Speck :: 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (Garage entry)

[Eggman]

The oil change schedule for the Tesla is probably much simpler!

It sure is.

Reading through the various threads here make me appreciate the relative simplicity of an electric vehicle. No oil changes for an engine (or transmission), no exhaust, no emissions controls to worry about, no engine air filter (or rattle from the intake snorkel), no spark plugs or ignition coils, no piston rings to wear down & score cylinders, no valve train concerns.

I don't even have a key for it - it's all done through my mobile phone. I don't have to start it to warm it up, I send a command through the app to warm up the cabin & even send trip info. Once you download the app on your phone, I could give you access to drive it.

It's debatable what is my favorite aspect of driving an electric vehicle but for now I'll have to say it's not having to go to a gas station to fill up. I just plug in at home and charge up overnight for a few dollars' worth of electricity. Second place would go to acceleration.

I could go on & on. Sure there's negatives but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

[MetroMPG]

Tell the negatives!

For my home made EV it was accleration you could measure with an egg timer, and pre-heating the cabin with a hair dryer (no on-board heat). Not to mention the ~40 km (25 mi) range. :-D

[Eggman]

Tell the negatives!

1. Cost
2. Charge time
3. Touchscreen controls
4. Some safety features
5. I'm sure there's more that I can think of over time and more that others will post (probably from cynics that have never driven one)

[MetroMPG]

Touchscreen controls

This is a fad/design trend that can't end soon enough. It's a safety issue.

[Fummins]

I'd love a Tesla but they cost more than $1000 so I'm out. For now. If I were to go and spend some moneys on a car I'd look at one for sure. 90% of my driving is in the city. The only limitation would be taking trips like I did in my car earlier this year where we had no plan, just drove into the bush. I guess you can't really pull that of in an ev unless you carry along a generator and some gas. I guess that's an idea!

[Mark]

1. Cost
2. Charge time
3. Touchscreen controls
4. Some safety features
5. I'm sure there's more that I can think of over time and more that others will post (probably from cynics that have never driven one)

I only buy manuals, & I don't like extra features on cars.

Having said that, a Tesla is probably awesome to drive!

I rather stop & buy gas than have to plug/unplug my car all the time, but that's me. I buy all my bread, milk, eggs, butter, orange juice, potatoes, etc... at our local Kwik Trip gas stations. Our only other grocery store in town (entire county) is Walmart & dollar stores, and Kwik Trip products are better quality in my opinion. Plus, I am in & out in no time. Can't do that at Walmart very easily. For those who like beer, our Walmart doesn't have a walk-in cooler for beer like Kwik Trip. Kwik Trip also sells milk in a bag!!! I don't buy much milk these days, but I bought a lot of bagged milk when my daughters were young. They provide free pitchers for the bags to slip into.

Even if I owned an EV, I would still be at Kwik Trip once or twice a week.

[Top_Fuel]

Questions to internal combustion engine owners from a former EV owner

When is the last time...

...you planned a trip around the availability of gas stations along your route?
...you waited in line 30 minutes for a gas pump to become available?
...you pulled into a gas station with 10 pumps...but only 3 of them actually worked?
...you had to call an 800 number on the gas pump so a someone 1000 miles away could re-boot it?
...you were pumping gas...but the pump was only dispensing it at the rate of 1 cup per minute?
...you pulled up to a gas pump...but there was nowhere to swipe a credit card to start fueling?
...you didn't have the oil company's app on your phone so you couldn't buy their gas?

[Eggman]

This is a fad/design trend that can't end soon enough. It's a safety issue.

I totally see what you're saying. On the other hand, it's like having an OBD-II thingy plugged in allowing customization of a car's settings. It just gives more control over things that aren't regularly fiddled with.

For the Model 3, things like audio controls, climate controls, cruise control, wipers can be managed by thumbwheels on the steering wheel & stalk switches. These are customizable, allowing the driver to designate functions to these controls and can be changed & saved for different drivers.

I'm pretty sure the everything-through-the-touchscreen is a design decision by Tesla to simplify and reduce costs, but it also allows for a lot flexibility. Some of their software updates add new functionality, so every software update is another adventure.

Tesla recommends using voice commands instead of fiddling with on-screen menus. With that there's no need to take hands off the steering wheel or even look at the screen, which helps keep the focus on driving. I've used some voice commands to do stuff and really need to learn & practice this more, if only for safety if not convenience. I've sometimes asked a passenger to figure something out in the menus while I'm driving.

All that to say there are safety benefits & safety risks with the touchscreen business. It comes with a learning process as it's so different from manual controls. A far cry from my CJ-7, that's for sure. It's still kind of a new thing that's getting figured out, I hope they continue to make it better.

I'd love a Tesla but they cost more than $1000 so I'm out. For now. If I were to go and spend some moneys on a car I'd look at one for sure. 90% of my driving is in the city. The only limitation would be taking trips like I did in my car earlier this year where we had no plan, just drove into the bush.

I can very much sympathize with your take on the cost. In trying to live within my modest means I bought & drove used beaters just to get by. Years ago I bought one new car but it wasn't for me, it was for someone else. Speck was the first new car I bought for myself. It was a difficult decision to drop so much of my savings on this stupid car. This Model 3 is as much an experiment as was Speck.

I guess you can't really pull that of in an ev unless you carry along a generator and some gas. I guess that's an idea!

I'm sure you already know that BMW has designed something like this.

I only buy manuals, & I don't like extra features on cars.

Having said that, a Tesla is probably awesome to drive!

I understand some electric conversions of older vehicles keep the manual transmission. I recall stumbling across one such conversion for my old Jeep that kept the manual transmission & transfer case.

But why? Electric motors don't have the same RPM restrictions as internal combustion engines.

I rather stop & buy gas than have to plug/unplug my car all the time, but that's me. I buy all my bread, milk, eggs, butter, orange juice, potatoes, etc... at our local Kwik Trip gas stations. Our only other grocery store in town (entire county) is Walmart & dollar stores, and Kwik Trip products are better quality in my opinion. Plus, I am in & out in no time. Can't do that at Walmart very easily. For those who like beer, our Walmart doesn't have a walk-in cooler for beer like Kwik Trip. Kwik Trip also sells milk in a bag!!! I don't buy much milk these days, but I bought a lot of bagged milk when my daughters were young. They provide free pitchers for the bags to slip into.

Even if I owned an EV, I would still be at Kwik Trip once or twice a week.

Mark, I'd take a trip for driving lessons and bagged milk. Do you suppose anyone has tried to sell bagged beer?

Questions to internal combustion engine owners from a former EV owner

When is the last time...

...you planned a trip around the availability of gas stations along your route?
...you waited in line 30 minutes for a gas pump to become available?
...you pulled into a gas station with 10 pumps...but only 3 of them actually worked?
...you had to call an 800 number on the gas pump so a someone 1000 miles away could re-boot it?
...you were pumping gas...but the pump was only dispensing it at the rate of 1 cup per minute?
...you pulled up to a gas pump...but there was nowhere to swipe a credit card to start fueling?
...you didn't have the oil company's app on your phone so you couldn't buy their gas?

I don't know how long ago your example is and I assume you are sharing your own personal experience and not that of someone else. That being said things change, and I haven't experienced any of these. With the arguable exception of planning a trip around the availability of gas stations - arguable, because all trips are planned this way, there's just more gas stations than charging stations. For now, anyway.

On the other hand, I don't take a lot of long trips. Most all my driving with the Model 3 is around town and for that it's working great.

For example, one trip we took this year that involved charging along the way was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The trip was from Northeast Ohio to Louisville Kentucky. I expected to encounter all the shortcomings you listed but experienced none. After entering the destination the on-board navigation app plotted charging stops along the way taking into account the starting state of charge, current weather conditions including headwinds, speed, energy consumption including climate controls all compared with others who have driven the same route in similar conditions. All charging stops were plotted along the route (there was only one stop on the way out, two on the way back because of detours.) With reasonable driving speeds I was able to extend range and skip some charging stops for the next one.

For the Tesla Supercharger network along that route I had easy access, no waiting, and costs were paid through my Tesla account so I never even brought out my credit card (the three times my credit card info was stolen I suspect was done at gas stations, so there's that.) The charging stations worked so there was no need to call for help or assistance. Just back in, plug in, stretch your legs, use the restroom, get something to eat, whatever. For the first Supercharger stop, charging completed in around 40 minutes. The charging completed before finishing lunch.

Charging times ranged between 15 to 60 minutes. The last charging stop was supposed to be only around 15 minutes or so just to get home, but I charged up a little longer while finishing a snack at a nice location that I thought was worth lingering for. For one charging stop on another trip I remember I got a notification on my phone that it was charged enough to reach my destination after being plugged in for not even two minutes.

The charging rate is faster if the battery pack is preconditioned and at a lower state of charge. I have some screenshots to share from my phone showing charging progress that better explains how it works.

It was the first such trip I had taken with the Model 3 and I wanted to see how it went. Like I said, it was surprisingly pleasant with no worries or concerns. I had taken other trips including out of state but didn't need to charge, the long range battery pack had enough range to handle it round trip no problem.

The point is, Tesla as a company has spent a lot of time, money & resources to try to solve these problems. It is one reason why they are so much more successful at developing this market than any other car manufacturer, and the biggest reason why I chose a Tesla Model 3 over anything else.

Like Speck, this is an experiment. I understand my situation is different from others but I haven't yet found a reason why it won't work for me and it is working better than expected. It's not my forever car. If something better comes along, I'll consider that too.

[Eggman]

Here's some screenshots of the Tesla app while charging.

For more info about Supercharger locations, see Tesla.com/trips

This was at the Florence KY Supercharger on the way to Louisville. It is rated to deliver 250kw. Shortly after plugging in I checked the app to see how things were going and found the charge rate exceeded the rated capacity of the Supercharger so I took a screenshot.

Notice that the charge rate is displayed both in kilowatts and in miles per hour of charging. It also shows the total kilowatt hours added to the battery pack during the charging session.


The charge rate slowed as the battery charged.


After maybe 12 minutes of charging the battery is over 50%.


I continued charging to get there & back.

[Eggman]

Later on after checking in to the hotel I came back to the same Supercharger. Since I was curious to see how Supercharging worked, I took more screenshots.

The charge rate wasn't as fast as before. I suspect that since I was coming from the hotel I probably didn't let the car know I was going to charge, so it didn't precondition the battery for faster charging - thus, no wavy bacon icon. That was fine as I was finished driving for the day, no longer in a hurry and more curious to learn about Tesla Supercharging. Charging went quicker than I expected, much faster than at home of course.

Soon after plugging in:


One minute of charging


Two minutes of charging


Five minutes


Eight minutes


At fifteen minutes I started doing other stuff while waiting, like listening to some music. There's games to play on the screen to help pass the time but I haven't used that stuff.


Eighteen minutes


21 minutes, started listening to something else, probably news I guess.


25 minutes