The front doors of the Tesla Model Y/3 have a manual mechanical release handle as well as the push button. The manual mechanical release handle is positioned where some first time passengers in those cars use it instead of the push button.
The back seat of a Tesla Model Y has a manual mechanical release pull under a removable floor in the door pocket.
It is not really a great design, since they could have made door handles that activate the electrical opening on a light pull, but then activate the mechanical opening on a harder pull. However, it is not unique to those models, as evidenced by stuff like this: Clueless Thief Trapped Inside Corvette C8 Begs Owner For Help | Carscoops
Same at my nearby mall. Allegedly though they are all committed pre-delivery vehicles, not ones for sale.
In general there are at least 300 undelivered Tesla parked at our local mall (which is just across the highway from a Tesla Service Center). They seem to have rented a huge swath of the Mall parking. It used to be maybe 50 at any time but it has mushroomed.
We have the cousin of the EV6 and live in NJ and saw about 30-40% worse range last winter than this summer. It depended on the temp and the driving conditions – the longer you drives warmed up the battery.
Feeling good that we got an EV and plug-in hybrid while Inflation Reduction Act rebates are still in place, and before the tariffs kick in. We were hedging our bets, and only time will tell if we made the right choice, but for now I think it was the right call.
Cabin heating can be a substantial reason for increased consumption in cold weather, especially if the vehicle does not have heat pump heating. Short trips means a greater percentage of driving is done with initial heating from cold.
I agree the cabin heating can be a big part of winter range loss.
We found that when we precondition the cabin while plugged in at home the winter range loss is quite a bit less significant (<10% in freezing temps). Once conditioned, the cabin contents act like a thermal battery, so maintaining desired temp takes less energy from the vehicle battery.
It’s interesting that in a world consumed with convenience, that the latest expensive vehicle technology requires so many additional steps to perform like ancient ICE vehicles day to day.
I never had an ICE vehicle that allowed me to precondition the cabin from an app, maintain cabin temp while I’m in a store or restaurant, or program my car to be exactly the temp I want when I leave in the morning. So I wouldn’t call this an extra step to do the same thing.
Ditto. Especially valuable when the cabin needs cooling. The dog mode in our X is great for the times when we stop at a winery with the car full of plants… keeps them from wilting while we grab some lunch and maybe share a tasting.
ICEVs use waste heat for cabin heating, so it is no additional cost, but the heat can come slowly because it may take time for the engine to warm up. Old less efficient ICEVs tended to give cabin heat faster because they waste more energy as waste heat, but then that means more money into the fuel tank all the time.
Gotta love the hundreds and hundreds of posts about supposed inconvenience of EVs by those who have never owned one.
Meanwhile, many of those with EVs save money on gas, never have to go to a gas station, start every day with full range, don’t have to worry about oil changes, need brakes less often and have less maintenance costs, have a better performing, roomier and more reliable vehicles, can set up the cabin conditions in advance and automatically, etc.
But If others don’t want an EV, then don’t buy one. Seems simple enough.
Just took delivery of a leased EV BMW. The ride and fit is far superior to my prior Tesla. Also has a heads up display vs looking down at the dashboard through the yoke. Range is less, but since 95% of our driving is within town, not an issue. Had to buy a charger adapter so I could plug into my home level 2 Tesla charger but that was less than $40.
With technology changing so rapidly, especially battery and charging (I think the CCS will go the way of the Betamax), I think leasing is the better way to go.
In the age of over-the-air software updates, they need to come up with a new nomenclature for recalls. There should be a different word used when someone physically needs to turn their car into a dealer for work versus merely passively wait for the latest software update that will have zero disruption on them. Using them interchangeably is misleading. And most people don’t understand that many of the “recalls” are now simply OTA updates.
I agree that “recall” does suggest a physical recalling of the car to a dealer for repair/replacement of a parts and all the inconvenience it entails, so it is probably not the perfect word. But on the other hand “recall” has also come to signify a serious safety issue that needs to be addressed, and calling such fixes mere software updates isn’t really totally accurate either.
While it is great that a serious safety issue can sometimes be addressed remotely, it is nonetheless a serious safety issue, and when a particular vehicle has serious safety issue after serious safety issue, it is noteworthy, as it raises questions about the engineering, quality control, and commitment of the manufacturer to safety.
(Also, just to avoid confusion by anyone who didn’t click on the article above, the Cybertruck’s sixth recall was an old-fashioned bring-your-vehicle-in-for-a-replacement-part recall. Same for at least some of the other Cybertruck recalls.)
Not all hardware recalls require going to the dealer. I had one car that had a recall where they sent a kit with labels to be installed to mark child seat LATCH attachment points and some plastic guides to make it easier to attach child seats to the LATCH attachment points. Going to the dealer was optional, and it is likely that very few customers went to the dealer to have the labels installed or the plastic guide installation shown to them. In another car, the recall was to check the part number on a certain part, and going to the dealer was only necessary if the part number was the incorrect one.
Regarding over-the-air software updates, marking one as a recall does create the distinction in that it is more important than other over-the-air software updates. It also alerts service people that if the car comes in for any service but does not have the software version with the fix, the service people should do the software update.
Does the BMW heads up display integrate with Waze, Google Maps, and/or other CarPlay apps (I assume it integrates with the car’s navigation.)
As for the future of CCS, that may depend upon whether the current administration can distribute money set aside for charging infrastructure in the next few months, before the new administration kills it.
