New M3LR Owner (well almost!)

[Tim W]

Good Morning All,

My M3LR is in transit and should be delivered around the first week of March. I took advantage of the insane used car pricing and sold my old dinosaur 2014 Commodore SSV Ute for 80% of what I paid for it. Crazy stuff, as it almost paid for half of the Tesla.

Just starting to shop around for comprehensive insurance and can see wildly variable quotes. Best so far seems to be NRMA or Comminsure, not sure what experiences others are having. Looks like glass replacement option is a must for these cars.

As for home charging, I'm going to see how I go with the included UMC and 15A pigtail. I don't drive too much anymore, just the Sydney suburban corridors as I now work from home 100% thanks to COVID. I can always get the home charger installed if that doesn't work out too well.

Looking forward to many pros with this EV, they are numerous and too many to list really. Not visiting petrol stations will be a joy to behold, as will no routine servicing intervals except for unscheduled issues (if any). The instant torque will also be very nice

Anyways, hello to all..........

Tim

 

[moa999]

Insurance.
All you can do is shop around - it varies widely.

And ensure you have glass coverage given the amount on the vehicle.

 

[Onshore]

I would get a home charger installed, if feasible.

Then you can leave the mobile charger in the car for emergencies.

 

[Flatbat]

Have a look at this discussion on insurance from 3 months ago. Insurer that I can stick with? I ended up going with GIO including glass for $990.

 

[Tim W]

Thanks everybody for the replies so far. The insurance with GIO is by far the best quote I've had, just over $1k depending on features selected. I'm sure I would have eventually tried GIO but you saved me a bunch of time stuffing around online.

As for home charger, the Tesla wall charger is probably what I'll go with but doesn't need to be there from day one.

Cheers guys and have a decent weekend, its Friday (yay)

 

[paulp]

Hello Tim and congrats on your purchase.

I have the wall connector installed for my model S. I also dont drive a lot and now work from home. My connector is set at 8 amps so that it only charges from solar, which is actually less than the mobile connector. After several years this has worked out just fine and I’ve never been caught short. I’ve also never unpacked my mobile connector.
Having said that, I prefer the wall connector as I have it ceiling mounted with the connecting cord hanging down. I just grab it and plug in. ‘Refueling’ takes around 1.5 seconds of my time. Those people at petrol stations waste around 10 minutes.

 

[Hairyman]

GIO was best for me as well.

You might consider the Zappi charger rather than the standard Tesla wall charger.

The Zappi will charge any CCS2 vehicle, where I get the impression that the newer Tesla HPWC are for Teslas only - just in case you get a non-Tesla in the future.

The Zappi chargers also have much smarter management systems so you can exploit your home solar and house battery if you have them.

 

[Tim W]

Thanks for the input on the wall chargers guys. I have 15kW of solar and 10kW house battery so would be keen to get the most value out of that. Initially I thought I would just limit the charge current to stay within the capabilities of the inverter in the house battery. I will definitely look at Zappi...........

 

[moa999]

If you only drive a small amount then worth trying the UMC for a while.
On 15A, say parked for 12hrs overnight it can easily add almost 50% to an LR.

There are some third party brackets around for the UMC to make it look like a more permanent install as well.

But if you're home when the sun is shining then that's even better.

Note that depending on your FIT/TOU tariffs I believe some people prefer to feed into the grid during the day, and charge overnight during the off-peak. But all depends on your preferences for solar v grid.

The Zappi is smarter than the current Gen2 Tesla WC, and given it has DC leakage detection it doesn't need the $400+ Type B RCD that the Tesla unit does.

 

[pts260]

Adding my 2 c on the charging options. I currently use the umc with the 32A / 7kW tail. Get a 32A, 3 phase socket installed (mine has only one single phase connected on off peak @11c/kWh), then you can always change it to wall adapter or zappi (via 32A plug)

 

[Tim W]

Adding my 2 c on the charging options. I currently use the umc with the 32A / 7kW tail. Get a 32A, 3 phase socket installed (mine has only one single phase connected on off peak @11c/kWh), then you can always change it to wall adapter or zappi (via 32A plug)

Thanks to everyone for helping the newbie. This is definitely another option to consider. I’m not going to be doing too many kilometres normally so I should be able to top off easily on single phase 15a. If this turns out to be unsuitable or annoying slow I can get this socket installed without too much drama. Electrician will not be happy when he sees my outside wall meter box which is stuffed full of *sugar* after the house battery installation.

 

[Nickdp]

I'm going to see how I go with the included UMC and 15A pigtail

Be aware that the Tesla-supplied Gen2UMC 15A tail is capped at 13A (and the 10A to 8A).