I don't own a Tesla. I don't derive any benefits from Tesla referral sales. I don't own any Tesla stock, nor do I derive any income from Tesla's success or failure. I'm convinced the majority of online Tesla commenters are personally invested in [or shorting] $TSLA.
I don't own a Tesla. I don't derive any benefits from Tesla referral sales. I don't own any Tesla stock, nor do I derive any income from Tesla's success or failure. I'm convinced the majority of online Tesla commenters are personally invested in [or shorting] $TSLA. I'm also convinced the majority of them are bots. I'm not sure which group annoys me more, the shorts or the whores. It's almost impossible to read anything about the Model 3 that isn't clickbait or doesn't omit information of value to the only people I care about: potential buyers.)
I just drove 2,860 miles cross-country in a Tesla Model 3, setting a new electric Cannonball Run record of 50 hours and 16 minutes. This wasn't a specially prepared press loaner or pre-production employee car; this was one of the first customer-owned cars delivered at the Fremont factory on December 27th, 2017.
For those gambling on the 3's failure and Tesla's collapse, don't count on it. The Model 3 is delightful, odd, and brilliant—but there is one big, crackling bolt of a caveat.
The issue is not the build quality, nor is it the 15-inch touchscreen, which has absorbed almost all vehicle controls. Instead, it's the Autopilot user interface, which has gone from seamless to kludge overnight.
The good news: The majority of Autopilot UI issues are fixable with an over-the-air (OTA) software update.
The bad news? Until the Autopilot UI is updated, Tesla fans will bend like yogis to make excuses for it, and the $TSLA shorts will exploit it to deter new customers from what is otherwise a wondrous step forward for passenger cars.
I love this car, but Tesla cannot solve the Autopilot UI problem fast enough.
Let's dive in.
Background: My co-driver was Model 3 owner Dan Zorrilla, a construction consultant and longtime Tesla Model S owner who was kind enough to give me unrestricted access to the car for four days.
See that $55,000 sticker price? Not quite the $35,000 Elon talked about, which is for a stripped, standard battery version that isn't yet out. That $55,000 is the price of a loaded, rear-wheel drive Model 3 with a larger battery that gets you 310 (EPA-rated) miles of range.
Is it worth it? I think so. What's the electric alternative at any price? A Chevy Volt? A Bolt? A Nissan Leaf? Be serious.
If you want an premium electric car, Tesla is still the only game in town. Actually, if you want any electric car, unless you've got a charger at home or work where the vehicle can recharge undisturbed for hours, Tesla is the only choice.
As for cross-shopping against internal combustion cars, it's pointless; you either buy Tesla's point of view regardless of cost, or you don't.
Range & Charging: Tesla claims the Model 3's 75kWh Long Range battery is good for 315 miles. The company also had an odd interaction with the EPA, which they asked to lower the official range rating, from 334 to 310 miles. With a 1,000-pound weight advantage over the S, I wouldn't be surprised if the Model 3 could be hypermiled to 350 or more. I wish I knew what the absolute range figure is, but when you're driving cross country for time, it's unwise to drive the battery down to zero, or charge up to 100 percent.
We stuck with Tesla's proprietary Supercharger network, without which the drive would have been 10-20 hours longer. Optimal charging speed generally occurs when the battery is below 50 percent capacity; above that, speed drops precipitously. Factor in temperatures below 20 degrees for most of the drive, and charging was further slowed. That's because Tesla slows down the charge rate when the cells are too cold "in order to maintain safety and maximum range."
I'll follow up on absolute range as soon as I get another Model 3 for testing.
One new aspect of electric Cannonballing in a Model 3 was having to pay for charging. All Teslas used to come with free supercharging.* With the Model 3 you pay as you go. Our journey cross-country cost $100.95 in electricity. Cannonballing in my record-setting internal-combustion 2000 BMW M5 would have cost about $600 in fuel; it also would have been a little more than twenty hours quicker. Read more
I just drove 2,860 miles cross-country in a Tesla Model 3, setting a new electric Cannonball Run record of 50 hours and 16 minutes. This wasn't a specially prepared press loaner or pre-production employee car; this was one of the first customer-owned cars delivered at the Fremont factory on December 27th, 2017.
For those gambling on the 3's failure and Tesla's collapse, don't count on it. The Model 3 is delightful, odd, and brilliant—but there is one big, crackling bolt of a caveat.
The issue is not the build quality, nor is it the 15-inch touchscreen, which has absorbed almost all vehicle controls. Instead, it's the Autopilot user interface, which has gone from seamless to kludge overnight.
The good news: The majority of Autopilot UI issues are fixable with an over-the-air (OTA) software update.
The bad news? Until the Autopilot UI is updated, Tesla fans will bend like yogis to make excuses for it, and the $TSLA shorts will exploit it to deter new customers from what is otherwise a wondrous step forward for passenger cars.
I love this car, but Tesla cannot solve the Autopilot UI problem fast enough.
Let's dive in.
Background: My co-driver was Model 3 owner Dan Zorrilla, a construction consultant and longtime Tesla Model S owner who was kind enough to give me unrestricted access to the car for four days.
See that $55,000 sticker price? Not quite the $35,000 Elon talked about, which is for a stripped, standard battery version that isn't yet out. That $55,000 is the price of a loaded, rear-wheel drive Model 3 with a larger battery that gets you 310 (EPA-rated) miles of range.
Is it worth it? I think so. What's the electric alternative at any price? A Chevy Volt? A Bolt? A Nissan Leaf? Be serious.
If you want an premium electric car, Tesla is still the only game in town. Actually, if you want any electric car, unless you've got a charger at home or work where the vehicle can recharge undisturbed for hours, Tesla is the only choice.
As for cross-shopping against internal combustion cars, it's pointless; you either buy Tesla's point of view regardless of cost, or you don't.
Range & Charging: Tesla claims the Model 3's 75kWh Long Range battery is good for 315 miles. The company also had an odd interaction with the EPA, which they asked to lower the official range rating, from 334 to 310 miles. With a 1,000-pound weight advantage over the S, I wouldn't be surprised if the Model 3 could be hypermiled to 350 or more. I wish I knew what the absolute range figure is, but when you're driving cross country for time, it's unwise to drive the battery down to zero, or charge up to 100 percent.
We stuck with Tesla's proprietary Supercharger network, without which the drive would have been 10-20 hours longer. Optimal charging speed generally occurs when the battery is below 50 percent capacity; above that, speed drops precipitously. Factor in temperatures below 20 degrees for most of the drive, and charging was further slowed. That's because Tesla slows down the charge rate when the cells are too cold "in order to maintain safety and maximum range."
I'll follow up on absolute range as soon as I get another Model 3 for testing.
One new aspect of electric Cannonballing in a Model 3 was having to pay for charging. All Teslas used to come with free supercharging.* With the Model 3 you pay as you go. Our journey cross-country cost $100.95 in electricity. Cannonballing in my record-setting internal-combustion 2000 BMW M5 would have cost about $600 in fuel; it also would have been a little more than twenty hours quicker. Read more