[stevelup]

For many years, apps have been able to control aspects of our cars.

You have to assume that this is all thoroughly isolated from safety critical systems.

[malcolmfrost]

Don’t worry about it, it’s just a car! You don’t need any app, just the key card works perfectly well.

[Miscellaneous]

For many years, apps have been able to control aspects of our cars.

You would think main dealers would know this. When questioned about why they had done so many miles in my car when it was in under warranty a few weeks back they lied telling me it had 3 test drives over the course of the day. The app showed one drive just after 9am of 26 miles in 32mins @28mpg. No test drive to check EML light remained off after work, or for wind noise as claimed after fitting new door seal.

[Leodisflyer]

Am I alone in wondering if such acceleration should be available to anyone and everyone who steps out of a diesel Mondeo and into an EV in the next few years?

Some kind of legislative restriction seems likely (responsible?) and of course it's immediately available via a mere OTA update.... PING and you're slow. Probably best to make hay now, it might not last long.

You mean like "valet mode" and "chill mode" on a Tesla? Use of these is not monitored by insurance companies - yet. Valet mode can be set remotely via your app.

Acceleration isn't really a "problem". You tap the accelerator and you're at your chosen speed - as long as you lift off quickly enough. There are a lot of safety aids that hep prevent collisions and the handling on corners is good and should keep many out of trouble. The car (Model 3) is heavy though - just under 4100lb empty in the long range and performance versions. It doesn't feel it when you drive it, quite the opposite most of the time, but I wouldn't want to try and find the limits on ice.

[Leodisflyer]

Does anyone have any real life experience yet of reduced distance in cold weather? I'm guessing on an hour or two journey a significant amount of charge is used for heating (as well as electrics generally not liking the cold).

I do!!
I can't remember the precise numbers, but I charged to 90%, drove to Gatwick 50 miles in daylight with the temp at about 10C, left the car for 5 days and drove back daylight and got home with around 70 miles left, I Supercharged to 90% again and that evening I drove back to Gatwick in the dark with the temperature around 2C and got home with about 20 miles remaining.
Model 3 SR+

Heading for a supercharger at the start of a journey usually makes a big difference. Tesla pull heat from the motors into the battery for pre-conditioning (supposedly this can also be used when stationary, but yet to see hard evidence). Energy is used pre-conditioning the battery and the battery also warms when on a supercharger. I did it on a travel leg last week. Headed for Newport Pagnell, got a quick blast of charge and then dropped into congestion round the M25. Got better energy usage than I normally get in the summer - well north of 4 miles per kWh. LR AWD.

Vampire drain is definitely a thing though.

[Leodisflyer]

I picked up our model 3 from Gatwick 2 days ago. It was 2 degrees air temp and half an hour before I got in the car I set it to warm up to 22 degrees so it was toasty warm. I didn’t intend it to be half an hour, just got delayed!

Mileage left was 95. Then half an hour later when I drove it, mileage was 82. So it cost 13 miles to warm it up.

Around 3kWh - kettle running for an hour.

I keep my cabin heat down to around 18C in the cold and use 1 bar of the heated seat. Balance of comfort and energy use. Did play with running the heating async, but it was more hassle that it was worth - cold draft from the left.. I've got plenty of range so happy to use the battery, it was more of an experiment than anything.

Sentry mode and checking the car with the app both use a lot as the car doesn't go to sleep properly.

[Leodisflyer]

With reference to the above posts: I keep hearing how folks are letting the driving distance remaining on their BEVs get down to 30 or 40 km. My GF panics if the little fuel light comes on in her car, which it does at around 120km left. You can laugh, but its one reason that I doubt that when the time comes to replace her car, it will be with a BEV, even if range etc would in theory be OK for 98% of journeys.

When I keep hearing of 911-like performance, I do want to try one, but what about the noise?

And does driving a BEV "quickly" reduce range as it would with the aforementioned 911?

Regards, SD..

Yes. Most of the time I'm in mine I'm in flowing congestion - it makes a big (beneficial) difference to range.

You don't really get noise when accelerating - so you might miss that, and you need to use the display keep a close eye on what speed you're doing as there's no real excitement or drama - a quick kick in the back and you're up to speed. Going easy on the acceleration is better for range though. The nice experience is really on a wide climbing road where you can enjoy the feeling.

I've become quite comfortable dipping down to 10%, or even below. The range meter seems to be very accurate on a trip and 10% would get me from Leeds to near Sheffield when the battery is warmed up. I'd pass two superchargers on the way. 10% on a LR Model 3 is equivalent to around 25% on a 40kWh Leaf. I arrived home once in the Leaf with about (from memory) 9 miles of range left in sub-zero temps, but there are plenty of chargers in Leeds and the car was going straight onto charge once home anyway,

Range is a very different experience in an EV than in an ICE. In an ICE you have to find a petrol station before you can use it again. In an EV you only need enough range to get you home or to a destination charger. That said, you do plan your trips - but then nearly all of us here are used to doing that for a hobby

[Leodisflyer]

Its the warning that panics - not the range.

Is it though? In my car, I go on the range counter. When the range gets below 200 miles, I'm mindful that I'm going to have to fill up some time soon. If it gets below 100 miles, a bit of apprehension sets in...

Yeah, that was my experience on Thursday. Well over 200 miles to do and I needed to fill up. Hadn't had lunch.

Headed to the services near Stanstead and had fairly edible Chinese there. Oh, and popped the car on charge for a few minutes while I ate. Stopped again at Grantham - the car didn't need it, but I did. Spent over £2 on supercharger fees just to get a nice wide parking bay
with the wheel bumpers that tell you when to stop. Arrived home with 25% left.

[Leodisflyer]

My new car has a teeny tiny 42L fuel tank whereas I'd previously been used to 70L.

So as to avoid a near permanent residency at the petrol station I now eek the absolute last drop of fuel out each time.

If my range isn't dropping to 0 miles as I roll onto the forecourt, I consider it to be a failure

Managed to get 42.37L in there once!

I feel your pain. Many, many, years ago I was driving a really stupid amout and grew to hate filling up. Learnt to not run a diesel dry unless you know how to prime it. Engine tech may have moved on since. Did literally coast onto a forecourt once. Used to use the truck diesel pumps where possible as they fill faster.

One thing I don't miss is wasting time shuffling my feet while holding a smelly nozzle.

[Leodisflyer]

Pre condition and charge times can be set in the Zoe, but doesn't include range in those calcs.
However someone reverse engineered the API for the Zoe app so you could try and write your own function (others have written their own apps and have hooked it into Alexa).

This worries me more than anything else Ive read here. Mainly because I dont understand what you've written and the idea of an 'app' having anything to do with driving a car is pretty scary.

Yes, I remember the "If microsoft built cars...." quips/jokes. Have we got to that reality yet?

Regards, SD..

Whatever you do then, don't buy a Tesla then. It's the wrong car for you. It's basically a computerised electric skateboard and the software changes frequently.

Similarly, if you are into software and buy a Tesla then be prepared to be frustrated by the, apparently small, software tweaks that would make a real difference to your drive and haven't yet been implemented. You'll be hanging on every software update to see what treats it brings. The car drives beautifully and is a great place too be for a few hours each day. Much of the UI is a distraction though.

[eltonioni]

Am I alone in wondering if such acceleration should be available to anyone and everyone who steps out of a diesel Mondeo and into an EV in the next few years?

Some kind of legislative restriction seems likely (responsible?) and of course it's immediately available via a mere OTA update.... PING and you're slow. Probably best to make hay now, it might not last long.

You mean like "valet mode" and "chill mode" on a Tesla? Use of these is not monitored by insurance companies - yet. Valet mode can be set remotely via your app.

Acceleration isn't really a "problem". You tap the accelerator and you're at your chosen speed - as long as you lift off quickly enough. There are a lot of safety aids that hep prevent collisions and the handling on corners is good and should keep many out of trouble. The car (Model 3) is heavy though - just under 4100lb empty in the long range and performance versions. It doesn't feel it when you drive it, quite the opposite most of the time, but I wouldn't want to try and find the limits on ice.

I was more thinking that most cars are faster than most driver's brains. EVs even more so.


https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/24/209 ... -elon-musk
"Tesla has already received 146,000 pre-orders for its divisive Cybertruck"

That's a lot of 12 year olds with dad's credit card. I mean, just look at it.

[malcolmfrost]

Elon’s tweeted 187k which possibly makes it the fastest ever crowdfunding!

[Colonel Panic]

Powerwall technology might suit you @johnm . Big battery in the house, charge it at 5p/unit at night and then use it during the day and evening. Normally marketed to go with solar panels, Eventually BEVs may also be used to help smooth demand on the grid by feeding back in. The times of day when people are not in their cars, in part, coincides with when power is needed elsewhere

With Storm Ciara due overnight, we received an alert yesterday evening saying that our recently installed Powerwall was going in to Storm Watch mode for the first time; as it was only 23% full, the system automatically started to charge it (ie didn't wait until the off-peak period) so that should the network power go down we could use it as a backup. This morning, despite the battery being full we were still importing power for general use, so it obviously plans to keep it full until the risk of an outage recedes. Quite cool really

[Leodisflyer]

Going to have to get one of these. One person I know had ideas some years ago about where the technology would take us and now he’s living it. Combination of Powerwall, solar, Tesla, cheap overnight electricity and an intelligent charge lead. Overall he’s doing very well indeed with his electricity usage and costs.

I hadn’t realised the Powerwall adds that level of intelligence. I’ll share your anecdote with him @Colonel Panic .

[PaulB]

What sort of ball park figure are we talking about for a PowerWall?

Also, Tesla have clearly put a lot of effort into providing a high speed charge infrastructure for their car users. The underground infrastructure must already bee there so are the other companies just slow off the mark?

I also recall reading that superheat chargers may have "power wall" type batteries incorporated to even the demand on the grid and reduce the need for expensive cable laying. Is any of that happening?