Tesla Fan Boy Thread

[AbFab]

	Quote:	Fermano
	Again, my understanding is if there's a roadside sign, it applies to AWDs, and cars with Falcon wings, and EVs, and... cars, period. Even if it were not mandatory: just last season, I used chains twice, and should've used them one more time. If there's a sliver of chance one can end up on snowed-up roads - which is almost a given in Switzerland, except for the flat parts with regular weather forecast checks - not having snow chains is inexcusable, whether it's a Model 3 AWD with even weight distribution or not. Amortized cost over the lifecycle of the vehicle is below 1CHF per month but it can be the difference between a normal ski trip and an uncontrolled, accelerating slide down a serpentine. As it's mostly offtopic, I won't post more but here's an on-topic thread with your posts as well as frightening outcomes in Swiss hillsides https://www.englishforum.ch/transpor...-winter-2.html

It‘s not the cost of chains that‘s the problem. It‘s putting them on, driving with them (like a continuous cattle grid) and getting them off again and handling the wet, cold salt caked blighters.
I have yet to see a Swiss resort or mountain pass where 4x4s are required to have chains...

This isn't a Model 3-specific issue, although I bet it applies to Model 3s as well: range loss, or reduction in range. As previously mentioned, with my Model X I've seen a massive disparity between the stated range and the actual distance travelled. This morning, after charging the car to near 100%, it stated a range of 490 km. I drove 188 km. At my destination, the remaining range showed as 187 km—so the car consumed 303 km of stated range to yield 188 km actually travelled. That's a loss of 115 km, or 38%!

Obviously, I can't make the return trip (another 188 km) without recharging, and that will be at a Supercharger (for speed and convenience), which is not the best way to treat the battery.

I'm really surprised at the mismatch between claimed or stated range and reality. Tesla says that the reduction is due to wheel size (my car has look-at-me 22" wheels), the cold weather (pull the other one—today's balmy +7–8° is not -20°, which is properly cold), and "sporty driving manoeuvres" (conscious of this, I accelerated hard once on today's trip, for about 5 seconds, and the stated range instantly fell by 15 km!). Funny how the sales people said nothing about this huge loss of range throughout the ordering process. I guess I'll have to ditch the 22" wheels for winter.

The worst range loss that I've experienced so far was 50%; the "best" (or least) was 34%. Have you other Tesla drivers seen similar loss of range?

	Quote:	AbFab
	It‘s not the cost of chains that‘s the problem. It‘s putting them on, driving with them (like a continuous cattle grid) and getting them off again and handling the wet, cold salt caked blighters. I have yet to see a Swiss resort or mountain pass where 4x4s are required to have chains...

4x4s (whether you're using the term literally, meaning any vehicle with 4 driven wheels, or referring, as some use it, to a specific subset of chunky off-road vehicles) are subject to exactly the same rules as other vehicles. If a given road requires winter tyres or chains there's, quite rightly, no exemption for anyone based on vehicle type.

	Quote:
	This isn't a Model 3-specific issue, although I bet it applies to Model 3s as well: range loss, or reduction in range. As previously mentioned, with my Model X I've seen a massive disparity between the stated range and the actual distance travelled. This morning, after charging the car to near 100%, it stated a range of 490 km. I drove 188 km. At my destination, the remaining range showed as 187 km—so the car consumed 303 km of stated range to yield 188 km actually travelled. That's a loss of 115 km, or 38%! Obviously, I can't make the return trip (another 188 km) without recharging, and that will be at a Supercharger (for speed and convenience), which is not the best way to treat the battery. I'm really surprised at the mismatch between claimed or stated range and reality. Tesla says that the reduction is due to wheel size (my car has look-at-me 22" wheels), the cold weather (pull the other one—today's balmy +7–8° is not -20°, which is properly cold), and "sporty driving manoeuvres" (conscious of this, I accelerated hard once on today's trip, for about 5 seconds, and the stated range instantly fell by 15 km!). Funny how the sales people said nothing about this huge loss of range throughout the ordering process. I guess I'll have to ditch the 22" wheels for winter. The worst range loss that I've experienced so far was 50%; the "best" (or least) was 34%. Have you other Tesla drivers seen similar loss of range?

From what I understand, you should probably switch the remaining range to %age rather than distance - people on the forums say you get a better idea of what is going on doing that.

Cold is an absolute killer though - any temp where the car needs to heat the battery to maintain ideal conditions will kill range - 7 degrees is definitely colder than optimal. It is anecdotally said that anything below 50F (10C) has you down about 60% efficiency.

Conversely, the battery's max cooling cycle only kicks in when it reaches 45c.

I have kept the original small (19 inch) wheels on my one purely for the efficiency, that's another 6% more efficient than the 21 inchers.

	Quote:
	If a given road requires winter tyres or chains there's, quite rightly, no exemption for anyone based on vehicle type.

Actually there quite often is, at least for the chains requirement. You will often see a small exception plate ("4x4 ausgenommen") under the chains compulsory sign.

Locally to me this is almost always present.

[Tom1234]

	Quote:
	Actually there quite often is, at least for the chains requirement. You will often see a small exception plate ("4x4 ausgenommen") under the chains compulsory sign. Locally to me this is almost always present.

In Switzerland yes. In neighbouring countries not so much so. (Not to contradict your post but as advice to others).

	Quote:
	From what I understand, you should probably switch the remaining range to %age rather than distance - people on the forums say you get a better idea of what is going on doing that.

Unfortunately, viewing the remaining range as a percentage doesn't seem to boost it at all.

	Quote:
	Cold is an absolute killer though - any temp where the car needs to heat the battery to maintain ideal conditions will kill range - 7 degrees is definitely colder than optimal. It is anecdotally said that anything below 50F (10C) has you down about 60% efficiency.

Yes, cold and batteries don't go well together. And for a Californian car, Swiss temperatures probably seem extreme. But nevertheless, for sheer practicality, ICE cars definitely win on this quite important point.

	Quote:
	I have kept the original small (19 inch) wheels on my one purely for the efficiency, that's another 6% more efficient than the 21 inchers.

I get that it's possible to improve efficiency in this way, but I resent having to compromise to that extent—especially when Tesla has happily taken lots of my money for the upgraded wheels.

You may as well say that BEVs perform better with less weight on board, so you should leave the wife, kids and dog at home when you go on family holidays.

	Quote:
	Unfortunately, viewing the remaining range as a percentage doesn't seem to boost it at all. Yes, cold and batteries don't go well together. And for a Californian car, Swiss temperatures probably seem extreme. But nevertheless, for sheer practicality, ICE cars definitely win on this quite important point. I get that it's possible to improve efficiency in this way, but I resent having to compromise to that extent—especially when Tesla has happily taken lots of my money for the upgraded wheels. You may as well say that BEVs perform better with less weight on board, so you should leave the wife, kids and dog at home when you go on family holidays.

Caveat Emptor mate - they didn't take your money, you gave it to them! This info is readily available on the interwebs.

It is a bit annoying of course, but I've never found it to be a factor in not being able to get somewhere - superchargers are so well located that even on the coldest day in CH, you could drive to the middle of Germany, Italy or France without any range anxiety - you might just need to make an extra stop or two on the way.

	Quote:
	It is a bit annoying of course, but I've never found it to be a factor in not being able to get somewhere - superchargers are so well located that even on the coldest day in CH, you could drive to the middle of Germany, Italy or France without any range anxiety - you might just need to make an extra stop or two on the way.

The issue is not so much going on a long trip; I don't mind stopping at a Supercharger lounge every 300 km or so for a break and a quick top-up. The problem is driving to a destination, say, 185 km away: real-life example, going to an all-day meeting followed by dinner. There's no option to recharge during the day; you can't leave your car in a car park (if one even exists nearby!) on a charger all day. You'd have to recharge somewhere on the way home, which is the last thing I would want to do at 10:30 pm after a long day. A bit of a PITA when the car has been sold to you as having 500+ km of range.

Incidentally, Superchargers are not yet well located in Switzerland. There are none on the above-mentioned route, except for the one at Pratteln, 8 minutes from home; you need to detour off the Autobahn near Bern onto another Autobahn to find a Supercharger.

I'll wait patiently for summer (although I'm not foregoing the 22" wheels at that time of year) and hope that Tesla rolls out the promised new Superchargers soon.

[Fermano]

Reporting back on the "garage charging for renters" question. Time was pressing due to car arrival in December, and my option to cancel my parking place either now or only at the end of January (either with a 3 month notice period).

The folks at my landlord company are awesome, they'll provide the wire terminals at my parking space, no quid pro quo! On the other hand, I'll need to take care of getting the actual socket or charger for the car (I might opt for the wall charger, or pay them to add a CEE16 or T12 socket).

As she mentioned about the overall current (Amper) limitation of the building, I suppose it'll be an the entry-level 230V / 10A or maybe 16A solution. Suits me, at 8A the 20%->80% charge takes around 24hrs sans heating or Vampire drain.

Insurance: my Tesla contact sent me to a corner of the Tesla Support web site, she said it redirects to a specific Zurich page, and indeed the quoted rates were lower than what the generic Zurich page showed. No VIN yet though, despite saying the car is matched.

	Quote:
	The issue is not so much going on a long trip; I don't mind stopping at a Supercharger lounge every 300 km or so for a break and a quick top-up. The problem is driving to a destination, say, 185 km away: real-life example, going to an all-day meeting followed by dinner. There's no option to recharge during the day; you can't leave your car in a car park (if one even exists nearby!) on a charger all day. You'd have to recharge somewhere on the way home, which is the last thing I would want to do at 10:30 pm after a long day. A bit of a PITA when the car has been sold to you as having 500+ km of range. Incidentally, Superchargers are not yet well located in Switzerland. There are none on the above-mentioned route, except for the one at Pratteln, 8 minutes from home; you need to detour off the Autobahn near Bern onto another Autobahn to find a Supercharger. I'll wait patiently for summer (although I'm not foregoing the 22" wheels at that time of year) and hope that Tesla rolls out the promised new Superchargers soon.

That use case does sound frustrating, but I reckon there's a good chance that unless you're in the middle of nowhere, there will be some kind of destination charging available. Chargemap is a pretty good list of places you can charge at, as is SwissCharge.

As I mentioned in the Tesla thread - trips can sometimes take a bit more planning than just hopping in an ICE car, but I quite like doing that planning stuff.

	Quote:
	I reckon there's a good chance that unless you're in the middle of nowhere, there will be some kind of destination charging available.

Yes, generally there is destination charging available—but only for people who can shift their car off the charger when they've finished charging. I suspect I wouldn't be too popular if I plugged in at 08:30 and disconnected 14 hours later.

	Quote:
	Yes, generally there is destination charging available—but only for people who can shift their car off the charger when they've finished charging. I suspect I wouldn't be too popular if I plugged in at 08:30 and disconnected 14 hours later.

Without wishing to generalize, I think EV people are generally fairly reasonable - certainly any encounters I've had whilst charging have been overwhelmingly pleasant.

I'd be tempted to plug in and leave a note saying "Car will be charged enough after (e.g.) 13:00 - if you need the charger after this, please call me on 079..."

[AbFab]

	Quote:
	I'd be tempted to plug in and leave a note saying "Car will be charged enough after (e.g.) 13:00 - if you need the charger after this, please call me on 079..."

My Model 3 came with a blue parking disc with the above on the reverse side - to show estimated time of return and space for a mobile number...

[AbFab]

	Quote:
	I'll wait patiently for summer (although I'm not foregoing the 22" wheels at that time of year) and hope that Tesla rolls out the promised new Superchargers soon.

Pardon my ignorance, but I though wheel sizes referred to the rim sizes and that the tyre wall profiles on a 22" were much lower than an 18".

If the wheels with tyres were larger diameter then the speedo readings would be way out changing from one size to another...

[lemming]

Did somebody see this?

https://jalopnik.com/heres-the-main-...ork-1840110802

I was just waiting for the 0.99% leasing rate to be applicable again but this is kinda discouraging me from buying a tesla. It's true that there are other charging options (not at home for me) but still...

	Quote:	lemming
	Did somebody see this? https://jalopnik.com/heres-the-main-...ork-1840110802 I was just waiting for the 0.99% leasing rate to be applicable again but this is kinda discouraging me from buying a tesla. It's true that there are other charging options (not at home for me) but still...

As far as I can tell, this is (currently) exclusively an American issue, and even then, it is only at super peak hours (holiday weekend travelling, etc). Can honestly say I've never had to wait on any trip in Europe.

[AbFab]

I took a trip to the UK (and back obviously) in October. I usually only charge at home, but used Superchargers in Germany, France and England.

It was a lonely experience. No chance of contact with other Tesla owners. I was nearly the only one charging...

[lemming]

So nobody is worried that, although this is not a now problem, it might be one in 2/3 years?

	Quote:	lemming
	So nobody is worried that, although this is not a now problem, it might be one in 2/3 years?

Not hugely - since most models now have to pay for supercharging, I suspect most people will look for cheaper alternatives.