New Owner Observations

[Abqnative]

I have had my Tesla S75D for about a month now and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Here are some thoughts on some of the features (design decisions) that I see.

What is your experience?

1. The Owners Manual is a must have. I don’t have a paper copy but have a PDF on my iPad. I don’t use the copy on the touch screen unless the iPad is somewhere else.
2. I like the “lock on walking away” feature but it means that I need to remember the keys if I want to get into the car or trunk in the garage.
3. I turned off “auto present handles” because it kept activating in my garage when I was doing other things.
4. I did a lot of pre-trip planning using apps like Evtripplanner and A Better Route Planner but after my first 1000 mi trip, I use only the Tesla built-in Nav system. Now that may change in the future for trips of high altitude changes, complex multi-stops, high winds or cold weather.
5. I gave up using the miles units since actual and rated miles keep changing. I prefer energy percent and try to charge when the battery gets to 10-15% but I stop charging at just enough to make the next stop on my trip.
6. I never charge above 90% daily and only charge to 95% for trips.
7. I find the energy consumption display in the instrument panel is great (like a tachometer). It is not needed in the touch screen.
8. I find the other setting for consumption on the touch screen “trip” (sloping green line) to be useless. That information is already shown in other displays.
9. The AP2 features are good with some caveats. On Interstates and other multilane highways, I use cruise control and autosteer. It works well but I sometimes feel the car is too close to 18 wheelers that I am passing.
10. When I use autosteer, I am ready to take over if lane markings are super faded, if construction narrows the lanes or if construction barrels are sticking out into the lane.
11. I have had a few aborts by autosteer when I try to change lanes on a curve.
12. Also, cruise control sometimes brakes quickly when changing lanes when it sees an object that it thinks is in the way. Because of this, I don’t use lane change if someone is tailgating.
13. I love the Tesla iPhone app.


I have gotten my first parking lot ding so am over the paranoia of parking a mile away from the store. ( I still try to park between to luxury cars however).

 

[JohnnyG]

Hi Abqnative, and congratulations on your new baby!

Nice write-up!

One note, on number 8... I'm guessing you're driving very normal/standard/average, and not seeing the full use of the "trip" screen on the energy graph. It takes into consideration elevation changes, interstate exchanges, etc, and displays a graph of predicted energy usage along your entered navigation route. Then, as you veer from it's prediction (heavier acceleration, driving faster/slower, etc) it plots your actual energy consumption along that navigation route, and shows you the difference with two plot lines. It can be really interesting to see when you drive faster, or accelerate very hard to pass a few cars, how you change the actual plot curve, compared to the planned plot curve. Then if you try to slow down you can try to get your actual plot line back closer to the predicted. One thing that makes it a little easier to see and more useful, is to change the graph to display more detailed info. Do this by tapping the magnifying glass in the upper right corner, so that it shows a minus instead of a plus.

I shed a tear for your first ding in only a month...

 

[gabeincal]

Nice write-up. I would suggest (based on my limited knowledge), that sometimes you should charge to 100% for a trip as it helps the battery to balance.

 

[bonnie]

@Abqnative - Great writeup, always nice to see observations from new owners . And congrats on your vehicle.

Don't worry about charging to 100% for trips, just try to be on the road within an hour or so upon reaching it. I usually charge to 80 or 90% the night before, then restart charging in the morning before I leave to top it off to 100%.

Enjoy your car and welcome to the forum.

 

[Ugliest1]

... to top it off to 100%.

Just be prepared at 100% or 99% that your "regen braking" will be non-existent until there's room in the battery to put that regen. Once you're used to 1-pedal driving, it's a bit disconcerting for it to suddenly not be there, if you're not expecting it. And things get back to normal quickly.

And congrats, and welcome!

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Welcome and wishing you many happy miles ahead.
Regarding #2, that's not the behavior for my car. When parked in the garage, the handles do retract but I can open the car without having the fob by pressing on them. Guessing you probably have to have your HOME address set up for it to work like that. My garage is also the only place I can pop the charge port by pressing the button on the UMC.
For #8, what you really want to look at isn't the green line, it's the estimated change remaining at the end of the trip. If that goes below zero or your range buffer comfort level, it's telling you to slow down, possibly before you even get a message from the car that you need to drive slower to reach your destination. The concept is a very handy tool; the implementation may be a bit clunky but the information is very valuable and not displayed elsewhere.
Sorry about the ding.

 

[David29]

Abqnative, nice write-up! It sounds as if you have learned well and quickly! i agree with you on most points and am glad you are enjoying your car!
It is also nice to have another Bay Stater with a Model S!

 

[Model S M.D.]

Great write up. Totally agree with using % instead of RM. You'll drive yourself crazy over changes in RM on a day to day basis.

 

[Viking1]

What is your experience? Quite similar.

1. The Owners Manual is a must have. I don’t have a paper copy but have a PDF on my iPad. I don’t use the copy on the touch screen unless the iPad is somewhere else. Studied it before delivery. I've not checked it much since then.
2. I like the “lock on walking away” feature but it means that I need to remember the keys if I want to get into the car or trunk in the garage.
3. I turned off “auto present handles” because it kept activating in my garage when I was doing other things.
I went though the same process as you. It would be nice to have a setting of "leave unlocked at home", but it is not a big deal.

5. I gave up using the miles units since actual and rated miles keep changing. I prefer energy percent and try to charge when the battery gets to 10-15% but I stop charging at just enough to make the next stop on my trip. I still use mileage. I find my actual and rated miles very similar.
6. I never charge above 90% daily and only charge to 95% for trips. Same here.

9. The AP2 features are good with some caveats. On Interstates and other multilane highways, I use cruise control and autosteer. It works well but I sometimes feel the car is too close to 18 wheelers that I am passing. We call it "Truck lust". Probably it is staying in the correct position, but we are use to moving a bit over when passing.
10. When I use autosteer, I am ready to take over if lane markings are super faded, if construction narrows the lanes or if construction barrels are sticking out into the lane. I'm always ready. I always have my hands on the wheel. I don't trust it yet.
11. I have had a few aborts by autosteer when I try to change lanes on a curve. I've never had that happen to me.
12. Also, cruise control sometimes brakes quickly when changing lanes when it sees an object that it thinks is in the way. Because of this, I don’t use lane change if someone is tailgating. Good idea. In fact I'll turn off TACC/AS if I'm being tailgated. I've had too many phantom breaking events.
13. I love the Tesla iPhone app. Its OK. I would like it to be able to open/close windows as well. If unexpected rain comes I want to be able to close the windows. Turning off charging from the App has proved useful to me. Would love it to have an Apple watch app, but I'm not expecting that. Would like to be able to get history info as provided in some other apps.

 

[ATL_Canes]

Just be prepared at 100% or 99% that your "regen braking" will be non-existent until there's room in the battery to put that regen. Once you're used to 1-pedal driving, it's a bit disconcerting for it to suddenly not be there, if you're not expecting it. And things get back to normal quickly.

And congrats, and welcome!

Thank you for this! I just charged to 100% for the first time last night after about a month of owning and was surprised the regen wasn't working this morning as it had been on all my previous drives. Such a simple explanation and annoyed it didn't occur to me.

 

[Ugliest1]

Thank you for this! I just charged to 100% for the first time last night after about a month of owning and was surprised the regen wasn't working this morning as it had been on all my previous drives. Such a simple explanation and annoyed it didn't occur to me.

The driver display shows a dotted orange line where the regen cuts out. At 100% it's around the 15 mark. Of course, that line also shows up when the battery is too cold to accept a lot of regen, but you in Atlanta probably won't have that to worry about!

 

[Aieukl378]

Congrats and welcome to the club!

I've been up and down the East Coast and the Tesla nav was very accurate in regards to "percent charge at destination" tho I hear not so much out West. Also, I used AP(1) from Cape Cod to Orlando and it's a good idea to be vigilant when passing or being passed by trucks. I never felt AP was veering toward trucks, rather trucks were veering toward me(trucks need AP BIg TIme) and you'll notice if you monitor trucks during a long drive they are all over the place.

Regarding dings etc., they are inevitable and simply bring your car to a good detailer(I do this once a year after winter rock-salt season) and they'll make them magically disappear.

Enjoy!

 

[David29]

I have had my Tesla S75D for about a month now and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Here are some thoughts on some of the features (design decisions) that I see.

What is your experience?

1. The Owners Manual is a must have. I don’t have a paper copy but have a PDF on my iPad. I don’t use the copy on the touch screen unless the iPad is somewhere else.

Just a (minor?) comment on the owners manual. Software updates do sometimes change the manual, such as when the software actually changes the functionality. The manual in the car gets updated by the software update so that is always the definitive source. There is also a manual on your MyTesla page, but that is not routinely updated. Mine was updated once, as I recall, when the first version of AP1 software was issued, and not since. So be cautious when using a downloaded PDF, because it may not be current.

 

[renshcp]

[QUOTE="Abqnative, post: 2189685, member: 60844]
13. I love the Tesla iPhone app.
[/QUOTE]

I actually leave my keys at home now as I don't like anything in my pockets. I'm to the point of actually cutting open rental car "balls of keys" when I get them so I can slim down to just the fob. With the Tesla App I just use that as the fob and even better, now use the "Key for Tesla" Apple Watch app to one touch unlock and turn on the car as I'm approaching.

Note: you need to have an LTE signal if relying solely on the app as a fob.

 

[gavine]

I never felt AP was veering toward trucks, rather trucks were veering toward me(trucks need AP BIg TIme) and you'll notice if you monitor trucks during a long drive they are all over the place.

I think the negative draft on the side of tractor trailers is what "sucks" the adjacent car in closer to it. AP doesn't compensate for some reason. Hopefully, Tesla will tune AP to compensate in the future. It can recognize trucks so why not fix the issue?

With AP off, next time you pull up next to a truck, hold the wheel lightly and you'll see that the car will move-towards it. It makes sense that the car will take the path of least resistance, right?

 

[gavine]

12. Also, cruise control sometimes brakes quickly when changing lanes when it sees an object that it thinks is in the way. Because of this, I don’t use lane change if someone is tailgating..

I manually push the accelerator when this happens. I realize it negates the safety aspect of AP (auto braking, etc.) but I only do it when the car artificially slows down where it doesn't need to. Works like a charm and passengers don't even realize I'm doing it.

Anytime I feel like the car is braking too much (machines can't anticipate like humans can), I'll hit the accelerator a little to override it.

 

[Abqnative]

Hi Abqnative, and congratulations on your new baby!

Nice write-up!

One note, on number 8... I'm guessing you're driving very normal/standard/average, and not seeing the full use of the "trip" screen on the energy graph. It takes into consideration elevation changes, interstate exchanges, etc, and displays a graph of predicted energy usage along your entered navigation route. Then, as you veer from it's prediction (heavier acceleration, driving faster/slower, etc) it plots your actual energy consumption along that navigation route, and shows you the difference with two plot lines. It can be really interesting to see when you drive faster, or accelerate very hard to pass a few cars, how you change the actual plot curve, compared to the planned plot curve. Then if you try to slow down you can try to get your actual plot line back closer to the predicted. One thing that makes it a little easier to see and more useful, is to change the graph to display more detailed info. Do this by tapping the magnifying glass in the upper right corner, so that it shows a minus instead of a plus.

I shed a tear for your first ding in only a month...

Thank you for the insight on the trip graph. My trips so far have been on flat routes. I will look for the predicted use based on elevation, etc. that would be very useful to know how much more energy is needed to climb.

 

[Abqnative]

Nice write-up. I would suggest (based on my limited knowledge), that sometimes you should charge to 100% for a trip as it helps the battery to balance.

I don't know anything about battery balance. Can you point me to some guide.
Thanks

 

[Abqnative]

Just be prepared at 100% or 99% that your "regen braking" will be non-existent until there's room in the battery to put that regen. Once you're used to 1-pedal driving, it's a bit disconcerting for it to suddenly not be there, if you're not expecting it. And things get back to normal quickly.

And congrats, and welcome!

Thanks. I learned that from other posts on this forum.

 

[Abqnative]

Welcome and wishing you many happy miles ahead.
Regarding #2, that's not the behavior for my car. When parked in the garage, the handles do retract but I can open the car without having the fob by pressing on them. Guessing you probably have to have your HOME address set up for it to work like that. My garage is also the only place I can pop the charge port by pressing the button on the UMC.
For #8, what you really want to look at isn't the green line, it's the estimated change remaining at the end of the trip. If that goes below zero or your range buffer comfort level, it's telling you to slow down, possibly before you even get a message from the car that you need to drive slower to reach your destination. The concept is a very handy tool; the implementation may be a bit clunky but the information is very valuable and not displayed elsewhere.
Sorry about the ding.

Interesting comment on #2. I assumed that the fob was always needed so I always picked it out of the drawer in the kitchen before going to the garage. I will try to open the car in the garage without the fob. Must have missed that tip in the owners manual.