I'm always amazed at how expensive the power is in California when I read these threads. Where I live on the east coast the flat rate is about 10c per kWh. We have solar and are on TOU rates which are even lower than that. During on-peak there is a strange, rolling 15 minute peak usage surcharge that gives you a good incentive not to cause a spike in your usage during peak hours. Off-peak is about 5.7c per kWh which makes charging our cars very inexpensive.
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Tips for new Tesla owners.
- Thread starter mzairboy
- Start date
Looks like a mixed bag today of advice and chit chat. Threads morph. I'm sure people will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Here in Washington State the abundance of hydroelectric gives us rates averaging $0.08/KWh. I pay just a tiny fraction of a cent more than that. A friend of my SO pays $0.07/KWh. It may be a contributing factor to Washington being one of the highest EV adopting states (per capita).
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
@mzairboy
Definitely get the 14-50 at work. You do that and with your original 6 mile commute, you'll never worry about charging. I assume you can also access after work and on weekends.
Friend of mine let's his Tesla run down pretty far and only charges intermittently. Told me he will run it down to 20% sometimes, then start charging. We're too compulsive.
Judging from your driveway, you may benefit from air suspension. Although I've heard mixed things about their long-term reliability. Also you're also better off with standard wheels. Don't worry you'll still kick any ICE car off the line. Now if you're racing another Tesla or going up against lolachampcar's toys, that may be an issue.
I recall there was a thread about a Tesla wave somewhere. When we first got our Tesla I would try, but got no response and irritated/embarrassed my wife. So I stopped.
If you are inclined you can watch some Youtube videos by "kmanauto" and "bjorn nyland". They cover a lot of Model S issues from the beginning.
Definitely get the 14-50 at work. You do that and with your original 6 mile commute, you'll never worry about charging. I assume you can also access after work and on weekends.
Friend of mine let's his Tesla run down pretty far and only charges intermittently. Told me he will run it down to 20% sometimes, then start charging. We're too compulsive.
Judging from your driveway, you may benefit from air suspension. Although I've heard mixed things about their long-term reliability. Also you're also better off with standard wheels. Don't worry you'll still kick any ICE car off the line. Now if you're racing another Tesla or going up against lolachampcar's toys, that may be an issue.
I recall there was a thread about a Tesla wave somewhere. When we first got our Tesla I would try, but got no response and irritated/embarrassed my wife. So I stopped.
If you are inclined you can watch some Youtube videos by "kmanauto" and "bjorn nyland". They cover a lot of Model S issues from the beginning.
I second kmanauto and Bjorn's YouTube videos. FullyCharged is another broader subject video blog about EVs and related topics done by the actor who played Kryton on Red Dwarf and did Junkyard Wars. kmanauto has a disabled son who is often in the car with him and I find it distracting sometimes (he's a single parent and needs to watch the kid, so I'm not throwing stones), but he has a wealth of information.
In 5-10 years I think the ultra low profile tires are going to look dated. They do offer a little better performance for people who really like to push their cars and throw it around curves, but the trade off is you're much more likely to damage the rims hitting potholes or scraping a curb and the tires wear out uber fast. From reading various posts of people talking about tires here, the 19" tires on the Model S last about as long as I would expect 30-35K miles, but the 21" tires often wear out after only 15K miles and they are more expensive.
In a few years when all those low profile tires being sold on new cars (not just Teslas) wear out twice as fast as smaller tires, most people will move back to more practical tires and the only people who will stick with them are those who have the money to burn and are probably putting them on some sort of sports car, or a show car. New regular driving cars will all have higher profile tires.
The low profile tire craze may be related to the CAFE requirements pushing ICE cars more and more into low performance slugs. We're seeing the swan song of the ICE muscle car as they will be almost impossible to make and meet the MPG requirements in a few years. The sports car tires on everything might be a reflection of the angst over ICEs getting more pokey across the board.
Of course that is a golden opportunity for Tesla and any other companies in position to build high performance BEVs. For those who like the noise of a muscle car, they are out of luck unless they have their BEV to play recordings, but the Model S/X can already outperform muscle cars in many ways right now. Kind of embarrassing when a Dodge Hellcat can be tamed by a 7 passenger SUV.
Back to tires, personally I would prefer 17" tires on my Model S, but they aren't available and won't fit on the hubs, so I'm stuck with 19". I would rather get long life and higher resistance to road hazards out of my tires than look like a wanna be sports car.
In 5-10 years I think the ultra low profile tires are going to look dated. They do offer a little better performance for people who really like to push their cars and throw it around curves, but the trade off is you're much more likely to damage the rims hitting potholes or scraping a curb and the tires wear out uber fast. From reading various posts of people talking about tires here, the 19" tires on the Model S last about as long as I would expect 30-35K miles, but the 21" tires often wear out after only 15K miles and they are more expensive.
In a few years when all those low profile tires being sold on new cars (not just Teslas) wear out twice as fast as smaller tires, most people will move back to more practical tires and the only people who will stick with them are those who have the money to burn and are probably putting them on some sort of sports car, or a show car. New regular driving cars will all have higher profile tires.
The low profile tire craze may be related to the CAFE requirements pushing ICE cars more and more into low performance slugs. We're seeing the swan song of the ICE muscle car as they will be almost impossible to make and meet the MPG requirements in a few years. The sports car tires on everything might be a reflection of the angst over ICEs getting more pokey across the board.
Of course that is a golden opportunity for Tesla and any other companies in position to build high performance BEVs. For those who like the noise of a muscle car, they are out of luck unless they have their BEV to play recordings, but the Model S/X can already outperform muscle cars in many ways right now. Kind of embarrassing when a Dodge Hellcat can be tamed by a 7 passenger SUV.
Back to tires, personally I would prefer 17" tires on my Model S, but they aren't available and won't fit on the hubs, so I'm stuck with 19". I would rather get long life and higher resistance to road hazards out of my tires than look like a wanna be sports car.
Can you elaborate more on this? Maybe with some pictures? I'm having trouble visualizing what exactly a UMC is and why you need it.
Is it something that you plug into an outlet, and then plug the UMC into your car? Or do you plug an extension cord into the UMC then into the car?
Do I always need this UMC for every charging method? Is the UMC like an adapter?
Let's say my house has a 120 outlet in the garage. Can I plug a simple extension cord into that outlet, then plug directly into my car? I'd assume you'd need some sort of male/female adapter to go from the 5-15R of the extension cord to the car charging port.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
Good question. You can go down to "0%" if you have to, but do charge back up over 20% as soon as you can. Otherwise, anywhere between 20% to 80% is fine and many Model S owners routinely keep their cars charged to 90%.
Something you might not have considered: a Tesla battery will lose charge gradually as it keeps the car systems powered. This is called "vampire drain" here at TMC and it can be higher in winter if the car is using energy to keep the battery warm. So, parking the car at a very low battery level could be a problem (and the car will warn you about that). You can preheat the car, before you get in to drive, which is helpful in winter. But you need enough energy in the battery or the car needs to be plugged-in. The Tesla smartphone app will allow preheating/precooling, charge start/stop, and other things, such as remotely unlocking the car, even flashing the lights or honking the horn.
I also live on a dirt road, but mine is plowed so my problem is getting up my long steep driveway. You definitely need to go with AWD and the smaller wheel/higher profile tire option, if there is one on the Model 3. It would appear that you would be better off using snow tires in winter.
If you do want to use your car for long trips you would at least want to use the Supercharger Station network. That might, or might not, be an extra cost option on the Model 3. We don't know yet. This is the current Supercharger network map, with more stations to come:
supercharge.info
The regular public charge stations figure to change a lot over the next few years, so it is hard to predict whether they would be useful for you several years in the future. For local driving you won't need them, as you suggest.
One thing to be aware of, however, is that a Tesla is so much fun to drive that you likely will end up driving it more than you expected. And with the Supercharger network allowing easy long distance travel you might find yourself doing more traveling just because you can.
The UMC is essentially an adapter. Plugs into car, with control module included. It has the ability to accept different plugs for different outlets (14-50, 14-30, 5-15, etc...). Then this plugs into the car.
Here is the link to the unit on Tesla's website. Price is if you buy an extra one. It comes with the car.
Tesla — Mobile Connector Bundle
If you use HPWC wall charger it comes with a plug that goes right into the car. If you use supercharger, it too plugs right into the Tesla. UMC only for non Tesla specific charge options.
Hope that helps.
The UMC is the universal mobile connector, which is just a fancy term for the cord that plugs into your car and has several adapters to plug into different wall outlets. It comes with 5-15 and 14-50 adapters and they have a couple of others like a 5-20.
For charging in public you don't usually need this cord as car chargers have their own cords already. You'll get a J1772 adapter which is the most common charging standard. Basically you plug the adapter onto the end of the public charging cable and then put that into the car. Tesla also sells a CHAdeMO adapter which is a level 3, DC charging standard that charges much faster than your standard public chargers. Tesla superchargers have their own cord and plug directly into the car.
The only times you'll need to have the mobile connector (cord) with you is when you need to plug into a wall outlet of some kind. Many people only bring it with them when they are on a road trip.
You don't use an extension cord with the Tesla according to the manual. In practice, it's possible to use an extension cord (it must be connected to the UMC) if it's heavy duty. If the Tesla detects that it's connected by a light duty extension cord, it will stop charging. A heavy duty extension cord will just look like a wall outlet.
You plug the UMC into the wall. It's the basic charging cable that comes with the car. Useful for home charging, RV park charging, and anyplace where you are plugging into an outlet. Two adapters come with the UMC 5-15R and 14-50R. Other adapters can be purchased separately. Also included with the car is a J1772 adapter. You don't use this with the UMC. In addition, there is a CHAdeMO adapter that can be purchased. Supercharger and HPWC (high power wall charger) do not require any adapters, you just plug in.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
All good questions. The "UMC" (Universal Mobile Connector) is a portable EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). It serves to connect the car to an AC power source. Tesla also sells the HPWC (High Power Wall Connector) that would be permanently mounted on the wall of a garage (or hotel or other place to charge). The UMC comes with a 14-50 plug but it can be used with adapters to fit other outlet and circuit types. The Model 3 will (likely) come with a UMC and a NEMA 5-15 adapter for standard 120 V outlets. So, yes you can use a 120 V outlet but it is very, very slow, about 3 to 4 miles of range per hour of charge rate. By contrast, a UMC on a 240 volt 14-50 outlet charging at 40 amps would charge at about 32 miles per hour. (And a Tesla Supercharger Station can charge as fast as 300+ miles per hour, depending on the battery size and how empty it is, but the charge rate tapers as the battery fills.)
Any EVSE acts as a safety device that doesn't allow current to flow to the car's on-board charger unless a "handshake" signal is passed between the device and the car. So, it is more than just a long extension cord.
All of the Tesla charging devices — UMC, HPWC, and Superchargers — use a special Tesla plug to fit to the car. To use a standard EV charge station J1772 plug, Tesla supplies an adapter that fits between that plug and the car. So, Teslas can use most Level 2 public charge stations but other EVs can't usually use Tesla UMC, HPWC or Superchargers. Teslas can also use Chadema DCFC "quick charge" stations with an adapter ($450).
As for what the outlet and UMC looks like, I have these pictures:
^ This is a 240 volt, 50 amp, 14-50 outlet. I have a meter on it, but that isn't really necessary. The UMC plugs directly into that outlet and can charge at up to 40 amps.
^ My car with UMC cable plugged-in. Note that the UMC device itself is plugged-in to the wall outlet. I could park in the other direction with the car's charge port near the wall outlet but I prefer to run the cable along the ceiling to keep it off the floor and out of the way. Just a personal preference. Most people don't do it this way and just put the cable on the floor and coil it up when not in use.
Borgholio
Member
How is it preferable? I have solar too, and if I use the TOU-D-T plan, I'll end up in Tier 2 due to charging the Tesla, so I'll be paying more than double the super-off peak rate. The TOU-D-B plan does away with tiers so as long as I mind the time of day, I'll be fine.
Borgholio
Member
Ah gotcha. Lucky.
My solar is big enough to erase my needs during the day but it's not enough to fully offset what I'd be using for the Tesla.
I cannot park in a garage at home with my current situation. If I am parked outside during the winter day and night without plugging in, will keeping the battery back warm cause excessive battery drain that could shorten the lifespan of the battery? If the snow is that deep that I am forced to use my Jeep for a few days, I could easily run a heavy duty 110 cord to the car to provide enough power to keep the battery management system happy. I just want to make sure that if I am unable to plug the car into an adequate charger while it is parked outside in the snow, it won't harm it in any way.
We also have a long steep driveway, and winter is always fun. It is actually my favorite time of the year because I love driving in the snow in my Jeep. I am very interested to see how the M3 handles. I have heard Tesla's have exceptional traction control.
