Supercharger - Fort Stockton, Texas

[thenaimis]

Some notes from my trip:

• I got nagged more on this trip than I've ever been nagged before. Now I understand why people complain about AP nags. It was doing it as frequently as every ~10 seconds, and I had my hand on the wheel every time (the few times I didn't have my hands on the wheel, I didn't get nagged except for one time when I was counting the 12 seconds between nags). The nagging actually prompted me to hold the wheel in a way that wasn't particularly safe, but it kept the nags away, so good jaerb on that, Tesla.
• There was a huge difference in power consumption between my trip out (~410 Wh/mi at 85mph) and the trip back (~510). I think this has been discussed before but I've only been out that way twice, and the first time I went east on I-20 rather than I-10 so I didn't have an apples-to-apples comparison. There was also a fair bit of rain which probably didn't help.
• On a related note it was interesting to see the NOAP complain about not being able to make the Ft. Stockton to Junction leg. It started out warning me to slow down, which I ignored, then it changed to saying I wasn't going to make it, then eventually NOAP disengaged, routed me through the Ozona SC, then reengaged. I hadn't seen that or been prompted to move into a faster lane before this trip.
  
• Nasty accident on I-10 on the way back. This was Saturday night. There were so many emergency vehicle light bars flashing I thought they'd set up a CBP checkpoint and I'd gotten my wallet and driver's license out only to see a pretty thoroughly mangled car sitting in the ditch in the median.

 

[TaoJones]

100% agreed re the nag. It induces unsafe conditions. This trip was SO insanely bad in that regard that I will have no choice but to consider countermeasures for every future trip.

Had it been this bad and clearly stated as such during the purchase process for an AP2 car, I wouldn’t have bought it and once again would have happily kept AP1.

Other problems quite pronounced in general both going to and coming from FS/West Texas were multiple instances of phantom braking (to the point of being dangerous) and very peripatetic speed limit sign shifts - such as from 70 to 45 and back again in seconds over and over with the odd 55 thrown in for color.

Add to that the invisible closure of Quartzsite SC (thankfully I’ve learned to not be a trusting soul and check the critical path by displaying the hidden SCs along a route), which would have stranded me at 1am without many options, and it was not a shining display of either AP2 or Nav progress. Quite the converse, actually.

So here we have a crowning achievement in infrastructure (Fort Stockton SC, the first and only wx-optimized x-cont route on the planet) and a wholly suboptimal UI/UX conundrum at the same time.

The irony being that even if Audi nails solid UI/UX, they won’t have scalable fast charging for years yet at least in North America. Meaning that still Tesla won’t be compelled to fix these problems soonest. Eh. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised by AP3. But it’ll have to be quite the leap.

 

[kavyboy]

Using my 120V wall outlet and only driving a few miles since getting back, I just now got recharged back to 90%.

 

[PLUS EV]

The AP nags are more frequent at higher speeds.

 

[thenaimis]

The AP nags are more frequent at higher speeds.

That makes sense, but it also seems that the car isn't detecting the fact that I had my hand on the wheel as well as it did in the past. Used to be I might get one warning in a trip, which wasn't so bad. This time I was getting warning after warning after warning. I had to wonder if the long straight roads contributed to its inability to detect that I had my hand on the wheel the whole time, but when I put my hands on the wheel in a different way it stopped complaining. It's just that "different way" was less comfortable and rather less safe because it left me without a good grip on the wheel, whereas when I had a good grip on the wheel I'd get nagged a lot. But I'm getting a bit OT.

 

[charliepmayer]

I would like to thank all those who attended - very long drive from Virginia and from California!
I really appreciate all those forum members that supported the effort. Please plan to come out for the August rally!

TaoJones surprised us all with his enthusiasm, top hat, and golden spike presentations. Thank you TJ!
Thanks to thenaimis for the 360 camera, to nwdiver for the drone videos, and to theflyer for posting the pics.

The hotel and library folks offer a hearty "thank you" to all those who stayed and dined in Fort Davis.

On "counter-measures": must be discreet on this issue of course, but rumors persist that a certain style is quite effective out there

Consumption disparities verified by Teslafi (this is typical for my drives):
last trip out, uphill and into the wind on 02/04: 157.11 kWh, 415.89 mi, 377.77 W/mi
last trip back, downhill, cross wind on 02/13: 135.11 kWh, 415.89 mi, 324.87 W/mi (please check my math)

Phantom braking: happened often out there during the new car's first few drives. Only once yesterday at 83 mph on I-10. Trigger was the shadow of an overpass. Guy in a pickup was far enough back, but gave me the evil eye when he passed. I think he was unarmed.

Incorrect speed limit indications: observed quite often out there, both too high and too low observed. This will earn someone a ticket or cause a crash. Quite annoying when car limits Autosteer because it thinks speed limit is too low. (Autosteer continues to work just fine if you mash the right pedal to achieve the desired speed.) Database needs updating, or we need sign reading.

Anyway, looks everyone made it safely back to the real world - see you next time!

 

[charliepmayer]

http://www.fortstocktonpioneer.com/stories/fort-stockton-celebrates-with-tesla-milestone,22372?

 

[thenaimis]

One other discovery made on that trip I forgot to mention, tesla "smart" wipers are completely useless in the dark. I disabled them and went back to basic intermittent because that would actually activate the wipers.

 

[ℬête Noire]

It was doing it as frequently as every ~10 seconds

I know how fast you were traveling!

The timer length is strongly linked to speed. At around 80mph (I've never measured exactly, not sure if it is graduated or a sharp change) it halves down from regular highway travel timer down to about 10 seconds. Of course on that segment of the I10 that's the speed limit, so you'll see it out there where you won't most of the time.

You all need to switch over to a 3, apparently it is far less a nuisance with its control scheme? It threw me a bit at first, as I'd accumulate 3 strikes on audible alarms and be denied EAP access until I stopped to put it in P. But I quickly learned how to hold the wheel, and the center console allows me to brace and fully enjoy the relaxing benefits of EAP. If happen to get the Blue Flash of EAP's first warning on the screen I use the thumb wheel to tweak the speed. Even if I'm at the top and don't actually change the set point it'll reset the timer.

One thing I did learn this trip is if I'm using my off hand when I get a blue flash I don't need to do a "tug" with that, either. I can thumb wheel the volume control a single step (and then back if I want) and that counts as "driver input" as far as EAP is concerned.

There was a huge difference in power consumption between my trip out (~410 Wh/mi at 85mph) and the trip back (~510). I think this has been discussed before but I've only been out that way twice, and the first time I went east on I-20 rather than I-10 so I didn't have an apples-to-apples comparison. There was also a fair bit of rain which probably didn't help.

That must have been a wind thing? Especially considering it is the opposite of what the elevation change suggests.

Mine was pretty consistent in going out and coming back Sunday, in spite of a bit of rain heading East. That is until it got dark just after I turned off to Fredericksburg, meaning a knock a bit of speed off, and then the fog around Johnson slowed me even more below posted limits.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I had to wonder if the long straight roads contributed to its inability to detect that I had my hand on the wheel the whole time,

100% this I've noticed for myself. The first couple times I went to College Station I'd drop near the same highway 6 at an overpass near CS on the way up. It is just so darn straight and flat coming to that and just so few features it is very natural to sort of drift out of the mental grove.

The way I keep tension is I pick a side in the moment that I'd rather fail-safe the car to go, left or right. Very straight, eventless roads are much harder to keep the required tension on the wheel because there's no default and very little movement on the wheel as well. I've gotten a lot better at it but I find myself using the thumb wheels a lot more on very straight divided highways.

 

[ℬête Noire]

BTW I didn't see a single phantom brake on this trip. I haven't gotten any from overhead stuff in a very long time, way over a month at least. I just get occasionally phantom speed reductions that seem to be picking up concrete barriers running parallel to the road when going over humped overpasses. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The speed limit data though is quite hosed in parts of rural TX, and yes that's very bad. I haven't thought to try before, but can you "bug report" map data like that?

 

[PLUS EV]

One other discovery made on that trip I forgot to mention, tesla "smart" wipers are completely useless in the dark. I disabled them and went back to basic intermittent because that would actually activate the wipers.

They are completely useless in all conditions in my 2018 Model S.

They worked GREAT in my previous 2016 Model S, so along with losing AM radio, that was a big disappointment.

Oh, and the speed limit data is worse in the 2018 than the 2016, which I think read the speed limit signs with the camera.

 

[kavyboy]

100% this I've noticed for myself. The first couple times I went to College Station I'd drop near the same highway 6 at an overpass near CS on the way up. It is just so darn straight and flat coming to that and just so few features it is very natural to sort of drift out of the mental grove.

The way I keep tension is I pick a side in the moment that I'd rather fail-safe the car to go, left or right. Very straight, eventless roads are much harder to keep the required tension on the wheel because there's no default and very little movement on the wheel as well. I've gotten a lot better at it but I find myself using the thumb wheels a lot more on very straight divided highways.

I was getting nags on this trip (maybe 4, total), which is very rare for me. I haven't updated since before the frequent nags became policy, so my nag frequency on open highway is something like 3+ minutes. I couldn't imagine a 10 second interval. It did give a chance to experiment, though. On the old version, neither fiddling with the buttons nor changing lanes dismissed the nag.

 

[ℬête Noire]

On the old version, neither fiddling with the buttons nor changing lanes dismissed the nag.

That'd be brutal behavior if combined with this high frequency nag interval. No idea if the [EDIT: new] Model S/X software does that?

 

[kavyboy]

That'd be brutal if combined with this high frequency nag interval. No idea if the Model S/X software does that?

I'm on an S, of course. From what I've read, any model with the latest firmware will dismiss nags with any kind of driver input.

 

[thenaimis]

Somewhat OT, but I'm glad I didn't try to use my drone at the golden spike ceremony - I tried to use it today and immediately after take-off, it went sideways fast and ended up taking a chunk out of my thumb. That would not have been good in a crowd of people and cars.

 

[charliepmayer]

Ouch.
Enjoyed your company. Thank you for joining Us!

 

[Ed Hart]

That makes sense, but it also seems that the car isn't detecting the fact that I had my hand on the wheel as well as it did in the past. Used to be I might get one warning in a trip, which wasn't so bad. This time I was getting warning after warning after warning. I had to wonder if the long straight roads contributed to its inability to detect that I had my hand on the wheel the whole time, but when I put my hands on the wheel in a different way it stopped complaining. It's just that "different way" was less comfortable and rather less safe because it left me without a good grip on the wheel, whereas when I had a good grip on the wheel I'd get nagged a lot. But I'm getting a bit OT.

After reading a few of the "nag" complaints from fellow drivers, I wonder if you have been incorrectly just keeping a good grip on the wheel, instead of putting in a slight steering input(?) I made this error on both of our cars, a 2014 S and a 2018 X. Once we knew how the system worked, problems were much reduced.
HOWEVER....the nagging rate on the 2018 is much to him to make travel comfortable. Needs work.

 

[LCR1]

My nagging seemed to go away when I started using the steering wheel to hold my water bottle

 

[charliepmayer]

Fort Stockton backup plan getting closer