Tag: car update

Since I’ve had my Tesla Model Y, there have been a few things that changed in the UI. Some good, some bad, which is what I think about most software changes. This post talks about a few of these.

This is part of a series that covers my experience with a Tesla Model Y.

Side View

There are pretty near cameras that you can use in the Tesla. Before I got mine, I saw some people posting how they like driving with the cameras on, as they can see behind and to the side of them

At some point after I got my car, Tesla added an option to have the side camera appear when the turn signal was activated. I got a view like this one:

I thought that was pretty cool, but when I did this, the entire left side display jumped a bit to raise the car from the bottom of the screen to a point above the camera view. A bit jarring and annoying.

A few months later, another software update fixed this. I could still get the camera view, but I could also move it around, to allow me to choose where it appears. I picked this spot:

This allows me to see the view, but not have the car in the UI jump around when I signal.

Music Controls

I love music, and I love streaming Spotify in the Tesla as I drive around. It’s not a connection to my phone, but an app that logs into my account and streams independent of my phone.

However, when I first got the Tesla, the controls for music were on the far side of the (wide) screen.

It’s not a long stretch, but I do lean forward and right slightly to reach the next or previous buttons. I know I can use the steering wheel control, but that doesn’t always come to mind.

One thing that I appreciated was moving the controls to the driver’s side of the car, which you can see below.

What’s more, they added 3 cards for trip info and tire pressure to this same place. If I swipe left, I get the odometer trip stuff.

Small changes, but these made a nice difference in how I work with the controls as I drive the car around.

Customized Dock

Another change made to the UI and functionality was setting 2 levels of steering wheel heat. When I got the car, I could only turn on steering wheel heating or off. Now I have two levels of heat, which is pretty cool. I mostly use the lower level, but I can use the high level when it’s really cold.

However.

Getting to this means opening up the climate controls and then finding the steering wheel in the center. I have to press this twice to get from off->high->low. Not easy to do if I’ve started driving, and it’s distracting.

I can add this to the dock, along with other controls, which is cool. If I open the list of items, I see this:

These are all the items I can select.

Now, if I long press, I can edit, and then more controls appear.

If you look at the bottom, I’ve added the steering wheel heater, which is one of the 5 most used items for me. Now I can turn it on and off without having to open a larger menu.

A super useful item, especially for people that want to quickly control wipers. Not an issue in Colorado, but in other places, I know some people get annoyed they can’t turn these on with a button. They can, the left stalk button, but a screen button makes some people happier.

I ran across an article on EV myths, this I thought was interesting. The myths are things that I see in comments on all sorts of articles or hear from people. They are:

1. EVs take forever to recharge
2. EVs can’t travel far
3. EVs are slow
4. EVs are unreliable
5. EVs are super expensive

I haven’t experienced any of these, with my EV charging fairly quickly, I go up to ski in mine, it’s fast (perhaps too fast), it always works, and it’s in line with luxury cars.

The last one gave me pause, because my Model Y was the most expensive car I’ve every bought. It actually bothered me for months in the summer of 2021 until my wife got me to sit down and think rationally about it.

The car is a $55-60k car. That is pricey, and not for everyone, but it’s in line with a petrol car from BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc. Most of the other EVs, Polestar, Ionic, etc. are similarly priced. The basic Model 3 is in the 40s.

Pricey, but not crazy.

The high end Teslas (X and S) are like a high end 911 or BMW.

I’ve had no maintenance in my model Y in 17 months. I’ve had it always charged when I start the day, so I almost never need to charge during the day. The times we’ve had to charge during the day (our summer trip in the mountains), the time was more than gas, but not much more than a pit stop for coffee and the bathroom.

There was another article from the Atlantic, which I’ve seen reposted a few times as they are supposedly a world class, trustworthy journalism site. I think they are, but they harp on costs, which are like other cars. They can get high quickly. I agree that starting the Ford F150 around $50k but quickly going to $80 isn’t great, but it does give options to others.

From what I’ve learned in a year and a half, the vast majority of the time, 95%+, I got less than 120 miles in a day. I could likely live with a 200-220mi range car. YMMV, but it really depends on you doing a little work to understand how you drive, how often, and how the car sits. There are days we go 250miles and need to charge, but that’s rare.

Honestly, the more I drive the car, the more it’s just a car. The exception is longer trips, in which case, then my driving becomes like a trip through Wyoming or Montana with a diesel vehicle. I do a little planning.