Tag: car update

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

As I write this, I’ve owned a Model Y for six months. I’ll do a review of the car ownership across six months, but first, do I think it was a good purchase?

tl;dr yes.

I think the Model Y is a fantastic car and fun to drive. It’s fun, works well in my life, and I still enjoy driving it. In fact, I sometimes make an extra errand trip because I enjoy it.

Comparison with the BMW

Cheap gas is nearly US$4/gal, which is pricey. Filling up the BMW would be US$80 to go a bit over 400 miles. I can’t go 400 miles in the Tesla, but here’s the comparison of 200 miles:

• BMW: 21mpg, $4.32/gal – $41.14
• Tesla Model Y, $0.13/kW, 300Wh/mi – $7.80

I used 200 miles as that’s not a bad trip. I can easily do that without charging or without worry. However, given current prices, and what the mileage in a similarly sized car, the Tesla is way cheaper to operate. Plus, for now, my cost is fixed.

Note: I have regularly driven 250 miles in a day without charging.

A few people sometimes point out that I own an X5, whereas I had to buy a Tesla. I’m ignoring the purchase price because I was going to buy a car anyway.

Other EVs

When we first discussed Tesla, I was enamored with the X. I looked at used Xs and priced those against Ys. I decided the Y was a better choice for us, partially because of the newer tech that gets incorporated in them. After reading this article, I think I made a good choice.

The first week I had the Y, I saw a Mach-E at the gym. At first I thought someone had put Mustang badging on a Model Y, but when I walked around it, I realized there are a few differences. There’s a review that I’d urge you to watch if you are comparing them, but based on the review, I think the Model Y is better.

The charging network thing is a big deal to me. In reading and watching others talk, and my own experience in Greeley, I think charging on the road has a ways to go outside of Tesla.

I also think the weirdness of doors, less space, the lack or dual wireless charging, and the infotainment being less tech-y make the Model Y better than the others.

As for the smaller, shorter range cars, I wasn’t really interested.

An Older Sports Car

This whole new car journey started with my wife watching my browse sports car sale listings for weeks. I was thinking to do what my friend Brent did and get an older 944 (or 968).

While I like the idea of one of those cars, I don’t know it would be as fun as this car, certainly wouldn’t be drivable in the snow, and I’d be thinking of the gas cost every time I drove it right now. I’d also potentially have some maintenance things to worry about, and while I could afford them, they seem to occur at bad times for us, financially. And they annoy my wife.

I’m torn on this, though I do think I’ve gotten more enjoyment from nailing the accelerator in the Model Y than I’d get in a sports car. Maybe another 914 that let me whip around turns would be more fun, but not with anyone in the car.

Reviewing the Decision

It was a good decision. As I’ve thought about this, I’m not sure I could have made a better one. The Model S is attractive, but out of my price range, and this car is already fast enough.

I’m still thrilled with my decision.

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

I was driving home from a ski trip recently on I-70 E in Colorado. My wife wanted to call my daughter and went to switch the connected Bluetooth device from my phone to hers. She connected her phone and made the call, but she couldn’t get the audio to come out of the car speakers. She ended up talking directly on the phone while trying to disconnect and reconnect a few times.

At some point my wife finished her call and went to click the icon on the Tesla screen to disconnect and nothing worked. She tried pressing the car menu button, the spotify icon, even the climate controls. Nothing worked.

At this point I was driving 65mph on a busy highway, with snow on the side shoulders. Not the place to worry.

I knew the car should keep running, but there is something a little uneasy about not being able to change any settings while driving down the road. We debated what to do for a few minutes. I knew there was a reset procedure, but I wasn’t interested in testing it while driving.

We kept going down the highway, planning on taking an exit and then rebooting. As my wife searched for information online as to what to do, the screen actually restarted itself. Not the full restart I’ve seen with software updates, but apparently a soft restart of the UI. After 10-15s after the screen went dark, I had a working UI again.

Hard and Soft Reboots

We looked up the procedure and there are both hard and soft reboots of the car. A soft reboot can be done in the Model Y by holding both steering wheel buttons down until the car resets. This should only be done while the car is stopped, which is what I expect.

A hard reset, and power cycling the car, comes from the UI itself. You should allow the car to be powered down for 2+ minutes before doing anything.

In general, I’m not overly worried about the UI rebooting, but I do think that this is a case where a secondary screen, running an independent OS, would be good to keep the driver informed of at least speed.

Am I Concerned?

Not now. The car seems to work independently of the UI, which is what I would hope was the case. It’s lightly disturbing, but that’s about it. Now I know what to expect.

Software Updates

Usually there’s a notification in my app of a software update. It also appears in the UI. I used the UI to do one manually, watching the screen give status info similar to how a PC or mobile does. Very uninteresting.

For all of them since the first one, I usually just approve the update in the app at night. The car is plugged in and I haven’t worried about watching it. I’ll check in the am, and I haven’t had issues.

I do see UI elements moved, which is slightly annoying, but not critical. Mostly I watch the release notes would better use images to describe movement of stuff so I don’t have to hunt around. It took me 3 or 4 minutes to find my steering wheel heater after one update, which was annoying and distracting as I kept looking at various stop signs during a drive.

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

Recently I was up in Greeley, CO for a 3 day volleyball tournament. Greeley is a small city in Colorado, but it’s fairly rural in character. Lots of farms and ranches around the area and a lot of cattle industry there. There’s a “smell” that permeates the area and most people are aware of when visiting.

We took the Model Y, and while things went well, it was an interesting experience as an electric car owner. The short list of learnings:

• Plan ahead and charge extra before leaving.
• Take time to charge for at least 10-15 if you are near a Supercharger
• 6kW chargers are useless

The First Day

We headed up on Friday, needing to be up there for an evening event. My wife had driven the car to an appointment early in the day, and I neglected to plug in the car and charge up the car. We ended up leaving in a hurry around 4pm with about 70% charge.

We headed to Loveland, which is about 80 miles from the house. We were near a Crossroads Blvd exit, where a Supercharger is located. After our event, rather than charge, we drove over to Greeley, which is about 15 miles. We got to the hotel with about 30% charge. It wasn’t that cold overnight, about 30F, so we weren’t too worried. The hotel had no place to charge, not even a 110 that we could plug into. Not sure it would have mattered as there were 3-4 Teslas in the lot, so even a couple charging spots would likely be in use.

We woke up and got some breakfast, and found ourselves with about 23-24% charge. Since the plan was to be busy for the afternoon and evening, we were slightly concerned about another overnight without charging.

Chargepoint

I downloaded the ChargePoint app at breakfast and saw a lot of chargers nearby, so I wasn’t worried. There were various wattage listings, and when I sorted by adapter, I saw a number of J1772 plugs. We drove over to find a L2 charger, and there was one in the parking lot of a hospital. I attached the adapter, plugged in, and scanned my phone, and charging started.

Well, not really. The Tesla screen showed 10+ hours to charge. We sat there for 5-10 minutes, but didn’t see any increase in mileage and no power was flowing.

We were worried, so I dropped my wife off at the hotel and made my way over to Loveland. I was pressed for time as I needed to be back in Greeley in about 75 minutes, and Loveland was about 25 minutes away. This was a little stressful.

SuperCharger

The SuperChargers in Loveland are located behind the Embassy Suites. I’d seen them before, so I knew were to go. I arrived with about 25 minutes of time to charge before I needed to head back. I backed into a stall and connected the car.

As I was doing this, the next car down rolled down their window and reminded me that we both charge slower if we use the adjacent chargers. I’d known this, and I think he was confused as I parked with a space between us. It can be confusing sometimes as the chargers are sometimes offset with parking, but you look at the numbering. I used 1A, with 1B being free. The guy realized he was in 2A and apologized.

When I got in my car, I verified it was charging. The spot rate was adding about 520mi/hr, fluctuating up or down a bit. That put me at around 30 minutes to get from the 10% to 91% (my limit). I walked inside to use the restroom and then came back to sit and read a little in the car.

Someone else pulled in next to me. I was about to say something, as I didn’t want to slow my car, but two more Teslas drove up, so someone was going to be sharing charging circuits. When the driver plugged in, my rate dropped into the 320-350mi/hr range.

I ended up reaching 64% in about 23 or so minutes. I had mapped the route back to Greeley, and when I ran out of time, I unplugged and headed back.

Two More Days

In light use across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning, we had the Tesla down to about 30% when we finished the tournament. We drove to the hotel to pack up and then headed back to Loveland. This time we grabbed some takeout lunch and brought it with us. I plugged in and only got about 410-420 mi/hr being added, even without another car close.

We ate and chatted with my daughter on the phone for about 20 minutes. Once we reached 60%, I unplugged and headed home, as that gave us plenty of charge. We arrived home with about 32%, and I even went back to the gym later before plugging in for the night.

A couple interesting things for us. First, charging needs some planning. We need to account better for pre-trip charging, as well as mapping out a plan and a backup plan for these trips. We are sometimes time-constrained, so we need to think about when we can charge, and where.

Second, I could have tried another ChargePoint charger, but I was assuming we’d be able to get a good 20% charge fairly quickly. That was a poor assumption on my part, and I know better now to expect I could have problems.

Third, SuperChargers are awesome. We’ve used them a few times, and across 15-20 minutes, while having a snack or coffee, they usually give me enough charge to feel comfortable. Slower than adding petrol to a car (5 minutes), but not bad when combined with a break of some sort.

It was interesting to us that charging in some places is not simple, and not convenient. Finding diesel can be a hassle sometimes on the road, but not as much as finding chargers and hoping they work.

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

I bought the “slow” Tesla. The Model Y Long Range, which is fine. I wanted range more than performance. If you look at the 0-60 times, you can see a variety, but for 2021 this is how things rank.

• 2021 Model S Plaid – 2.1s
• 2021 Model S Long Range – 3.5s
• 2019 Model 3 Performance – 3.1s
• 2019 Model 3  Long Range – 4.1s
• 2021 Model Y Performance – 3.6
• 2021 Model y Long Range – 4.4
• Model X – 3.3-5.5 s, depending on model

What’s crazy is that I can “buy” a boost of acceleration for US$2000 that will drop me down around 4s. It’s a software upgrade.

Is It Tempting?

Getting into the Tesla and nailing the accelerator is exciting. The car really moves, and people that haven’t experienced it before are often surprised. I try to avoid it, usually playing the “video game” of how little power can I use, but it is fun once in awhile.

When the weather changed, and I needed snow tires, I became more cautious. In fact, I accidentally had some slippage from pressing a little too quickly on the accelerator a few times. One of the things I changed for snow was setting the accelerator to “Chill” mode, which reduces how quickly the car reacts.

Across the last few weeks, I’ve left Chill mode on for daily driving, even without snow. The car is still plenty fast, and I know I use less power. The other day I was curious how much of a difference it makes, so I turned it off in town. With a bright sunny day, no snow or moisture on the ground, I nailed the accelerator.

It’s neck snapping quick. I can feel my neck muscles bunch up. In fact, I turned it right back off at the next traffic signal.

A few days later I turned the Standard mode back on and drove for day. It’s fun, but I realized that most of the time I don’t really need that much acceleration. I tend to leave it off today most of the time, only turning it on if I want to have a little fun or I think I might need to be ready to accelerate quickly in traffic.

That’s rare, so no, I’m not tempted by a $2000 upgrade for more speed.