Things aTesla newbie needs to know..

[Tonearoma]

Hey everyone..

Finally, after years of wanting to, I place my deposit for a Tesla last week.. a model 3.. so unbelievably excited!
I'm starting to realise I probably don't know as much about what I'm getting into as I (perhaps?) should..

Other than which model to buy (probably cheaper end in fairness) is there stuff I should know?
Any advice would be really welcome..
I know nothing about connectivity.. do I have to pay for it? (Currently I'm an Android user too, if that's relevant)
How about UK charging at home.. should I upgrade on the charger?

Thanks again for thoughts and vommcomm

 

[unbelievable]

Hey everyone..

Finally, after years of wanting to, I place my deposit for a Tesla last week.. a model 3.. so unbelievably excited!
I'm starting to realise I probably don't know as much about what I'm getting into as I (perhaps?) should..

Other than which model to buy (probably cheaper end in fairness) is there stuff I should know?
Any advice would be really welcome..
I know nothing about connectivity.. do I have to pay for it? (Currently I'm an Android user too, if that's relevant)
How about UK charging at home.. should I upgrade on the charger?

Thanks again for thoughts and vommcomm

Firstly congratulations, you won't regret it.

Android doesn't make any real difference. For the other stuff, we'd need to know more info. What sort of mileage do you do, do you mind how much you spend on a charging solution? For example, I went the cheap route and got a commando socket installed. Connected to the existing electricity supply in my garage, it gives me 9mph charging. That's fine for me though, as I only commute 35 miles a day.

Also, have a root around the model 3 forum, you'll find everything you want to know.

 

[Tonearoma]

Thank you. I know I'll have no regrets. I thought I knew quite a bit about Tesla, but now im taking the plunge, I realise how little I do know..

I'd be a light user mostly, occasionally heading up to Yorkshire from suffolk and hopefully the odd day trip..and weekend use..
99% of charging would be done from home I guess, I'd estimate charging every 4 or 5 days from my garage too.. my wife and I mostly walk to work at the moment..

I'd spend the extra on charging solutions if it was warranted, but I guess I've answered my own question..

So your charger gives you 9mph charger, how long does that take to fully charge? Or do you just charge a few days in a row?

 

[unbelievable]

The reality is that it never gets that low, so I very rarely charge from empty. I got the commando solution installed with a blue 32a socket in case I ever needed to upgrade the wiring but 1 year on and I haven't found the need.

Also, I only ever charge on economy 7 nighttime rates. I set the car to charge at 2.30am and take advantage of the 7p/kWh rate. I have an alarm on my phone to remind me to stop the car charging in the morning when the rate goes up to 22p/kWh.

Daily, I set the car to charge to 80% and when I wake up in the morning that's what the car's charged to. If I go on a long day trip I charge to 100% and supercharge along the way so I don't get home totally empty. If I go to visit friends for the weekend I take my wall charger with me and trickle 4mph while I'm there.

Oh, and I only ever supercharge. I haven't ever needed to use another solution, although I do carry the blue mennekes cable just in case of an emergency.

Range anxiety fades the longer you own the car. I hardly think about it now. It changes from anxiety to a healthy monitoring of the situation . I'm sure you'll be the same in time.

 

[DJP31]

I agree with much of what @unbelievable has said, except I went for the 32a Tesla wallcharger which is attached to the outside of my garage. I prefer the convenience of the tethered cable plus the higher charge rate of 22mph (I tend to work in % and with the 75D that’s 10% an hour).

It’s a good habit to get into to plug in every day, ABC - always be charging and a ‘plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla’ are a couple of phrases that do the rounds.

I bought a CHAdeMO adapter but with the CCS port on the Model 3 you’ll be fine. The Type 2 cable lives in the boot for emergencies. I’ve used it twice in 2 years, neither emergencies but to prove I could use it

No idea how long before you can spec a car though. Tesla time can be loooong.

 

[WannabeOwner]

As the others have said. My 2p-worth:

13AMP plug is 5-6 MPH, and a good deal more loss on "efficiency" than a higher rate charger. (Probably insignificant until getting over 10,000 miles p.a.)

Wall charger is 22MPH, and probably 90% efficient. I agree with @DJP31, I prefer the tethered cable too, wear-and-tear on the Tesla supplied cable will lead to an expensive replacement.

That's for MS based on its efficiency, so you will get more MPH in an M3 as it is more frugal.

I charged 68% in 7 hours last might - I tend to think of it as 10% per hour, so for my 90kWh battery the numbers work quite nicely, its also "2 miles per percent" with 10% spare, so even my arithmetically challenged Wifee has no trouble with it So figuring out the percent-per-hour to charge your M3 and miles-per-percent range is probably a handy metric to know.

Plug in when you get home. Leave it plugged in when you are not using it. It will charge when the level falls far enough. You will always have range should something unexpected happen. "Plug in once a week" is Petrol-car style, suggest you adopt EV-style I thought friends would mind me plugging in when i got there - i.e. thinking "It must cost a lot" - but actually its the first thing they offer, and it is actually about £10 for 80kWh at peak rate so I just take them a nice bottle of something ...

3rd party charging is, currently, universally bad. I do it a couple of times a year and I have never had a straightforward "this is how it should be" experience. 50% of the time, even though I have the APP, I have had to phone up to initiate a connection, often 10 minutes total time to do the connection and disconnection. 50% of my supercharger visits are less than 10 minutes including charging time!

Might be worth considering changing to E7 electricity, depending how much you will use overnight. My night-rate is about 50% of my day rate (and day rate slightly higher than non-E7 rate).

Book a service 3 months before you need it ... lead times are atrocious.

If you don't already know about it have a look at A Better Routeplanner for trip planning. That will tell you how difficult it will be to get to Yorkshire easily. I go to York a fair bit, but if I charge at Grantham on the way up I don't have enough energy, once at York, to get back to a Supercharger so you might find that too.

if you can plug into 13AMP at your destination (all weekend ) that will solve that problem, or take a Type-2 cable with you and find a 3rd party charger (that is working, for which you have the appropriate APP, balh-blah-balh ...),or a CCS charger, obviously.

If you are away from home, at e.g. a Shopping Mall car park, which has Type-2 / CCS charging, and the Supercharger is more than, say, 50 miles away, I would charge even if I had 100 miles of range. Its just better to have some spare, family will want to divert for something, or the road-menders will require me to ...

Dunno what part of Suffolk you are in, but you may not be far away from me, drop me a PM if there is anything you need to see / discuss - albeit that MS and M3 are Apples and Pears

 

[Tonearoma]

Thanks for the replies..
The penny is starting to drop on how green I am (no pun intended..)


I'd never really considered home charging at this level, it seems to me that one size doesn't necessarily fit all..

Tbh, as much as I know about Tesla's, I'd never really looked too much at charging options, assuming it was really straightforward.. I'm sure it is/will be eventually..

There seems to be so many options and thought processes..

From what you've said, there are two chargers with the Tesla?
I can use the slower one with a standard three pin socket.. but I'd have to upgrade to a commando socket if I want the faster home charger.. this I didn't know (yes, I'm that naive and apoligise)

Currently on a fixed (e.on) tariff for energy, so will need to get looking into whether that's going to need changing asap.. I feel like economy 7 probably won't benefit my household, but I'll look into it nonetheless

ABC seems like the way to go, sounds no different to using and charging a smart phone.. and the almost daily plug in

I think I'd better head to other forum posts and swat up..

 

[WannabeOwner]

I'd have to upgrade to a commando socket if I want the faster home charger

You can have a Commando Socket, or a wall charger (I assume that my MS Charger would also fit an M3? maybe not?).

I have both - on the grounds that I might have a visiting EV that couldn't use Wall Charger, and in case my Wall Charger failed (and, yes it has, but it is not Tesla-brand as that was not available way-back-then) and whilst the Sparky was here it didn't add much cost to add a second socket. Tesla Wall Charger has load balancing for 2 x EV - when you get to that stage

My Commando wall-box is a flimsy plastic thing. Getting the extension cable in/out always bothers me how many times it will survive that ... but that might just be the particular "box" that I have. The car charges same speed on Commando as the dedicated Wall Charger.

I agree, if you are low mileage driver changing electricity supply for "most cost effective" is probably only going to save you "pennies", and may well bring some other unexpected problem - e.g. rubbish service. Even if you are not no E7 you could schedule charging overnight - it would help smooth generating supply / peak demand. In the words of Mr Tesco "Every little helps"

If you aren't already on a green tariff please consider doing that. Moving from Conventional to Green puts pressure on both suppliers - the Conventional loses sales and is encouraged to move to Greener, and the Green one gets more customers and has to source more green supply

 

[WannabeOwner]

I would suggest budget £600 to install a wall charger - if you want/need one, maybe your 13AMP will charge fast enough for your use-case . That would give you 32AMP / 7KW dedicated supply (instead of 13AMP regular 3-pin socket which, in practice, won't actually draw the full 3KW, more likely 2KW after losses, hence why Wall Charger charges 3.5x as fast as 3-pin 13AMP socket)

You may also find that your 13AMP socket overheats ... it may not have been installed for 13AMP continuous running. First time you use it feel the temperature of the plug after 30 / 60 minutes, if it is warm maybe don't run it overnight / when house unoccupied until you have had Sparky check it out / install something better.

You can "dial down" a lower charging rate, in the car, so if plug gets hot enough that you are worried about it just reduce the Power from the car dashboard. (I do the same "hot plug test" when charging at friends houses; often the 13AMP socket in their shed, that I plug into, is dubious at best!)

Presume you have a 100AMP main supply fuse ... but you might not ... in which case charging car at same time as running the power showers, the oven, and the induction hob might well be too much.

 

[Tonearoma]

Today is a learning day!

It's fair to say my vision of bringing home a shiny new Tesla, without thinking about all the practicalities has taken a slight knock (but not put me off of course)

Luckily, the house has been rewired recently, so after I speak to a sparky friend and with all this great advice, I'll be able to make a tailored decision..

Switching to a greener option/supplier is a must.. top of my list along with my electric set up

Superchargers aren't too near to me, I'm in Sudbury.. there is one Thetford way, and apparently one coming to Ipswich soon.. driving in and around Suffolk/Essex shouldn't be too much of an issue on home charge though.. I'm guessing other Superchargers are on their way all over the UK (but I also guess Tesla's will increase with the imminent M3 arrival)

It's interesting to see everyones different thoughts and set ups, so thanks again for sharing that.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I'll be able to make a tailored decision..

If you want to fork out for a dedicated wall charger then Tesla is a good choice (several things that it does well).

if you have, or "will have", Solar and car parked at home during the day [often enough] then there are chargers that will figure out when you have spare PV power and only then charge the car (so you don;t "Export" any), so that sort of charger might be a choice.

No need to apologise for what you don't know, you are smart enough to be asking the questions

Sudbury is 15 minutes from me ... not sure that seeing me / my charger / my car in the flesh adds anything, but you would be welcome.

I suggest a different way of thinking: You don't need a local Supercharger (so long as you can charge at home). You have, say, 200 miles of range (allowing for some "just in case" extra). So you don't need a Supercharger until you are 200 miles from home, and you don't need it except on days when you will drive more than 200 miles, or if you are going somewhere that has no destination charging. If you are able to plug in at home then every day you will leave home with a full tank of fuel and, e.g., 200 miles range

If you drive through France you will need charge-drive-charge-drive, but for UK most likely it will be out-and-back - either in one day, when total journey is > 200 miles, or with an overnight stay at the far end. My out-and-back usually means I charge on the way home, and then I only need just enough to get home. Typically for me that is M11 at Stanstead/Harlow, M25/A1 South Mimms or if coming from the North then Grantham on A1 or either Northampton / Newport Pagnall (South) on the M1

I've used Thetford once, mainly to find out where it was. If I am coming home from Norfolk and can make it to Thetford I would usually be able to get home without topping up ... you are a few miles further on.

benefit of charging on way home is that if you have been held up in traffic / roadworks, and used less than expected (or, conversely, decided to do some Spirited Driving ) dashboard will show you how much you need to get home,and remainder of your journey will be short enough to easily predict accurately. You may stay/charge longer, having a meal/coffee/etc., but you won't have to.

You might even be able to avoid stopping altogether if your journey has been more frugal than expected.

Note that if Supercharger is available on route you are better to drive faster, and Supercharge longer, than drive slower / more frugally. More time is saved driving quickly than the additional time needed to replace that energy at Supercharger (up to about 90 MPH)

EV Cars rapid-charge fastest from 0% to 70-80%, so ideally you don't want to Supercharge above that, so charging later in your journey, when you are running low, saves time over topping-up when battery is already at 80%. Some longer journeys you will have no choice, until chargers are "everywhere" like Petrol filling stations.

 

[Tonearoma]

Good to know you're very local and that I could call by, that's very kind, I may well take you up on that generosity some time..
Expect to see a PM if I'm still miffed in a few weeks' time..

I'd love to go PV/battery.. I'm hoping to move house in the next couple of years.. this will certainly involve living a much greener lifestyle if you like..

Your way of charging has got me mentally driving up and down the country now.. and thinking of a slightly different approach to things.. obviously, a little thought goes into longer journeys and soon I will know charging stations like I know petrol stations.

One thing's for sure, I cannot wait to own a Tesla and seeing it all slot into place

Last time I saw a Tesla Supercharger it was pretty empty, which bodes well.. is this usually the case? Do you think this will change in the not too distant future?
I guess there's no way of booking time slots for charging, and that it's first come, first served..
having said that, I'm thinking you're not really charging that long.. and probably even less so when the faster ones become available.

 

[WannabeOwner]

if I'm still miffed in a few weeks' time..

hehehe ... you won't be the first, and I very much doubt you will be last ! Amazing how quickly, for 99.9999% of people, such initial annoyances fade ... probably from the first time you put your foot down

... living a much greener lifestyle if you like

FWIW we have a Passive House (more correctly a Passive House extension, but the rest is as green as we've realistically been able to make it ... retro fit is a nightmare, just find yourself a nice plot and build a Passive House. SO much better than "regular housing" ...)

Last time I saw a Tesla Supercharger it was pretty empty, which bodes well.. is this usually the case?

I've had my MS for about 3 years and Supercharged 2 days a month on average (probably more than once on many of those days). I have once occupied the last stall and someone else turned up and had to wait - mind you, that was a 2-stall site - and I have once had to wait (at a 6 stall site) ... and that was for all of 5 minutes, turnover is quite quick, more-so the more stalls on that site of course. I now favour, where there is a choice, choosing bigger sites to have less risk of them being full and, if full, shorter time before someone leaves. There have been a couple of times, no more, where I had to share and got reduced AMPs initially. So, yeah, mostly there are way more stalls than cars wanting to charge, and average dwell time is 15-30 minutes, and Telsa has only opened one site with less than 8 stalls since 2015 ... no idea what the largest 3rd party site is, but I don't think I often see more than a couple of stalls. They are lightyears behind, in all regards.

M3 not quite as good because CCS being retro fitted to existing sties (actually surprisingly quickly), but not to all stalls ... but M3 can charge at any CCS 3rd party site, so has more options - albeit not as slick as Tesla Supercharger ... yet.

booking time slots for charging

Its been talked about, but realistically for a 15 minute "appointment" turning up 5 minutes early, or late, would muck things up.

USA folk talk about chargers being very busy on public holiday weekends, and in some places where Tesla penetration is massive, but in general I think Supercharger Stalls way exceed requirement (around the whole globe)

The in-car SatNav shows how many stalls are free (in near-realtime) so if you have a choice of locations you can skip one if you see that it is full (as you approach it).

note that this is only an issue on days when you need to Supercharge. How many days do you drive more than 200 miles? For the rest you leave home with a full tank of electrons each morning.

Good point about even faster chargers. V3 Supercharger will reduce the dwell time by 50% (once all cars in the fleet are V3-capable)

 

[Tonearoma]

It's good to know that there's typically plenty of chargers available, or at least not massive wait times..
I fully expect it to get a bit busy when M3 arrives.. at least while people are inquisitive and want to check them out (me included)
With Tesla upping their SC network, Im sure it'll level out to what it's like now..

IdI love to know how many Tesla's are on our roads currently, and how many M3's have been reserved so far

 

[Tonearoma]

Ps.. IdI love to self build one day.. I think I'd better save that conversation for a different forum

 

[cezdoc]

@Tonearoma welcome, I hope it's not too long before you take delivery of your Model 3, you must be super-excited!

I would highly recommend having a look at the UK Tesla Owner's Group (The Tesla Owners' UK Club & Discussion Groups - Approved by Tesla UK), it's a veritable mine of information. If you can bear being on Facebook the owner's community is very active on there, they have a mentoring scheme and regional groups and events all over the country. The website content has the benefit of being edited/reviewed so advice is less anecdotal IMO.

At the moment the content is tailored to Model S, X and Roadster owners but I'm sure the Model 3 content will be added as soon as UK deliveries start, if not before. There are definitely Model 3 reservation holders already on the Facebook group.

Meanwhile the fact that you're asking questions on here bodes well: I think there are plenty of owners who just drive the car and unwittingly miss out on a few extra nuggets! Keep asking and we'll keep feeding you answers

 

[Shetlandmdl3]

This is a great thread for me too, I’ll be replacing my phev volvo for the model3, I placed my reservation on Valentine’s Day and it’s killing me waiting already.
Picked up loads of good info from here cheers people.

 

[mrkisskiss]

My 2p / 0.26¢

You certainly won't regret it, the Tesla driving experience is so far ahead of any other car that any minor initial annoyances will rapidly fade. I will say, however, that Tesla ownership is really different to other car ownership... it does pay to read these forums. Often the guys in the US will get features and updates before we do in the UK, and it's very useful to hear the experiences of our American friends so that we know what to expect when we (finally) do get the updates. It can also be useful to learn a bit about how things like Autopilot actually work; it can help you understand how best to use it (and when not to use it).

As for other advice:

- Get used to people asking how far your car goes. This happens a lot. I used to be really fun at parties, but now I mainly answer questions about Tesla and EVs. I was thinking I might get some beige chinos.

- I have a CHAdeMO adaptor, and I've used it once in two years. However, I was grateful I had it when the time came. I think it's like a bit like a condom: it's better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one.

- Supercharging is great for long journeys, but you'll probably use it less frequently than you think, as long as you charge at home. Definitely charge at home.

The biggest ownership annoyance for me is psychological: A Tesla is a piece of technology. Traditional cars aren't. Thus, it has that kind of "out of date within a year" rule. It'll always be a great car; it just won't be the latest and greatest for very long.

In February 2017 I had, what was considered at the time, a "Unicorn" car. I thought Unicorns were supposed to live forever, but actually she's already a bit old and probably headed for the glitter factory next year (I assume that's where Unicorns go, rather than the regular glue factory). I still love her. It's a silly complaint. The march of technology is inexorable. It will always be an absolute pleasure to drive.

Be careful with Autopilot.

Enjoy!

 

[cezdoc]

IdI love to know how many Tesla's are on our roads currently, and how many M3's have been reserved so far

<scurries off to howmanyleft.co.uk>...
I didn't see a way of displaying cumulative statistics so I added up some columns in a spreadsheet:

Figures to the end of 2018 based on car registrations:

Model\Year	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
S	8292	6976	4419	2105	697
X	3214	2114	42	0	0

EDIT - If you saw this early on I removed the Total column at the end of the table. Figures are cumulative already, so 8292 Model S was the cumulative total registrations since first deliveries started in 2014.

 

[cezdoc]

It's good to know that there's typically plenty of chargers available, or at least not massive wait times..
I fully expect it to get a bit busy when M3 arrives.. at least while people are inquisitive and want to check them out (me included)
With Tesla upping their SC network, Im sure it'll level out to what it's like now..

IdI love to know how many Tesla's are on our roads currently, and how many M3's have been reserved so far

One "advantage" the UK has is to see what happens in other markets first - issues with Supercharger access always affect California, Norway, The Netherlands etc. before us and one benefit is solutions being found before we experience the full growing pains. A good example was when Tesla introduced idle fees to discourage charger hogging / encourage a charge-and-move mentality.

One issue with legacy Model S/X cars is/was free supercharging. I've no idea how much this influenced drivers to opportunistically fill up on free electrons rather than pay to do it at home/elsewhere, but it won't be an issue for Model 3 owners who will have to pay a bit more than typical domestic rates. You can still take advantage of free electricity: there are more and more destinations offering it as a perk while parking there. My personal favourite network is PodPoint who continue to expand and have a few free charge points in my area at places like shopping centres. All you need is a Type 2 cable and a free app. Personally I also have the advantage of the Chargeplace Scotland network so I do end up using a Type 2 or CHAdeMO adapter once or twice a month.

Whatever happens, the fact remains that the Supercharger network is way ahead of anything else on offer. The ultra-fast CCS charger network is arguably 4 1/2 years behind in the UK and it looks like it's about to be overtaken by Supercharger V3. And no-one offers the number of charging stalls per location that Tesla boasts. By the time the Model 3 deliveries start I'd imagine Tesla will have as many/more CCS- enabled Superchargers than any other network (certainly high powered ones).