Tesla Model 3

[rawsco]

Test drove one for 45 min yesterday round Glasgow and I’ll be ordering one on Monday, Long Range version.

I was quite blown away with how it drove and Miniblonde had made her mind up before shed even completed the drive out of the showroom car park. Reliably solid 280 plus range, AWD, and the sh*t Looking aero alloys are just wheel trims and hide a nice set of alloys underneath. Loved the minimalist interior. Driving with the regen on max was a nice and relaxing one pedal affair. Probably 95% of the performance edition, just missing the nice alloys and carbon trim and a few tenths to 60.

We’d been fumbling round buying a hybrid Volvo as a smaller leccy car like the i3 would struggle to take all our crap but the boot in the 3 swallowed the pram with room to spare, has a fairly decent underfloor space and the froot can take a few bits and bobs too, car seat plugged in no problem, and most importantly it’s be best seating position I’ve seen in any car for Laura (she’s 4ft 10in). Most cars end up with the steering wheel uncomfortably close to her and she never looks thaaaat comfy. Glass roof is awesome and visibility over the scuttle reminded me of a mclaren. Ride quality over the sh*t weegy roads was pretty decent and I’d say better than our x5

On the downside, it’s definitely not built as well as more established manufacturers but it’s not bad. From what I could see build quality only noticeably inferior in places where it didn’t matter, like the trim on the boot lid. The doors also felt a little flimsy. But it didn’t rattle or squeak inside, the stereo sounds good and is powerful enough to drown it out anyway. Interior material quality Seemed spot on.

[hendeg]

You mentioned Volvo so wondered if you'd considered the Polestar 2?

[robin]

We've had ours just over a year now. Still have the A4 diesel but neither of us wants to drive it . Of course other electric cars might be better - I have no way of knowing - but the Model 3 is great to drive. If you haven't ordered yet, you might consider two things.

First you could use my referral code to get me £1 of super charging for free.

https://ts.la/robin27074

Second you could wait a wee while if not in huge rush - I think the Model 3 will be swapping the resistive heater (uses many KW of power when on) with the heatpump from the Model Y. This will give you better real world range, if you can be arsed to wait. Not sure how long it'll take to filter through the supply chain, but will be worth the swap.

In terms of range, you will normally get 200 miles between recharging driving around town - that's because you're doing short journeys and have to factor in heating/cooling that happens at the start of each journey. On the motorway at 65mph you'll get 250kW/mile = 200 miles (on 65% of the battery); but in the UK you're more likely to hover around the 75 tuts mark, which uses closer to 300Kwh/mile. Ignoring the first leg, you normally supercharge to around 80% and discharge to around 10%, so that further pulls the usable range down (180-200 miles between supercharging). The reason to charge this way is that charging from 10% to 50% is fast, 50% to 75% slower, above 75% even slower, so you're better off doing more recharge stops rather than maxing 1%-100% on each leg (even if you could). We do drop down to single digits on some runs to hit a preferred super charger, but generally you will want to aim for 10% arrival state of charge to allow for traffic jams/diversions, etc., that mean you need a bit more energy than expected.

Regardless of all that, the reality for us is that we put the car in the garage once every 1-2 weeks; we do 8K/year of which 3K is motorway miles, the other 5K around town.

An extra 10% range from improved HVAC would be great but not a deal breaker for us.

If you're normal motorway driving consists of 400 miles between quick diesel stops, the M3 will be slower point to point. If you're more in the 200 miles followed by piss/coffee stop, you will hardly notice the difference.

Cheers,
Robin

[Dark]

You mentioned Volvo so wondered if you'd considered the Polestar 2?

A couple of guys on the Volvo Polestar forum have driven the P*2 and been really impressed. However until there is the equivalent of the Tesla Supercharger network any longer journey (ie: not charging at home) will continue to be a pain. The other charging network are simply rubbish in comparison.

[hendeg]

Good point.

The charging requirements massively depend on how you use the car. I’ve got an i3S which was only intended to be used locally and charged at home overnight. The thinking was that on the odd occasion I needed to go further I’d use another car or hire.

Pauline is using it to drive to work in Dundee just now but they have a pretty good charging infrastructure and she can charge easily while she’s at work.

[rossybee]

Good point.

The charging requirements massively depend on how you use the car. I’ve got an i3S which was only intended to be used locally and charged at home overnight. The thinking was that on the odd occasion I needed to go further I’d use another car or hire.

Pauline is using it to drive to work in Dundee just now but they have a pretty good charging infrastructure and she can charge easily while she’s at work.

Gary just a heads up but I'm sure I read someplace recently that DCC are soon to start charging for errrr charging - perhaps worth looking into for Pauline?

Sorry about the vagueness but didn't register too much on my interest scale as not applicable for me

[hendeg]

Yip. The ChargeYourCar/ChargePlace Scotland network used to be mostly free but it changed a few months ago. The help page says that 90% are free to use but most of the common and rapid chargers seem to have tariffs now. Parking is still free in Dundee for electric cars which is a bonus.

[scott_e]

Dundee was named Europe's most electric vehicle visionary city a few years back ... you know one of these awards that nobody has heard of ...

We also boast the highest number of electric public sector vehicles per head in the UK too .....

Not sure why , air pollution isn't an issue as far as I am concerned but hey we need something beside the V&A to keep us on the map

[rawsco]

I did consider the polestar but its a no deal from the Miniblonde on that one.

Getting it ordered up just now, its through a leasing co (not Tesla) so I'm not 100% convinced the referral code will work but the leasing guy has said he'll do his best to get it registered with Tesla against your code Robin so hopefully you get the free miles!

5 week wait for delivery I think...

Anyone know how to go about getting the Gov grant for a charge point?

R

[robin]

The Tesla guy told me their charger want eligible for the grant. We use the 3 pin mains plug which is fine.

[RDH]

I did consider the polestar but its a no deal from the Miniblonde on that one.

Getting it ordered up just now, its through a leasing co (not Tesla) so I'm not 100% convinced the referral code will work but the leasing guy has said he'll do his best to get it registered with Tesla against your code Robin so hopefully you get the free miles!

5 week wait for delivery I think...

Anyone know how to go about getting the Gov grant for a charge point?

R

Lurker mode off/

I’m 3 weeks into Model 3 leasing, no regrets here, even the SR+ is fast enough for everyday use.

As for grants- the £500 OLEV grant is usually claimed back by the installer/supplier, and you can also claim £350 from the Energy Savings Trust, which is a bit more onerous, you need to supply the initial supplier quote and proof of order/ ownership and then wait a few weeks for them to agree. Then you need to go back to the supplier and get them to install. It’s taken me 3 weeks for the grants to be approved and I’m waiting another 3 for an install date. So get the paperwork in soon.

That said, we’ve got a CCS charger 50 yards from the office that I can plug into a couple of times a week for free. As Robin says you can also top up on the 3 pin plug at home as and when required, but it’s not quick.

Enjoy when it comes!
Cheers
Rob
/back to lurking


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[j2 lot]

If anyone isn’t aware the interest free loan Scheme of £35000 available on any new EV up to £50k. Is now also available for second hand EVs with a £20k loan Through Scottish Govt/ Energy Saving Trust.
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotla ... hicle-loan

[ironside]

Anyone know how to go about getting the Gov grant for a charge point?

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotla ... nt-funding

I've had two (different addresses, different cars) on this scheme. The current one for the Model 3 is a Rolec branded 32A one installed by Jorro.

[c8rkh]

Tesla slated by Which? (As was the volvol XC90) for reliabilty. XC90 apparently UKs most unreliable car, Tesla the brand most owners report car issues with.

Tesla does seem to win peoples hearts though and buyers seem keen to forgive the issues. Tesla must be the modern equivalent of the 70's/80's Lotus

[robin]

We've had no issues to complain about - just lucky I guess. Compared to all the Lotus + the XC90 that I've owned, it's been fault free, even at the niggle level. No doubt something will break at some point soon! Biggest hassle we've had is that the Gretna services super charger is pants, half out of service, slowest ever charge rate, etc.