So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu...

Today I traded in Electra...


for Electra II...


It's been fun forum-ing with all y'all and wish you all the best with your Clarity travels!

 

Exactly - and, had the stars aligned a bit sooner, I'd have saved another $1K when white was the "free" paint color... But I got $500 off for using a referral, so that helped. The Clarity was in pristine condition - it had been garaged its entire time with me - but they offered only $17,900. I pulled out the WeatherTech mats and replaced them with the unused original carpet mats and the interior looked and smelled "showroom fresh"! I'll be putting the WT set on ebay at some point...

 

Oh, it's true - same thing when they switched the "free" color from black to white. But it wasn't entirely Elon - lots of people wrote to request the change. BTW - I saw a Model X in the new Midnight Cherry Red color and it's gorgeous!

 

Thank you. I've already logged some 2K miles of Tesla driving so I know that the primary difference between a M3 and a Clarity is size: M3 is a compact and Clarity is a mid-size. The most noticeable differences in driving dynamics is that M3 drives a bit like a 3-series BMW while Clarity drives more like a 1969 Cadillac highway-cruiser.

Tesla's seats are more comfortable, more adjustable and more supportive than Clarity's - but I'll miss the fabric inserts as the M3 upholstery is perforated vinyl.

Most of my driving will still be within 50 miles of home, which is where I'll be charging: I recently traded-out a Siemens 30A EVSE for a Tesla Wall Connector set to 32A (I have a 40A breaker - the TWC can run up to 48A).

The biggest benefit to my life will be that I'll no longer be wasting our planet's precious petroleum resources by burning them.

 

Actually, the free color in the US was black until 2019 and then white from 2019 until last month, when it switched to Midnight Silver. TTBOMK, blue and red have always been "premium" colors.

 

1. Replaced the Clarity with a Model 3
2. Siemens was 30A tops, TWC is 32A
3. Got the TWC NIB for a great price on Ebay
4. Sold the Siemens on Ebay for more than I paid for it and only $25 less than the price of the TWC
5. The Siemens had a 14' cable, the TWC has a 24' cable
6. The Siemens was quite large and resembled a piece of 1940s medical equipment - not that aesthetics were part of the decision - and the TWC is small and handsome

 

That's a shocking opinion!

 

Just passed the 500 mile mark and have been enjoying a great many things about the M3 - most notably (in this beastly weather - it's 11PM right now and the Temp is 85° with a Heat Index of 102°...) the fact that the car will auto-cool the cabin if the interior temp rises above 100° and the ability to use the app to set the temp for preconditioning the cabin (as well as activating the 5 heated seats and steering wheel). The heat pump and fans can be beastly loud but they do cool the car quickly and efficiently! Basic autopilot works significantly better than Honda Sensing at keeping the M3 centered in its lane, even around fairly sharp turns (where Sensing would have shut off). Tesla Vision can be very cautious - especially at night - but that's probably a good thing. I'm also enjoying the added security of automated lane changing (not automatic - it works only after the driver activates the turn signal), traffic light and stop sign detection.

As to the current Tesla "range prediction" debacle, the M3 RWD advertises 274 miles of range and I'm seeing 260 miles at 70 mph with the AC on full-blast. In-town driving (under 35 mph) with lots of stop signs and traffic lights is more like 320 miles of range. Range prediction is not (and never will be) an exact science...

 

I believe that you are conflating information you've received from a video with reality: Both the J1772 and Tesla (NACS) connector have five pins and deliver L1 (110/120 V) and L2 (210/220 V) AC electricity to the vehicle's on-board charger in exactly the same way - 2 pins for power, 1 pin for ground and 2 pins for communication. The only difference is the CONNECTOR, its pin configuration and its digital "handshake" communication. My post is about home L2 AC charging: I switched from a Siemens EVSE with a J1772 connector to a Tesla EVSE with a Tesla (NACS) connector.

To deliver DC power directly to a vehicle, the Combined Charging Standard (CCS1) adds two additional power pins beneath a J1772 connector while the Tesla connector uses the same two pins to deliver DC that it uses to deliver AC. How Tesla and non-Tesla vehicles communicate with DCFC dispensers is irrelevant to my post but - with appropriate communications software and port adapters - either type of system can deliver DC electricity to either type of vehicle.

 

You do realize, don't you, that Tesla's navigation system tells you where, when and how long to charge while traveling? I just checked the drive from LV to Phoenix and it showed two potential routes. Remembering that I drive the shortest-range M3 (270 miles), the quickest route required a 13 minute stop at the Supercharger in Kingman and a 6 minute stop in Wickenburg. The longer route called for a 7 minute stop in Needles and a 23 minute stop in Quartzite. Tesla's Supercharger network is the primary reason to consider driving their vehicles long distances. My state has 14 Supercharger sites yet only 2 Electrify America locations (and six independent double or single-dispenser CCS locations): In any EV except a Tesla I could not get beyond my state's borders to the east or west with enough charge to reach a CCS charging location.

As to EVs in the news, remember that there's a LOT of money out there to promote EV "tales of woe": If there was ONE overheated Tesla at Joshua Tree, there were probably DOZENS of overheated ICE vehicles - but THEY aren't considered newsworthy. Not a week goes by that there's not a story about a burning EV yet - statistically - there are fewer than 11 EV fires per month around the WORLD yet - in the US alone - there are 114 ICE vehicle fires every DAY!