Recently acquired my first Tesla vehicle, a used Model S. It’s awesome. I didn’t know anything about electric vehicles, but it didn’t take long for me to fall in love. But then, all of a sudden, a lot of strange things started happening… The car felt like it was haunted. Should I take it to a service station, or an exorcist?
Every time I went to charge my vehicle unexplained things happened. One day my vehicle was locked at 55 miles per hour and could not go any faster. I was getting nasty looks from other drivers on the highway! Next day, I came back to my vehicle and the heater was on, full power, with the inside temperature over 100 degrees. Another day, a very cold day actually, the air conditioning turned on full blast. Other times, the sunroof would suddenly open. Lights went on and off by themselves. The charging port would open without explanation.
Did I mention that charging seemed to be free?
One day, the battery drained while I was away from home. So I went to a Tesla charging station. Not seeing anywhere to pay, I proceeded to plug it in. And immediately the car started charging. Sweet! Using a Tesla charging station is free!
But with all the unexplained events, it was time to take action. I couldn’t find an exorcist on Craig’s List, so I did the next best thing… Went to the Tesla service center.
The Tesla people reminded me that a full ownership transfer might take a couple weeks, because they were backed up. Then while the vehicle was at the service center I got an email on my phone from “previous Tesla owner”. The message started like this: “Every time you take your car to a Tesla charging station my credit card gets charged…”
It all made sense then!
I thought that remote start was the only function you could do from your phone, but it turns out that an owner with account access can do much more. From the linked Tesla phone app, you can turn on lights, open the charging port, use the climate control and do all kinds of things.
The Model S is a great product, but surely gave me a scare. “Previous Tesla owner”… If you read this, please give me your address, so I can send you back the charging money.
Would you get an electric car?
Hauntings and previous owners aside, have you ever considered getting an electric car?
