I went to NY this past weekend because I was being inducted into the inaugural group of my High School's Sports Hall of Fame. I decided to rent an EV and got a Tesla Model 3. Flew into LGA on Friday and was staying with my cousin in Lake Ronkonkoma which is about 47 miles. On Saturday I had to drive to Floral Park, about 41 miles, and back. Then back to LGA on Sunday.
Started at 100% charge and it was a slow drive with 5 pm traffic from the city to Eastern LI. Took 1.5 hours and got the charge down to 75. I went to a Tesla Supercharger Saturday morning and it took 1 hour 40 minutes to get it back to 95 percent and cost about $23. So did my Saturday travel to FP and back and it got down to 62. I was supposed to return to Hertz with a full charge so I found a super charger about 37 miles into the Trip back to LGA. It only took 1 hour to go from 38 to 100 this time. It defaulted to 80 percent since it was a high volume charge station but was pretty easy with the app to bump it to 100. Not sure what the cost was on that fillup.
So, I was impressed with the car itself in the technology and speed. The acceleration is very cool. I used the navigation everywhere because it's been a long time since I drove the area. It was very impressive along with the screen showing all that is going on around you.
For a rental car it was tricky at first because not everything is intuitive for how you are used to interfacing with a car. I wasn't sure how to get it into Park the first time I stopped. Definitely better to get the phone app than just use the backup key card. Again not very intuitive, but I am a programmer for 40 years and was able to get it working but it took time. I actually had to approve a firmware upgrade during the trip which made the car not usable for 55 minutes. I did figure out cruise control but could not figure out how to increase the speed other than stopping it and setting it again at the new speed. Adjusting side mirrors was weird in that left and right was toggling the little round button on the steering wheel but up and down was using the scroll wheel on that button.
One more thing that was very annoying. On the Sunday drive to LGA it had snowed 6 inches during the night. The road folks did a great job and the roads had all been plowed but they obviously where still wet. I am on 495 and the cars are putting the grimy water into the air on the windshield. The wipers seemed to be totally automatic. So I found how to clean the windshield. But then the wipers would come back on just enough to spread the grimy water all over the windshield and I had to run the washer again. I could not turn it off and only run the wipers when I wanted to. There might be a way, but I didn't want to figure it out at 65 mph. The warning for low washer fluid came on as I got back to Hertz.
The conclusion is that I would not rent one again because that necessary charging time on such a short trip is a nuisance. It took up time that I could have done some reminiscing and visiting old stomping grounds. Instead I had to be sure to give myself enough lead time to be sure I could make my appointments on time. If you owned it and had a home charger it would be a little better. It is just a specific tool for doing specific tasks. It is not a do it all tool.
Started at 100% charge and it was a slow drive with 5 pm traffic from the city to Eastern LI. Took 1.5 hours and got the charge down to 75. I went to a Tesla Supercharger Saturday morning and it took 1 hour 40 minutes to get it back to 95 percent and cost about $23. So did my Saturday travel to FP and back and it got down to 62. I was supposed to return to Hertz with a full charge so I found a super charger about 37 miles into the Trip back to LGA. It only took 1 hour to go from 38 to 100 this time. It defaulted to 80 percent since it was a high volume charge station but was pretty easy with the app to bump it to 100. Not sure what the cost was on that fillup.
So, I was impressed with the car itself in the technology and speed. The acceleration is very cool. I used the navigation everywhere because it's been a long time since I drove the area. It was very impressive along with the screen showing all that is going on around you.
For a rental car it was tricky at first because not everything is intuitive for how you are used to interfacing with a car. I wasn't sure how to get it into Park the first time I stopped. Definitely better to get the phone app than just use the backup key card. Again not very intuitive, but I am a programmer for 40 years and was able to get it working but it took time. I actually had to approve a firmware upgrade during the trip which made the car not usable for 55 minutes. I did figure out cruise control but could not figure out how to increase the speed other than stopping it and setting it again at the new speed. Adjusting side mirrors was weird in that left and right was toggling the little round button on the steering wheel but up and down was using the scroll wheel on that button.
One more thing that was very annoying. On the Sunday drive to LGA it had snowed 6 inches during the night. The road folks did a great job and the roads had all been plowed but they obviously where still wet. I am on 495 and the cars are putting the grimy water into the air on the windshield. The wipers seemed to be totally automatic. So I found how to clean the windshield. But then the wipers would come back on just enough to spread the grimy water all over the windshield and I had to run the washer again. I could not turn it off and only run the wipers when I wanted to. There might be a way, but I didn't want to figure it out at 65 mph. The warning for low washer fluid came on as I got back to Hertz.
The conclusion is that I would not rent one again because that necessary charging time on such a short trip is a nuisance. It took up time that I could have done some reminiscing and visiting old stomping grounds. Instead I had to be sure to give myself enough lead time to be sure I could make my appointments on time. If you owned it and had a home charger it would be a little better. It is just a specific tool for doing specific tasks. It is not a do it all tool.
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