Tesla Model 3 long-term review Archives | CleanTechnica

Getting Along Without Just One Electric Sedan, Trailers, & E-Bikes

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 14:45:28 +0000

Many American couples seem to think that they need two cars and a big “honkin” full-sized pickup truck to address any situation that might come up! My wife and I get along with 95% of our situations with one car (a dual-motor Tesla Model 3 sedan), a big trailer, a ... [continued]

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I’m Using Just 20% of My Tesla Model 3 SR+ Battery

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 04 May 2024 18:17:22 +0000

Many people feel a need for long-range batteries when they buy electric vehicles, and that actually goes for new buyers as well as repeat buyers. I have to admit that I have a hard time understanding it unless you’re an encyclopedia salesman (not sure if those still exist) or go ... [continued]

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I Plan To Keep My Tesla Model 3 Until I Die: How Can I Make My Battery Last That Long?

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 18:36:32 +0000

I will be 84 this year. Except for several corrected orthopedic issues, I’m still healthy, and based on family history, I could last another 10 years until age 94 or longer. By that point my kids will probably take away my smartphone/key, or at least remove the Tesla App from ... [continued]

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Our Experiences With Tesla FSD 12.3.3 Going Through Roundabouts & Intersections (+ Video)

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 13:40:00 +0000

Like many other Tesla owners who have bought “Full Self Driving” (FSD) in the past several years, I recently got version 12.3 installed on my car via an over-the-air software update. That was also the case for a few other CleanTechnica contributors. In this article, I’m sharing some of the ... [continued]

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1st Generation Tesla Model 3 Still Keeping It Together At 100,000 Miles

Jesper Berggreen — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 17:10:58 +0000

Despite many others having already done this, I feel somewhat obligated to report on the first 100,000 miles driven in my Tesla Model 3 LR RWD, since this is the very first configuration Tesla sent off the production line in July 2017. In fact, this has made me realize that ... [continued]

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It’s True — My Tesla Model 3 Has Not Appreciated In Value

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:01:47 +0000

A writer recently pointed out that Elon Musk promised five years ago that Tesla vehicles would appreciate in value, and they have not. At first, I was thinking, “Well, it’s a bit early to cover this,” but then I realized, it really isn’t. When I bought my Tesla Model 3 ... [continued]

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Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta (V11.4.7.3): Over 2 Years Later

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 14:00:21 +0000

Regular Tesla customers are just starting to get Full Self Driving Beta V12. I have not. Use this article as a baseline to evaluate the improvements over V11. Also note: the new version is FSD Beta 12.2.1, so Musk didn’t have the nerve yet to remove the Beta moniker. My ... [continued]

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New Tesla Model 3 Highland Is Worlds Better Than My 2019 Tesla Model 3

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 15:10:09 +0000

David Havasi and I both have 2019 Tesla Model 3s. He’s got a Long Range one and I’ve got a Standard Range Plus (SR+). We recently went to our local Tesla store and tested out the new Tesla Model 3 Highland. (Side note: David set up this store, and this ... [continued]

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Tesla Has Improved Braking With A Full Battery!

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 04:55:33 +0000

It’s been a long time since I charged my Tesla Model 3 SR+ above 90%, but I’m taking my girls on a little road trip and just charged up to 95%. It didn’t take me long to notice something had changed. The car was braking for me as I was ... [continued]

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Is Elon the Man in the White Suit?

David Waterworth — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 03:36:51 +0000

In my childhood, I enjoyed watching English movies — having recently left the UK and emigrated to Australia. One of those, I still remember, is Man in the White Suit from Ealing Studios, produced in 1951. Wikipedia describes it as a “satirical science fiction comedy.” It looks like this film has ... [continued]

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Tesla Model 3 Tire Pressure Sensors Messed Up With New Non-Tesla Tires

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 06:01:32 +0000

I recently had the tires on my Tesla Model 3 changed. As I wrote, I had a third-party tire shop do the job this time instead of Tesla, who I used the first time I had to change my tires, since that was much cheaper (about $600 cheaper). As far ... [continued]

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2019 Tesla Model 3 Maintenance Costs at 41,110 Miles, 4 Years & 4 Months

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 20:43:22 +0000

It’s been a few months since my last Tesla Model 3 cost of ownership update. Since then, I’ve had an air filter replaced and I got 4 new tires. Let’s dig in and see where I stand 4 years and 4 months after buying my Tesla Model 3 Standard Range ... [continued]

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4 Years & 110,000 Miles On My 2019 Tesla Model 3 Long Range, Where Do I Stand Now?

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 02:14:01 +0000

October 21 was the 4-year anniversary of our dual-motor Tesla Model 3 Long Range (see picture from our 2019 delivery day above). The odometer now reads: 110,860 miles. Please find below my comprehensive review. CleanTechnica Chief Editor Zach Shahan just reviewed his Tesla Model 3 SR+ for its 4th anniversary ... [continued]

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Tesla Model 3 SR+ 4-Year Cost of Ownership Update

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 22:03:02 +0000

I’ve spent more money on maintenance of my 2019 Tesla Model 3 SR+ (Standard Range Plus), so it’s time for another cost of ownership update. Also, before I get into the latest expense, I should note that I decided to pass on the Tesla extended warranty option. I wrote about ... [continued]

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How Much My Tesla Model 3 Depreciated In 4 Years

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 03:47:01 +0000

We used to produce a lot of total cost of ownership analyses for the Tesla Model 3 and other electric vehicles, but especially the Tesla Model 3. Something I learned from that is that one of the biggest cost of ownership factors — or the biggest — is depreciation. Or ... [continued]

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Is The Tesla Model 3 Extended Warranty Worth The Cost?

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 11:00:29 +0000

I wrote about the Tesla Extended Warranty for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in March when it was introduced. At the time, I had a hard time deciding if it was worth the cost or not. Now, I’ve got less than two weeks to decide whether to get the ... [continued]

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100,000 Miles On My 2019 Tesla Model 3 — Where Do I Stand Now?

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 22:51:40 +0000

Why I still love my Model 3 after 3.6 years and almost 100,000 miles. Looking at my Tesla app, my Tesla Model 3 odometer now reads: 99,377 miles. By the time this is published, I will probably be over 100,000 miles. I am a huge proponent of green technology, and ... [continued]

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Tesla Model 3 Service & Maintenance Costs After 3.75 Years & 37,000 Miles

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 12 May 2023 04:17:45 +0000

My Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (SR+) is 3 months away from its 4-year birthday, and is approaching 37,000 miles. I had the air filter changed today, which means it’s time for another update on the car’s operation and maintenance costs. The last time I wrote an update on ... [continued]

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Tesla Full Self Driving (Beta) V11 — 5-Week Review

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Sat, 06 May 2023 18:11:06 +0000

For 6 months, my wife and I have used 9 or 10 versions of FSD Beta V10. Recently, we heard about Tesla working on a “revolutionary” upgrade from V10 to V11. This upgrade would incorporate big improvements that Tesla has been working on for a long time. Finally, we got ... [continued]

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What Goes On Underneath Your Tesla Can Hurt You

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 05:03:54 +0000

Background (skip these first three paragraphs if you’re familiar with my background): I’m a huge EV fanboy and have been driving electric cars now for 8 years. I also have solar panels on my house, so I can brag that I am driving on sunshine. I previously owned 3 Nissan ... [continued]

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“15 Years” With The Tesla Model 3

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 23:00:00 +0000

What’s it like owning a Tesla Model 3? Furthermore, we all know what’s great about a Model 3, but what should a new owner watch out for or be aware of? It depends on who you ask — different owners have different experiences. Some experiences are more common than others, ... [continued]

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Electric Vehicle Range Anxiety: How Much Of A Problem Is It? How To Deal With It

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 03:53:41 +0000

Most people considering an electric vehicle are most worried about running out of charge and being stranded. Basically, they premature anxiety about what is called “range anxiety.” They are also worried about where they can charge on long trips, how long charging takes, and how much will it slow them ... [continued]

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Tesla Extended Warranty for Model 3 & Model Y Now an Option!

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:46:48 +0000

It seems like most Americans are routinely hounded by annoying, scammy, spam phone calls telling you that you need to buy an extended warranty for your car. (Though, I haven’t been getting those for a while. Thanks, Biden?) I’m not sure why or how those became such common spam calls, ... [continued]

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Utah Record Snowfall — More Adventures in Winter Driving with My Dual Motor Tesla Model 3 (+ FSD Beta Update)

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 14:19:59 +0000

The average winter snowfall at Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, and Solitude ski resorts in Utah is 500”. As of this writing, Brighton and Alta Ski Resorts are at 672” and 660” snowfall respectively for the season, and the others are not far behind. With 5 weeks of the ski season left ... [continued]

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Tess Hits 100,000

David Waterworth — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 15:01:14 +0000

Seven years ago, I put down my AU$1500 deposit and sat tight and anxious waiting for my Tesla Standard Range Plus (SR+) to arrive. Which she did, three and half years later. We watched videos, we participated in events. Tesla even brought out a left-hand drive version and we queued ... [continued]

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Winter Driving Adventures In My Tesla Model 3

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 02:10:14 +0000

You have probably been reading about the atmospheric river that has brought incredible rain, flooding and destruction to California this winter. That atmospheric river hasn’t stopped at California but has continued up to Utah. At higher elevations the precipitation falls as snow instead of rain. Our ski resorts have been ... [continued]

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Tesla Model 3: 3-Year Review & Total Cost Of Ownership Comparison

Scott Cooney — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 13:00:26 +0000

Three and change years ago, I went to the local Tesla shop and picked up this blue beauty (his name is Yan). It was my first EV, though my company owned a Nissan Leaf I drove around a bit so I was already pretty enthused about EVs. I’ve never been ... [continued]

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3 Years & 80,000 Miles With My Tesla Model 3 — Battery Degradation, Maintenance Costs, Etc.

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 17:36:00 +0000

We were totally excited on October 22, 2019 when we drove our Tesla Model 3 Long Range away from the Tesla Salt Lake City Delivery Center. We’ve just passed our 3 year anniversary! Our odometer as I write this reads 80,821 miles. I wanted to determine how much battery degradation ... [continued]

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I Love Tesla’s New(ish) Blind Spot Camera Feature — Can We Get One More?

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 23:22:46 +0000

I probably saw news of the new Tesla blind spot camera feature when it was introduced in December 2021 and then forgot about it, or maybe it was somehow in my social media and Google News blind spot (haha) and I never noticed it at all. Well, recently, while going ... [continued]

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Can Someone Explain To Me Why Tesla FSD Can’t Choose The Correct Lane?

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 03:34:35 +0000

First of all, this article was stimulated by one thing: I genuinely want to know why it is that Tesla FSD Beta has so much trouble getting in the correct lane to make a turn. If anyone has a solid, clear answer, I'd love to hear it.

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3-Year Review of Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (SR+)

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 23:38:19 +0000

We’ve had our Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (SR+) for a little more than 3 years. It’s sitting at 28,698 miles, or about 9,500 miles a year. (True, we’re not road warriors. Part of the low mileage compared to the US average is that the car hardly moved during ... [continued]

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Tesla Aero Hubcap Replacement: Hub & Lug Nut Covers — Quick Installation & Review (Video)

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 03:47:08 +0000

I recently lost one of the original aero hubcaps our Tesla Model 3 SR+ came with. It seems that driving into a large amount of standing water in the midst of a ginormous Florida thunderstorm tore it off. (Or it was stolen.) It was quite sad to lose a hubcap, ... [continued]

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Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Maintenance Cost Update at 3 Years & 27,000 Miles

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 01:41:55 +0000

One of our writers, Fritz Hasler, recently wrote a short review of his Tesla Model 3 Long Range after 75,000 miles and nearly 3 years of ownership. We’ve had our Model 3 Standard Range for just slightly longer than Fritz has had his, but we’ve driven ours far less. I’ll ... [continued]

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75,000 Miles With My Tesla Model 3: Maintenance Costs, FSD (Beta), Hauling, Etc.

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 03:10:35 +0000

My wife and I are still just as thrilled with our Tesla Model 3 in almost three years of driving since we took delivery on October 22, 2019. My odometer just hit 75,000 miles. The ultra-smooth, quiet, rocket-like acceleration as well as multiple software updates, culminating in Full Self Driving ... [continued]

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The Tesla App — Informing Driving & Having Fun

David Waterworth — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 17:52:04 +0000

By David Waterworth, from conversations with Majella Waterworth I live in an unusual household. I don’t have a mobile phone (shock! gasp!). My wonderful wife has a mobile, and as we are rarely apart, we think that will suffice. However, the law of unintended consequences ensues. When we converted from ... [continued]

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How 3 Years With A Tesla Model 3 Almost Made Me Forget About The Mobility Revolution

Jesper Berggreen — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 05:00:22 +0000

The amount of writing about electric vehicles in mainstream media these days is staggering compared to when I decided to make the shift from fossil-fueled vehicles to electric vehicles in 2016. From a deep dive technical perspective, there are always new and interesting innovations, but in everyday life? Well, more ... [continued]

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Does the Tesla Full Self Driving Approach Have a See-saw Problem?

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 15 May 2022 06:45:56 +0000

Tesla fans are now well aware of Tesla’s approach to “full self driving,” but I’ll provide a super quick summary here just to make sure all readers are on the same page. Basically, Tesla drivers in North America who bought the “Full Self Driving” package and passed a Safety Score ... [continued]

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All-Season Tires For The Tesla Model 3 To Keep Things Simple — Turned Out To Be Safe & Cheap

Jesper Berggreen — Mon, 09 May 2022 05:19:10 +0000

Back in November 2019, I wrote about my choice to replace the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 originally fittet on my Tesla Model 3 with all-season Michelin CrossClimate+ tyres (I recommend reading that article to learn more about my choice of tyre size etc.). After 30 months and 85,000 km (53,000 ... [continued]

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Bubbling/Peeling Tesla Model 3 Steering Wheel — 25,000 Mile Review Update

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 07 May 2022 21:32:08 +0000

I may have had a one-of-a-kind issue with my Tesla Model 3 at nearly 25,000 miles. Perhaps others have had this issue, but I didn’t find it on forums and the Tesla Service tech I spoke to hadn’t seen the problem before. The problem, as you can see in the ... [continued]

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Tesla Service — Nothing Much To Do

David Waterworth — Sat, 07 May 2022 15:20:36 +0000

That’s what the service technician said when he arrived at my house to do the requested end-of-warranty check. I was concerned that after leaving warranty something might go wrong and I would end up with a big bill (been there, done that, with other vehicles). So, I thought the quoted ... [continued]

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Driving Our Tesla Model 3 Up The Bunya Mountains

David Waterworth — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 13:45:27 +0000

These are the signs that met us as we started our wedding anniversary stay at Rice’s Log Cabins in the Bunya Mountains. The dingo notice was on the fridge in the cabin. The wild dog notice was at the beginning of the nature walks in the national park. Although we ... [continued]

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Taking Delivery Of Your 1st Tesla (Or Other EV) Soon? What Do You Need To Know?

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 03:41:05 +0000

Tesla is building and selling cars at a rate of over one million per year now, so there are a lot of people out there who will need to know a few things about their new Tesla (or other EV). I took delivery of my first Nissan LEAF in February ... [continued]

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Electric Car FAQs: Is It Okay To Charge Your Tesla With An Extension Cord?

David Waterworth — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 07:55:07 +0000

Electric cars are just like gas cars — until they’re not. In this FAQ series, we’ll explore that 1% of the time that EVs are just different enough to require some explanations.

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Tesla “Full Self Driving” v10.8 Ongoing Review — Part 3

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:30:08 +0000

Below is a further summary of things Tesla “Full Self Driving” (FSD) v10.8 does well and has problems with. Automatic Lane Changes Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) software is quite adept at slowing down or speeding up to safely fit into a fairly small spot when changing lanes. Even when driving ... [continued]

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Tesla “Full Self Driving” v10.5 & v10.8 — Part 2

Arthur Frederick (Fritz) Hasler — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 04:12:13 +0000

A summary of my observations of the improvements made to Tesla Autosteer, Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC), and “Full Self Driving” (FSD) going from v10.5 to v10.8. Note: I continue to observe new behavior. Thus, this summary is not comprehensive. Autosteer I have been teaching alpine skiing at the Brighton Resort ... [continued]

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