Tesla, update #2

I did a trip in rain and would like to write a few words about the experience.

Wipers on auto

Wipers on auto just suck. They work completely unreliable. Sometimes they work when the glass is clear. Sometimes I barely can see thru and but they decided that everything was fine and I had to activate them manually. In one place I saw that they barely work but as soon as I stopped, they started to work quite fast even though there is not much water on the windshield when the car stopped.

So far auto wiper is the biggest disappointment in my new Tesla. I was driving in changing conditions and I had to constantly adjust the speed of the wipers manually and use voice commands which are distracting me from driving. Just as a comparison, the auto wipers on my Honda CR-V 2018 works flawlessly, and I can adjust sensitivity which is completely missing on Tesla.

I hope Tesla will address these issues soon. On the other side, the light on auto and auto high beam works just perfectly. I didn’t see any issues and it works as expected. And the auto high beam works much better than in my Honda CR-V.

Winding road

Today I was also driving on a winding road. Autopilot works excellently in these conditions. When there is a sharp turn, it will slow down the vehicle and in general, everything works just great. I had only one case when my car went on a double yellow line that separates traffic in different directions.

I also discovered that it is easier to drive on a winding road with one-pedal driving. In a regular car, I have to always move my foot from acceleration to brakes and back. For example, if I’m accelerating and then I see a sharp turn I will have to decide if I need to break or not. If I decide that I have to break, then I need to move my feet and start breaking and after finishing the turn I usually need to accelerate. Moreover, sometimes I realize that turn is shaper than I thought and I need to break. In this case, I’m losing precious time by moving my feet.

With EV you have access to both functions at the same time. Do you see that turn is sharper than you think? Slightly release the pedal and the car will slow down. Do you see that it is less sharp? Press a little bit more and the car will accelerate.

Better safety

And here is a nice safety feature that nobody mentioned before. Imagine you are driving a regular car and then you need to do an emergency break. You will release the acceleration pedal and move your feet to break and start pushing to stop the vehicle. And from the moment you released the accelerator, your car will continue to roll and in most cases, the vehicle will not even lose any speed.

With an EV, as soon as you release the accelerator, the vehicle will start slowing down immediately and by the time you will start pressing breaks, it will already be slower than a traditional car. And it can make a difference between a safe stop and having an accident.

Wall Connector

Some time ago I was thinking about what to install: Wall Connector or NEMA 50. NEMA 50 was about $300 cheaper but it does not have anything to place cable on and will just lie on the floor. Yes, I can add some kind of hook to my wall but it will also cost money. I went for Wall Connector because I thought that I will need to charge my car often and over time convenience will be more important than money.

But today I had another reason to like it because it charges faster. Today we decided to go on a relatively long trip and the car was charged 70%. I started charging the car immediately. By the time we were ready, the car was charged 78%.

When we arrived back, the car had 21% of the charge left and we have to leave in like 40 minutes and drive again. We left at 33% and came back at 28%. I’m sure I was able to do it with NEMA 50, but it will be a bit closer to zero and it will create some kind of anxiety. With Wall Charger I need to worry less about it because it charges 50% faster (44 miles vs 29 miles).

And I wrote about it because it could be tempting saving money right now and then have inconvenience for the next few years.

I hope it helps someone.