Tesla gripes

[runnerbean 14]

I'm on my second Model 3 which is better in most respects than the first, although the 2022.4.5 software revision incorporates a number of backward steps.

The display of Supercharger information is now infuriating. I live 220 miles from Tebay which would normally be my first charging stop on my way north. I have recently spotted that the charging bays there are are often all busy with a 15 to 30 minute queue waiting, and I want to monitor utilisation there to determine busy times and a general usage pattern.

However this information is not available on the website and the car's Nav screen seems to be the only place to get it. That currently refuses to display the number of bays free at Tebay, presumably because it thinks my displayed range of 260 miles isn't enough to get there, and is telling me that, were I to leave now, I should charge at Charnock Richard instead.

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p, which translates to 12p per mile when I can get charge for 2p a mile at home off-peak. I'll be tempted to take my ICE car north next time I go as the opportunity to plan journeys properly in the Tesla has become seriously degraded.

[jason61c]

runnerbean 14 said:

I'm on my second Model 3 which is better in most respects than the first, although the 2022.4.5 software revision incorporates a number of backward steps.

The display of Supercharger information is now infuriating. I live 220 miles from Tebay which would normally be my first charging stop on my way north. I have recently spotted that the charging bays there are are often all busy with a 15 to 30 minute queue waiting, and I want to monitor utilisation there to determine busy times and a general usage pattern.

However this information is not available on the website and the car's Nav screen seems to be the only place to get it. That currently refuses to display the number of bays free at Tebay, presumably because it thinks my displayed range of 260 miles isn't enough to get there, and is telling me that, were I to leave now, I should charge at Charnock Richard instead.

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p, which translates to 12p per mile when I can get charge for 2p a mile at home off-peak. I'll be tempted to take my ICE car north next time I go as the opportunity to plan journeys properly in the Tesla has become seriously degraded.

you've seen how power costs are going up everywhere?

[Canon_Fodder]

runnerbean 14 said:

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p,

It's the classic bait and switch business model.... sell it cheap, get 'em hooked, then - Boom - bleed 'em dry.

[WestyCarl]

runnerbean 14 said:

However this information is not available on the website and the car's Nav screen seems to be the only place to get it. That currently refuses to display the number of bays free at Tebay, presumably because it thinks my displayed range of 260 miles isn't enough to get there, and is telling me that, were I to leave now, I should charge at Charnock Richard instead.
.

That's probably becuase 260 miles displayed would be touch and go to actually do 220m without driving economically. Weirdly the battery % seems more accuate (as long as you drive at the speed limit)

[Heres Johnny]

runnerbean 14 said:

I'm on my second Model 3 which is better in most respects than the first, although the 2022.4.5 software revision incorporates a number of backward steps.

The display of Supercharger information is now infuriating. I live 220 miles from Tebay which would normally be my first charging stop on my way north. I have recently spotted that the charging bays there are are often all busy with a 15 to 30 minute queue waiting, and I want to monitor utilisation there to determine busy times and a general usage pattern.

However this information is not available on the website and the car's Nav screen seems to be the only place to get it. That currently refuses to display the number of bays free at Tebay, presumably because it thinks my displayed range of 260 miles isn't enough to get there, and is telling me that, were I to leave now, I should charge at Charnock Richard instead.

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p, which translates to 12p per mile when I can get charge for 2p a mile at home off-peak. I'll be tempted to take my ICE car north next time I go as the opportunity to plan journeys properly in the Tesla has become seriously degraded.

Tesla don't like people knowing whats happening and being able to plan. Who knows why, they shut down a 3rd party website that shared this information for all superchargers. That said, whats happening now and what will be happening in 3 hours when you might get there could be very different.

I've switched to our petrol car for long distances. After 100k+ miles in a EV I've decided I prefer the convenience of a petrol station when travelling , especially to places I'm not familiar with. The EV is still used for local stuff

WestyCarl said:

That's probably becuase 260 miles displayed would be touch and go to actually do 220m without driving economically. Weirdly the battery % seems more accuate (as long as you drive at the speed limit)

How on earth is a % more accurate on a trip? I don't know anywhere that is 78% away from where I live and whether the car actually uses 78% to get there. It's nonsense. Everywhere is a distance away, not a %.

[WestyCarl]

Heres Johnny said:

How on earth is a % more accurate on a trip? I don't know anywhere that is 78% away from where I live and whether the car actually uses 78% to get there. It's nonsense. Everywhere is a distance away, not a %.

I'm not disagreeing but it's the reality.

When using the Sat Nav is predicts an arrival destination % battery left, this is usally within 1-2%. (normal driving)

If you do it on miles (in the winter anyway), my experience is a 100mile trip will use maybe 120miles of range. (again normal driving)

Why they deviate I have no idea, one of the mysteries of Tesla (much like the "cry wolf" TPM system )

[SWoll]

Canon_Fodder said:

runnerbean 14 said:

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p,

It's the classic bait and switch business model.... sell it cheap, get 'em hooked, then - Boom - bleed 'em dry.

Silly comment. You might have heard in the news that the cost of electricity is going through he roof for everyone at the minute, been quite well publicized..

[paradigital]

runnerbean 14 said:

Secondly, I see the cost per unit of charge at Superchargers has recently jumped from a reasonable 25p to a very expensive 42p, which translates to 12p per mile when I can get charge for 2p a mile at home off-peak. I'll be tempted to take my ICE car north next time I go as the opportunity to plan journeys properly in the Tesla has become seriously degraded.

Without knowing what your ICE car is, it would be hard to comment fully, but my 440i would return me around 26p/mile based on current super unleaded prices. This would be even worse with motorway price-gouging of fuel prices, which is how you have to look at supercharging.

Edited by paradigital on Wednesday 16th March 16:01

[runnerbean 14]

paradigital said:

Without knowing what your ICE car is, it would be hard to comment fully, but my 440i would return me around 26p/mile based on current super unleaded prices. This would be even worse with motorway price-gouging of fuel prices, which is how you have to look at supercharging.

Edited by paradigital on Wednesday 16th March 16:01

My main point was that waiting for 30 minutes to charge for 30 minutes (at the reduced charging speed that often applies when all bays are full) is a lot less attractive than charging immediately for 20 minutes and then moving on to the next location - Edinburgh or Perth, in this example. Or, indeed, filling up with diesel in five minutes.

So if I was able to determine a use pattern for the Tebay Supercharger I could arrange to turn up there at, say, 8 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. Google manage to provide this footfall information for shops, restaurants etc so why not Tesla when they have the data at their fingertips? Could it be that they don't want people to know about the congestion and queues?

[somouk]

I agree not having that information is a bit of an issue when planning a long journey.

Last time I did the journey I stopped at Charnock Richard and Gretna where there were plenty of chargers available. I typically travel off peak to avoid busy services and traffic jams.

Tebay is limited due to its location as a common place for a lot of people to stop roughly half way through their journey north. 2 stops for shorter periods of time made the journey a lot nicer for me.

[RobbyJ]

In my Model S if you have a route planned it won't tell you how many stalls are free at the Supercharger en route. What I do is cancel the navigation and then find the supercharger on the map, select it and it shows how many stalls are free. The I click on the last destination to resume navigation. Bit of a pain but works fine.

I'll tell you what is a pain, replacing a paddle gear in the drivers door handle. Just finished the job, took 3 hours and was an absolute nightmare, never doing that again. Next time I'll just pay Tesla the £600 rather than doing it myself for £20.

[runnerbean 14]

somouk said:

Tebay is limited due to its location as a common place for a lot of people to stop roughly half way through their journey north. 2 stops for shorter periods of time made the journey a lot nicer for me.

Thanks for this which looks like very good advice. Charging is quicker the more depleted the battery is, too, so two 15 minute stops may equate to one of 40 minutes.