Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[dmaunder]

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 |

We did the exact same trip today but in the opposite direction today (although without the Cathredrals). Would have been good to pass you on the Acheron Way. For anyone that hasnt done it in Melbourne, the Acheron Way is a great drive, flat, very windy with a really good asphault surface for most of the way and then terrible unsealed section for a few kms with lots of potholes. I was pretty impressed with both sections actually, and over the Black Spur in the morning was also as much fun as I expected it to me. The road was also wet, so good to test out wet weather performance on sealed and unsealed roods, it was flawless. Car got filthy though. Looked like I had been off road.

I did a total of 192kms, started at 90%, ended at 46% with overall 152Wh/km, probably a bit higher due to AC going on the way up there, and also the fact my bumper is currently held on with duct tape and string (literally) after the minor crash this week which doesnt help the aerodynamics I am sure.

 

[aroth]

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?

Yes. For every event that the car reports you should have one folder under 'SentryClips' named like 'YYYY-MM-DD_hh-mm-ss'.

Wonder why, it's a Samsung T5, normally considered suitable no?

I use the same drive. Never had a problem with missing sentry events. Occasionally would get corrupted clips when the car was running the factory (V9, I think?) software version, but that was fixed in the current version.

Any suggestions?

Plug the drive into the car (if it isn't already) and tap the dashcam icon to force it to save a clip. Check the drive and confirm your clip is there? If it's not, reformat the disk and try again.

And did you get the drive from a reputable source? I've received counterfeit microSD cards before (when ordering off ebay), and what happened with those is they would look and act like valid cards of the correct capacity but any attempts to write more than a certain amount of data to them would silently fail. Like say then were advertised/sold as 32GB, they'd work for the first 4GB of data written and then anything past that would be lost.

Not sure if counterfeit SSD's are a thing, but if they are the failure mode could be similar (appear fine for awhile, then silently lose all new data).

 

[Gnat666]

Press and HOLD the dashcam icon before you unplug. It gives a little flash (hard to see when your fingers over it) and the red dot disappears.
This makes it safe to unplug.

 

[TadleyD]

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. :-|

Which variant are you driving @bay74 ?

 

[TadleyD]

We did the exact same trip today but in the opposite direction today (although without the Cathredrals). Would have been good to pass you on the Acheron Way. For anyone that hasnt done it in Melbourne, the Acheron Way is a great drive, flat, very windy with a really good asphault surface for most of the way and then terrible unsealed section for a few kms with lots of potholes. I was pretty impressed with both sections actually, and over the Black Spur in the morning was also as much fun as I expected it to me. The road was also wet, so good to test out wet weather performance on sealed and unsealed roods, it was flawless. Car got filthy though. Looked like I had been off road.

I did a total of 192kms, started at 90%, ended at 46% with overall 152Wh/km, probably a bit higher due to AC going on the way up there, and also the fact my bumper is currently held on with duct tape and string (literally) after the minor crash this week which doesnt help the aerodynamics I am sure.

Which variant are you driving @dmaunder ?

 

[apchoo]

Which variant are you driving @dmaunder ?

You can check out @Random206's excellent spreadsheet for AU & NZ Model 3s. Better still, update the spreadsheet with your M3 order details here.
AUS / NZ Tesla Model 3 VIN Submission Form

 

[dmaunder]

Which variant are you driving @dmaunder ?

P-

 

[Hovean]

I find it very informative/usefull to know what model Tesla an OP is driving, and also where they are living. Given that this forum is read around the world (being on the internet), I'm sure others would find as well.
Can I suggest OPs go to their profile settings and:
- set their location (town/state/country).
- place their vehicle model/year/type/colours outside & inside/etc in their signature.

 

[bay74]

Which variant are you driving @bay74 ?

SR+

Thanks for ideas re. USB cam. Had dated folders but they were empty. Had used long press on icon before disconnecting. Will try pressing briefly while on drive home, see whether that gets saved. Cheers.

 

[Stratman]

Here a few observations having just returned from a round trip from Melbourne to Sydney.....

Distance - 2,156 km
Wh/km - 156

Chargers used-: Not all were required, but I wanted to drop in a try /check them out. (Chargers that are currently free may not always be in the future.)
Euroa - Tesla Supercharger
Barnawartha North - RACV. Pretty cool seeing the 200+ solar panels next to the chargers directly powering the 100KW+ RACV supercharger(s). Was not free (having been told the day before by Chargefox it was. Maybe its only the 2x 50KW chargers that are free.
Holbrook - NRMA 50KW free
Goulburn - Telsa Supercharger
Sydney - Broadway Glebe Supercharger Sydney CBD - Its located in a shopping centre carpark that you must enter and the chargers are located as you exit the car park. The only time on the whole trip I saw another Tesla or EV charging.
Berry - NRMA 50Kw free. Nice spot to have a stretch and walk around. Chatted to a Kona EV owner who is delighted with it.
Batemans Bay - NRMA 50Kw free.
Narooma Tesla Supercharger - as previously posted can get iced out.
Bega - NRMA 50Kw - free. Easy stroll down main street shops
Lakes Entrance - Central hotel- Stayed overnight - Tesla 2 x destination chargers . The one I used only delivered only 8kw but that was fine overnight charging to 95%.
No stops from Lakes Entrance to Melbourne and arrived home with 28% remaining

Driving Observations
The sus-:
Auto pilot was ok on the Hume and was used about 30-40% of the time. Had phantom emergency brake events for no apparent reason seemed to be some shadows from trees or whatever. On the princess hwy an oncoming motorcyclist got painted red on the screen and alarm sounding, for no apparent reason. there was plenty of room.
Auto pilot cannot handle simple things like merging back in from an overtaking lane if you are in the left lane. It doesn't know what to do and quickly hands back to you.

Auto pilot struggled on the Princess hwy costal route back from Sydney. There was just way too many variables that AP couldn't cope on a windy hilly Hwy that you or I cope with at ease. This demonstrated to me that full FSD is years away. I think eventually FSD will be a road by road approval process.
Had some random wiper activations on hot days. Wiper algorithm needs overhaul. Sometimes its too fast or too slow for the conditions.

The good-:
No range anxiety on trip
Car performed well, and is silky quiet on smooth bitumen hwy.
Great visibility with uncluttered dash
Heaps of boot space for travelling with two people
Charging is fast and can easily be planned within normal rest breaks.
ABRP is better than Tesla's app ATM as it provides planning with all charging options. Tesla needs to include non Tesla chargers in its app.
Love the screen & UI. Overall its a sensational car and will only get better.

 

[Grenadine]

Thanks for this! Quick questions - what car are you driving? Related question: how tight in terms of % left was was the Bega to lakes entrance stretch? abetterouteplanner thinks it is scary long..

 

[Stratman]

Thanks for this! Quick questions - what car are you driving? Related question: how tight in terms of % left was was the Bega to lakes entrance stretch? abetterouteplanner thinks it is scary long..

Car P- Aero wheel caps on
Arrived at Bega from Narooma with 70% and left Bega with 95% and had 30%(148kms) when we arrived at Lakes. We also detoured to Merimbula for coffee. Air con was on the whole way as it was 34-36C outside. Did not drive conservatively
Tesla App in car estimated 40% SOC arrival for lakes. Over estimated arrival SOc by 10%.

In fairness that stretch of road would be very hard to predict energy consumption

 

[kieranu]

Air con was on the whole way as it was 34-36C outside.

Only two weeks or so in and its not gotten that hot here yet but I've noted that cooling seems to be very efficient, heating not so much.

Looking forward to first proper road trip this weekend to get a realistic look at range. In theory I've been operating 440km with a full charge in a P- but a lot of short distances and stop / start with idling loss in-between which when you have cheap at home charging isn't really a concern.

My only drive to date with a distance over 50km was logged at 93% efficiency at a relatively low temperature which is somewhat reassuring.

 

[Grenadine]

Thanks very much for this. Gives me alot of comfort as that stretch is a charger no man's zone if you get it wrong. Or, at least, a mistake could cost you many hours...

The Lakes Entrance supercharger, when it comes, is going to be a game changer for that route.

I suspect 3 air con is way more efficient than S.

 

[Stratman]

Thanks very much for this. Gives me alot of comfort as that stretch is a charger no man's zone if you get it wrong. Or, at least, a mistake could cost you many hours...

The Lakes Entrance supercharger, when it comes, is going to be a game changer for that route.

I suspect 3 air con is way more efficient than S.

Lake's Supercharger will bridge the gap nicely.

There's also the RACV / Chargefox superchargers that should be going in Moe in the next week or so.....

 

[dmaunder]

There's also the RACV / Chargefox superchargers that should be going in Moe in the next week or so.....

That will be useful but Moe to Bega is still too far for comfort. A 50kw charger would be great at Cann River.

 

[TadleyD]

P-

You don't want to swap for a P+ do you? *he says half jokingly...*

 

[aroth]

cooling seems to be very efficient

I've measured it at home using the Tesla/Powerwall app with the car plugged in and the Aircon switched on (not charging). The car will pull 2 to 2.5kW in this configuration. Seems a bit high given the relatively small volume of space it needs to cool?

My only drive to date with a distance over 50km was logged at 93% efficiency

How do you measure/log the % efficiency of a drive?

 

[dmaunder]

I have now done 2 charges since having the wall connector installed (32A single phase). Previously I was using the mobiie connector in a 15A outlet so charging at 12A. I have it set to charge at midnight. The first night, it charged at 32A, right up to 90%. The second night, it stayed at 16A the whole time. I tried it a few times today, and it seems "stuck" on 16A While it is waiting to charge, it show 0/16A on the line below the battery picture, and the Charge Current in the bottom left (with the + and - buttons) shows 16A also. If I turn off Scheduled charge, the Charge Current always starts at 16A and says Max 32A under it, and I can wind it up to 32A, but if I stop charging and then start again it again starts with it set to 16A.

 

[TadleyD]

Got my 18" tsportline wheels for my P3D+ today. (Turbine style with the special P3+ brake centrebore Ordered late last week, super fast shipping.

Tyres through Costco. $823 out the door for PS4 (didn't worry about the S because I drive 20-30k per year). Also, the pilot sport 4S is not available in australia in the 18 size tesla specifies so you would have to import from the states.

TPMS spare set just in case, was initially dubious about this seller on ebay $80 for a set of FOUR. Arrived yesterday, literally perfect OEM continental part, tested perfect as well. (Says made in mexico?) Tesla is asking like 3-400 USD for these as a set.

I will say one thing. The era of questionable quality from Aliexpress / china is over. Haven't got a single poor quality product yet for the Tesla.

View attachment 454084
View attachment 454085

@meowsers what did you do with the original 20" wheels? Are these something people want to buy? I'm asking because I plan on getting rid of the 20" wheels as soon as my P3D+ arrives and swapping them with 18" like you.