Door Handles vs. Wife

So, being the type of guy who LOVES shopping /s, I frequently drop my wife off in front of stores and find a nice safe place in the back of the parking lot to wait for her, away from all the hordes of women shopping who have no business attempting to use a parking lot... scary place, but I digress...

Anyway, when the call comes for me to pick her up, and I pull up in front of the doors, the handles are neatly retracted into the door. Of course she taps the handle to present it, but nothing happens; so there must be some sort of required delay before the touch-to-present works, after coming to a stop.

The same thing happens when I back out of the garage, and then my wife comes out of the house and tries to get into the car.

This is actually her chief complaint about the car.

Tesla, you could easily fix this with a software update... a happy wife equals a happy life.

What I've been doing is two-fold... lock the doors and then wait a second before unlocking them (doing both in rapid succession won't present the handles) as I see her approaching the car. If, for some reason, I'm not fast enough, I've told her to wait a second after I fully stop moving the car, before she taps the handle.

Going Back to ICE

Because I hadn't had time to affix my new temporary tag, and I didn't want today's rain to mess up my fresh wash/wax, I drove our ICE to work today.

It was... an experience.

I'll note that I haven't driven a gasoline engine car since I picked-up the Tesla over a month ago. I'll also note that my wife's ICE is no sloucher, either (a relatively new Acura with a turbo-charger).

I felt like I was drunkenly operating a clunky old steam locomotive, rather than being ONE with the road. I mean, I pushed the gas pedal, waited a second or two as the RPMs noisily rose, and only then did I start to gain some speed as the transmission started to convey those explosions to the wheels in a flurry of noise and vibration.

I literally thought the car was broken somehow or needed service. About 15 minutes later, as the engine warmed-up (I had forgot about that necessity), things got a little more smooth, but not much.

I think I'd rather even settle for a Nissan Leaf than an ICE... internal combustion is such an archaic construct ~ I had NO idea. And yes... I'm aware I sound like a complete douche-bag. I don't care. Electric is the future. I'm completely convinced, now.

The ESP Seems to Have ESP

I've seen this a lot more lately... not sure if the slightly cooler weather or if due to the latest software. Maybe 1-in-10 of my "spirited" starts from a stop have been resulting in the stability control light flashing and much less power available. Maybe another 1-in-20 of the less-spirited starts have also resulted in the same.

Almost always, though, it seems to happen at the line whenever a stop light turns green - where, perhaps, there might be some oil on the road. Also, it seems to happen more frequently during the start of my drive - when, perhaps, the tires are still cold and not as "sticky."

The conclusion that I'm drawing is this: the car is able to detect an imperceptible loss of traction and react within milliseconds - so sensitive and so quick that I was thinking there was a bug, since I could not perceive ANY traction issues that would warrant the ESP activating. To put that in perspective, a "blink of an eye" is about 150~200 milliseconds, by the way.

I'm not sure if I'm used to clunky and slow older types of control systems, but it's kind of weird. In a way, I want that physical feeling of a tiny bit of slip before the system activates (as a cue that it's happening); but on the other hand, it's nice to trust that the car is actually taking care of things for me - and doing it well. Just one more old habit to break, I suppose!

Title and Registration Woes

I fear that I may soon be without my Tesla for a while, after this week.

My temporary Ohio license plate will have expired by this coming Thursday, which is 45 days after purchase/pick-up. But, no worry, because that gives me plenty of time to transfer the title to my state and obtain my own registration, right? Maybe not.... I still haven't received my original Ohio title.

I got my purchase agreement, bill of sale, and a photocopy of my Ohio title, via FedEx just a day or so after I last inquired about the delay from my DS in Cincinnati (so I think Tesla is on the ball here); but when I went to the BMV, I was told they couldn't do anything until I could bring the original title with me.

I'm wondering why I got my other paperwork from Tesla so late. The cover letter was dated around the time I sent the email to my DS. Either Tesla forgot to send the paperwork to the Ohio DMV, or the Ohio DMV is slow as Hell and Tesla sent me that paperwork as an email response/courtesy.

I'm not sure who to blame here... Tesla or Ohio. Honestly, it wouldn't be a stretch to blame Ohio, I think. But IF this was a result of Tesla's negligence, then this will be my first major negative mark against the company.

We'll see this week, I suppose.

Tesla Mobile Ranger Service Experience (and Bug Update)

Being a new owner, I've just had an "otherworldly" experience, of sorts. Those of you with Teslas might be aware of the mobile ranger service; but for everyone else, let me tell you about it. No other car company does this, to my knowledge (but correct me, if I'm wrong). I didn't have to go to a dealership, I got to work on time... the whole deal.

Currently, Indianapolis doesn't have a physical dedicated Tesla Service Center; but they do have a service team based out of a temporary location in Zionsville (actually a body shop there that's authorized to perform work on the aluminum in a Tesla). Tesla is supposed to be opening a service center in Indianapolis by the end of this year; but until they do, Indy area owners get the benefit of having a technician actually come to your home or work to do any needed service, free of charge. I believe that if you have a service center nearby, the ranger service is a $100 charge, though.

The front panel corner popped up (forgive the ugly water spots)

So, I actually had two issues to address during the service/ranger visit: the front panel in front of the panoramic roof (sunroof) had a corner popped up, and the issue with the shuddering while slowing down. For the former, it was a minor eyesore and (I thought) potentially a point of water ingress. As for the latter, if you read my post from a few days ago, you'll know that I had a vibration or shudder start happening in the rear end after a software update (very minor, and not even an annoyance really, but I did want to ensure it wasn't something else major). Anyway, I reported the issues to Tesla, and they scheduled someone to meet me and check it out.

The technician actually met me at my house, with a loaner P85+ (all red and sexy looking LOL). However upon clearing the previous client's memory, the center screen unit wouldn't boot back up. So, since he didn't want to inconvenience me with not having that for the drive to work, he offered to just come to my work later in the morning and do the checks / repairs there, on the spot.

This guy had a long morning, but was great!

Once he arrived in the white Tesla Ford truck (love the irony), he got to work.

It turns out that I have a newer pano roof that uses a different attachment layout, and the replacement panel they had wasn't exactly matching. The poor guy seemed to be embarrassed by the mix-ups this morning, but he did make it look a LOT better. Plus, he alleviated my concern about any potential water ingress by informing me that the area wasn't a critical seal area or anything. Regardless, he insisted on ordering a new (correct) panel and coming out in a week or so to do the repair again, mentioning that he wanted it to be perfectly right.

As for the shuddering at 4mph bug... it really is just a software bug, and not some larger hardware related issue. That was a very nice thing to have confirmed. He informed me that it's a well-known issue that Tesla's software engineers are working to resolve with another future software update.

To top it off, he took care to wipe down all affected areas to make them look pristine when finished. I did really appreciate that, since I just washed and waxed it 2 days before.

Overall, the whole experience has been exceedingly convenient (and what I hoped I had paid for with getting this car). So far, my life has been simplified, I must say... 100% win thus far, as I hoped. And as for the dedication and professionalism of all the Tesla people so far ~ I can't speak well enough. It's so refreshing to deal with competent and caring people, for once!

Update #1:
Apparently the software bug is related to a new "brake scrubbing" feature to help prevent accidents from wet discs during rain. At least that's the consensus from this guy on the forums.

Update #2:
The "roof applique" (as it's called) has once again popped up, so I will be glad when they come to fix it next time. Also, I was informed that my replacement bumper cover will also be in soon, and they can just do it all in one trip! (it had minor damage while in transit)

First Road Trip (and Charging Options)

We live north of Indianapolis, but have family living near Louisville, about a 2 hour drive south (about 120 miles distance). My mother also owns an alignment shop, so I wanted to have a quick look at the rear-end alignment, as well. Also, on the way is also an outlet mall (which my wife needed to visit before her visit to Korea). So, with wifey, dogs and bags loaded, with a 100% charge, we sat out for the weekend drive south.

Now, my 85D (if I drive slowly and with a full charge) technically has the ability to do this round trip without charging, but if you add around-town driving at the destination and a few launches to wow new passengers, it definitely behooved me to at least do an overnight charge before the return trip back home. However, I did decide to also try a "charging tour" of sorts, checking out the Indianapolis Supercharger station and the Blink charger at the Edinburgh Outlet Mall, just for the heck of it (and to get a lay of the land, so to speak). The main overnight charging would take place at my mom's house, where we would stay the night.

As for highway driving, I'd already had a little experience (since I took delivery in Cincinnati), but this time was no different. The car is very comfortable and ridiculously easy to drive. A few times, I kind of wished I had the autopilot or traffic aware cruise control (TACC); but even without it, the drive was great.

Our very first stop was the Indianapolis Supercharger. I'll note that this would be my first ever visit to a Supercharger! Anyway, we'd left the house with a 100% charge, and it's only about 30 miles to the SC, but I figured I'd at least top off the "tank" as well. I was also curious to see how fast it would charge when it was already nearly full.

The station was just off I-465, in the parking lot of a La Quinta Inn. It seemed like a relatively safe place, but didn't look like there was much to do nearby. When we pulled in, there was nobody around. The charging rate was better than I had expected to get. My battery was maybe at around 90%, but it still ramped up to about a 120 miles per hour charging rate. The charging characteristic was almost 400 volts at just under 97 Amps. We sat there for around 10 minutes and grabbed about 15 miles before continuing on our trip.

Next, at the outlet mall an hour later, I tried out the Blink charging station. This mall has two of them (right in front of Tommy Hilfiger, near the Harley Davidson store). When I pulled up, one spot had some sort of plug-in hybrid charging, so I took the other spot. It's interesting to note that I didn't have to back in, as the cable was plenty long enough to reach anywhere within the entire parking spot.

Blink's el-cheapo cable couldn't handle 29A

However, as for the performance of this charger, I was NOT impressed. Not only was it "expensive" (45 minutes cost me almost $3, at $0.03 per 30 seconds), but the voltage and current were weak and the cable was definitely sub-par. In fact, after about 10 minutes, the car showed a fault with the cable and reduced the charging amps even further. It started out at 29A but reduced to 22A. I think the cause was the fall-temperatures sunshine?

Rusty, our Papillon enjoying his
mama's seat while she shops.

But, basically, it was just enough to let me sit in the air conditioning with the dogs while my wife shopped, and also adding a few extra miles (like maybe 6 or 7). I don't think I'll ever depend on this charger, unless absolutely desperate - which I don't think will ever happen.

Interestingly, I was approached by several people who were very curious about the car. They had never seen or even heard of Tesla before, and seemed shocked that such a "sporty" looking car was plugged-in and taking a charge. They were struggling to comprehend the concept of a 100% electric car that didn't look "electric" and could hit near 300 miles in range. Unfortunately, with crazy barking Papillons in the car, I wasn't really to continue the conversation or show them the car; but that was my first experience as a Tesla "representative." No wonder Tesla doesn't find a need for marketing!

Patio with nearby receptacles.
I actually like the top view!

Anyway, onward! Once we arrived at and were settled into our destination, I set out exploring my mom's home electrical system to see if I could manage a 240v charge somehow.

Started the night before at 132 mi

The good news was that I could easily park down by her half-basement patio and run a cord to the dryer outlet nearby... the bad news was that it was a NEMA 10-30 receptacle, and the stores were closed.

So, 120v standard outlet it would be; and for the first time, too. I was actually surprised that I was able to draw 12A, though, and achieved 4 miles/hour charging rate all night. By the next day, I'd gained about 50 miles of range. Definitely lots of comfort room to make it home.

But, I'll be damned, if I wasn't at least going to try out the Supercharger again; but this time, with a bit less in the battery, I really wanted to see how fast it could go.

This time, I got to experience the infamous jet engine taking off under my hood. When you're dumping almost 300 Amps of DC straight into the battery, things are bound to get warm, and the Tesla Model S takes care of that with two hidden radiators & fans to remove heat from the liquid cooled battery. These radiators are located under each headlight, and they have little doors that open only when needed (to improve aerodynamics).

At this point, I was adding a mile every 10 seconds. It would've taken only 15 minutes to get me to my usual daily charge amount of 62%; but home was only a half hour away, so I decided to unplug and complete the trip.

It was interesting that the Supercharger cable was pretty warm. I'll be curious to see one of the new liquid-cooled cables.

So, all-in-all... a pretty cool trip. I've got a better feel for the car's capabilities, and gained confidence in its ability to predict and estimate mileage & range (it's dead-on accurate). The anticipated "range anxiety" never happened, and I was completely comfortable the entire time. Love this car!

Rear Wheel Alignment

One of the tasks on this little road trip was to stop at the alignment shop that my mom owns and see what the deal is with the infamous negative toe/camber on the rear wheels of the Model S.

For those of you unaware, Tesla specifies a negative camber to the rear wheels (presumably to aid in sticking to the road during hard cornering of this very heavy car). In the past, some have had such an aggressive misalignment -- as much as -3 degrees -- that their tires were wearing out on the inside edge after just 3,000 miles or so.

Mine appeared to be just over -1 degree, which did put my mind at rest somewhat. I really do wish it would be 0, but I'll just have to be careful to rotate the tires often. We'll see how things go after about 5,000 miles.

Thanks and shout-out to Larry at Charlie's Alignment in Sellersburg, for the late night inspection!