5: The Tech of Tesla

Tesla cars are computers on wheels.   Just as Apple transformed the mobile phone world in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, Tesla has transformed the automotive world. In a later post I am going to discuss the similarities and differences between these two companies.

Like the smartphone, the Tesla operating system is updated from time to time with unprecedented results.

Consumer Reports did a review of the Model 3 a few months ago.   They liked the car for the most part but found that the braking distance was unacceptably long for a car of its class.   Tesla, however, did something that no other car company could do. Within a couple of days the company prepared a software update that was delivered over the air that corrected flaws in the car's computerized ABS system. Consumer Reports then gave the car a recommended rating.

This is just one example of the way that Tesla has rethought the car. All Teslas have an always on LTE cellular service.  This way the company can deliver regular software updates that can add functions and incorporate suggestions from customers. An early example was the addition of the "creep" mode that simulates the operation of an automatic transmission car when the driver takes his/her foot off the gas from a stop.  I myself don't miss creeping at all!

These updates also add functionality to the Autopilot system.   In the few weeks that we have had our car Blue there have been about four software updates (although I think we are about three behind for some reason).   These updates are not all farts, romance mode and new Atari games.   They include genuine and important improvements to the functioning of the car.

Release Notes for a Tesla Software Update

It is easy to predict that other manufacturers will adopt similar over the air updates, but as with many innovations that others will copy, Tesla was there first.

As many Tesla owners observe, their car just keeps getting better, and since nearly all functions are controlled by the car's computer(s) nearly all functions can improve over time.  Sadly, software alone can't heat the steering wheel or add a heads up display!

However, the real promise of the Tesla approach will come when its already promising Autopilot software evolves towards true autonomous driving.   It seems that this will not come in a single massive update but will come to Tesla owners incrementally as Autopilot functions are enhanced and less and less human intervention is required. Elon Musk stated some time ago that all Teslas would now be built with the hardware that would enable full self-driving ability, although there was a subsequent announcement of a computer update to take full advantage of this ability.

We already have Summon, which enables limited control of the car from outside the car. It is guaranteed to make non-Tesla folks freak out.   This function will in due course enable more complex manoeuvers of the car in the complete absence of a driver.

The Tesla audio system is already good but I can see it being enhanced with the availability of Apple Music or Spotify with a simple over the air update.  The current built-in streaming service, Slacker, is OK in a pinch but limited.  In fact, subject to hardware limitations, the possibilities for ongoing improvement of the user interface and driving and control functions of the car is virtually unlimited. I can imagine new traction control settings or settings for mud and sand as you get in some off-road vehicles for example.

Another technical innovation is the integration with a smartphone although to some degree other manufacturers are picking up on this idea. None of them, however, can match the range of functions already available with the Tesla app, let alone what will be coming in future.

I have mentioned Teslafi.com, a paid website that can access the data from the car and produces in awesome detail a report of where you have been, how fast you were going, how much charge you used and just about every other variable imaginable.  It is awesome.

At the same time, all of this raises some sinister issues. If my car is always sending information out into the ether, how can I be sure that it is only being received in accordance with my wishes?  I assume that Tesla has access to all of this information and that somewhere along the way I signed a user agreement giving them that access, even though I don't recall it specifically.  There are serious privacy concerns. Can I be tracked through my car? Can I one day be charged with speeding because of data from my car? Could a hacker corrupt the operating system of my car and cause it to crash?

The truth is, we have little idea how vulnerable our Tesla cars might be to the guys wearing black hats.  The problem will be even more serious in the relatively near future.   In introducing its semi truck, Tesla predicted convoys of autonomous trucks following a lead vehicle. If the connection among all these vehicles is broken or corrupted, what kind of chaos could result? In time we can envision a rush hour in which all cars are autonomously driving a few inches apart, moving in unison like a flock of birds. 

Can we really put our faith in the software and hardware that will give us full autonomous driving?  For now I enjoy the limited driver assistance of Autopilot, but I am still the driver.  But will we have to start worrying about firewalls and virus protection for our cars?

4: Is Range Anxiety a Thing?

Yes. Or no, depending. Sometimes but not all the time. For some people, but not for everyone. Let me explain.

We have a garage in which is installed a Tesla wall charger. It requires a 240 volt connection (same as a clothes dryer) and provides 50 amps into our car when it is at home.   The bottom line is that it will fully charge the car in about 5-6 hours but most nights it is only required to replenish a couple of hundred kilometers, which takes an hour or two.

Our Tesla Wall Charger

Each morning we have a car that is ready to go with a rated charge of about 410 km. Yes, the Model 3 is rated at 495 km, but it is recommended that you not fully charge the battery on a regular basis to maintain its life.   Seven or 8 days out of 10 that range will be entirely sufficient for our needs. No range anxiety whatsoever.   We live in the country and we frequently have to drive 100 km or more into the city and back. No problem there whatsoever.

The rest of the time involves longer trips.   So far I have taken trips to two locations, one 450 km away and the other 125 km away.   The longer trip involved using Tesla Superchargers  and fortunately my route included ample opportunities for using them.  In a couple of half hour stops, coinciding with a meal or snack, the car would be ready to go again.

The shorter trip, oddly, involved a little more anxiety. A round trip of 250 km should of course be comfortably within the range of a car with 410 km of range. However, asterisks are involved here.

The first asterisk is that in cold weather the range of an electric car will suffer significantly. November and December are not warm months in Ottawa and so we have not had the chance to experience the car in warm conditions.   The 410 km of rated range translates in winter into about 250 km of actual range.   You will note that this is the length of my round trip. The second asterisk is that the car will lose range sitting idly overnight – the so-called "vampire drain."   That meant that I had to find a hotel with a charger at the destination. Fortunately, I was able to do this and fortunately the charger was available and fortunately, it worked to perfection.

I also had to leave the car at the airport for the better part of a week and vampire drain slowly sapped the battery. I was able to follow this from the Tesla app on my phone but without having any means to do anything about it. Fortunately, by the time I came back there was plenty of range left to get me home comfortably.

So in my experience to date,  range has not been an issue.   However, this is not to say that it is not an issue that you have to be aware of all the time. Driving a conventional vehicle for most of us does not involve much thought about the level of fuel in the tank. If the fuel is low we can replenish it virtually everywhere in a few minutes. Driving an electric car requires planning. However, if you are properly set up, that planning becomes second nature and, quite frankly, liberating when you can set out with a full charge each morning.

However for many drivers, range will definitely be a factor. In fact, many urbanites who rely on street parking or who live in apartments will not have ready access to dependable overnight charging.  The lack of overnight charging transforms the range issue dramatically.   In my garage I have the equivalent of a private gas station that silently, dependably and inexpensively (more on that later) replenishes my fuel in the night.

Your experience may vary.

Using an amazing site called Teslafi.com I am able to track my car's usage in almost creepy detail.  I discovered the site about 2 weeks after acquiring the car.  In the six weeks since, I have driven the car 3600 km and I have paid about $120, combining Supercharging costs and home electricity usage.  I have also used free chargers on two occasions, reducing the average cost further.  Bottom line is that I am paying 3.3 cents to power the car each kilometer.  In summer, when the car's range returns to normal, that should come down to closer to 2 cents.

Our internal combustion car needs premium gas, which is pretty standard among luxury cars.   Gas prices are low at the moment but premium is still, well, premium.  Let's say $1.20 a litre.  The car will use 8 litres per 100 km. So that is $9.60 for 100 km, or 9.6 cents per kilometer.  This is not a V8 gas guzzler but a fuel-efficient turbocharged 2 litre 4 cylinder car.  The Tesla has vastly greater performance for a fraction of the cost.

So, is range anxiety a thing?  Yes it can be, but the offsetting benefits are very considerable.

3: The Car

The Other Happy Owner with Blue

I will make two observations about the Model 3 that sum up the initial impression of the car.

The first impression is that the car is simply like no other. Sitting behind the steering wheel that first night,  the view straight ahead was entirely dark. A 15 inch screen in the center of the dashboard provided all of the information - a huge navigation map, the speedometer and everything else that is normally on all of the gauges, buttons and switches of a normal car. Stepping on the accelerator, the car moved ahead silently as if propelled by a hidden hand, like magic (actually magnetism!)  Lifting up from the accelerator, the car slowed equally silently to a stop without applying the brakes.  That first night felt like driving into an unknown future, but doing so in a spaceship.  I had to call our neighbour for advice on how to get some simple things done!

The second observation is that the car quickly becomes utterly normal.   The controls become second nature and the strangeness of the large display is forgotten. It is just a comfortable, high performance and utterly competent vehicle.

I come to Tesla ownership from a history of owning German cars: BMWs, Audis and Mercedes-Benzes.   For fun I bought an older Bentley and a couple of Mazda Miatas.   In other words, I like good cars, cars that perform and handle well and are built to last.

So, with this background, what do I make of the Model 3?  It lacks a few creature comforts that I have become accustomed to, things like a heated steering wheel, a heads up display and ventilated seats.  I am not a fan of black interiors, and the alternative white interior doesn't really appeal to me. The interior as a whole is simplistic in the extreme and is under designed. I would like to see the interior reflect the aesthetic of recent Mercedes and Volvo cars, but that is a matter of personal taste. I understand that Tesla does not have the luxury of offering multiple options as it ramps up to mass production.  So, everyone gets black with the option of white.

It is a superb car in every respect. It is comfortable, fast and practical.  As far as I can tell, it is well-built. On the road it seems solid and entirely rattle free.   The acceleration is addictive. I look forward to the opportunity to pass slower cars just to feel the thrust of the two electric motors silently propel the car forward, with none of the roaring and revving of a normal engine, as if we are propelled by warp drive.

Even though it has two motors it also has two trunks.  If you open the hood of a Nissan Leaf or a Chevrolet Bolt, you see the source of propulsion, not exactly looking like a normal engine, but still a mess of hoses and machinery.  They have been conceived of as regular cars with a different power train.  In a Model 3, this is all packaged away under or behind the trunks, and this packaging adds to the sense that you are driving something radically different, something radically superior.  This packaging also reminds you that you don't need access to the means of propulsion.  No spark plugs, no oil changes, no maintenance essentially.  So the few oily bits can be safely hidden away.

And yet if you are coming to the car from an Audi or BMW it is instantly familiar in its dimensions, performance, handling and solidity.  Other than its much more immediate acceleration it has the same performance as our 2010 Audi S4 did, and that was by far the best car I had ever owned. 

It is going to be interesting when the Model 3 gets to Europe.  The car is selling like hotcakes in the United States, even though the country is turning its back on sedans in general, in favour of SUVs, and where gasoline is plentiful and cheap.  In Europe, gasoline is expensive, cars are still popular and the environmental ethic has taken deeper root.  The Model 3 will fit in perfectly with the European conception of a mid-sized luxury car.

This is an American car that is going to be a huge hit in Europe.  When did that ever happen before?  And then there is China ...

2: The Wait and Taking Delivery

Proud New Model 3 Owner

2018 is nearly in the rear view mirror and it has been a rocky ride for Tesla and to some extent for its customers and would-be customers.   The latter part of the year has been triumphant as the company has met and exceeded expectations not only of production but of the quality of the product as well.

At the start of the year, production of the rear wheel drive Model 3 was underway amid media reports of poor build quality and other examples of an inept and overreaching company.   Over the summer, Elon Musk was living in the factory, troubleshooting the manufacturing process 120 hours a week.

We had expectations of getting a $14,000 rebate from the Ontario government and of getting our car sometime during the year but having no idea when exactly.  The rebate vanished with a change of government and our decision to wait for the all-wheel-drive model.  We have long snowy winters and I decided many years ago – at the precise moment that I was vainly trying to get a rear wheel drive BMW up a snowy hill – that I would always have all-wheel-drive vehicles. (I did make an exception for the Bentley and a couple of Mazda Miatas, though!)

Tesla has, of course, done away with the traditional dealership model. If you want to buy any other car, you walk into the local dealership and either buy something that they have in stock, something that they can acquire from another dealer, or you can order from the factory. You will of course have to go through a salesperson and there will be a dance over the price involving a consultation between that salesperson and their manager leading to a handshake.   The process will work itself out and you will have a pretty good idea when you can get your hands on your new car.

With Tesla, at least here in Ottawa, there is no bricks and mortar Tesla store and you will find yourself dealing by email and the occasional phone call with a representative who, you quickly discover, is only one member of a series of teams who will determine your delivery experience.

Once we had confirmation that our car was available, and a VIN number had been assigned, I was put in touch with a young gentleman called PK who was an Inside Delivery Manager.  Throughout our frequently frustrating exchanges, PK was totally professional, friendly and sympathetic. He even responded to emails from when he was on vacation.  He admitted to me that the whole delivery system was under resourced and overstressed. He spent his days dealing with people anxious to get their hands on their new wonder car and having to apologize for logistical glitches.

It turned out, however, that PK was part of a team based in Toronto to deal with deliveries but that the delivery process was managed out of Montréal by another team. Our trade-in was handled by a third team.   The actual delivery was made by an independent contracted carrier taking direction from the team in Montréal. PK seemed to have a great deal of difficulty getting information from the Montréal team and it also seems that the Montréal team had limited contact with the carrier.

After several frustrating false starts, we took delivery one evening. The car was backed off a large trailer and for the first time we sat in our new Model 3. We had arranged to take delivery and hand in our Evoque trade-in but the driver had no "paperwork" related to the trade-in and we had to leave it behind.

The Delivery of Blue

So, what can I say about the delivery experience? It was frustrating in the extreme but all that frustration washed away as soon as we stepped inside the car.   A conventional dealer would have washed the car and it would have been spotless inside and out. Our car was pristine inside but filthy outside, having been on a lengthy highway trip in bad weather.

I understood that Tesla was doing something absolutely unprecedented in our time, namely transitioning from a low volume manufacturer to mass-market levels of production. The growing pains of the company had been highly public.  They had even started making cars in a tent!   In fact, our car was probably made in that tent.

Elon Musk polarized people like very few public figures. Clearly, he is a genius and a visionary. On the other hand, he has an impulsive adolescent streak that makes observers question his maturity. He is  relentlessly truthful but also relentlessly overoptimistic when it comes to predictions and deadlines. As the face of a public company, his every tweet and interview is scrutinized and criticized. Institutional investors openly bet against his success.  And of course, he is dividing his time between running a revolutionary electric car startup and a private space company.

All of this is part of the Tesla mystique and part of the allure of the company.

For all of these reasons, Model 3 purchasers tend to forgive the clumsy delivery procedure. However, this would not be so if the car itself disappointed.

1: Joining the Tesla Movement

Our Model 3 - Unimaginatively named "Blue"

It was a long wait.  In early April 2016, just a couple of days after the splashy announcement of the  Tesla Model 3, I put down $1,000 to reserve a place in line for a new Tesla Model 3.  I think there were already about 120,000 pre-orders.  I woke up in the middle of the night realizing that if we didn't reserve our spot it might take years to get a car, so I immediately went to my computer and put in my order.  I found out a day or so later that our next door neighbour had done pretty much the same thing.

My wife was gracious - as gracious as she had been a few years earlier when I let her know that I had "semi-accidentally" bought a Bentley on eBay.

I remember watching that first announcement and thinking that the Model 3 prototypes on display would be quite different from the production models. The front of the car seemed unfinished as did the interior with a bizarre iPad-like screen stuck in the middle of the dashboard.

In 2012 I had written two blog entries (one) and (two) expressing my hopes for Tesla and for electric cars generally.   I had come to believe wholeheartedly in the future of the electric car and its inherent superiority over internal combustion vehicles.   I thought that I was going to buy a Model X but I never did, mostly on the grounds that I didn't want to pay more than $100,000 for an SUV.

However, I had not even been in an electric car while I put down my deposit and on an impulse joined the Tesla movement.

It was not until November, 2018 - more than 2 1/2 years later - that my wife and I took delivery of a blue dual motor all-wheel-drive Model 3, trading in my wife's beloved but aging Range Rover Evoque. It has been about 6 weeks now, and I think I can not only make some general comments about the car, but also what it feels like to join the electric car movement.  Particularly, the Tesla Movement.

My plan for this Blog is to talk not only about the experience of buying, driving and living with an electric car, but to put the ownership experience in a broader context.  Tesla is a car company, but also an energy company with a mission to improve the lot of humanity.  It is also only one part of the business of a visionary, Elon Musk, who is certainly one of the most interesting people on earth, a man who is not only promoting sustainable energy and transportation in order to improve the future of humanity on earth, but is also preparing humanity's backup plan, the colonization of Mars. Elon does not think small.

We are on a path to a very uncertain future.  Climate change is real, and we as a species are doing approximately nothing about it.  Buying an electric car is a tiny gesture, a small personal statement that we must get off fossil fuels.  We will soon be installing solar panels to charge our electric car from the sun.

So I plan to write about the rush of adrenaline when I press the accelerator, but also about how individuals must respond to the challenge of a sustainable economy.