In other markets, Tesla offers “Enhanced Autopilot” as an option below “Full Self Driving”. This option offers Nav on Autopilot, Auto lane change, Autopark and Smart summon for approximately half the cost.
Full Self Driving then adds Traffic Light and Stop Sign control on top.
A screentshot of the UK order page for Enhanced Autopilot
If this option were offered in Australia, for those that have not purchased FSD, would you buy Enhanced Autopilot?
We’d love to get your feedback via the poll on our Facebook page linked below – or feel free to comment on this post.
As most EV owners will know, there are two main ways to charge an EV, AC or DC, but there’s also another less known and slightly more nuanced distinction.
A charger’s main purpose can be for rapid top ups or for longer perhaps even overnight charging and it’s important for EV drivers to understand this difference as it will not only save a lot of time, but it will also result in a better ownership experience for the entire EV community.
The main purpose of ultra-rapid DC chargers such as the Tesla Superchargers is rapid top-ups to facilitate convenient travel between built-up areas. This is critical in winning over the broader driving public who have concerns about charging downtime on long trips away from home. The problem is many new owners have misunderstood this and are in fact wasting a lot of their time charging at high battery percentages. How much time are they wasting? It depends on the vehicle’s next destination but as can be seen from the graphics below, it’s more than many drivers realise.
Test conducted with a Tesla Model 3 Performance charging from a V3 Tesla Supercharger at a 14-degree outside temperature with a pre-conditioned battery.
As the chart above shows, a long-range battery takes about the same time, roughly 14 minutes, to charge from 10% to 60% as it does to charge from 90 to 100%. In other words, you can spend the same 14 minutes topping up 50% at a lower state of charge (SoC) or 10% at a higher SoC.
50-60% SoC is a key level because not only does the time to charge each 5% increment begin to lengthen to charging speeds attainable at slower (non-ultra-rapid) DC chargers but generally it’s enough battery capacity to cover the distance between Superchargers on long road trips.
What is not illustrated on the graph is what happens once the state of charge reaches 100%. Once at 100%, the charge time jumps off the chart as it took me at least a further 19 minutes of trickle charging the last few watt hours and balancing the cells before I lost patience and quit the test.
TezLab power chart.
As can be seen in the graphic above, at roughly around a 14% state of charge (SoC) the car reached its peak charge of 244kW but then this began to taper off down to 192kW at 30% SoC, then to 110kW at 50%, 81kW at 70% and 42kW at 90% before dwindling down to 5kW once it remained at 100% for almost 20 minutes.
Once at 100%, the time the car takes to completely finish charging is dependent on how long it has been since the battery was fully charged to 100%. The longer the period between full charges the longer it takes to balance the cell groups and the longer the battery takes its time at the 100% level.
Powered by a lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) battery chemistry, once at 90% or above, it is best to begin driving the Model 3 Performance (and Long Range) to ensure minimum long-term battery degradation. It’s not ideal to keep this chemistry above 90% or below 20% for extended periods of time. In fact, the above 90% charge level should be reserved only for times, when necessary, on longer stretches between chargers on country road trips. However, that said, it is also a good idea to balance the cells once every 3-6 months. The added benefit is that the battery management system (BMS) will also get a chance to recalibrate itself to ensure accurate battery range readings.
In contrast, it is ideal to charge the lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery chemistries, found in the Shanghai built and soon also in the Fremont built Standard Range Plus Model 3s, to 100% at least once a week and it’s also perfectly fine to charge to 100% on a daily basis.
Irrespective of the battery chemistry, however, to save wasting your time at Superchargers and unnecessarily taking up this important infrastructure, please be mindful of how busy the charger is. If you feel the need to charge to 100% and if you have plenty of time, during off-peak times when Superchargers are hardly used, it is perfectly fine to squeeze in every last watt but at busy times, vehicles taking up much needed charge bays while charging at a fifth or less of the charger’s potential is a burden on the infrastructure and not helpful to fellow EV owners.
243kW charge rate.
Therefore, please consider only charging to a lower percentage and leaving the charging at the top state of charge levels for your home, BNB, or at overnight AC destination chargers such as those allocated to your room at hotels and EV-friendly resorts. You’ll only be doing yourself, your EV community and even potential new EV owners a big favour.
P.S. Special thanks to TOCWA Chairman Rob Dean for not only helping with this article but also for coming up with the idea for the test.
Our October Casual Meetup will be at the 10th annual Rotary Como Car Show at Wesley College, South Perth. We have a few owners showing their cars, including Models S, 3 and X.
This year the show is on Sunday 3rd October from 10am. Public entry $10 adult, $8 concession, gold coin under 18 – all proceeds to Rotary and Wesley charities.
Feel free to pop past any time for a chat, and also to chat with the many interested members of the public that come along.It’d be great if you’re happy to stay for a bit, and give those owners bringing their cars a break to go get a coffee!
Leaving behind the plentiful charging options in the city for the countryside can be daunting for an electric car owner.
Spring in the mid-west of Western Australia is a great time to visit and see the bountiful wildflowers so be brave.
A drive north from Perth along the coast offered several reliable charging options for our Tesla 3.
Venturing inland to Pindar, via Mullewa and returning to Perth on the inland route, less so!
The “Electric Car Highway” is in its infancy.
Seeking out chargers will see you searching behind buildings and driving around back streets.
I would love to drive into a town that welcomes RV owners with a prominent “RV friendly town” and see another that says, “EV friendly town”.
I see a day when there will be not just one, but many chargers located prominently in the main street just as there are petrol pumps in a garage.
Standardisation of charging may come too. I carry four cables to cope with whatever I must deal with.
Leaving the city behind it is essential to plan for your next charge and hope that another EV car isn’t occupying the only charger at your destination.
Worst still, an ICE blocking the bay!
When we drove inland from Geraldton via Mullewa to Pindar to see the Wreath Flowers we needed to recharge to return to Geraldton. The Mullewa Caravan Park allowed a charge for $10. This was at a glacial speed. Turning off the air conditioning doubled the charge rate.
After three hours we drove back drafting behind a truck whilst rain bucketed down.
We watched the range decrease arriving back with an insane 19km left!
Won’t do that again.
Mobile phone coverage in the country isn’t great for those, like me, who aren’t with Telstra.
Don’t expect your APPS like Plugshare to work.
I also discovered that a lot of hotels and garages have three phase outlets and will allow you to charge.
Great if you have the correct size three phase plug…apparently there are two sizes!
The TOCWA 50kW fast DC charger at the Fisherman’s Wharf in Geraldton delivers at a reasonable cost.
One catch.
Accessing is via the Nextcharge APP not by using the menu on the charger itself.
Find the code for the padlock on Plugshare.
Driving an electric car on country trips takes a different mind set to that of driving an ICE.
Whereas you might fill up an ICE once a day from one of many garages, in an electric car stopping for coffee whilst you “top up” will become a way of life.
Pete Petrovsky, TOCWA Committee Member and Model 3 owner participated in a panel discussion on Channel 7’s Flashpoint about EV adoption in Western Australia – if you missed it on Monday night, You can stream the episode here:
