New Model 3 owner - What should I know?

[ecarfan]

@ecarfan Thanks for the manual link! That'll make some nice bedtime reading between now and when I take delivery of my car...

I actually did not buy autopilot. My plan is to wait until full self-driving is available (and government-approved, etc.) and buy it then, even if that means paying more for it.

Without the EAP option you don’t get TACC, just ordinary (“dumb”) cruise control that is only capable of holding a fixed speed and cannot maintain spacing between you and the car in front of you. TACC is fantastic; once you’ve used it you will be appalled at how useless ordinary cruise control systems are.

If you don’t buy EAP now, to get FSD in the future you will need to buy both EAP and FSD. I predict that will cost something on the order of $10,000.

 

[Colgate2004]

If you don’t buy EAP now, to get FSD in the future you will need to buy both EAP and FSD.

@ecarfan Can you expand on this a bit?

Is it known for certain that FSD will be a free upgrade for those who’ve already purchased EAP?

And is it known for certain that once FSD is available it will be a separate, additional purchase from EAP?

 

[Dana1]

Hi TexasEV,

Thank you for the reply.
These are the two documents I was working off of:
Tesla
Onboard Charger

As I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), the Model 3 LR's onboard charger runs at (up to) 48A. Yet the second page lists a 60A circuit for a Wall Connector installation (I can easily see the 48-60A difference as being due to inefficiency in the inverter).

I ran the circuit with 60A capacity (in both the wire gauge used as well as breaker installed in the panel) for purposes of future-proofing for a likely Wall Connector installation later. I understand the plug itself is rated at 50A not 60, so I suppose the NEC-compliant solution would be to swap the 60A breaker for a 50A breaker as long as I'm using the NEMA 6-50 plug, then when I get around to installing a Wall Connector, swap the 60A breaker back in its place. That way I'll be compliant with code and still getting the maximum charge speed out of both the UMC and WC.

Does that sound correct to you?
Thank you!

If it’s financially viable I’d encourage the HPWC. Easy, fast. No pesky breaker issues, lol. I keep my UMC in the sub trunk for emergency charging on the road. It’s nice to have a simple system. Once you’re buying breakers, adapters, a second UMC...you’re pretty close to just having bought a HPWC.

 

[Dana1]

@ecarfan Thanks for the manual link! That'll make some nice bedtime reading between now and when I take delivery of my car...

I actually did not buy autopilot. My plan is to wait until full self-driving is available (and government-approved, etc.) and buy it then, even if that means paying more for it.

Reading the manual is the best advice you’ll get.

There are a number of threads along the lines of “EAP/FSD to be or not to be...that is the question”, lol. I think you’ll be sad without EAP. If you’ve never had a car with Adaptive Cruise Control you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s brilliant and does a lot to minimize driver fatigue. You don’t realize the value on a short test drive, IMO. Prices are fluctuating but I’d suggest buying it now, particularly if financing the car. FSD is a little trickier. I’m in the camp that believes processing power will need to be improved. I’m betting the price now is less than the price in the future. Buying now should guarantee me the future upgrades because I’ve purchased FSD- it’s Teslas problem to make it work. Government approval is inevitable. It’s been approved for ships and offshore vessels for forty years already. I don’t see that as an issue though I wish tests were done on freeways and not city streets. But I don’t see FSD prices going down and it’s difficult for me to imagine the coding not coming into existence...but that is the chief risk in my opinion. I like beta testing the features and learning the capabilities and limitations as they roll out. If you’re going to hang out on the forum you’re really going to be sad when most of the updates don’t apply to you. But, seriously, I think it’ll have given me practice and confidence as the tech improves. If you’re impatient and don’t enjoy the trials and tribulations of new tech then having EAP/FSD right now might be frustrating for you.

 

[Dana1]

@ecarfan Can you expand on this a bit?

Is it known for certain that FSD will be a free upgrade for those who’ve already purchased EAP?

And is it known for certain that once FSD is available it will be a separate, additional purchase from EAP?

I don’t think it’ll ever be a free upgrade. That’s why it’s two different features. If you want autonomy that’s the golden ring and it’s going to cost. But without EAP you don’t get FSD.

 

[dgpcolorado]

@dgpcolorado Huh! All very useful information, thank you very much.

The whole “single pedal driving” thing is definitely going to take some getting used to. When I did my test drive it was very unnatural at first (I try to maximize mileage in my ICE car, which means coasting whenever possible, so I take my foot off the gas well in advance of stoplights, etc... in the Tesla with regen set to standard, that meant the car was slowing dramatically earlier than I intended. I actually set the regen to low to avoid that, but I understand the benefit of it once you get used to it if increasing your regen (and therefore efficiency).

Anyway, you make a very notable point about timing the charging for the morning... does the user interface, by any chance, include any functionality to do this electronically, or do you have to do it manually by timing when you plug the car in?

Tesla does not have an "end timer." You need to set the charge start time so that it will finish about when you plan to leave. This is easier to do than you might think. Tesla will give you an estimate of how long the charge will take on your current charge station given the car's state of charge. However, it doesn't have to be complicated since you will have plenty of range. If you have your car set to charge to 90% and it only gets to 75% when you leave in the morning, what difference does it make? Thus, you don't have to be precise — roughly correct is good enough.

One complication is that some owners have "time-of-use" (TOU) electrical rates and need to charge at night before rates go up in the morning. That would take priority over having the charge session end when they plan to leave home.

So far as single pedal driving is concerned, you can shift to neutral if you want to coast but it can also be done by feathering the "go pedal" to hold the equivalent of neutral. While this takes practice, feathering the go pedal to make fine adjustments between power and regen becomes second nature very quickly for most people. Nevertheless, there are some people who are jerky drivers and just can't manage that kind of fine control — they are either all the way on the pedal or all the way off and can't fine tune it. Low regen and a lot of brake pedal use is likely best for them. (I dislike riding with jerky drivers, it is quite uncomfortable for passengers, even in an ICE car).

I coast every day at the bottom of my big hill — if there is no traffic in front of me and no Sheriff's officers with radar around — and glide the next mile, up and over a small hill, with no power use at all. Thanks to high mass and low drag, Teslas coast very well.

 

[Kichwas]

@ecarfan Thanks for the manual link! That'll make some nice bedtime reading between now and when I take delivery of my car...

I actually did not buy autopilot. My plan is to wait until full self-driving is available (and government-approved, etc.) and buy it then, even if that means paying more for it.

At sone point your account page on Tesla updates with a link to the manual. It is also included in the car via the tesla logo icon. Which is also where the changes of recent software updates end up.

Remember you just bought a computer program with wheels, not a car.
- the thing gets updates and has bugs.
(Sometimes real bugs... there’s a spider that likes my dash... and that whole area is pretty wind free so a week ago I had a heck of a time getting a moth out of there. The usual trick of drive with windows open and he just sat on the dash looking at me.)

The frunk is a really cool place to put something like a work backpack:briefcase but it is aparantly super easy to break into... once this car is more common you can expect thieves to just walk down roads popping open frunks...

There’s no spare tire and those tires are not run flats... consider the tire repair kit they sell (need ti order it myself).

The all weather floor mats have a history of going out if stock... if you might want them order them early.

The backup camera guides and alerts when parking or moving alongside a curb are slightly off so if you follow then you will get curb rash or hit your bumper on low curbs (if you are parking at a lot with a bump right about 6” in front of a wall or bush, the camera guides you based in the wall, not the low curb.

The car is really low - you can scrape on speed bumps and cresting hills...

Charge to 80%. Not 100%. 90% is also fine, but that final 10% stresses the battery.

If you just plug the car in every night or at work or something daily, you will soon find range anxiety is a thing of the past.

Driving this car can really mess you up on days when you have to move somebody else’s car, drive your other car, etc... once you get used to the M3 ICE cars will just feel really weird...

Remember your other car doesn’t have regenerative braking... that’s why you’re still doing 60 coming up on the rear of that guy ahead of you... that funny pedal to the left is known as a brake.

Other people in your life will soon start giving you the same side-eye they reserve for that 40-year old guy who goes to anime, comic book, Star Trek, and D&D conventions... probably because you keep talking abiut the car like some kind of freak... just accept it and know that they too will soon be among the faithful.

The SEC investigates everytime Musk picks his nose or passes wind... eventually you’ll get used to it, but you’ll also wonder just hiw they can all be so obsessed with the guy... probably you’ll be thinking that as it’s 3:37am and you’re reading his Twitter feed while staring at a poster you made of him in a speedo... But no... it’s just those FUDsters that are obsessed...

 

[Dmagyar]

Remember your other car doesn’t have regenerative braking... that’s why you’re still doing 60 coming up on the rear of that guy ahead of you... that funny pedal to the left is known as a brake.

This is what I most note when switching back to our other vehicle, which is “ice” powered.

 

[Dmagyar]

If you don’t buy EAP now, to get FSD in the future you will need to buy both EAP and FSD. I predict that will cost something on the order of $10,000.

PS, EAP is $5000, now and $7000 afterwards, without FSD. When we configured out car in early July (2018) FSD was $5000, so you’ll be at least at $12000 on the eventual cost for both, whenever that occurs, probably closer to $15,000, who knows?

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

I don’t understand... 1” conduit for 80A, but only 6ga wire? On a 50A outlet?

To clarify, I installed 1” conduit for future flexibility. I would have to remove the 6ga wire, replace with 3ga for 80A charging (100A breaker), remove the receptacle, and use the 2-gang box as a junction box to the Tesla Wall Connector. Because I have a perfectly good and permitted NEMA 14-50, no reason to get rid of it. Next EV may not be a Tesla, so choosing now to install a new branch circuit for 80A charging.

Keep in mind a neutral wire is not used for the Tesla Wall Connector. NEMA 14-50 receptacles need a neutral.

 

[MaryAnning3]

If it’s financially viable I’d encourage the HPWC. Easy, fast. No pesky breaker issues, lol. I keep my UMC in the sub trunk for emergency charging on the road. It’s nice to have a simple system. Once you’re buying breakers, adapters, a second UMC...you’re pretty close to just having bought a HPWC.

What is HPWC?

 

[StellarRat]

What is HPWC?

High Power Wall Charger...aka a permanently mounted charger that is/should be faster than the universal mobile charger (UMC) that comes with the car. The UMC can charge at 32 amps, while a wall charger can go higher. The Model 3 can handle up to 48 amps at 240v, so that's about 50% more range per hour than the mobile charger. In theory, a HPWC should be able to give you a full charge from zero in about 7 hours while the wall charger would take 10+ hours (my numbers could be off.)

 

[Dana1]

What is HPWC?

In the Tesla Store they are $500.

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

What is HPWC?

The product is called Tesla Wall Connector nowadays.

 

[TexasEV]

High Power Wall Charger...aka a permanently mounted charger that is/should be faster than the universal mobile charger (UMC) that comes with the car. )

Close. It's the former name of the Wall Connector (HPWC stood for High Power Wall Connector). It's not a charger. The charger is in the car. The UMC isn't a charger either-- it stands for Universal Mobile Connector.

 

[StellarRat]

Fine. I've always called them chargers. You are right, the actual charger is built into the car.

 

[MaryAnning3]

The frunk is a really cool place to put something like a work backpack:briefcase but it is aparantly super easy to break into... once this car is more common you can expect thieves to just walk down roads popping open frunks...

Does that damage it when it is broken into? Can it be difficult to close after that?

 

[MaryAnning3]

Close. It's the former name of the Wall Connector (HPWC stood for High Power Wall Connector). It's not a charger. The charger is in the car. The UMC isn't a charger either-- it stands for Universal Mobile Connector.

Thanks for explaining that.

 

[brianman]

In theory, a HPWC should be able to give you a full charge from zero in about 7 hours while the wall charger would take 10+ hours (my numbers could be off.)

Confusing phrasing underlined.

I think you meant to say "UMC" there.

 

[brianman]

I just learned about how in the user interface you can set the charge cutoff to less than 100% capacity (say, 70, 80, 90%) for battery longevity purposes

1. Don't charge to 100% and let it sit for hours/days.
2. Don't discharge to < 5% and let it sit for hours/days.
3. Recommend: For daily use, set to 90% and don't worry about micro-managing whether your battery will last 100 years. After you've driven the car a month and have a good feel for your driving habits and your OCD level, then (optionally) read the many threads where people obsess about such things.