Top 5 things I wish I knew before buying a Tesla Model 3

i've owned a tesla model 3 now for  almost 18 months and i've learned   quite a lot so if you're new to tesla model  3 ownership or scared to take the plunge   don't be. In this video i'm going to  go through the top things i wish i   knew before i got model 3 and share what i've  learned including what i think is my biggest   mistake and the one i would definitely  do differently if i did it all over again ev ownership in the uk is still pretty niche  and although electric vehicles on the roads are   increasing there's still lots of people  out there that don't really understand them   or scared to take the plunge out the 38 million  cars registered on UK roads at the end of 2020   only 164 000 of those were pure electric plug-ins  now 2021 is an exciting year because there's lots   of new models coming out on the market for  people to choose from and with tesla leading   the way in design and innovation and lots of other  manufacturers catching up rapidly it means that ev   ownership is becoming more viable for lots of  people now owning an ev takes a little bit of   adaptation to your lifestyle and as an early-ish  adopter i did make some mistakes along the way   so in this video i'm going to be sharing some of  the things i wish i knew before i got my model 3   so that you don't make the same mistakes and if  you already own a model 3 don't forget to make   some comments about what your experiences  are because you always give great advice   so i've always been used to the fact that  if you're running a combustion car and you   have the air conditioning on it wreaks havoc  with the mpg now with an EV you just have to   bear in mind that it's actually the heater that  drains your battery and ruins your efficiency   not the air conditioning the air conditioning  actually has a minimal effect on your range   so when you're calculating your running costs  and your charging costs for winter you need   to bear in mind that you won't actually  make the advertised range of your model 3.   the american automobile association actually  did a study on five evs at minus six and found   that the range with the heater running could  reduce anything between forty and fifty percent   with the air con it generally reduced the range  by about ten to twenty percent to cool the cabin   adding to the fact that evs are generally  just worth performing in winter because of   the battery chemistry and that could seriously  mess up your calculations now the tesla model   3 and model y both have a heat pump fitted so  that range reduction with the heatron shouldn't   be quite as severe but it is still going  to be a lot less than what you're expecting   it's still way cheaper than running a combustion  car don't get me wrong but if you're particularly   sensitive to running costs a near doubling of  your calculations could throw you off somewhat   so there's something that's not really talked  about that often i don't think in electric cars   and that's called phantom drain now this weird  thing happens when i leave my ford fiesta at   the airport for two weeks with three quarters  of a tank of fuel when i come back it still has   three quarters of a tank of fuel in it not so  with electric cars and that's due to this thing   called phantom drain now because evs are always  connected and we can control them through apps   and they need lots of computers to control  the battery capacity and things like that   you've always got electronics running in the  background so when you leave your model 3 at   the airport for two weeks whatever charge you left  it with won't be the same when you come back and   that applies even over a couple of days in the  garage now this is completely normal for all evs   and tesla actually say in their manual you can  expect to lose one percent per day through this   phantom drain and cold weather and environmental  conditions can actually make that worse if you   leave your car on sentry mode you could expect  to lose maybe one percent every couple of hours   so effectively if you drove to the airport and you  aim to get there with 20 charge leave your car for   two weeks while you're in sunny costa del sol come  back you're probably only gonna have six percent   charge left now airport car park companies are  catching on to this and offering a service to make   sure your battery is fully charged by the time  you come back but you're still going to need to   account for the phantom drain because they're not  going to leave it on charge for the two weeks and   generally plug it in the day before you do back  to arrive so if you got there with 14 they won't   put it on charge straight away and your phantom  drain would then run out over those two weeks   so phantom drain leads nicely onto this next  one and it's the fact that you should keep your   model 3 charging all the time when i first got  an electric car i was very much in the mindset   of a combustion car owner in the sense that i'd  let my battery get down say 20 30 before i put   it on charge a bit like i'd let my fuel tank run  down before i actually filled it out with petrol   because let's be honest i wouldn't have filled my  petrol tank up all the time i gradually learned   it's actually far better to keep your model 3  plugged in all the time and it's even recommended   by tesla to do so it's not going to do any harm to  the battery because you're not charging up to 100   and even if you just needed a five percent  top-up it's worth it and that's because   sometimes i get home with say 60 to 70 charge  i'd not plug it in because it didn't need it   then i'd leave it for a couple of days phantom  drain would kick in and then maybe when i did   come to use it i might do an unexpected journey  along with my usual routine which would then   put me at that 20 to 30 battery range and that's  when the anxieties start to kick in a little bit   it's a little bit like when you get the range  warning on your petrol cars and it says the 60   miles left you know full well you'll make it  to a petrol station no problems but you just   become conscious of it and that's the same when  i think you get to that 20 30 in your model 3.   i found that by leaving home every time  with 80 i didn't care about preheating   it i leave sentry mode on for 12 hours i'd use  the heater to whatever i wanted to make myself   comfortable and didn't really worry about  my driving style being economical or not   it was just i wish i'd adopted that approach  earlier because in the early days i think when   i hear that 20 30 mark it gave me a little bit  of anxieties i didn't really need to worry about i've been looking at electric cars googling  information about range economy watt hours per   mile all of that for years i even thought about  getting a renault zoe one of those first came out   but my friends wouldn't let me hey it was either  that or a nissan leaf anyway where i'm going   with this is the fact i'm in the minority so when  you're dealing with companies and individuals and   electric cars it's all still pretty new like for  example when i went to insure my model 3 only a   handful of companies would actually even offer me  insurance and most of those were really expensive   similarly when it comes to electricity tariffs  there's loads of really good ev tariffs out there   but some of them can take months to set up so for  example when i chose octopus referral link in the   description if you want to earn yourself 50 quid  um i had to go on to their standard ev tariff to   start with which is common with most ev tariffs  get a smart meter installed and then i could   switch to the cheaper ev tariff but smart meters  can take a couple of months to get installed   so rather than wait for your model 3 to be  delivered and then start looking into all of this   what i'd say with anything that normally  took you a couple of days or a week to set up   look well well in advance even just make inquiries  and ask about the lead times to installation i'm   expecting a similar issue when it comes to mots  and repairs tesla do offer all of these but i'm   guessing they're not going to be the cheapest  so if you like a good deal bear in mind that   it's going to take a little bit longer to shop  around and get the cheapest deal going this will   probably also apply to your chargers because with  the increase in ev uptake i imagine charger stocks   are going to run low and you might be looking  at a couple of months before some come in stock   now a new one and a big one for electric  car owners is the range is not the range   so the advertised range is actually if you  took your model 3 from 100 down to zero   except good practice is to keep  your battery between 20 and 80   and definitely never run it down towards  zero because that causes long-term damage   now if you're leasing the model 3 probably won't  be as worried about this but if you're buying it   then you should really consider it so what does  that mean in reality well if you're trying to   keep your model 3 between that 20 and 80 range  you're only ever going to use 60 of the capacity   currently the tesla model 3 is advertised at  278 miles which if you times that by 60 gives   you an actual range of 166 miles so if you were  buying the tesla model 3 standard range plus   to do say a 200 mile commute round trip in theory  you've got 78 miles to spare but in reality you're   just short to keep it in that sweet spot factor  in with that as well the effect winter has on that   and that's going to reduce that 166 miles even  more so you might struggle a little bit without   damaging your battery or causing long term damage  the good news is though is that for most model 3   owners the average trip in the uk in 2019 at least  was 8.4 miles so the range on that is going to be   ample for most people but what i would say is  if you're super close to the advertised range   on a daily basis then you might want to think  about opting for the longer range model threes   the good news for longer journeys though is look  at this new tesla supercharger map they produced   there's superchargers popping up all across the  country in 2021 and whilst i don't expect tesla   to stick to these time scales at least they've got  a lot more planned in more remote places as well   and there's no way i'm going 166 miles  without needing a loose stop anyway   so what's the top thing i wish i knew now after  owning my model 3 for 18 months now don't hate   me for this one and i think electric car owners  will get behind me on this as well so please do   but if i knew then what i know now the simple  answer is i'd have done it sooner i sound the   fence i earned i add about range cost all of that  and having made the plunge and bought a model 3   i just wish i'd have done it sooner and that's  not even a lie that is purely my biggest regret   and my biggest mistake i think is not just  having that leap of faith and going for it   earlier i much prefer the driving experience of  an electric car it's just way easier it's probably   made me a bit of a lazy driver i'm not going  to lie because it is literally start and stop   to be honest you don't even really need  to stop because the regen braking kicks in   charging is not a problem i am lucky because  i have off-road parking and i just get home   pop the charge port plug it in and then close  the garage and because of that kind of like new   charging regime that i've adopted range isn't ever  a problem because i get my model three it's always   charged up when i get in it and i just drive  around whenever i want even longer journeys aren't   a problem and my battery has a lot less capacity  than the newer model 3s that are out there   apart from the bumps i've mentioned as i said  it's been an absolutely brilliant experience   and i can't recommend it enough now i  know not everyone can afford a tesla   but if you're in the market for a brand new car  i would seriously consider switching to electric   2021 has loads of new models coming out there  hopefully to fit people's budgets and there   are plenty of savings you make having an electric  car as well but in my personal experience i think   tesla is worth the extra cost for the value that  you get and the extra little benefits from their   supercharger network the over air updates and all  the developments they do as well don't forget if   you own an electric car to put some comments below  about your experiences and if you've got any mates   sitting on the fence about going electric feel  free to forward them this video six percent of   new cars registered in 2020 were evs which made  about a hundred thousand so i think we need to   push that number higher and get over 300 000 evs  on the road by the end of 2021 that's all for this   week thanks for watching don't forget to like  comment share and subscribe i'll see you soon

Channel: Tesla Torque

Views: 332,098

Rating: 4.8517675 out of 5

Keywords: Tesla model 3, Tesla Model 3 UK, Electric car, Tesla UK, Tesla Europe, Tesla Model 3 Performance, Tesla Model 3 Long Range, Tesla Model 3 standard Range plus, model 3, tesla, id3, id4, vw id3, vw id4, Tesla Model Y, Model Y, Model Y UK, Electric car ownership, electric car lessons, Top things I wish I knew before buying a Model 3, Top 5 things I wish I knew, Top 5, Range anxiety, charging capacity, Tesla supercharger

Id: XtcdUeef9gs

Length: 11min 23sec (683 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021