Where did we leave off? Right, in beautiful Romania. Since then, the reports we are getting have become somehow more chaotic. It could be the heat, it could be the tiredness, or it could simply be excellent wine. We will never know. Anyway, in the last entry, I said we would save driving on your last kilowatts for later, and here we are.
As we are receiving regular reports from Tomek and his fellow travelers, we can now put together a few stories from the first couple of days on the road with the Tesla. The most important news is there’s no real news — the first day driving through Poland was simply smooth and easy. There are two reasons behind this: Tesla’s range and GreenWay infrastructure. As Zach was already pointing out in the opening article, GreenWay has done a good job developing a network of fast chargers in Poland and Slovakia. It may still be challenging in a Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe to get from charging point to charging point, but not so in a Tesla.
Some people seem to be born with a particularly adventurous, exploratory gene. I get the sense my colleague Tomek Gać, another Tesla Shuttle co-founder, is one of those people.
The good folks at EVANNEX were kind enough to send us a Center Console Insert for the Tesla Model S to use in our Tesla Shuttle fleet right after we launched the company. Yes, I assume they expected a review for the gift (which is worth $530–630), but they haven’t said so or pressured us in any way. (I have to say, though, it was weird when a 6’7″ thug-looking character with EVANNEX tattooed on his forehead showed up at my door holding a long iron rod. And I have to disclose that he did ask me if I needed any help evaluating the console.)
What’s the #1 feature of a Tesla Model S or Model X. Perhaps the acceleration? Perhaps the amazing navigation and software controls? Perhaps the super smooth and quiet drive? Maybe it’s Autopilot? Or wait, maybe it’s the Easter eggs!
As I noted a moment ago, I recently took a small risk, faced a short freakout, and then made it through my first Tesla software update. The reason I cut it close on the timing and installed the update was that it was a fun Christmas one that I knew my older daughter (3 years old) would love.
Some other members of our Tesla Shuttle team installed Tesla software updates on our Model S earlier in the year, but the first time I personally did so was the day after Christmas (or 2nd day of Christmas as some people call it). I was a little uncertain whether to do the update at that time — we needed to leave approximately 2 hrs later and the car said it would take 1 hour and 40 minutes. Additionally, I was a little concerned about how much energy it might take. We had an 85% charge but quite a ways to drive. “How much energy does a Tesla software update take?” I had never thought to ask and didn’t recall seeing this information somewhere, so I searched online. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an answer.
We’ve had the first Tesla Model S in our Tesla Shuttle fleet for 3 months now. We’ve put 17,000 kilometers (~10,500 miles) on it. One of several reasons the business idea originally made sense to us was that we’d have almost no operational costs for the car itself. Most of the charging stations in our home city are free and Tesla’s Superchargers are of course free (for vehicles up to a certain production date).
A little over two months ago, I provided my initial observations from life with Tesla Autopilot. Clearly, I was young and foolish. Without a doubt, I rushed in. That said, I have no regrets and stand by what I wrote on June 25.
A month and a half ago, I wrote a raving review of Tesla’s navigation system for long-distance trips. It’s brilliant. It’s unmatched by any other car’s navigation system. The core benefits are:
it estimates how much battery capacity you’ll have remaining when you arrive at your destination,
it tells you where to stop to Supercharge if you need to,
and it’s extremely accurate because it takes so many factors into account — topography, temperature, your own recent energy use while driving, average driving speed on the route (or at least the speed limit along the route — I’m not sure dataset Tesla uses, or if it uses both), and perhaps even whether or not it’s raining.
However, it’s not perfect. There are three major issues with it, from my perspective. Anecdotally, I gather that most Tesla drivers are irritated by the same three things.
