With all the discussion on the Model S recently, I thought this would be useful.

Proof: http://imgur.com/a/yp4Zt

Caveat: I haven't taken it on long road trips, but I hear from other owners who do.

Comments: 522 • Responses: 66  • Date: 

nightwing_86228 karma

If there was one thing you could change about the car what would it be? (Im a Telsa Engineer so I want to some feedback)

Edit *Tesla Engineer

Metabolical142 karma

Other stuff:

My wife says a way to close the charge port from inside. She always forgets to. She'd like to have the profile remember her radio station too. And a place to hang dry cleaning.

I'd like the car to know which of our two keys goes with which profile. I hit my head on the roof because she likes the seat so high.

I mentioned some other stuff below, but it's all pretty minor. pm me if you want more.

Metabolical74 karma

Actually I think I might go with a cruise control speed limiter based on car proximity. Cruise control loses most of its value in variable speed traffic.

That, and some of these other features (and parking proximity warning) were things I assumed would come with such a high end car, and while their absence doesn't make me sad, it was a slight surprise.

Sealhunter99194 karma

You don't use cruise control in traffic that's changing speeds. Ever. Something happens and you aren't on the ball about driving, you could get in a big accident

iDORSEY21 karma

I do it all the time. I just pay attention and use the acceleration and deceleration buttons as the gas pedal. If something comes up, Ill brake. You should never use cruise control as a way to pay less attention to the road. In traffic, it can function as a way to divert controls to your hands if your feet get tired. Once you actually use it regularly and get used to adjusting for traffic, it doesn't affect your reaction time at all. It's simply an alternative speed control.

Metabolical18 karma

This is what I do. I agree you don't pay any less attention, I'm just talking about being lazy about having to make these tiny adjustments all the time.

1dr6 karma

And a place to hang dry cleaning.

What?

Metabolical41 karma

We get some office clothes dry cleaned and we have to lay them down in the back of the Tesla because there are no handles or hooks over the doors like every other car we've ever owned.

SwedishFishy-8 karma

I'm sorry, but I'm going to plug myself in here because I'm at a loss: I've been trying to apply to Tesla Motors for an engineering position (graduating May of this year), but there are NEVER any job openings! Any advice?!

Metabolical9 karma

Not really. But as I understand it, a roadster owner hacked the log files and created a utility that let you monitor a bunch of things about the car in an app or website or something and then later got hired by Tesla. He probably used up that route in the process.

Be amazing. Demonstrate passion for the space.

wsilver61 karma

What is the furthest you've driven it?

Metabolical101 karma

I drove from town to a nearby ski resort, parked for the day, and drove back. The ski resort is about 75 miles away. It appeared to use a lot of my charge on the way up, but coming down the mountain I drove 20-30 miles using basically no energy.

TL;DR 150 mile trip with cold and a mountain.

wsilver27 karma

You didn't have any problems with the conditions?

Metabolical65 karma

I have performance tires and when I got to the parking lot I had very little friction. I got some spikes-spiders for future snowboarding trips.

I had to get a push to get started a couple of times, and when I got to the edge of the parking lot I fish-tailed severely. You can imagine the nervousness in such an expensive car.

JohnFThrowaway43 karma

[deleted]

Metabolical89 karma

I got the super high end version for $100k, and I wasn't very comfortable with it. I paid cash because I hate consumer debt. It put a big dent in my retirement savings but I really want the world to have electric cars that are nice instead of like souped up golf carts. Honestly, I'm not the best expert to say what stable income you should have. I will say that you save a lot on gas and actually on maintenance, so I think it becomes comparable to other slightly "cheaper" luxury vehicles like a Mercedes, BMW, or Lexus.

kampfy326 karma

In what way does an electric have cheaper maintenance...? I know there's less moving parts, but that battery's gonna fail sometime.

Metabolical68 karma

You don't need a bunch of things like oil changes, and the fewer moving parts is super important. The yearly subscription is supposed to be around $600 (they haven't sold it to me yet). The battery has an 8 year warranty, so I don't need to worry in that time. The expected battery replacement cost is $12,000. So if after the warranty expires, it immediately dies, then I have spent $1500 per year, and divided by $4/gallon is 375 gallons, and if we multiply that by 30 mpg, we get 11,250 miles per year equivalent. So anything I drive past those 11,250 miles should be "free". (Unless I screwed up the math). Also, I didn't take into account electricity cost.

jeepdave17 karma

Other thought, does Telsa warranty the battery or the manufacture of the battery? I ask because if Telsa as a company fails in five years what recourse if any do you have?

Metabolical29 karma

I'm sure if Tesla goes away some third party or custom guy would be able to help me out, and it would be horrible. But then I might be able to sell the car to a collector knowing there will never be any more and mine is limited edition.

summoberz36 karma

Was the decision to purchase such a high end vehicle more of an impulse buy or did you research for a while and look at other options? Are you satisfied with your purchase? Anyways, I hope you are enjoying it!

Metabolical129 karma

TL;DR Satisfied and love the car, the total cost was still personally quite high.

It was not an impulse. I have a friend who got the Tesla Roadster, and he let me drive it, first on the road, and then at an auto-cross track. (It drove like a sports car). But we didn't want a sports car, we preferred the sedan, so when the Model S was announced, we thought about it a lot and decided to get it, part spoiling, and part to support the idea of nice electric cars. We put some money down a couple years ago, and the more when we decided to get the signature series. We got the signature series in part because it brought us to the front of the line, and from the belief that having a limited edition version of a car can help preserve its resale value. I'm really satisfied with the car, I really enjoy it. The only regret is that it really was a lot of money, beyond what we planned. The car was announced as $57,499 with a $7500 federal tax credit for getting an electric car, but once you added the options, primarily longer battery range, it rose to $100k. We had big reevaluate and decided to go ahead anyway.

iamaredditer36 karma

How does the car ride? Does it handle like a sports car?

Metabolical53 karma

It's super smooth with strong acceleration. The giant heavy battery at the bottom makes it very stable, but it doesn't have the agility of a sports car.

I haven't had much in the way of safe opportunities to really push the limits, but I plan to go to the track and have a trainer help me learn more.

coonster14 karma

How does it compare to other cars you have driven? Also, how is the steering feel?

Metabolical38 karma

It's the nicest car I've ever driven. The steering feels normal. It's different than the Prius (larger wheel) but I don't really know how to describe it.

robreddity31 karma

  1. What kind of miles are you primarily putting on it? City vs highway?
  2. Is the car getting you laid?

Metabolical82 karma

  1. It's a mix. I do some things nearby, and somethings about 30 miles away. I actually stopped working about the time I got it and haven't decided to get another job yet, so it just varies.
  2. No. I am married and faithful, so change in car status does not change the quality or frequency of my sex life.

Mr_Weebles28 karma

No. I am married

That's all you had to say.

Metabolical107 karma

I wanted to believe my answer was a little funny.

MonkeySteriods26 karma

What happens if you're stuck and without a charge? Also, how long does it take to charge your car?

Metabolical57 karma

You call Tesla and they tow it somewhere. It's shitty like running out of gas, except worse because it is an automatic tow. This has never happened to me.

Whenever I get home for the day, I plug it in and leave it and it is always charged by morning. I use a standard 220 volt plug like you might have in your garage in the US. The Tesla guy told me that at 30 amps I should get about 30 miles of range per hour. I actually have about 40 amps.

There are additional options you can buy to charge faster, like getting a high performance charger for your garage, and I think there is a double charger you can get for the car. You can get to a point where you can get a full charge in an hour, like using their super charger network.

ben3putt26 karma

Was it a no haggle price or could you negotiate off the sticker?

Metabolical47 karma

No haggle. They have customers on a waiting list, they have no need to negotiate. And really, I think they are pushing hard to make the money to fund the company and the next model they want to build.

They've taken a couple sources of investors to keep the company going.

westcoastredman23 karma

What do you do for a living?

Metabolical42 karma

I am in the computer industry, originally a programmer and now a manager of business groups that produce software.

mariano8122 karma

Was the experience what you had expected?

Metabolical54 karma

Yes. I drive it around like you would any car, except I never go to the gas station. I was shocked at the incredible acceleration because my previous car was a Prius. The luxury is very nice as well.

One thing I didn't expect is that they regularly patch the software with updates over the 3G connection. They've fixed minor bugs and added features this way. Minor bugs were things like a small screen corruption. Features were things like profiles so my wife and I can each get our seat settings automatically remembered individually.

There have been a couple minor things that I would expect from a luxury car that were missing, like there's no place to hang up the dry cleaning. I also felt that they should have an automatic volume adjustment based on speed since there is still some road noise.

eric27321 karma

Does your insurance company have any problem covering a car with such a high purchase price?

Metabolical45 karma

No problem, they are happy to take bigger premiums to cover the risk.

Pepsiman3417 karma

Did you pick up the car yourself or did you get it delivered to your house? How long have you owned it and how many miles have you put in it so far? When it comes to say a tire rotation would you just go to a regular mechanic or have to go to a Tesla dealership?

Metabolical25 karma

They delivered it to me last Sept. In fact, there was a surprise $1k delivery fee on the final bill (before delivery).

I haven't needed that yet, but I'll probably go to Tesla. I'm planning to buy their maintenance plan anyway.

I also had a recent problem with my 3G, and they came and picked it up, took it back, did the repairs, and brought it back to me. No charge under warranty.

ashowofhands17 karma

Were you ever a "car person" before owning it? Do you ever miss owning a gas-powered car?

Metabolical30 karma

I was not a car person. My Roadster owning friend had previously had a Porshe as well, and let me drive that for autocross, and that was more than enough for me.

I also really like Project Gotham Racing on the XBox.

We still have a Prius as a second car. I never drive it. But in the unlikely event we were planning a road trip and couldn't easily come up with a charging plan we would just take it.

ashowofhands6 karma

Thanks for the response! Honestly the only reason why I just can't get behind electric cars more is because I just can't imagine the experience of driving one would be as rewarding as driving a good old-fashioned gas-powered car.

But it's clear that the Tesla works for you and your needs/desires. Hope you enjoy it!

Metabolical12 karma

I enjoyed auto-cross in the Tesla Roadster as much as the Porshe 911 RSA.

ShortBrownAndUgly14 karma

do chicks dig the ride?

has the backseat seen any action yet?

Metabolical47 karma

  1. Yes. I regularly have people point, smile, give me the thumbs up, or stop me in the parking lot to ask me about the car. "It has speakers so loud, it blows women's clothes off."

  2. No.

bunknown11 karma

How warm can the interior get? How long does it take to get the interior to it's warmest setting? Thanks. BTW i really want to buy this car, but i live in the Midwest and am starting to think it's not a good cold weather car.

Metabolical25 karma

Even going up on a snowboarding day to freezing temperatures it doesn't have trouble heating up. In fact, since it is just an electric heater it starts warming up sooner, and it has heated seats as well.

I think the heating issue is more about taking a range penalty rather than the ability to heat.

I used to live in the interior of Alaska, so I sympathize with your temperature questions, -40 is a lot different than 28. Since I don't have personal experience with the car at those lower temperatures I would talk to Tesla about it.

dt117311 karma

Are the electronic systems in the car (radio, navigation) powered by the same battery that powers the engine or is there a separate battery for those?

Metabolical16 karma

There's a separate 12V battery for those, but it gets charged by the rest of the system. They had a bug for a while where if you left it for a long time, under some situations it would drain that 12V battery. I went on a trip for a couple weeks and when I came back it was dead. The service people came to my place and fixed it.

neeaaalll11 karma

i want to drive one of those so bad! how much does it cost to charge to do a full charge with the standard charging system? and how is the touch screen console?

Metabolical21 karma

Answered the cost to charge below, but approximately $10.

The touch screen console is really good. And in a recent update they added some voice commands, so I can hold a button and say, "navigate to XYZ," and it will give me a list of possibilities.

With the touch screen, you can have your music (radio, internet radio, or device through USB or bluetooth), navigation, energy consumption, rear facing camera, or web browser (I might have missed one). You can either have two of these up at once or make one full screen. Full screen navigation is quite nice. But there's also a good local navigation next to the speedometer that also shows things like going down a hill so you can see your next turn really clearly.

I don't really use the web browser because I don't want to die. But I did have a passenger use it once to look for a couple of things (again, I wasn't paying attention to the screen). I heard a rumor that they were going to disable it at some point for safety reasons. I hope if they do something like that they do it only if the car is moving and the passenger seat is empty.

I thought I would miss tactile feedback, but there are good hardware controls on the steering wheel for the most common things, so it hasn't been an issue.

Fait_Divers10 karma

What don't you like about it?

Metabolical26 karma

I don't like a bunch of missing features I expect from a luxury car like this. Such as:

  • Parking proximity detectors.
  • Cruise control proximity regulator
  • Automatic volume control based on speed
  • Originally didn't have driver profiles for seat adjustments. Now does, but doesn't include temperature settings, radio stations.
  • No "oh shit" handles for hanging stuff up.
  • Windshield wipers are good but not great
  • [fixed] wiper algorithm used to suck (like should immediately start if I crank it up a notch, even from intermittent 1 to 2)

Things that can be fixed in software keep showing up, and it's really nice.

edit: formatting

pizzabyjake10 karma

Amazing how they are updating the car over the 3g network. But it sounds like a nice target for a hacker too.

Metabolical23 karma

Hopefully they connect over SSL, and if it were me I would make the low level updater only update with a binary that was digitally signed by Tesla.

hispanica3168 karma

You don't need a bunch of things like oil changes, and the fewer moving parts is super important. The yearly subscription is supposed to be around $600 (they haven't sold it to me yet). The battery has an 8 year warranty, so I don't need to worry in that time. The expected battery replacement cost is $12,000. So if after the warranty expires, it immediately dies, then I have spent $1500 per year, and divided by $4/gallon is 375 gallons, and if we multiply that by 30 mpg, we get 11,250 miles per year equivalent. So anything I drive past those 11,250 miles should be "free". (Unless I screwed up the math). Also, I didn't take into account electricity cost.

If you take into account electricity costs, do you think it's still worth it considering that you had to pay 100k for it?

Metabolical28 karma

This is not the car to buy from a pure cost efficiency perspective.

If you mean versus those other luxury cars, I think it is too close to call, especially since I haven't done good cost analysis on buying and keeping up with them. I wouldn't have bought such an expensive car if it wasn't electric, so that's why I don't have the hard math on the difference.

If I really wanted to look at cost efficiency in an electric, I would analyze the Nissan Leaf vs a bare-bones Tesla Model S. The Leaf is still pricey (I think $40k), and it has much more limited range (75 miles), but if you wanted a commuter car and live within 25 miles of work, I think it would be great.

So it was worth it to me, but I ask myself all the time whether I'm just rationalizing my decision.

bunknown7 karma

How fast does driving 30 minutes on the highway at 70 mph drain the battery compared with driving 55 mph on the highway for the same period of time?

Metabolical11 karma

I don't have a precise answer for you, but I know it has an impact, just like the impact driving 70 mph has draining your gas tank vs 55 mph for the same time. If you forced me to guess, I would say 5-15% worse range.

On the dash there is an energy consumption meter that tells you how much energy / mile you are using. In goes up and down all the time as you accelerate, slow down, climb hills, etc. It shows you how you are doing compared to a "rated range". I rarely achieve the rated range, and then it is if I can go a steady 55-60 mph on a flat stretch.

In practice, I never really worry about it and drive however I want with the temperature set to what makes me comfortable. With 270 miles of range I'm always home well within the limit driving like I normally would in traffic, even when I go to the ski resort.

CaptClarenceOveur7 karma

I love electric vehicles. I believe them to be the future and a necessary step in human evolution. So I'm with you on it. But I have a couple of questions and comments.

Would you say your interest in electric vehicles is purely technology based or environmentally based? For me, personally, its 85% tech and 15% environment.

Ive read that the carbon cost of producing a hybrid or electric vehicle is great than a standard vehicle. Turns out that getting all that lithium is a very messy ordeal. I was wondering if you've heard the same and what your thoughts on the subject is?

Are you worried about having to replace the battery in a couple of years? Thats the one thing that keeps from me investing in an electric vehicle. I don't know what my financial situation will be in 8-10 years and buying a new battery sounds like a pain.

Hows the performance? Is it better, on par or worse than what hte manufacture suggested?

Has weather (winter or summer) effected your vehicle in any way?

How much does it cost to completely charge a drained battery?

Metabolical12 karma

My interested in electric cars is probably similar to yours: 85% tech, and 15% environmental/political. By political I mean reduction of use of oil, similar to environmental.

I didn't worry about the carbon cost because I believe we need to get to having electric cars, but I also believe that battery technology is heavily researched right now and we will have breakthroughs, possibly before my battery dies. So lithium may be a relatively crappy way to build electric cars now, but once we have good charging networks, the demand for better batteries that last longer, weigh less, are easier to produce, and charge more quickly will grow.

I don't worry about the battery replacement that much. While the money matters to me, it's too big of an unknown too far away in my opinion. It could be cheaper by then. I could have sold the car by then. They could have had to replace the battery in the 7th year by then so I feel like I've got a lot of life left in it.

The performance is so amazing I can't imagine truly needing the capabilities. I can be going 60 mph, and if I put the pedal down I get pushed in my seat from the acceleration. I went to pass another car one time and when I got around I discovered I was going 90 without even realizing it.

I had to look up the cost per charge on Tesla's site. Looks like about $10 depending on your state.

CaptClarenceOveur7 karma

We are of the same mind. I too feel we need to urgently ween ourselves from the oil teet. asap too.

I had to look up the cost per charge on Tesla's site. Looks like about $10 depending on your state.

How often do you change it?

Metabolical7 karma

I typically plug it in when I get home and don't expect to go out again, even if I've driven a few miles. It's not much trouble at all, and of course I never go to the gas station.

Squeezer996 karma

does it have a 110v charging option?

Metabolical9 karma

Yes. It comes with adapters for regular plugs, dryer plugs, and commercial charging stations. But regular plugs have such low amperage I think it takes ~infinity hours to charge on that.

skleats6 karma

Did Tesla bring up battery replacement when you were planning the purchase? I see you sprung for the higher capacity battery option, but it seems that loss of recharging capacity is one of the bigger issues affecting all electric vehicles on the market right now. I have a project car that I'm planning to convert to electric, but this is the point that keeps holding me back - Tesla has the best battery tech I've seen, and a used battery from one of their models would be my top choice (although it's probably not a very realistic one).

Unrelated, any tidbits you can drop about your experience in the roadster will drooled over - I'm a diehard fan of the Elise and that's what got me into Tesla in the first place.

Metabolical4 karma

Tesla didn't bring up the battery replacement. Roadster buddy had his a few months and Tesla called him and said their data collection on his car suggested his battery was going to die and they wanted to replace it. A day or so later it actually did and they came and picked it up, replaced the battery and brought it back.

I suspect Tesla will replace the battery if it dies, but if range goes down 20%, that may not trigger a warranty.

I think there are good forums out there for more info on the battery tech, but I don't frequent them.

As for the Roadster, The Tesla Roadster is in touch with the road, starts like a bad day, stops on a pesata.

Seriously, that car hauls ass. It's something like 250 horsepower, but super light. (The Model S I think is more like 440 hp). Having gained confidence doing a few of the auto-cross runs in the Porches, I was able to do the figure 8 portion of the course with a touch of squealing so I knew I was on the edge, but not burning too much speed. Sadly, the first round I ended up doing the loop and then going up the track the wrong way because it turned back on itself in a deceptive way, even after having walked the track. But there was a sweet straightaway portion that was perfect for a high acceleration car like the Roadster. And it was a beautiful summer day.

Of course, when you autocross you spend about 4 minutes on the track and 4-6 hours standing by the track doing work duty running out and fixing cones for the other racers.

Illnati6 karma

How long does a charge take?

Metabolical8 karma

1h 15 min / 40 miles. They have a Charging Calculator Page

BIGRIGHTHAND5 karma

As a muscle car enthusiast (75 trans am street/strp and 72 monte carlo strip only) my question pertains to use and comparisons to modern gas vehicles.

How feasible is this thing for a typical daily driver? What about maintenance, is there a steep learning curve for those of you in this club that are mechanically inclined? Price of repair parts?

Metabolical6 karma

It is a modern car, and completely feasible for daily use.

I think it is worse for the mechanically inclined because it is a battery, an electric motor, and a computer. There's probably less than usual for you to self repair. Fortunately, I believe the need should be lower than usual for the same reasons.

jpsean5 karma

Obviously you don't drive it the same way a test driver/journalist would do, but what are your thoughts on the the recent New York Times debacle?

Metabolical37 karma

I would be shocked if Tesla would give a journalist a road trip plan with a significant chance of failure. Now a CNN guy tried the same trip with no problems, and I just saw on the front page of reddit that 6 owners are trying the same trip as well. I think empirical data is a good way to decide it rather than speculation.

roofoo5 karma

How long did you have to wait on the waiting list?

Metabolical13 karma

2 years. But most of the wait was because the car wasn't out yet. My car was after about a dozen founders, and about 270 other signature owners.

whatsitooya14 karma

How many miles can it go if you drive it at its top speed?

Metabolical38 karma

I'd say statistically it varies from about 5 to 30, depending on when the cop catches you and arrests you.

cdosquared4 karma

I am American myself, and its fascinating when I read this post. I used to consider $100k car as a luxury vehicle that can be afforded only by relatively well off individuals. However, I recently moved to China for work (Shanghai specifically) and realized a $100k vehicle is pretty much nothing to the Chinese. You see BMW 7 and S Class everywhere in Tier 1 cities; these cars often run upwards of $200k due to taxes and gas guzzler fees.

Metabolical20 karma

If you assume you can make 6% off investments (in the long run!) accounting for inflation and whatnot, then spending $100k is like taking a $6000/year pay cut. If you then spend $4500/year on insurance, it's more like a $10,500/year pay cut. You have to make enough that taking ~$10k/year pay cut is an acceptable trade for having the vehicle. Different people will have different tolerances for this trade off.

Th0raxe_3 karma

How much room does the car have? I'm 6'7" and just wondering if this is tall people friendly.

Metabolical7 karma

My brother-in-law is 6'7" and in the passenger seat he said it was fine. He suspected without the sunroof it would be close. He commented in particular he was pleased that his knees didn't have to push against the dash. He didn't sit in the driver's seat when offered.

avazah3 karma

I feel like I have to ask a question because my brother has been working for Tesla for about 4 years as a senior engineer. He took me out in a roadster once, which was incredible!

Assuming you didn't have an electric car before, do you think the quietness of the model s is strange? Getting used to calling it an 'acceleration pedal' rather than gas? Having fun taking your foot off said acceleration pedal on a decline and having the car come to a stop?

I'm obviously a huge huge huge supporter of Tesla and have been even before I had family ties -- congrats on the new car, man! Enjoy it!

Metabolical4 karma

My previous car was a Prius, and when it first shut off at a stop light it felt like it stalled. It only took a little getting used to. I still sometimes have to correct myself from gas pedal to accelerator. Never tried having it come to a stop with my foot off, but I don't think that happens, though you slow down quickly.

redgreenpaper13 karma

Do they cover if the battery dies? If not, how much to replace?

Metabolical4 karma

For my battery, they have an 8 year, unlimited mile warranty.

I believe the estimated replacement cost is $12,000.

lotrouble3 karma

Though you've touched on the way you drive your car, how you drove it on a trip, and when you charge it, how do you feel about the Telsa vs. Times? I feel like Times is quite off in the article but I don't have a Tesla. And as always, thanks for doing the AMA.

Metabolical12 karma

I think there is something fishy about the Times situation, but I like proof a lot more than a quick conclusion. We're getting a lot of new examples of people doing the same route no problem, which makes Times look worse, but I would ask the next question that is was there something wrong with his specific car/situation?

sphynx88883 karma

I wonder what the spread of owners is across the country. I also live in Washington (Redmond) and at my company there are 4 S's in the parking lot (about 500 employees). I see a ton around here, but when I talk to others around the country they seem pretty rare.

Metabolical8 karma

It's popular in the pacific northwest. I don't know the actual numbers. Maybe ask them at Bellevue Square.

dsmx2 karma

With the heater on full blast how much does it eat into the range?

Metabolical5 karma

I don't actually know, sorry.

rhettrhett2 karma

How much does it cost after you count all the gas you save?

Metabolical3 karma

tl;dr I'm guessing $1500/year in gas and $500/year in maintenance.

Assume 15k miles/year. Gas for that would be 15k / 30 mpg * 4 dollars/gallon = $2000 / year Electric is 15k / 270 range/charge * $10 per charge = $555 / year Savings is $1444 / year. Paid no sales tax because it is electric. ~$9000 Federal tax credit because it is electric. $7500 Don't know relative first year maintenance. I'll wing it and take $500. First year "savings": $18,444. (You could discount the sales to a percentage of your cheaper car, but I didn't).

StewieChrisJ2 karma

whats the fastest you've driven it and what was it like?

Metabolical5 karma

I think I was passing one time and went 90-100 mph. It's fast, but the car was still super smooth so it didn't quite feel like it.

Many years ago I drove another car about 130 mph on a straight away with no other cars around and it was scary.

Squeezer992 karma

how is the air conditioning on it? does it blow pretty cold?

Metabolical5 karma

Yes. I haven't needed it much so far but it does blow chilly air.

Thrawn71 karma

Would you have no hesitation to charge that car to 100% for a 200 mile trip or would you prefer to charge to 90% and attempt to limit the reduction to the long life of the battery ?

Metabolical3 karma

I would be confident in a 200 mile trip at 90%, but when I took my first drive to the ski resort I did a range charge to be sure I would make it.

I am not reluctant to charge to 100% for the occasional specific need. I hope that answered your question.

wildman791 karma

How would you rate it as a pussy mobile? Do the environmental chicks jump all over you now or what?

Metabolical12 karma

Since I'm married, I can't put it to the true pussy test, but both my wife and I get attention when we're out from:

  • Car buffs. The thing is beautiful and awesome and won like three car of the year awards.
  • Environmental types. While I don't check for hairy legs or Birkenstocks, having an all electric does get some pacific northwest appreciation.
  • Status aware. It's a high end and exotic luxury car. I didn't get it for status, but I don't mind. I've been asked about it by multiple lawyers.
  • The curious.

Astradidact1 karma

How do you feel knowing that your car runs on coal?

Metabolical1 karma

Most of the local energy is hydro electric.

pogiface1 karma

Why doesn't the car have 3g/4g instead of just 3g for that price? any reason?

Metabolical1 karma

I don't know, but I would assume either at some point they had locked down hardware and a project delay would have been required to change, or that 3G was good enough for showing maps and listening to slacker.com internet radio so an upgrade would have raised the cost unnecessarily, or both.

firethief1011 karma

Is it unsafe to leave it in charging for a long time? How long do you usually have to charge it? How far can you go on a charge?

Metabolical8 karma

They recommend you leave it charging, especially if you will be gone for a long time like on a trip. They have a computer on board to make decisions about whether to take the charge or not, and scientists wearing white smocks to determine the best charging algorithms. I usually charge it every night.

You have two options when charging, a normal charge that takes the battery to 90% only, or a range charge that tops it off. The normal charge is preferred because it is better for the battery life to avoid either a full charge or a complete empty.

On a normal charge, I am rated for I think 270 miles. I think in practice the way I drive that is more like 220-240 miles, including heating, an occasional tendency to "enjoy" the acceleration, etc.

OCC1121 karma

do you live in silicon valley?

Metabolical2 karma

no

WeirdestBoner851 karma

Big Macs or Whoppers?

Metabolical0 karma

Paleo, so neither. But back in the day I didn't care, but marketing controlled my brain because I think I usually defaulted to Big Mac. When I ate fries I liked McD, unless I was in CA in which case In-n-out all the way, baby.

beermit1 karma

I would love to be able to purchase one of these cars eventually. Would you buy it again if you could go back and redo the purchase process?

Also, is the charger for one of these cars portable?

Metabolical2 karma

I would buy it again.

It comes with a cable you can plug in with several adapters.

kotooni-2 karma

What's it like to shit out money? (Not trying to be offensive)

Metabolical2 karma

It hurts just like when I bought a Honda Civic while supporting my family of 4 on $30k/year.

TILnothingAMA-2 karma

[deleted]

Metabolical3 karma

I try not to be, but we all have our moments.

knighted_farmer1 karma

I think he's a not-very-dedicated novelty account. Half his comments are trolling, the other somewhat acceptable.

Metabolical2 karma

I didn't intend my answers to be trolling. If I wasn't very specific, it's probably because I wasn't sure of the answer, or if the question was silly in the first place.

EMBRACE_THE_TACOS-6 karma

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Metabolical1 karma

When my sneak is high enough, I kill that jackass every time.