I had so much fun driving model 3 that I ended up catching myself driving around an hour before work each day and figured I may make that more productive by signing up with Lyft and bring people where they want to go, which turns out to be a fun hobby that more than offsets my parking and bridge tolls.
I wrote up my experience on MrMichaelWill's Weblog describing how people react to being picked up in Model 3 and how they don't understand the doors without explanation, how they are wowed and what I get out of it. Includes Lyft-referral code in case you want to do the same.
TL;DR and additional info that came out of the discussion with people on facebook and reddit Driving a Tesla Model 3 for Lyft • r/teslamotors :
The doors are the main obstacle to making this supersmooth, but are actually a good starting point to talk about why this car is special. About anybody needed to be explained to push in the wider piece in with your thumb for the door handle to come out. Then they are wowed and love it. When wanting to exit, I have to give instructions again, that little push-button is not obivous. Also when they want to roll up or down their own window, especially in the dark, it is not obvious to anybody who hasnt been in a model 3 before. So you could say that is a design fail from a being intuitive standpoint, but seems to be quickly forgotten as the rest of the car inspires awe in all my riders.
Typical reactions to the Model 3 showing up to their Lyft request
- I must have gotten a silent upgrade, normally its Priuses and such
- wow, just noticed the all glass roof
- this car really has pickup
- this feels more like riding in BART (bay area transport electric rail train), its like gliding
- wow, that screen is bigger than on my mercedes
- thats a beautiful, amazing car
- I have never been in a tesla before
- Is this a demo ?
- Damn, I wish I didnt have to go to class and could ride longer with you, is there a way to request you specifically?
Also they love that there are two usb ports and that I provide a lighting cable for them to charge their iphone. Surprisingly they ask for permission still, seems obvious to me that thats why its there?
A few things I learned from the discussion on facebook and reddit:
- Federal tax incentive of $7500 can only be applied when at least 60% of your use of your Model 3 is personal use. So if you buy it specifically for commercial use, you may not be eligible for the tax credit. Check with your CPA to determine exactly what the situation is. If I was planning to do that I would want a black Model X with 7 seats and ride for both Lyft LUX and Uber LUX. Nonissue for me as I do this casually as a hobby.
- Personal insurance does not officially cover you when doing ride sharing unless you tell your insurance company about it and pay a little extra for being on a ride-share plan.
- Lyft insurance coverage is pretty low when you have the app running but not accepted a ride yet. Once you accept the ride, cioverage goes up from $25k to $1m until drop-off. Some people that did not upgrade their personal insurance buy a gap-insurance to cover the difference.
Other things I learned:
- destination mode is awesome to pick somebody up along the way with minimal detour, and still get paid bridge toll and enough money to pay for half your parking cost.
- Drivers like Lyft better than Uber, but if you do it professionally you probably want both.
- Driving across town to get to surge pricing (chasing the red) is usually not worth it, maybe destination mode can make it less wasteful.
- I really love meeting all those people and play music for them, learning about great songs in the process.
What I would want to improve in a Model 3 V2:
- cooled seats, especially when driving a lot in the heat. AC is great, but the back still gets a little warm over time.
- biohazard filters (elon already said no to that earlier, but I would love to evict Diesel exhaust smell from other cars that came in when I had my window open
- more interior lighting for passengers in the rear, maybe spot-lights onto the door controls
- Air suspension? I guess at that point I should be driving a Model S instead. But I love driving the Model 3 so much, because of its cornering and agility, especially between rides and without passengers.
I wrote up my experience on MrMichaelWill's Weblog describing how people react to being picked up in Model 3 and how they don't understand the doors without explanation, how they are wowed and what I get out of it. Includes Lyft-referral code in case you want to do the same.
TL;DR and additional info that came out of the discussion with people on facebook and reddit Driving a Tesla Model 3 for Lyft • r/teslamotors :
The doors are the main obstacle to making this supersmooth, but are actually a good starting point to talk about why this car is special. About anybody needed to be explained to push in the wider piece in with your thumb for the door handle to come out. Then they are wowed and love it. When wanting to exit, I have to give instructions again, that little push-button is not obivous. Also when they want to roll up or down their own window, especially in the dark, it is not obvious to anybody who hasnt been in a model 3 before. So you could say that is a design fail from a being intuitive standpoint, but seems to be quickly forgotten as the rest of the car inspires awe in all my riders.
Typical reactions to the Model 3 showing up to their Lyft request
- I must have gotten a silent upgrade, normally its Priuses and such
- wow, just noticed the all glass roof
- this car really has pickup
- this feels more like riding in BART (bay area transport electric rail train), its like gliding
- wow, that screen is bigger than on my mercedes
- thats a beautiful, amazing car
- I have never been in a tesla before
- Is this a demo ?
- Damn, I wish I didnt have to go to class and could ride longer with you, is there a way to request you specifically?
Also they love that there are two usb ports and that I provide a lighting cable for them to charge their iphone. Surprisingly they ask for permission still, seems obvious to me that thats why its there?
A few things I learned from the discussion on facebook and reddit:
- Federal tax incentive of $7500 can only be applied when at least 60% of your use of your Model 3 is personal use. So if you buy it specifically for commercial use, you may not be eligible for the tax credit. Check with your CPA to determine exactly what the situation is. If I was planning to do that I would want a black Model X with 7 seats and ride for both Lyft LUX and Uber LUX. Nonissue for me as I do this casually as a hobby.
- Personal insurance does not officially cover you when doing ride sharing unless you tell your insurance company about it and pay a little extra for being on a ride-share plan.
- Lyft insurance coverage is pretty low when you have the app running but not accepted a ride yet. Once you accept the ride, cioverage goes up from $25k to $1m until drop-off. Some people that did not upgrade their personal insurance buy a gap-insurance to cover the difference.
Other things I learned:
- destination mode is awesome to pick somebody up along the way with minimal detour, and still get paid bridge toll and enough money to pay for half your parking cost.
- Drivers like Lyft better than Uber, but if you do it professionally you probably want both.
- Driving across town to get to surge pricing (chasing the red) is usually not worth it, maybe destination mode can make it less wasteful.
- I really love meeting all those people and play music for them, learning about great songs in the process.
What I would want to improve in a Model 3 V2:
- cooled seats, especially when driving a lot in the heat. AC is great, but the back still gets a little warm over time.
- biohazard filters (elon already said no to that earlier, but I would love to evict Diesel exhaust smell from other cars that came in when I had my window open
- more interior lighting for passengers in the rear, maybe spot-lights onto the door controls
- Air suspension? I guess at that point I should be driving a Model S instead. But I love driving the Model 3 so much, because of its cornering and agility, especially between rides and without passengers.
