First Time Owners

You will do most of your charging at home, overnight while you sleep, plugging in when you get home most days. Every Tesla comes with a charging kit called a Universal Mobile Connector (UMC). Its best not to use a 110V outlet. It’s super slow, so only use in an emergency. Its best to use a 240V outlet (e.g., a clothes dryer outlet of a custom installed NEMA 14-50A circuit instead) you will get about 30 miles or range per hour from the UMC (as it limits to 32A). You can also purchase from Tesla wall mounted Wifi enabled Wall Connector for $500 which will add up to 44 miles of range per hour or up to 60A.

For normal daily usage, you should charge to around 80 percent, not a full “range charge” (that you’d use for a long road trip). This maximizes battery life and also takes less time. Generally plug in when you get home and let the car charge overnight. You can also set the charging start time to take advantage of the lowest energy cost per Kwh from your power provider. Even better have a Tesla Solar and Power Wall Battery system installed and get your energy from the Sun and sell any excess energy back to the grid.

You will use Tesla’s Super Charging network normally when you are on a longer than normal road trip. You can find the nearest supercharge to your home here. Once you have added a credit card to your Tesla Account you will be able to seamlessly use Tesla’s extensive charging network, you can always find these on your map in the car, and your car will give you advice on a trip for the best stop points to charge to make sure you get to your destination. You just pull up and plug in, and your car will start to charge automatically. Superchargers can add up to 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes. Since charging above 80 percent is rarely needed, stops are typically short and convenient. With a huge network of fast charging locations, automatic battery preconditioning and the great range of your Tesla, you’ll be on your way quickly. Enter a destination on your touchscreen and Trip Planner will automatically calculate your route with Superchargers along the way. Trip Planner considers driving style, elevation, outside temperature, traffic, stall availability and more, offering a convenient door-to-door experience. Also the cost to use the Supercharging Network is much less than filling up with Gas.

When supercharging remember stalls have a number and 1 A and 1 B generally share power so if there is another vehicle plugged into the other stall pair charging could be slower, it is better to park in a stall where the matched pair/s are empty for a fast charge.

You can use other charging networks other than Tesla in a pinch, you will need an adapter. A J1772 adapter can be acquired directly from Tesla. You will probably have to open an account or pay directly with a credit card to uses the other charging networks, and you can find the location of these on an app called Plugshare which you can download from the your Mobile App store.

Tesla offers a 4 year 50,000 mile warranty which ever expires first, and 8 year 100,000 – 150,000 mile battery warranty with a minimum 70% retention of battery capacity. See here for details of the warranties provided. Model S & X owners can also purchase an extended warranty.

Tesla recommends that you do the following regular maintenance:

• Cabin Air Filter (every 2 years)
• High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter (every 3 years for Model S and X)
• Tire Rotation, Balance and Wheel Alignment (every 10,000-12,000 miles)
• Brake Fluid Test (every 2 Years)
• Air Conditioning Service (every 2 years for Model S, 4 years for Model X, 6 years for Model 3)

Brake pads are not listed — this is due to regenerative braking which takes a lot of stress off the brakes, allowing them to last much longer.

Cold weather has an effect on electric cars. EV batteries have to be within their optimum operating temperature of about 70 degrees to function. This means that when winter weather strikes, the car has to use energy just to warm itself up, otherwise the efficiency degrades drastically. One easy way to counteract this issue is to precondition that car while it plugged in. Tesla has a precondition option within the app and recommend that you precondition the car before driving. This will bring the battery up to its optimum temperature and avoid too much range loss from happening. If your daily driving is minimal, you could probably forgo this step. Tesla, has a page detailing some tips for owners during the winter months.