Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[apchoo]

I took the technician for a drive on Monash Fwy. At speeds >80kmh, he could hear the wind noise. After poking and prodding and removing bits of the A pillar trim and door seal (car had stopped at road side then), he concluded that the likely cause are gaps in the front windscreen sealant. He'll run more tests with an air blower back at the Service Centre---the likely remedy is my car will get a new front windscreen with proper sealing as they can't remove it without breaking the glass. I may need to make another appointment if they can't a windscreen in today.

Service Centre confirmed the front windscreen passenger side sealant (or lack thereof) is the cause of the wind noise. They've ordered a new windscreen and will inform me when it arrives. I hope the new windscreen with proper sealant fixes the wind noise---I'll post an update when that's done.

I forgot to ask about potential water damage in the A pillar caused by the sealant gaps---if air is coming in surely water would as well and we've had quite a few rainy days in Melbourne since getting the car in mid-Sept.

While chatting with the technician on our way back to the service centre (peak morning traffic) he said the following:

• Tesla cars run Linux OS. No surprise there I suppose, though he wouldn't say how I could get a terminal console on my screen . Technicians/roadside assist can remote into the car when required to check for faults.
• My regime of keeping the SoC between 30-80% (set charge limit to 80%, run battery down to about 30% before charging) for daily urban driving is a good one for battery longevity. Running the battery to <10% would trigger battery and range re-calibration. Too much supercharging isn't good for the battery.
• He doesn't know if it's possible to initiate battery pre-conditioning prior to charging at a 3rd party supercharger (e.g., RACV Tritium Ultra-rapid chargers at Airport West, etc.)
• Smart Summon and Navigate on Autopilot are coming soon to AU. Take that with your own levels of salt for those who are sitting on the FSD fence (myself included).
• M3 servicing likely to be once every 2 years. Tesla currently would not contact M3 owners when a service is due (it's early days I supposed). The service would include the following.
  • brake fluid change
  • check aircon coolant
  • replace cabin air filters
  • replace wiper blades
  • check tyres

Nothing like a captive audience .

 

[baillies]

VIC registration data for Sep
Tesla M3 379
Tesla MS 13
Tesla MX 20

data source: New motor vehicle registrations - VicRoads new motor vehicle registrations 2019 - Victorian Government Data Directory
Not sure about the data as it only shows Tesla in the Sep data (nothing from jan to July) and August data is missing?? Interesting that Tesla shows in the pivotable filters but no data???

 

[Kiwiadventure]

For anyone that is sitting on the fence about purchasing full self driving and wants to see it in action, I purchased FSD as part of my service appointment which replaced a damaged wheel and interior panel.

I did a video on probably the best part of FSD available in Australia, auto lane change. If anyone is interested, take a look at it here -

I’ve found it sometimes works but more than often doesn’t in Auckland. Sunday FSD worked great but hasn’t since.

 

[Grenadine]

VIC registration data for Sep
Tesla M3 379
Tesla MS 13
Tesla MX 20

data source: New motor vehicle registrations - VicRoads new motor vehicle registrations 2019 - Victorian Government Data Directory
Not sure about the data as it only shows Tesla in the Sep data (nothing from jan to July) and August data is missing?? Interesting that Tesla shows in the pivotable filters but no data???
View attachment 472184

That M3SR (not plus) registration has to be a mistake considering we could never order that variant here, right?.

412 Teslas registered compared to 26 other EVs is pretty astounding.

 

[baillies]

That M3SR (not plus) registration has to be a mistake considering we could never order that variant here, right?.

412 Teslas registered compared to 26 other EVs is pretty astounding.

As always you need to take this data with a grain of salt, it seems users can create new types and allocate them although this data looks quite good. SR could be a Tesla internal registration although I am not sure it has been added as a type for importation yet so quite possibly a mistake.

note that this is not an exhaustive list of EV’s just what I found in a quick search, after I posted I found KONA E had one and was seperate to KONA unlike QLD data. I did check i3 and Zoe and there was none in Sep.

I actually think the gap is not astounding and I fully believe if model 3 was not here we would not have any other EV’s for sale. Other manufacturers seem more interested in gov (and fleet) sales. All EV’s other than model 3 will loose a lot in resale here and are not a good buy unless you are planning to keep them for 5+ (ideally 10+) years. Having said that it would be great if more gov/fleet sales occur so they can start a second hand market, unfortunately it seems we will not have a significant second hand market til 2025.

 

[maveric74]

Hey all. Had a couple of WTF? moments in the past week driving our TM3. Driving in Melbourne and in centre of either side of suburban road is parking spaces for cars. There is a lady standing smoking a cigarette in one of these spaces with her door wide open and as I pass her, doing approximately 40-50km, the car slammed on AEB instantaneously. Luckily, no one behind me otherwise would have ended up with a nasty fender bender. Thankfully, this didn’t deter said lady from taking one last living drag fro her cigarette before she got in her ICE.

Driving this morning in Melbourne on Eastern Freeway & used AP. Road was wet and spray from other cars around as well. Well clear of cars in either side and tried auto lane change and car wobbled and swerved before deciding not to initiate lane change. Bit scary..

 

[maveric74]

Moderators note. this thread is becoming an omnibus for many different topics.
it was initially created to track the progress of Model 3 in Australia
Please keep to the topic.

Not arguing this but hasn’t this thread kind of become the de facto thread to discuss al things TM3 related? Would you prefer that we have separate thread headings for topics such as driving issues, FSD, accessories, customer service, charging and chargers etc?

 

[Chuq]

Not arguing this but hasn’t this thread kind of become the de facto thread to discuss al things TM3 related? Would you prefer that we have separate thread headings for topics such as driving issues, FSD, accessories, customer service, charging and chargers etc?

Suggestion: Anything that is not specific to Australia should go in the Model 3 forum (or relevant sub-forums): Model 3 (probably not a lot as pretty much everything - Autopilot, insurance, charging, delivery - is different in Australia compared to overseas)

Anything that is not specific to the Model 3, but specific to Australia can go in any other relevant thread in the Australia forum: Australia (examples: service centre info, supercharger threads, events, autopilot)

Anything that is Model 3 Australia specific, but a big enough topic, should be OK to have its own thread (examples: insurance, delivery process, charging)

Any general Model 3 Australia specific comments in this thread.

Just my opinion of course, you know what they say about opinions!

 

[Gnat666]

Driving in Melbourne and in centre of either side of suburban road is parking spaces for cars. There is a lady standing smoking a cigarette in one of these spaces with her door wide open and as I pass her, doing approximately 40-50km, the car slammed on AEB instantaneously. Luckily, no one behind me otherwise would have ended up with a nasty fender bender..

Weird. Press and hold the “car” icon when that stuff happens, it apparently sends feedback to Tesla

Driving this morning in Melbourne on Eastern Freeway & used AP. Road was wet and spray from other cars around as well. Well clear of cars in either side and tried auto lane change and car wobbled and swerved before deciding not to initiate lane change. Bit scary..

Various results it seems. Me yesterday on 3 lane freeway (they ARE Free in WA ), heavy rain, spray from cars in front and road lines were virtually disappearing as grey blurs with all the water... was amazed the car remained on-point, with it only slowing a bit at a few points, seemingly as its confidence was challenged.
I’ve only had a few WTF moments, all pretty minor, and more towards just being unexplainable or overly cautious.
... doing about 70km freeway and 10km metro roads in FSD daily.
Amazing how traffic jams are soooo less stressful!

Anything that is not specific to the Model 3, but specific to Australia can go in any other relevant thread in the Australia forum: Australia (examples: service centre info, supercharger threads, events, autopilot)
Anything that is Model 3 Australia specific, but a big enough topic, should be OK to have its own thread (examples: insurance, delivery process, charging)!

Maybe, but things like FSD can be more AU or region specific than the US dominant main forum.
Plus it’s more likely you can get local support, assistance and tips, than being lost in the main topics.
But I can see both sides.

 

[HPSOV]

According to TeslaFi 2019.36.1 has just started rolling out.

 

[Vostok]

Me yesterday on 3 lane freeway (they ARE Free in WA )

There’s nothing incongruous with a toll being charged on a freeway, because the “free” in freeway does not mean it is “free” (no charge) to drive on. The “free” means the road is free of at-grade intersections or other inhibitors to free traffic flow.

The original meaning of the word has largely been lost, which I think is a shame because it is a good word. Some ignorant Roads minister in NSW many years ago changed the official name of all freeways in Sydney to “motorways” because he argued, completely incorrectly, that the presence of tolls on some of them necessitated the change.

(similarly to “fulsome” - when politicians passionately express “fulsome” praise or support for something, I laugh and think for once they are being honest )

Oh... “Model 3” just to keep this on-topic.

 

[Vostok]

VIC registration data for Sep
Tesla M3 379
Tesla MS 13
Tesla MX 20

data source: New motor vehicle registrations - VicRoads new motor vehicle registrations 2019 - Victorian Government Data Directory

Interesting... I didn’t know this data existed. But new registrations, while interesting, doesn’t tell you about the current fleet. And I could find no resource on the Data directory that had stats on the current fleet. So, for example, it would not be possible to calculate the percentage of vehicles in VIC that are BEVs, or Tesla’s market share of BEVs.

It would be nice if all States provided proper online databases for “public interest” information like this.

NSW RMS publishes quarterly stats that do enable these calculations to be done, Q3 should be out in a couple of weeks, and I’ll report in my thread Tesla market share of BEVs in NSW

 

[dmaunder]

According to TeslaFi 2019.36.1 has just started rolling out.

Yep looks like it. Up to 2% on it already, and Model 3s and S/X.

 

[ruttster]

VIC registration data for Sep
Tesla M3 379
Tesla MS 13
Tesla MX 20

data source: New motor vehicle registrations - VicRoads new motor vehicle registrations 2019 - Victorian Government Data Directory
Not sure about the data as it only shows Tesla in the Sep data (nothing from jan to July) and August data is missing?? Interesting that Tesla shows in the pivotable filters but no data???
View attachment 472184

This is awesome! I had a hack at trying to make it into a map so you can see how many Model 3's are in your neighbourhood.
Take a look:

• Dashboard
• Map

 

[meloccom]

Not arguing this but hasn’t this thread kind of become the de facto thread to discuss al things TM3 related? Would you prefer that we have separate thread headings for topics such as driving issues, FSD, accessories, customer service, charging and chargers etc?

This thread grows too fast for me to control it in any meaningful way.
However it was originally started so members could discuss the progress of the arrival of Model 3 in Australia and with the help of @Vedaprime and others potentially track their car as it made its way here.
For anyone wanting to use it for that purpose now, and there are still a lot of them, they have to also parse through a lot of off topic posts as well to get the information they want.
I hoped that it could mainly focus on that topic but in the end it’s up to the members as you outnumber me by a wide margin.

 

[Rastafaria]

So my 1308 days of waiting are over. Took delivery of my SR+ yesterday!

Delivery from Richmond was all good, very quiet. Mine was the only car around and apparently only one other for the day.

Called in at Airport West for a quick top up at the chargefox charger.

I managed to fit 3 car seats in the back, 2 forward facing and 1 rear. Kids are all under 5 but the 2 older ones love it. They've been just as excited as me about getting the car. Glass roof is a winner.

My commute is about 90km round trip and I've never been so excited about driving to the office, might go the long way.

A shout out to the Bendigo Bank who got the finance settled within 48hrs of receiving an invoice. And 3.80% rate was nice too.

Hope all others waiting get their model 3 soon, it's awesome.

Congrats! Did your car come with Aero Caps? Any noticeable issues?

 

[dmaunder]

This is awesome! I had a hack at trying to make it into a map so you can see how many Model 3's are in your neighbourhood.
Take a look:

• Dashboard
• Map

That is very awesome, and very interesting.

 

[aroth]

Applied the ceramic coating (Armor Shield IX) today. Noticed several additional defects in the paint (embedded dirt/dust particles, mostly) while doing the surface prep. This after just picking the car up from the bodyshop, where they fixed several defects with the paint. But meh, Tesla's strategy of having only one service center 100kms away and no courtesy car has successfully discouraged me from bothering to report any further cosmetic issues. Well played, Tesla, well played.

Anyhow took about 3 hours for the surface prep (wash + clay + IPA), and then another 3.5 to 4 hours to apply the coating. Gave one coat to all surfaces excluding the top/rear glass panels, and two coats to everything forward of the front doors. This used just over one full bottle of the coating product.

Drove shortly afterwards (coating instructions don't say not to) and some light rain ensued. Noticed that the beads of water were running straight up the windscreen at fairly low speeds (like 50-60kph). Don't think the factory exterior has that feature?

 

[baillies]

For those wondering about the delivery times for model 3 pushing out to next year I think there are 2 main reasons.

1- the US tax credit finishes this year so US sales will be very high, maybe even higher than Q4 last year.

2- the Netherlands, which once again is having a tax change at the end of this year, sales in Q4 could be more than 20K. The sales surge may have just started (as per the uptick on the red graph below), note last quarter was already very high for Tesla in the Netherlands.

These sales need to be delivered this quarter so deliveries to other countries will be pushed to early next year. For anyone investing I expect the shorts to have a big push in Feb saying the Jan sales are low and demand has dried up, actually lots of cars will be in transit like normal.

Q4 will be huge for Tesla.

EV Sales: Netherlands

 

[bay74]

First long-ish drive today, Melbourne (SE) - Warburton - Marysville - Cathedral Ranges - Healesville - Lilydale - Melbourne (SE). Awesome, and we managed 125Wh/km over the 260km, probably helped by the low speeds over the hills and lack of need for heat or AC here today. In-car nav' suggested we'd have about 13% upon return, ended up with 25% instead (started at 95%).

I thought the suspension handled the pot holes perfectly well over the Acheron Way and in the Cathedrals, but I have come to see as a downside of the 3 the intruding A-pillar, which really blocks visibility badly in windy right turns. Guess that poor visibility (fat pillar) is the price you pay for safety; and I can just lean all the way forward to see... Oh and the dumb wipers, say no more.

Also, have nothing at all in the SentryClips/today's date folder despite the car telling us after a few stops that there were events. These should have been kept right? Wonder why, it's a Samsung T5, normally considered suitable no? And RecentClips has stuff from late October but nothing from today, but that's perhaps because I disconnected the drive a few hours after getting home (?). Any suggestions?

Need to speak with PowerShop tomorrow, there's something screwy going on: switched to EV tariff a fortnight or so ago. No data on their app' since then and I'm now $1,300 behind, which is of course nonsense. Suspect they've configured something ... sub-optimally.

Still very impressed with this amazing machine, as all of my colleagues and neighbours have now heard. :-|