xltk

I’m glad to hear you feel safe exposing valuables in Medellin. From looking at your LinkedIn profile though, I noticed two things:

- You’re a board member of a programming school based in Colombia. There’s inherent bias and conflict of interest in sharing your experiences.

- You are fluent in Spanish and appear to be of Latin American descent. I imagine that adds to your relative comfort level when in Colombia.

When I am in the areas near downtown SF, I also feel on edge and weary of my surroundings.

I encourage you to leave SoMa/Tenderloin/FiDi and check out the Richmond, Sunset, Japantown, Potrero Hill, North Beach, Marina, Pacific Heights, Mount Sutro, Presidio, or Golden Gate Park.

I think you’ll find SF has a lot to offer.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you lived in one of the more crime-ridden parts of SF (Tenderloin/SoMa/Mid-Market/Mission) while living in a relatively good neighborhood in Medellin (estrato 4 or above from my limited research). If that’s the case, I don’t see how that’s a fair comparison.

And you’re right - I can’t say for sure what Medellin is like because I’ve never been there.

I paid $15.34 for 59 kWh ($0.26/kWh according to the receipt), which at the conversion rate you describe of 3mi/kWh comes out to 177 miles.

Using your example of 32mpg and $3.64/gallon, 177 miles would cost $20.13.

So roughly 25% cheaper for the supercharger vs gas. Bear in mind filling up gas takes five minutes whereas the supercharger took over two hours.

Good point about charging at home overnight though.

Actually stop and go traffic on the freeway is about the only thing I found "Autopilot" to be useful for.

I stand corrected on the physical control for volume. There is no physical control for airflow as far as I know.

"Almost everything" feels like a stretch, but you are entitled to your opinion as I am mine.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll give that a try next time I drive one.

Neither the onboard screen nor the person I was renting from made clear the limitations you describe. If the limitations are indeed that dangerous, more effort should be made to make them abundantly clear instead of requiring a user to search for them. Furthermore, the brand name of the technology is "Autopilot" and the copy from Tesla’s own website is as follows:

"Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars. All Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver"

Based on my experience, that sentence is extremely misleading.

I stand corrected on physical controls for volume. No such controls exist for airflow as far as I know.

Regarding supercharging times, both the renter and other sources I've read online cite a full charge (over 300 miles) taking 75 - 80 minutes. I got 59 kWh (about 200 miles at a conversion rate of 3.25 miles/kWh) in 2+ hours of charging.

I personally wouldn't purchase a Model 3. I rented the long range version for a round-trip trip from San Francisco to Sacramento (about 90 miles/2 hours each way). The main things that stood out:

- Changing volume and airflow through the central touchscreen were much more challenging than the physical knobs and buttons most cars have. I'd even argue they were distracting and dangerous to use while driving. I don't believe this was a learning curve issue. Having to accurately place your finger above a touch screen and repeatedly hit a plus button is an inferior experience to rotating a knob.

- The self-driving ability has a long way to go before it is useful for anything except cruising on the freeway. In two separate instances, the car slowed at a stop sign down to 15mph before blowing through it (which could have been a non-cheap ticket that went on my record if a cop were around), and almost hit another car when two lanes merged into one.

- The supercharging stations charge at a slower rate than advertised, and cost only a little less to use than filling up a car with unleaded gas.

- The door handles are difficult to use. Maybe this is a learning curve issue, but pressing the handle in at the correct position takes more dexterity than simply pulling on a standard handle.

The technology and presentation is impressive, but I felt the driving experience was subpar.