Tesla Solar and Electric Cars

Lithium-ion batteries charge and discharge less efficiently in cold weather. All chemical batteries do, actually. It's the same reason why the lead-acid battery for an internal combustion engine has a harder time cranking it in the cold.

Also the batteries themselves perform worse when they get below a certain temperature (they call it "cold soaked") and will run at lower efficiency until you've run the car for a while and warmed them up. Teslas, at least, wake up periodically and warm the batteries enough to make sure they're not inoperable, but it's a good idea to leave it plugged in in colder climates as much as possible.

Preordered a Model Y for the wife. What’s everybody thoughts on full automative drive? Worth the 5k or a gimmick?

I think if you do a lot of interstate time and road trips, probably worth it. Otherwise pass, but the value of money is subjective.

We're in! Picked up our Model 3 mid-range on Wednesday and have been tooling around NY and NJ all through the weekend.

Grats!

re: Full autopilot. It currently doesn't exist. Tesla is notoriously late and lowering expectations for the feature for a few years now. Beyond that I think there are some serious regulatory issues that will get in the way of "full" self driving soon, meaning the tech will be way better than you can get now by the time it really works.

If you buy FSD now, you're entering early adopter territory. You'll get some cool features for sure, but it will never quite achieve the current perception of what it will be.

For reference, on the SAE autonomy scale I'd wager the current tech backing Tesla's FSD feature will top out at level 3, with shades of level 4.

I don't own a Tesla, but looking from the outside, I share Orphu's opinion that the company will probably never get self-driving working properly. That is an incredibly hard problem, and I think it will happen slowly, in stages, and people kinda won't notice when it really starts to roll out, because it will be so incremental.

Basically, look at whatever features that package offers today, and buy based purely on that feature set. If what it does right now is worth $5K, great, buy it. If it isn't, hold off until they're actually shipping what you want.

Note also that they've been getting kinda weird with pricing and introducing substantial discounts, and then not refunding people who preordered at a higher price. So if you buy it for $5K today, and then put it on sale for $2K later (which I think just recently happened, in the last few weeks), then they will not give you your $3K back, even though they haven't shipped it to you yet. So also be sure that you won't have buyer's remorse if it goes on sale for less money in the future, because you're probably stuck with the original deal.

Just to clear that up, they did substantially lower the cost for a while, with a promise to compensate folks that already bought in with a HW3 upgrade and an invite to the early access program. (ha!)

That only lasted a few weeks though as there were some pretty upset folks. Prices are back where they were and some folks got it at a nice discount if they bought in that window.

I'm in! Order placed this past week

Interesting video on the creation of the new Gen 3 hardware meant specifically for FSD. Really interesting how much performance increase they packed in, and the fact that they can pull data from the biggest FSD fleet of cars on the road means they are getting better faster.

Had my car in to the service center for a minor issue the other day and they upgraded me to HW3. The new visualizations are pretty impressive! It marks stop signs, traffic cones, trash cans, lane markers (lane arrows, stop ahead, bicycle lanes, etc) and traffic lights including colors and arrows.

It will be interesting to see what they can do once the cars start taking advantage of this info.

I bought a hotwheels tesla car for a dollar now I feel like I saved the planet.

This automation day video blew my mind. Reminded me of the old days when Carmack used to explain how he was working his black magic. Fun to listen to, but i understood about 10% of it.

All about the technical details of the v3 hardware (now called the FSD computer).

I really want to get a Tesla but can't quite get over the price tag without ever seeing it in person first.

They are nice cars. The model 3 is a little too cramped for my liking if going to be a commuter car. The model S is nice and more roomy but seemed a lil low in the roof if sitting in the rear. I am 6 feet tall. I am interested in seeing the model Y as I think that model may be the better fit for me.

Norfair wrote:

I really want to get a Tesla but can't quite get over the price tag without ever seeing it in person first.

Most areas have a Tesla office where you can get a test drive scheduled...definitely go check it out even if you dont plan on getting in the end! It is a fun drive.

Oh I’ve checked but the closest is too far away in Chicago.

Norfair wrote:

Oh I’ve checked but the closest is too far away in Chicago.

Yeah, Wisconsin is one of the states that has a dealership monopoly because they have laws prohibiting manufacturers from selling direct. Otherwise you would surely have one in Madison and/or Milwaukee.

Just survived a very fun roundtrip drive from NYC to Chicago; we had to add an extra charger stop or two in each direction, since the estimates for power usage were too tight for our liking, but otherwise, it was sweet!

Got my M3 waaay early! They had an order cancel after the car arrived and it matched my specs exactly. Was able to pick it up last week, and am currently in the midst of a multi-state work trip! Really enjoying everything. I got the SR+ so I am a little more cautious around charging, but so far the arrival estimates for SOC have been pretty accurate. The only thing I've noticed is that enabling Sentry mode seems to consume more battery power than I was expecting.

Also just got the first 2020 update...apparently just bug fixes.

Oooh you mean Tesla Model 3. I had to go googling because I was wondering what a BMW M3 SR+ was and why you were talking about charging.

Well considering this is a Tesla thread
After a long drive from Charleston to Raleigh yesterday through pouring rain, ive found the arrival charge estimates are generally off in these conditions (estimating higher than you will be at). Maybe due to extra drag from rain and wipers furiously going the whole time?

I was super happy with lane keeping in the rain though. There were times where -I- could barely see the road, and lane keeping (not navigate on AP as that turns off in bad weather) kept the car stuck like glue between the lines.

I have been waiting for at least one more iteration from the M3. I want one because power is cheap where I live and I have a 60ish mile commute each way. I think it could be a good fit for me... Assuming it has enough headspace.

Since I'm going to drive it into the dirt I want some more refinement before investing. I still have 3ish years left on my current car.

Anyone put in 10 plus driving hours a week? I want to know how it does in heavy usage.

Classic double phone post.

manta173 wrote:

I have been waiting for at least one more iteration from the M3. I want one because power is cheap where I live and I have a 60ish mile commute each way. I think it could be a good fit for me... Assuming it has enough headspace.

Since I'm going to drive it into the dirt I want some more refinement before investing. I still have 3ish years left on my current car.

Anyone put in 10 plus driving hours a week? I want to know how it does in heavy usage.

Wow, I thought my commute was bad at 48 miles one way. I thought about a Tesla because of the crappy commute but we are moving closer to work.

Arise thread.

Got us a Model Y. Will be my wife's car.

Balthezor wrote:

Arise thread.

Got us a Model Y. Will be my wife's car.

Details.... what kind of options... are they as cool as they look?

I'm very tempted to trade in the 3 for a Y, I'd like the extra space but don't really want to go to an X.

I’m planning on getting a Tesla this spring, hopefully a Y but need to do more research.

From just browsing on line, used cars seem not to be at much of a discount and supply is small. Do these things maintain their value that well or is it model dependent?

They have traditionally maintained their value extremely well across their whole line.