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Scarlett has no trim on the roof where you can attach a bike rack. She also doesn’t have the ability to add a trailer hitch for a hitch rack. The only viable option is a SeaSucker Rack, which attaches purely with large suction cups.

Can you say “nervous?” We had a bike fall out of our previous Yakima rack while going 65 mph down I-5. It didn’t fall off the roof (thankfully), but you don’t forget that sort of thing. I watched a bunch of videos. Race cars with bikes on top running a slalom at 100 mph or something ridiculous like that. The bikes appeared to be rock solid. But I still had visions of two metal bikes skidding down Scarlett’s very expensive all-glass roof and what that would cost to fix.

But I had no options so I bought a SeaSucker Mini Bomber, which can hold two bikes. It came Thursday and we planned a bike ride for today.

Friday night was reserved for assembly, installation and dry run for mounting the bikes. By the end of the evening, I was even more nervous and asking myself “what did I just do? Did I throw away $500?”

First, the front fork extenders that keep you from needing to take off the front tire didn’t fit. $90 of the $500. Then the handlebars, when mounted, bumped each other and I couldn’t cinch down the bikes. Plus it was awkward and flat out scary putting a bike with a metal front fork on top of a car with an all-glass roof. Although removing the front tires was much less of a problem than I originally anticipated.

There is also an alignment on the rack you can do to avoid the handlebar issue; although it was easier for me to simply loosen and twist Brenda’s handlebar.

This morning I backed the car out of the garage and mounted the bikes. They fit really snug, the front wheels easily fit in the rear trunk along with our gear and helmets in the frunk.

We went to the Row River Trail and rode from Mosby Creek to Bake Stewart Park, about 8.5 miles each way. One of our favorite rides, which will be shut partially down for repairs starting Monday. We came in under the wire.

Can I say the MiniBomber performed flawlessly? I kept asking Brenda on the drive down to look up and check how they were doing. I actually think they ride more solidly than our previous Yakima rack. On our ride, because the racks don’t lock, I removed them and stowed them in the trunk. This has the additional benefit of we don’t have to clutter up the car with a bike rack except when we are needing one.

When we returned from our ride (which was beautiful, by the way. See our Facebook pages), I timed the process of getting the rack out, reinstalling, removing the front wheels, mounting the bikes, loading the car and being on our way.

Fifteen minutes.

Total.

Plus, we can be pre-cooling the car while we are doing this, so it’s not an oven when we are ready to go.

I’m sold on the rack. I thought about titling this post “This Rack Sucks” or something like that, but most of the reviews I saw already used that perspective.

I’ll just say it is a wonderful rack. We can store the entire thing in the frunk so it’s ready at any time. And SeaSucker is letting me send back the front fork extenders for a full refund.

Why am I posting a picture of my Beetle?

I just watched a short video of Tesla Lead Designer, Franz von Holzhausen speaking to the Tesla mission of sustainability. But he also spoke of design. I found out he also was one of the lead designers for the New Beetle, which was my previous car pictured above and one that I thoroughly enjoyed for a dozen years.

In his speech, he kind of alluded to leaving VW in part because of ICE manufacturers getting in to the EV realm largely for marketing and not as a core value in their mission statement.

This brought back two memories; one recent and one from around 2006, which was about the time Franz left VW.

My memory of 2006 was at a time in our lives where we had a 2001 VW Passat and a 2003 VW Turbo S Beetle. We loved our cars. The styling, the drive, the whole concept. Around that time, we also had committed that our next car would be an EV.

So, being the VW fans we were, I contacted VW about when they planned on making an EV. I explained we absolutely loved our VWs and wanted to stay in the VW family.

I wish now I had saved their email response. It was a very terse “we have no plans to make an electric car.” This was in 2006.

Fast forward to 2012 and the upstart Tesla, who now has a new lead designer and a new Model S. Designed as an EV from the ground up; not a converted ICE. Beautiful car.

Over the last 5 years, Tesla has dominated the EV market and changed the entire paradigm of the way we think about automobiles. And guess who is joining the momentum? Just about every auto manufacturer out there: Audi, Porsche, BMW, Chevy, Ford.

Even VW.

For me, it’s too little, too late with VW. Had they responded more diplomatically, I might feel different. But I struggle with such nasty, dogmatic statements. I also struggle with ugly cars; I put the Leaf and the Bolt in that category.

Which brings me to my more recent memory. It was of two MSNBC reporters interviewing a former VP for GM. They schooled him in that interview in many categories related to EVs, including the question that if, as he claimed, GM could “easily duplicate everything Tesla was doing and do it better,” why they weren’t doing it? Boom.

But the clincher for me was the observation from one of the interviewers when she remarked, specifically related to design, that Tesla made cars “that people really really really want to buy.”

And that’s where I have immense respect and appreciation for Franz and his team and Tesla in general. It’s also why we waited almost two years to own a Tesla.

We’ve not regretted a single day of that wait.

We just got home from taking our granddaughters and daughter to a park north of Salem. Brenda had driven all week on our 90% charge from last Sunday.

We don’t drive a lot of miles.

But we do occasionally have a friend ask us the question: “What would you do if you ran out of battery charge?”

Well, that question actually begs a companion question: “What would you do if you ran out of gas?”

You see, both are essentially the same question, just for different cars. ICE versus EV. But the answer to both is really a comment that we plan ahead, just like you do when you make sure you have enough gas in your tank before you set off on a trip, or go to work, or go anywhere.

Granted, it takes us a little longer to fill our tank at home as evidenced by the screen capture above. But right now we’re back home, the sun is still shining, we are generating more electricity than we are using in the house, so we’re charging Scarlett.

I’m going out in a few minutes and unplug, even though we don’t yet have a “full tank” so I can wash her. I’ll start charging again in the morning when the sun comes back out. Saturdays we walk most places, so we’ll probably be fully charged by mid day.

So, yes, we have to think and plan a little differently, but really not much. And not spending over $60/month on gasoline, which today is at $3.71/gallon for premium (what we had to use in our Passat) makes me very very happy.

Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, Scarlett is just plain fun to drive.

We had the opportunity this weekend to take our first TRUE road trip with Scarlett. Every April, we attend a conference in Seattle’s Belltown and have traditionally taken the train, in part, because it is cheaper.

But, since we had Scarlett and we have a road trip vacation coming up this fall to Yosemite, Tahoe and the Napa Valley, we just HAD to know how Supercharging and timing and all that would play out.

So we left and headed up I-5.

Our first stop was at the Supercharger in Vancouver, Washington right about lunch time. It’s right next to a Fred Meyer (many SC seem to be). With a really good Thai restaurant just a short walk away. No extra time spent and a cost for charging of $7.25.

Our next stop was the Centralia, Washington Supercharger. A shorter time needed to charge (we might have made it to Seattle, but didn’t want to risk it). A visit to the Starbucks (again, just a short walk away), a boosted battery range and $5.75 later, we are on our way.

Once in Seattle, we stay close to our conference venue, so we parked the car and walked while there. The hotel was going to charge the battery, but didn’t really have the facility to do so. Even with the 110v connector and an extension cord, we gained maybe 10 miles of range at no additional cost, so I’ll ignore that in our review. It did, however, make for a nice conversation about preparing for the future and the coming demand for destination chargers with the hotel manager. We stay at they hotel every time we’re in Belltown and LOVE it.

Here’s where I’ll add in the cost for valet parking. $40 per night for four nights; a total of $160.  It won’t factor in to our per-mile costs, but it will when we compare to the trip via the train. I’ll get to that.

So coming back today, we left around 11:00am and hit the Centralia Supercharger on our way home. Superchargers seem to be either at Fred Meyers’ or Outlet Malls. This one was an outlet mall.

Sort of.

While there is a nice Starbucks, the restaurant fare within walking distance is pretty weak. A McDonalds, Arby’s, Taco Bell, Country Cousin (scary looking building) and a Denny’s. We picked Denny’s.

This was the first time we’d been to a Denny’s in a couple of decades. And it was OK. Not great by any means, but not horrible.

We were able to almost completely charge there and have more than enough range to get home. About 45 minutes and $11.75 later and we’re on our way again.

One more Starbucks stop in Kelso along the way home, a passing wave to the Supercharger at the Woodburn, Oregon Outlet Mall and we booked it home.

To be fair, I do have to add in the cost to charge at home to bring it back up to full charge. We had 55 miles of range left when we pulled into the garage. At our retail charging cost of $0.0235 per mile, that’s another $5.75.

Our total hard cost for “fuel” to go about 580 miles was right at $30. Compared to gas, we would have spent about $85. And we would have still had to pay for valet parking.

As a side note, the train would cost $175 for two round trip tickets plus about $25 for our Car2Go rides to and from the hotel. That totals about $200. Scarlett cost about $190. The Passat would have cost $245. And one other note: on long trips, the Passat seats get very uncomfortable.

In the past, we took the train in part to save a little money and not have to drive. Now, with just how fun Scarlett is to drive, the seat comfort which is excellent, and the ease of Supercharging, I think we’ll drive next year.

 

 

Today marks our 50th day with Scarlett. Yes it’s Easter, yes it’s April Fool’s Day, yes this will be a serious post.

I’ve been tracking our electric use the entire time we’ve been in our home. If you follow my blog, you’l know we live in a LEED Platinum, net-zero (so far) home. We designed it from the start for up to two Level 2 charging stations in our garage. Each would supply up to 40 amps at 240 volts for charging. Put into basic terms, we can fully charge Scarlett overnight.

We have a 6KW solar PV system as well and in a previous post, I talked about costs, electricity, etc.

But the real test is in our actual electric bill. There are so many variables, it is actually very hard to make a determination in just one month. We just received our electric bill and it was a bit lower than last month. It was also a bit lower than February last year. I checked heating degree days and they were a bit higher this February over last February. So I would have to say the results right now are inconclusive.

As I said, too many variables. I think the real test will be after a full year.

But based on my estimates, our average gasoline bill last year was $63 per month. And, also based on my estimates, our electric bill should only go up about $10 per month, for a net savings of about $50 per month.

Which is, in all reality, all somewhat academic. I was asked today if I had calculated how long it would take me to recoup our investment in Scarlett.

Well, we have traditionally only bought new cars about every 15 years or so. And, beyond the carbon footprint reduction of an EV, Scarlett is just flat out fun to drive.

I’d have to say that’s the REAL investment.

 

We had our first “road trip” with Scarlett.

Just a relatively short jaunt to Sunriver, Oregon for my wife’s staff retreat. We did our first Supercharging since taking delivery in February. This is the Bend, Oregon Supercharger.

I wondered how the credit card link to our account and all that would work. In a word: seamlessly. Back in, plug in, charge, unplug and go. We were the only ones there on a Sunday afternoon until another silver M3 with California plates showed up.

About 40 minutes later (I was going to time it and forgot…), we topped off adding about 180 miles of range and we were on our way.

Total cost: $10.56. That’s the equivalent of about $1.46/gallon compared to our Passat. And that only because Tesla recently changed the supercharge rates and Oregon rates doubled from $0.12/KW to $0.24. My understanding is they are trying to keep locals from using the superchargers for their day-to-day charging and leave the stations open for travelers.

Like us.

So while it isn’t the screaming deal it once was, at $3.25/gallon for the Passat, this is VERY economical.

We are looking forward to our vacation to Lassen and Yosemite this fall.

I like math. Always have. So this blog will be lots of numbers and may be kind of dry.

Sorry, but these things fascinate me.

Naturally, now that we are three weeks in to owning Scarlett, I wanted to do some economic comparisons. I mentioned in my last blog how the Tesla Model 3 has virtually zero recommended service needs. Over the last 21 months we owned our Passat, we spent an average of $68.50/month for service (oil changes, tune-ups, etc) and about $62.50/month for fuel (we only drive an average of 480 miles per month outside of vacations).

Today I want to talk about fuel costs. This is where the math comes in. I took an estimated 280 miles of charge (which would be from zero charge to 90%, the recommended level for day-to-day driving). Of course, we would never get down to zero charge, but this will help for our comparison.

The Passat got an average of 25 mpg, but we had to use premium gas, which cost $3.25/gallon. It was a turbo and needed the higher octane. This resulted in a per-mile cost of $0.13 for fuel. Wasn’t too bad, really, since the IRS allows a $0.57/mile reimbursement for business use as the estimated cost of ownership of a car (fuel, service, insurance, depreciation, etc). For an ICE, we found that to be pretty accurate.

With Scarlett, however, to compare apples to apples, we need to figure the cost of electricity charging per mile. This gets a little trickier, but not too bad. Remember, I like math.

We charge at home on a 32 amp, 240 volt circuit. From zero to 280 miles, it would take us about 10 hours to charge (overnight) or about 28 miles per hour. Each hour of charge uses 7.68 KW (32 amps x 240 volts = 7,680 watts) or about $0.658/hour (at our retail rate from our utility, EWEB, of $0.0857/KWh).

Have I totally confused you yet?

If not, let’s try to factor in that we have a 6KW solar electric system on our house. So, in theory, if I am able to charge on a sunny day, it would cost me only the value of the electricity I am not selling to EWEB out of my surplus (which is common on a sunny day). The rate we sell electricity to EWEB at is much lower than what we buy it for. It’s $0.0255/ KWh. This translates to $0.196/hour. NOTE: charging with solar technically isn’t free since it is lost revenue, so to speak.

Bottom line is this: electric fuel costs for Scarlett are WAY less than gasoline for the Passat. Here is the summary of our costs to travel 280 miles:

• Passat: $36.40 ($0.13/mile)

• Scarlett: $6.58 ($0.0235/mile at EWEB retail)

• Scarlett: $1.96 ($0.007/mile using solar)

Not too shabby.

We are now just at two weeks with Scarlett. I actually had a dream about driving last night. Now for those of you who may not know me that well, I have been bicycle commuting for quite a few years. And, when we moved to our Lawrence Street house in 2015, we’ve been a one-car family with Brenda generally getting the car (now including Scarlett).

So for me to dream about driving is something. But I digress…

Today I want to talk about Tesla service. Both recommended service intervals and their customer service.

First, the recommended service for Scarlett. I had originally thought there would be an at least annual service trek to Portland for some sort of check-up, whatever. But nothing was said or attempted to be sold to us when we took delivery. Then I got home and looked at the Owner’s Manual and here it is:

• Rotate the tires every 6,250 miles
• Periodically check the windshield washer fluid
• Periodically check the air conditioning operation
• Change the brake fluid every 2 years or 25,000 miles
• Change the battery coolant every 4 years or 50,000 miles

That’s it.

Now I know why there isn’t a “maintenance plan” to sell us.

Second, I want to talk about Tesla customer service.

We have a personal customer service contact, Nina, in Las Vegas who is now with us as long as we own Scarlett. You know how some companies develop a brand loyalty that is almost unreal? Apple did that in the Steve Jobs days (although, sadly, not so much any more).

Tesla is doing that now. The Model S and X owners I know notably say they will never buy another ICE car again, they also say things like they will never buy anything but a Tesla again.

And after just two weeks, I see what they mean. I previously commented on our delivery experience. But here’s just a snippet of our experience since then.

I wanted to order a $25 cable organizer for our charging cable in the garage. It will keep the cable off the floor and just look nicer. Right now it kind of gets in the way of my bike rack. I went to the Tesla online shop and couldn’t get the order form to actually place the order. Multiple tries, no luck. So I contacted Nina and also put in a request form in the online shop.

Within about 24 hours, I had an email from the online shop, an email AND phone call from Nina who also relayed it to the online shop team and I got another email from another person in the online shop.

The problem was on their end, they fixed it, the order went through and I just got the confirmation of shipment.

Three people bird-dogging a $25 order for a customer.

THAT’S how you build brand loyalty and how this company will stay around for a very long time.

On February 4, I posted how excited we were to have been able to order our new Tesla Model 3, which we were affectionately going to name “Scarlett.” Because of being given the reservation from our friends, who are in Mexico right now, we thought we’d have to wait until they returned to take delivery. That would be the middle of March.

However, through a series of fortunate events and some wonderful Tesla people along the way, the four week expected delivery date changed to two, we got “the call”, our friends did not have to be there at delivery,  and we were able to pick up Scarlett from Tesla PDX last Saturday.

Just two weeks after ordering her.

Thank you, Tesla!

So this blog post is a reflection on one full week living with an all-electric car. Our friends who allowed us to use their reservation have said they will never buy an ICE (internal combustion engine) car again. And I think I have to agree.

First, the less-important aspects of Scarlett. The red multi-coat paint is unbelievable. This is probably the most beautiful red we’ve ever seen. The styling and “look” of the car both inside and out are so elegant and clean and classy. You have to experience it to really fully appreciate it.

Next, the operation of the car. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve watched, I think, pretty much every fan video about the Model 3. I’d like to address some of the comments criticizing aspects of the car and talk about the fun aspects of Scarlett.

The door handle operation is simple and easy. Most of the critical remarks come from people who want it to be motorized or automatic like the Model S. Get over it. It’s easy and simple.

I had a conversation with a friend about there not being a speedometer right in front of you and how it’s distracting to look to the side. My experience is it is no less distracting to glance slightly to the right as it is to glance slightly down.

The wiper controls being on the screen are no issue if you set them to automatic. That’s what we have done and the sensors work actually very well. When it starts to rain, the wipers come on and when the rain stops, they shut off. This also fits well with the headlights, which we also have put on automatic. As dusk approaches, the lights come on, the screen switches to night mode and all is good with the world.

The regenerative braking took a little while to get used to. In an ICE, you pull your foot off the accelerator and coast, then brake. With an electric car, if you simply pull your foot off the accelerator, you slow down rather quickly. This does a couple of things: it recharges the battery slightly and it saves wear and tear on your brakes. We have found in City driving we hardly use the brakes at all. The adjustment period on that was fairly quick.

Having our phone as the key also is a bit of an adjustment and I’m still not quite there yet. When we get ready to go out, we have found ourselves checking our pocket for the car key, then realizing we don’t need one. The downside to that is I always carry my phone, which is good for always having my key, but bad because every time I walk near the car in the garage, it unlocks, then locks again. Not a big deal, but a little annoying.

Handling is superb. I have had a VW Turbo Beetle and way back a Porsche 914. Both had great cornering, acceleration and handling. Scarlett is right up there. The acceleration is the fastest of any car I’ve ever owned (I think their 0-60 in 5.1 seconds is underrated. It seems faster). She also corners amazingly well. I think the combination of the 19” low profile wheels and tires and the battery being low and central for weight distribution makes a huge difference.

Delivery. I need to talk a bit about customer service. Tesla is known for its quality, safety, etc. But I’ve not heard a lot of talk about their delivery team and customer service. Our first contact was Nina at Tesla in Las Vegas. She worked out the details of delivery date, “paperwork” etc. She was VERY pleasant, congenial and helpful in walking through the process. Then, when we arrived in Portland to take delivery, Cindy and Kyle were our main staff and were just as pleasant. Our appointment was at 3:00 and they were running a bit late detailing our car (they had delivered TEN Model 3s THAT DAY). They greeted us, apologized for the delay and made the whole process so nice. My car purchase history has always been sitting in a small room with the sales rep trying to sell you undercoating and extended warranties and dickering on the price. The Tesla experience is WAY different. The price is what the price is. There are no extended warranties, undercoating or extras they try to add on. Cindy was there primarily to educate us on the operation of the basics of the car. Paperwork was quick, easy and a total of 8 pages (my parents just bought a new VW and they have a stack of paperwork).

We are now making excuses to drive places and can do so with little guilt about our carbon footprint because we are now 100% electric. And, once the sun comes back to Oregon, we will be charging with solar. We made it almost a week on one charge (136 mpg equivalent) but we’ve been giving rides to friends and family and making extra trips simply because Scarlett is just flat out fun to drive. I’m sure that will settle down a bit; our goal is to charge every week or two during the day with solar.

That’s probably enough to talk about today. It’s early Friday morning, I just received the notification on my phone that Scarlett is completely charged and ready to go and we have some errands to run.