So I tried camping in the car for one night......

[fancealot]

I bought a Tesmat for using in camp mode, used it once, as i'm 'larger than the average bear' getting in and out of the 3 was a challenge - my mates did laugh when they got a shot of my a** crack as I was climbing in. Decided then I was going to wait to use it with my Y instead - rear access much better!!!

Since then i've 'camped' in the drivers seat 3 or 4 times, I also use a CPAP with a cigarette lighter power cable - much nicer option.

The whirr of the HVAC on the 1st gen M3 spools up quite often, i've ended up turning temps to mid range - 17.5 ish and A/C off with fan speed at 1 I get the occasional whoosh but not as bad.

 

[Casss]

Some possible (totally not obnoxious solutions to OP's problems):

1. Use boombox to waft 'nature sounds' through the camp to appease your mates - this is better in my mind than the inevitable people snoring at 3am or trying to escape their tent with a biological ticking time bomb because the previous evenings curry or undercooked sausage is combing back with a vengeance
2. 
   
   
3. Ditch the child
4. Actually I think the main problem in camping is never 'you', rather 'others'. Camp where no one else is or don't bother in mind.
5. 
6. Stop being so sensitive. embrace the discomfort. embrace the pain. it makes getting back to a real bed special.

 

[Kevin Method]

I love camping too.

 

[Dommmm]

and it wasn't a great experience - fair amount of it self inflicted.

My son and I went for to do a bit of kayaking down the Medway, so for one night we thought we'd give sleeping in the car ago rather than a tent.

As we we were only planning to stay one night we didn't plan on going too crazy with the setup, as the intention was to use camp mode to keep us at a nice temperature.

Our setup was simple a self inflating matress (from Trail Outdoors Double Self-Inflating Mat (5cm Thick)), pillow and sleeping bag as demonstrated by my assistant:-

View attachment 821663

In addition we had some blackout blinds for the side windows and windscreen sun shield.

So why wasn't it a great experience?

Firstly for me it was the camp mode itself - in the dead of night on a campsite it actually makes enough noise both inside and out to be irritating, for context I was part of a group:-

View attachment 821664

and so straight away I felt quite anti social for having it on as you could easily hear noises the car was making from 10 feet way. As I was part of a group most of whom are friends, I didn't want to be remembered as that guy with the car that kept the other campers awake - I could have moved the car prior to going to bed, but my son was asleep, it was raining and it would have been a general faff.

The one thing I noticed is that leaving it in Auto, meant the car would periodically pump air into the car, which always started with a rather noisy whoosh before setting down. After a point I turned off Auto and switched it to manual and set the air flow to 1 but I struggled to get to sleep with this constant hum. So in the end I switched camp mode off. BTW the car makes all manor of noises which when you live in suburbia get melded in the surrounding ambient noises - not so in the middle of a farm field.

Even turning the air conditioning off, the car periodically turns it back on which was unexpected.

After a period of time the screen does go off which is great, but if you need to adjust something tapping the screen did nothing, touching the park button nothing - bizarely I had to use the App to wake the car up.

Without camp mode, the car did get pretty cold and muggins here only brought a 2 season sleeping bag which meant I was quite cold during the night.

The mattress I found to be too thin myself so bit unconfortable for me, but if I had 2 I recon that would be of been fine - and I did like how if self inflates and packed up in to a bag.

With the seats down the floor is not flat and I did find I was gradually sliding down during the night.

I don't think there is room for 2 people really, my son liked to go into the foetal position kneeing me in the back.

I'm 5'8 and I found I needed to contort myself a little getting out, getting in was fine.

So in summary whilst i'm glad I gave it ago and learnt from the experience I think next time just bring a tent

Hope that was useful for some pople

Camping mode really needs some tweaking doesn’t it? I am not sure why but the air con becomes incredibly noisy and switches on intermittently. Which you can t sleep through. Turning it off and locking the car, we had the alarm go off also. So you end up being on edge!

I had high hopes for it, late night drives when the surf Is up for an early morning mission, watching the stars at night. But unfortunately the tint means you can’t see them lol!

Anyhow, amazing car and love it

 

[Adopado]

I had high hopes for it, late night drives when the surf Is up for an early morning mission, watching the stars at night. But unfortunately the tint means you can’t see them lol

You can definitely see the stars through the roof if you’re in a dark sky area on a clear night and the screen is off…

 

[BillN]

I used camp mode for 2 consecutive nights just recently. Purchased a Tesmat privacy screen which worked well. Just used a mattress topper doubled over to sleep on, but might look at a memory foam mattress next time.

Didn’t bother removing seat base - just parked slightly down hill so as to lie pretty much flat. Didn’t find the HVAC noises an issue - but I find complete silence at night more difficult to get to sleep to. I’m pretty sure you have to remember to turn off Bluetooth on your phone when in camp mode and after having locked the doors - otherwise anyone can just open the car from outside. Discovered that if you lean the front seat backrests back you can then have a ‘headboard’ and watch netflix etc on an iPad / laptop resting on the parcel shelf.

Lots of room for improvement with camp mode - but generally speaking I think it works really well.

You need a night mask in summer unless you get black out covering for all glass or don’t mind the light.

For info, it used about an average of 800-900 Watts per hour in ~14°C temps with interior set to ~18°C.

 

[Cloggie]

I used camp mode for 2 consecutive nights just recently. Purchased a Tesmat privacy screen which worked well. Just used a mattress topper doubled over to sleep on, but might look at a memory foam mattress next time.

Didn’t bother removing seat base - just parked slightly down hill so as to lie pretty much flat. Didn’t find the HVAC noises an issue - but I find complete silence at night more difficult to get to sleep to. I’m pretty sure you have to remember to turn off Bluetooth on your phone when in camp mode and after having locked the doors - otherwise anyone can just open the car from outside. Discovered that if you lean the front seat backrests back you can then have a ‘headboard’ and watch netflix etc on an iPad / laptop resting on the parcel shelf.

Lots of room for improvement with camp mode - but generally speaking I think it works really well.

You need a night mask in summer unless you get black out covering for all glass or don’t mind the light.

For info, it used about an average of 800-900 Watts per hour in ~14°C temps with interior set to ~18°C.View attachment 825067

Which app is that from?

 

[BillN]

Which app is that from?

Tessie

 

[MarkThisDay]

Tessie

Great app

 

[AutomaticMan]

I bought a Tesmat for using in camp mode, used it once, as i'm 'larger than the average bear' getting in and out of the 3 was a challenge - my mates did laugh when they got a shot of my a** crack as I was climbing in. Decided then I was going to wait to use it with my Y instead - rear access much better!!!

Since then i've 'camped' in the drivers seat 3 or 4 times, I also use a CPAP with a cigarette lighter power cable - much nicer option.

The whirr of the HVAC on the 1st gen M3 spools up quite often, i've ended up turning temps to mid range - 17.5 ish and A/C off with fan speed at 1 I get the occasional whoosh but not as bad.

I'm another 'larger than the average bear' person with a CPAP! For CPAP users, Tesla camping is a great alternative to having to carry around a spare CPAP battery with you for tent camping I think.

I camped right the way around Italy a few weeks back. I guess I averaged 1 night in the Tesla for every 2 nights in a hotel, so it's a nice little cost saving on a long trip. I had a 12v fridge/coolbox as well (FYI, fridge and CPAP will both run from the 12v socket if you get a 12v splitter without tripping the circuit breaker), which was a godsend for keeping drinks cool around Italy!

I mostly wilderness camped (park4night is an amazing app!), but some of the time nearer the big cities I was in a municipal carpark sort of place. I turned the HVAC down to manual 1 or 2, but I agree it is still fairly noisy. It didn't bother me for sleeping (it's no louder than a CPAP anyway!), but I was more worried if it would disturb other people camping in the same areas. I didn't get any complaints though.

Another really useful thing is the Tesmat Privacy Screen... makes it really quick/easy to block out all the windows. The little vacuum suckers did become unstuck a few times though, but a minor annoyance compared to the benefits I think.

My biggest issue with camping was just waking up in the morning with a bad back. But that's probably my own fault for being 'larger than the average bear' and no different to sleeping on a camping mat or similar in a tent would be anyway. I wouldn't say I looked particularly elegant clambering in via the back doors, but I managed it!

 

[pdk42]

I used camp mode for 2 consecutive nights just recently. Purchased a Tesmat privacy screen which worked well. Just used a mattress topper doubled over to sleep on, but might look at a memory foam mattress next time.

Didn’t bother removing seat base - just parked slightly down hill so as to lie pretty much flat. Didn’t find the HVAC noises an issue - but I find complete silence at night more difficult to get to sleep to. I’m pretty sure you have to remember to turn off Bluetooth on your phone when in camp mode and after having locked the doors - otherwise anyone can just open the car from outside. Discovered that if you lean the front seat backrests back you can then have a ‘headboard’ and watch netflix etc on an iPad / laptop resting on the parcel shelf.

Lots of room for improvement with camp mode - but generally speaking I think it works really well.

You need a night mask in summer unless you get black out covering for all glass or don’t mind the light.

For info, it used about an average of 800-900 Watts per hour in ~14°C temps with interior set to ~18°C.View attachment 825067

That's more than I would have expected.

 

[JulienWA]

With this report--I think that I'll bring some wired earbuds that are "flush" with my ears (so that I can easily sleep with them on). This should drown out all noise.

 

[Cloggie]

Tessie

Cheers!

 

[Tonedog77]

Tessie

Does Tessie report it as a drive for that data? Or does it just show your recent charge depreciation

 

[Stuart Watson]

So why wasn't it a great experience?

Firstly for me it was the camp mode itself - in the dead of night on a campsite it actually makes enough noise both inside and out to be irritating, for context I was part of a group:-



Hope that was useful for some pople

I’m disappointed to read that, but not surprised.

Even when “asleep “ in my garage, the car makes all sorts of weird noises.

If we use the nearby gym, or play table tennis, my children often comment on the varied and unexpected noises the model Y makes.

 

[JonB]

I've been looking forward to trying Camp Mode for months.

Not so sure now!

One of the perennial questions is "what do you do with all the stuff you displaced from the boot in order to sleep in the car?" By which I mean "camping equipment, clothes, etc. I can see myself taking a small tent so as to have somewhere to store it all!

 

[BillN]

s

Does Tessie report it as a drive for that data? Or does it just show your recent charge depreciation

It’s reported as a “parking” session

 

[BillN]

One of the perennial questions is "what do you do with all the stuff you displaced from the boot in order to sleep in the car?" By which I mean "camping equipment, clothes, etc.

I moved most stuff to the front seats and foot wells, and the rear foot wells. Then you’ve still got the frunk and ‘sub-trunk’ too. Quite a lot of room really.

 

[MarkThisDay]

I’m disappointed to read that, but not surprised.

Even when “asleep “ in my garage, the car makes all sorts of weird noises.

If we use the nearby gym, or play table tennis, my children often comment on the varied and unexpected noises the model Y makes.

So you would rather it didn't cool and heat the for maximum life

 

[decorbest]

Which model.