Charging Forward: A year in review with the Tesla Model X

Wow, how time fly’s by!! I can’t believe it’s been a year and almost 25?000km later. It’s been an amazing adventure so far with many long-distance trips and hundreds of customer interactions, shows and public engagements.

We set out a year ago with a few primary goals in mind, one of them to create awareness around e-mobility by using one of the world’s coolest and most recognized brands. It certainly has had the impact we expected and along with that came questions and educating the SA public on various aspects of EV ownership. The usual and most common questions were “How far can I drive on a charge?” “What happens when there is load shedding?” “How much does an EV cost and how is it serviced?” “Where are the charging stations?” “Is it cheaper to run compared to fuel/gas?”, and the list goes on. There has been huge public interest in electric vehicles recently in South Africa. Audi has recently launched their range of E-Tron’s in SA along with BMW and Mercedes Benz. Chinese manufacturers are in hot pursuit, and we will undoubtably see several their models in SA soon.

Rubicon’s Model X has performed very well, especially for intercity travel. Range has not been a problem with just under 500km available per charge from the 100kWh battery pack. I have enjoyed the challenge of driving as efficiently as possible between cities at freeway speeds. Cruise control at 110km/h seems to be the most efficient use of energy, and the Model X can typically achieve 20kWh per 100km. The best efficiency to date has been travel to East London from Port Elizabeth, a distance of 305km where the Model X achieved just over 16kWh per 100km with 160km of range available after the journey. In addition, it can accelerate 100km/h in 2.6 seconds!! That is astounding for a vehicle that weighs 2500kg and has dual performance motors!

All effort have been made to charge the EV from renewable energy sources on these road trips but has not always been possible. I often hear criticism that EV’s are not green and are in fact dirtier than ICE vehicles, but then again, the transition to new technologies often has challenges to overcome, but we do have to start somewhere to achieve the ultimate goal.

I love Tesla’s mission statement, “To accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable future” It speaks volumes to the point that the world is accelerating to a future of e-mobility, autonomous driving, decentralized smart energy grids and mass energy storage systems, all accelerated by Tesla. If we look at the world without Tesla, we would probably be 10 years behind on these developments or pursuing other wasteful technologies.

All vehicles have good and bad points, but they also tend to evolve into better versions over time. The Model X is exactly that, but it’s the same car! It is simply better now than it was a year ago all thanks to software. The 4th industrial revolution encompasses the ideology of basic functional hardware with IOT capabilities which enables longer product life cycles. The product then evolves over time and has new features added through new firmware via OTA updates.

It’s difficult to list all the new features and performance updates over the past year from Tesla, but they are significant. In fact, a major software update in December 2021 changed the user interface completely as well as functionality, it caused a few grey hairs as the screen navigation had to be relearnt. It was like driving a new car! ?Other updates have included, better regenerative braking, new sound system features, better battery efficiency, new games, new audio sources, custom coloring for vehicle imagery on screen, tire pressure API and the list is endless. Many people have commented that Tesla is a software company who incidentally make cars and batteries, I now know what they mean.

So here are a few points, both likes and dislikes based on a years’ worth of driving the Tesla Model X

Likes

Driving pleasure – this is a rocket on wheels and can only be experienced to be understood. The interior is wonderfully quiet and very little road noise. The seats are the most comfortable you’ll ever experience in a vehicle.

Driving distance is excellent as well as energy usage for a large SUV.

Amazing software which is updated regularly OTA.

Build quality is excellent, you either like the basic interior or not, personally I like it, feels like you’re in a spaceship, not a car.

The interior space is fantastic, the frunk (front boot) is very useful for storage and more than enough space for 5 adults. Interestingly, the car performs just as well fully laden due to its low center of gravity.

The controls are intuitive and digital imagery on both screens is excellent.

The car has 8 built in cameras for autopilot and security. The 360’ dashcam functionality means constant monitoring of the road and security away from the vehicle. A great feature.

Autopilot, hopefully that will eventually include full self-driving capabilities in SA someday, it also adds an extra layer of safety for drivers.

Falcon wing doors, love them but not everyone does.

Panoramic windshield, that is just wow! Great all-round visibility from the cabin.

Interior finishes are very good but could be improved in some areas.

Auto open and close front doors. A nice feature having the doors open as you approach the vehicle.

Remote controls from the phone app. A nifty set of controls to lock, unlock as well as precondition the cabin climate before entering. Great for hot days to cool the cabin. Several other controls also included.

Entertainment – Netflix, YouTube and a host of arcade games make waiting for a charge bearable.

Dislikes

Internet browser, probably as bad as they come, slow and useless.

No navigation – this is contentious as I am aware Tesla state that certain functions including navigation are not available in non-core markets. So, I cannot actually complain here, but we live in the 21st century and I am willing to pay for premium connectivity over Wi-Fi, that can’t be too difficult for a company like Tesla to execute. I’m sure many other owners in non-core markets across the globe would agree.

No Android Auto or Apple Carplay, really hope this comes as a future update. Not sure how Tesla missed this.

Slight shudder on acceleration, it seems to be an underlying issue related to the half shafts, CV joints and the dynamic suspension. Let’s see how that develops.

So many likes and a few dislikes, but the overall experience has been fantastic. To coin a phrase from a motoring journalist “Tesla is revolutionary and other vehicles are simply evolutionary”

I honestly can’t fault the car for the minor issues and would easily give the Model X 4 ? stars. It’s almost there and getting better every year, not bad for a company who only started building cars in 2008!