Summary in one sentence

I am a Tesla Model Y owner who hasn’t driven for 10 years. After picking up the car and driving for a month, I have driven 1377 km with an average energy consumption of 135. Overall, the experience is great – the Autopilot mode is a godsend in traffic, the one-pedal driving mode is convenient, and the car can run more than 350 km on a single charge. However, the resonating trunk and leaking seal ring on the front trunk when washing the car remain a problem.

Journey

From getting a driver’s license in early 2010 to the Spring Festival of 2021, I haven’t driven for more than a decade. Before picking up my Tesla, I test drove a Model Y once and only drove three or four times in a shared car before picking it up!

From the day I picked up the car, Tesla’s Autopilot, one-pedal driving mode, and lane departure avoidance functions have stunned me repeatedly, allowing me to truly experience the convenience that technology brings to life. I couldn’t help but recommend it to my family and friends.

From the initial fear, nervousness, lack of appetite, and uneasy sleep when driving, to now where I still have some symptoms but feel more at ease. This month feels like a dream come true. When driving on the road, following other cars is not a big problem anymore, but I still feel uneasy when parallel parking.

Mileage

I drive about 120 km on five working days and about 200 km on weekends, with a total mileage of 1377 km and an energy consumption of 186 kWh with an average energy consumption of 135. The lowest energy consumption is 86 kWh for 10 km. Embarrassingly, I have not driven beyond the fifth ring road since picking up the car.

Autopilot

Tesla’s basic Autopilot version (AP):active cruise control and lane-keeping assistance–follows the car in front and adjusts the speed, slowing down and avoiding obstacles when necessary, and driving at the given speed when there is no car in front.

I turned on the AP on my way back home after picking up the car, and I still think that Tesla’s Autopilot mode is much better than what I could do. During the day, I used AP most of the time while driving in a loop, but I still don’t dare to use it at night. Even when the following distance is set to one, it’s still too far from the front car. The disadvantage is that when the car stops and then starts again after running into traffic, there is a delay of two to three seconds. This makes me susceptible to being cut in at that time.

One-pedal driving mode- The single-pedal mode is worry-free, energy-saving, and foot-saving: When the energy recovery (stop) mode is set to “hold”, pressing the accelerator pedal accelerates the car while releasing it decelerates the car and recovers energy. When the speed drops to 0, the car will stop automatically and it will stay stable on both uphill and downhill. Simply step on the accelerator pedal to start the car, and hardly use the brake pedal for the whole day. As a novice driver, I feel comfortable driving it.

• ### Supercharging
  If there is no charging station available, I charge it once a week. Now the battery can last up to 496 kilometers when fully charged to 100%. It takes at most one hour to charge from 20% to 90% in the Tesla Supercharging station. The second time I charged it, I drove 345.4 kilometers, and the third time I drove 383.7 kilometers. Tesla uses the more realistic U.S. EPA energy consumption test standard, which basically shows the actual mileage. In the Sentry mode, the car loses about 2 kilometers per hour, and it loses 0-2 kilometers without Sentry mode overnight.
• ### Vibration Resonance
  The resonance I feel is the humming noise from the trunk. The resonance has been persisting for a month. The trunk vibration still bothers me, but I have adjusted to it. The vibration also occurs when the driving speed is around 30-40 km/h on a bumpy road, but my family members are not sensitive to it.
• ### New Car Smell
  There is basically no smell. I didn’t put any deodorizers or air purifiers in the car, just opened the windows for natural ventilation: opened all four windows before driving, and closed them after reaching a certain speed. I also use the APP for ventilation in the afternoons for about four to five days.
• ### Water Infiltration After Car Washing
  I have washed the car twice at the authorized Tesla collision repair center (Jixi Star Service Center in Huaxiang), and there was no accidental opening of the charging cover lock. However, every time I opened the front trunk lid, there were water stains on the sealing strip outside and on the filter net, which the car washer had to wipe off with a towel.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.