Dear Mr. Musk,
We are Dennis and Jeroen, two students at the Technical University of Twente. This weekend, we rented a Tesla for a weekend which had already 98.000 km on it. However, it still felt and smelt new, drove more than perfect and was driving like the future. In short, the trip was nothing short of awesome! We covered 1200 km in one day mostly driving through Germany.
During the trip, only one real problem occurred. On top of that, we discovered two design flaws which require fixing, and one flaw which was due to the massive schnitzel we got for lunch.
Let’s start with the problem: during the weekend, one time we were not the fastest of the light! We were first in line at a stoplight, and when we punched it, another car at our left did beat us in acceleration…..
….it turned out to be another Model S, so we guess Tesla already took care of this problem.
Now the design problems with the car. The first and very important flaw is the trip planner in maps. We know the feature is still in beta and many already complained about shortcomings, but this problem has not been addressed yet. The problem is; there is no ‘Autobahn Mode’! Driving the Model S is sooo much fun, especially when able to drive unlimited as in Germany, that the trip planner should take in account at least 10 minutes more of charging (and coffee drinking). This it what we did ourselves in order to drive tremendously fast. Instead of driving to Amsterdam in one charge, we charged in Zevenaar as well. So, an Autobahn Mode which takes the high energy use into account would come in handy for sure
In the end, we had twice the fun and arrived ten minutes earlier than we otherwise would have.
Talking about charging, another problem occurred. The Supercharger is way too fast. We didn’t even finish our Schnitzelpfanne (German style, so even more than an American meal) yet before the car was ready to go!
The second major flaw concerns the sunroof. When we drove by day, it was great! I watched falcon flying over while Dennis was driving, and thanks to the great weather we drove half of the time with the roof open. It felt great, free and fresh. However, at night, we were not able to see the sun! All we saw was a beautiful moon… So, we figured the sunroof should be called ‘Moonroof’ at night. Not a hard fix, but definitely necessary.
All together, we couldn’t have had a better day! Driving the Model S is great in every way. It is easy, fun at fast and slow driving speeds, incredibly good at long distance driving and a great look forward for what is coming in the Model 3! We have only one wish for the Model 3: hopefully it can make all sort of space noises when you pass someone at light speed
Thanks to the whole team for building this equivalent of the Star Trek Enterprise and keep up the great work!
Dennis and Jeroen
We are Dennis and Jeroen, two students at the Technical University of Twente. This weekend, we rented a Tesla for a weekend which had already 98.000 km on it. However, it still felt and smelt new, drove more than perfect and was driving like the future. In short, the trip was nothing short of awesome! We covered 1200 km in one day mostly driving through Germany.
During the trip, only one real problem occurred. On top of that, we discovered two design flaws which require fixing, and one flaw which was due to the massive schnitzel we got for lunch.
Let’s start with the problem: during the weekend, one time we were not the fastest of the light! We were first in line at a stoplight, and when we punched it, another car at our left did beat us in acceleration…..
….it turned out to be another Model S, so we guess Tesla already took care of this problem.
Now the design problems with the car. The first and very important flaw is the trip planner in maps. We know the feature is still in beta and many already complained about shortcomings, but this problem has not been addressed yet. The problem is; there is no ‘Autobahn Mode’! Driving the Model S is sooo much fun, especially when able to drive unlimited as in Germany, that the trip planner should take in account at least 10 minutes more of charging (and coffee drinking). This it what we did ourselves in order to drive tremendously fast. Instead of driving to Amsterdam in one charge, we charged in Zevenaar as well. So, an Autobahn Mode which takes the high energy use into account would come in handy for sure
In the end, we had twice the fun and arrived ten minutes earlier than we otherwise would have. Talking about charging, another problem occurred. The Supercharger is way too fast. We didn’t even finish our Schnitzelpfanne (German style, so even more than an American meal) yet before the car was ready to go!
The second major flaw concerns the sunroof. When we drove by day, it was great! I watched falcon flying over while Dennis was driving, and thanks to the great weather we drove half of the time with the roof open. It felt great, free and fresh. However, at night, we were not able to see the sun! All we saw was a beautiful moon… So, we figured the sunroof should be called ‘Moonroof’ at night. Not a hard fix, but definitely necessary.
All together, we couldn’t have had a better day! Driving the Model S is great in every way. It is easy, fun at fast and slow driving speeds, incredibly good at long distance driving and a great look forward for what is coming in the Model 3! We have only one wish for the Model 3: hopefully it can make all sort of space noises when you pass someone at light speed
Thanks to the whole team for building this equivalent of the Star Trek Enterprise and keep up the great work!
Dennis and Jeroen
