battery plans

 

[Quickst]

FIT almost irrelevant

The result is always a rateplan with one of the majors. The newer kids on the block almost always fail on (2) and often also on (1).

Entirely agree.
I am always astounded by people who choose their electricity plan by the FiT.