(From left to right: Tesla Roadster, Bumblebee, Model X, Model S, Model S (Matchbox - others, aside from Bumblee, are Hot Wheels.)
Then about two and a half weeks ago on May 31 I added this to my "collection":
(First look at my new car on delivery day.)
A life-sized Model 3 received two years and two months to the day after making my reservation on March 31, 2016.
Now that I've had the car for a couple weeks I thought I'd write up a few thoughts about it. Note that this is not intended to be a review as there's plenty of those out there. This is just some thoughts and impressions from some random Freak on the Interweebs who's never owned a Tesla before, let alone an electric vehicle.
The Old Car
First off, let me say a few things about my previous vehicle. For a little over fourteen years I've been driving this:
A 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier, pictured together with a shot of its "final stats" - while it wasn't captured in the picture, there was about a quarter tank of gas left. It doesn't really have a lot of distance on it for a fourteen year old car, but that's because I wasn't driving it every day. It certainly served its purpose over the years and because it didn't get driven a huge amount it didn't end up needing a whole lot of maintenance - mostly oil changes and a few break pad replacements over the years.
I'd known for quite some time (since probably about twelve years ago) that I wanted my next car to be something "greener". Back then this was just the vague notion of something along the lines of a hybrid. Then, a little over three years ago, I read this article which sold me on the notion of a fully battery electric vehicle in general and a Tesla, if I could manage it. As such, I made my Model 3 deposit on the day of the reveal (online, I decided not to make the trip to the nearest store, though kind of wish I had) and for the next two years I waited. The wait wasn't necessarily a bad thing since, at the time, I wasn't in the position to actually follow through with the order. Fortunately, by the time I was able to actually order the car I was in a position where I could do so. Two years and a day after making my reservation, I confirmed my order.
The Delivery
The approximately two months after making the order and before getting the car felt, in some ways, longer than the two years between the making the reservation and the order - probably because with the order placed things seemed that much more "real" and imminent. Regardless, the day of the delivery eventually arrived.
I took delivery as part of a mass delivery of Model 3's at the Toronto International Centre:
I'm not really going to dwell too much on the delivery process, though it was certainly less than ideal and not representative of Tesla's normal delivery process. I took delivery on the second day of the mass deliveries and it was fairly clear that they were still working out some of the logistics and were also clearly understaffed. Apparently getting the green license plates from the government was also somewhat of a bottleneck and causing lots of delays (some of the Tesla employees claimed that they gave the government advanced notice that they'd need a lot of plates but, I suspect, they may not have given quite enough notice for the amount of plates they needed). All told this meant they were running several hours behind schedule and it was rather late when I finally had the car and was able to leave. On top of all this, when it was finally time to go, my ride to Toronto discovered that they had acquired a flat tire somehow in the time that we'd been waiting. Fortunately, some of the Tesla employees were able to help them put on the spare which was nice and much faster than waiting for roadside assistance to come along and do it.
And while all this was a relatively minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, it certainly made the experience less good than it could have or should have been. From what I've read they managed to improve the process during the following week's deliveries so I hope they remember the lessons they've learned from this experience for any future mass deliveries they may end up doing.
The Car
Regardless of delivery headaches, at the end of the day I had a new car! I'm pleased to say that everything with the car seemed to be in good condition and has been working well in the time that I've had it. This is the first electric vehicle that I've ever driven, let alone owned (though I have been in one on a couple of occassions). The quietness (especially at low speeds) and smoothness of it still amazes me. The regenerative breaking took a little bit to get used to, but I'd more or less gotten the hang of it on the drive home. The car is definately quick when I want it to be, but I make a point of being easy on the acceleration most of the time so that I don't use more energy than necessary. (I let my father drive it a little on the weekend after delivery - he floored it a couple of times and seemed quite impressed with its acceleration.)
The central screen seems to generally work pretty well and didn't take too long to get used to (I did find myself glancing down at the steering while and being slightly surprised to see nothing there on the first drive home) though there are a few controls that it would nice if it were easier to access by the driver (like selecting the music source). These are things that will hopefully be addressed in future software updates.
The Model 3 is certainly the best car I've ever owned though as it is also only the fourth car I've owned (and only the second new one) that is perhaps not a high bar to clear. But this is not to sell it short! It's obviously an upgrade from my previous car. I like driving it - sometimes kind of wish I had an excuse to drive it more than I do - it handles well and is quiet, like I said. And it's got lots of convenience features that I simply didn't have in my fourteen year old chevy like a backup camera and basic cruise control (I did not get the autopilot feature).
Perhaps one of the best things I can say about the Model 3 is that it affirms my belief that electric vehicles are the way to go. Even after just two and a half weeks with it I don't see myself ever going back to a gas powered car, at least not by choice.
Charging
I do want to say a few words about charging. I currently live in an apartment and cannot charge at home so charging is basically the main "inconvenience" in owning an electric vehicle of any kind for me at the moment. Even so, it's not too bad. The Model 3 has plenty of range for me to get through a week (one of its big selling points for me, along with access to Tesla's Superchargers) - indeed I could probably get through two or three weeks before needing to charge, if I had to, and depending on how much driving I did outside of just going to and from work. I try to do as much charging as I can at the public chargers in my area (there are some relatively conveniently located not too far from my dwelling place) and save Supercharger visits for weeks that I do a lot of extra driving.
Charging at a local charging station while I go rollerblading.
So far it's been working out fairly well. Since it's summer, I'm quite happy to go for a walk or rollerblade (things I'm inclined to do on the weekends anyway) and generally have a leisurely morning oot and aboot whilst I do various errands while the car charges up. That might change in the winter when I'm less inclined to be wandering around outside in the cold and charging batteries is less efficient, but I'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
The plan is to sooner or later move into a place where I can charge at home at which point charging will basically be a non-issue, but until then I'll be making do with public chargers and the occassional Supercharger visit. (Tesla is supposedly building a Supercharger in my area before the end of the year, which will be convenient when it happens, but as anyone who follows Tesla knows they are sometimes overly optimistic with their timelines so we'll see when it actually happens.)
TLDR
In summary, it's a nice car and I don't see myself ever going back to gas cars, even if charging is a tad inconvenient for now due to my status as an apartment dweller, but that's a temporary situation. Here's another picture of the car charging:
I may do some further posts about my experiences living in an apartment with an electric vehicle which I will try to tag with the label "teslapartment" to make them easy to find amidst my other assorted drivel.
Until next time,
Freak Out
-TFitC
