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A Good Model S Video Review, Car and Driver

Discussion in 'Tesla' started by cycledrum, Jan 13, 2013.

  1. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Pretty long review at 16 minutes, but quite good. He takes to the road 11 minutes into the video.
    He says "... you spend a little time with a powerful electric motor car and it's pretty convincing."

    Very few negative opinions. Hopefully the one at very end regarding range and charging on the interstate is largely incorrect.

     
  2. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Oh boy, here's a hot and very recent thread on Teslamotorsclub .... journalist back east posted NY Times article about running out of juice on road trip. I hope it's only a minor blip on the radar ...

    NYT article: Stalled on the EV Highway
     
  3. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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  4. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Thanks for the pointers. I found out about the story from MNL but am reading thread at the Tesla Motor Club. Lots of divided opinions there, some of which I totally disagree with.

    It is too bad that there's this negative publicity in the NY Times but at the same time, that's what he gets for depending on a GOM (guess-o-meter) and unfortunately, it looks like there was temporary capacity loss due to the cold coupled w/a big parasitic drain overnight (part of it is known before a certain firmware upgrade and the other part is likely the battery TMS).

    There might've been a few user errors as well.

    He's lucky all the Superchargers were working too. Those w/Leafs always complain about Blink L2 EVSEs and CHAdeMO (DC faster chargers) being down. Others on other networks are sometimes down or ICEd.
     
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    I realized I watched this long ago. What's the issue about range? I heard him say that it "won't work on an interstate" or something like that. Depends on what you mean by "won't work". :) The Model S w/85 kwh battery pack has awesome range for a BEV.

    Heck, 11 Months, 36,000 Miles In A Nissan Leaf Electric Car? No Problem did that w/a Leaf, but he charges at both ends.

    I think he's past 60K miles on his Leaf now but ran into My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Nissan says I can't buy a new battery pack even if I want to. And no, Nissan STILL hasn't provided a price. They said they will in Spring though.

    Tony Williams drove did his BC2BC (Baja California, Mexico to British Columbia, Canada) drive in his Leaf. Leafers drove his car back for him from the north to San Diego. He plans to do a similar drive (opposite direction?) again but in his Rav4 EV, which has no CHAdeMO port nor any way to DC fast charge.
     
  6. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Thanks for a fair video, a fair article, and a fair response.

    Cycledrum, range and charging on long trips is an issue. Try driving a Prius on only 6 gallons of gas. A Tesla owner needs to find an outlet every couple hundred miles or so. If one can't or doesn't want to wait for the car to charge then the EV stays home. When stories of the long EV trips are told the elapsed time usually isn't reported. Everyone wants to hear that the EV made the 250 mile trip. Nobody wants to hear it took 10 hours: 5 on the road & 5 on the plug.

    Tesla did a poor job educating the newbie driver. Newbie driver succumbed to Go Fever. There's only one possible result, just like a Road Runner cartoon.
     
  7. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I didn't think this post merited its own thread, so I'm just appending it here. Today, I took my first ride in a model S. I flew for business and the car service at the destination was an owner-operated 2014 tesla S, with 130k miles presumably all in livery service.

    I rode in the back seat, just as I would have if it were the Lincoln or Cadillac that usually gets used for this role. The front right seat had been racked forward and inclined to put the headrest on the glovebox to create more space.

    Quick takes:

    • Entry door was light and rattled upon closing. I realize they use aluminum to save weight, and it works, but I couldn't help but think it felt cheap.
    • Doorsill step-over was very high. Probably relating to the fantastic crash scores and making space for the battery pack. I definitely had a sense that the floors were very thick; high off the road.
    • Tons of hip and shoulder room. Very wide car.
    • Not enough headroom. I hit my head every time we hit a bump. My Prius c has more rear seat headroom. This was surprising to me. (Is the back seat adjustable? I saw no obvious controls and the trip was short enough that I didn't bother to ask.)
    • The quiet at rest is wonderful- even better than our Prius. (when the Prius ICE is running, anyway)
    • Wind noise was very strong from the rear quarterlight area.
    • Road and tire noise was pronounced at highway speed, also coming from the same area though I had the distinct sense it was coming from the opening for the seat belt web. If I moved my head forward it got much quieter.
    An interesting ride across town. A nice car overall. Probably better experienced from the front seat.
     
    #7 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Oct 16, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2018
    cwerdna likes this.
  8. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Without the drivetrain noise, other sounds become more noticable.
     
  9. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    ...and as it happened, the same company took me back to the airport though this time in a model X.

    Much more headroom in the rear seat, and much less wind & road noise back there. My knees weren't bent quite so much, higher cushion.

    The thing that caught me off was that the seat was very wobbly, like the tracks weren't bolted down or something.