A Week Long EV Test Drive in Singapore
Tesla Model Y
Performance
Dual Motor, AWD
Thank you to the good people at Tesla Singapore for making this week long test drive of the Tesla Model Y.
The model that I drove was the "Performance" variant, which essentially is the highest end specifications featuring:
- Dual Motor with 514 km range (WLTP standard)
- All-Wheel Drive
- Top speed up to250 km/h
- 0 - 100 km/ in 3.7s
- 21’’ Überturbine Wheels
- Performance Brakes
- Lowered suspension
- Aluminum alloy pedals
- Carbon fiber spoiler
We are currently at an era where the world is much more conscious about the climate change. Traditional automakers are scrambling to roll-out their electric vehicles (EV) alongside their standard internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Tesla is not the first company to have an EV, but it definitely comes to the mind when you think of an EV. Why? That is because everyone knows who Elon Musk is. The man who bought over social media "Twitter" and rebranded it to "X", the man who launched a space program called "SpaceX", the man behind the "Hyperloop", and most importantly the man who started "Tesla" 20 years ago. Tesla is a unique automobile company, unlike the long-standing automobile giants, they started making EV and only make EVs. From concept to engineering to manufacturing, Tesla designed and made their cars from ground up, without a legacy to burden the whole design and manufacturing. They are also the only cars to be manufactured by a one-piece casting technology, where the frame of the cars are casted in a ginormous casting machine at their Giga-factories. Tesla also designed and made their own EV batteries which comes with their network of SuperChargers. As the name suggests, super-charge Tesla cars at super-fast speed, narrowing the biggest concern of drivers, which is the refueling or re-charging time.
In Singapore, where the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) can easily cost you an arm and leg, on top of the import taxes, owning a car for 10 years can easily set you back more than USD $100,000. Despite the rebates that the Singapore government provides for importation and registration of an EV here, an EV typically still cost more than a small sedan with a minimalist 1,000cc engine. Moreover, the annual road taxes of EV are also a few times much more expensive than ICE cars. Although, electricity charges are much lower than gasoline here (mainly because Singapore taxes heavily on gasoline), the offset is not significant in the long run. Do note that to generate electricity, fossil fuels are still utilized and tat conversion cost money as well. So there is no way owning an EV can avoid the impact of fuel prices. There is definitely a very high chance that once gasoline cars are completely phased out, electricity prices will be adjusted to compensate the loss of revenue. That being said, it is not necessary a bad thing to switch from an ICE car to an EV. I had owned gasoline-powered Mazda, diesel-powered BMW and currently back to gasoline-powered BMW. I had experienced the different drivetrains and obviously a diehard Bimmer fan. Throughout my one week test drive of the Tesla Model Y, I will share my thoughts of an EV and also why Tesla is the EV I will switch to and not a BMW i.
One-Pedal Drive Experience
When I first test-driven an EV, it wasn't a Tesla. Tesla was not even here then. It was a Polestar (an EV brand by Volvo). The one main difference between driving an EV and ICE car is the "one-pedal drive" experience. EV typically are made to do regenerative braking once pressure on the accelerator is lifted slightly. Think of regenerative braking as engine braking when you release pressure on the accelerator, but much stronger braking. This regenerative braking is intended to regenerate power back to the battery, which is really not significant in the real world. However, because of this stronger regenerative braking from releasing pressure on the accelerator, the car can slow down significantly and eventually come to a complete stop, without the need to even step on the brake pedal. This is why this experience is called the "one-pedal drive". This mode of braking can be typically be adjusted to "Creep" mode, which simulate how auto-transmission ICE cars will roll or creep at low speed when accelerator is up and brake pedal isn't depressed.
I have been used to letting my Bimmer roll and engine brake to low speeds before gently tapping the brake pedal to stop the car. It is boring, not fun, no thrill, but it is more fuel-friendly for the pocket. So adapting to the "one-pedal drive" of the Tesla Model Y was rather easy. Moreover, the regenerative braking on the Tesla is not as agressive as the Polestar that I had driven. After an hour of driving the Model Y, having my foot only on the accelerator pedal, became natural, since the car will slow to a complete stop and apply brakes auto-hold.
The Audio Experience
Motorheads will probably not agree with this. Instead of the ego-boasting roar of a V8 engine and deep bassy exhaust sound, EV are quiet with the occassional "whirring" sound. I find the latter more rewarding. It is almost like having a modified Tamiya car engine (if you know what I mean) or when your CPU starts working hard to process a graphic-intensive PC game. It is that kind of audio-satisfaction. Do not get me wrong. There will still be the usual road noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). The Tesla Model Y still suffers from NVH, much more than my current gasoline-powered Bimmer. It won't wake a sleeping baby and won't be a bug bear, unless you are used to a well-insulated cabin such a 7 Series.
The Drive - Acceleration
Is it really boring to drive an EV? Is there really no thrill to driving an EV? I cannot comment for other EVs. But the Tesla Model Y Performance definitely debunked those myth. Switching the acceleration mode from "Chill" to "Performance", the Model Y then becomes a beast! For safety sake, the accelerator response is still normal as "Chill" when lightly depressed, but simply applying a tad more pressure on the accelerator, the Model Y surges forward and instantaneously throws you back into your seat. Do not use this mode when you have family who are not strapped in! You will be condemned as a bad driver! The instant torque easily rivals that of diesel engine and the instand power can easily put many ICE cars to shame. I had an experience of taking off at the lights alongside an AMG C63s. The C63s as inching forward and getting all ready to sprint. By the time the lights turned green, put the pedal to the metal, I glanced into my wing mirror, the C63s was not there! That is because he was already in my rear-view mirror. Did a speed check, I was only at 60 km/h! Having a century sprint of 3.7s is no joke!
Next time, to save yourself from dampening your ego, never challenge a Tesla, especially one with a Dual Motor badge. Imagine being outrun by a regular SUV!
The Drive - Handling
The Model Y is still an SUV. It is still not going to be able to escape the laws of gravity. It doesn't feel as planted as a sedan when going around wide corners on an expressway. There are 3 steering modes to play with, which probably adjusts the weight of the steering. However, I wasn't able to feel much difference. I stayed between Comfort and Sports to get a more heavy steering feel. As this Model Y Performance comes with lowered suspension, on top of an already stiffer suspension, the car was wobbly like an ice-cream van when going over humps even at low speed. Everyone in the car was wobbling and rocking side-to-side each time we crawl over humps. I guess we were too pampered by the air-suspension on our Bimmer.
The Drive - Cruising, Navigating & Parking
The immediate benefit of EV is when you drive off at the start of the day. EV do not require ignition and do not have engine oil to warm up. While everyone else is burning fuel and waiting for the engine oil to heat up, with an EV you just get in Drive and go! That makes a whole lot of difference when you are rushing for time. By the way, I never wait for engine oil to warm up since we live in the tropics.
Tesla cars are equipped with a superb camera setup which surrounds the car on the front, fenders, B-pillars and rear. Alongside the computing prowess and maybe some AI, the car is intelligent to sense accurately every vehicle and pedestrian within "sight"of the car. The AI can even determine if the surrounding vehicles are a truck, sedan or hatchback. This is also how Tesla cars are able to have Autopilot or self-driving capabilities. However, in Singapore, it is not fully approved, hence the Tesla Model Y only comes with a beta-version of "Autosteer" and a "Traffic-Aware Cruise Control". The "Traffic-Aware Cruise Control" works just like any adaptive cruise control (ACC) in other cars; it tracks and keep a pre-set car distance from the vehicle in front, while crusing at a pre-set speed, braking and accelerating automatically. With ACC, the driver still need to control the sterring and keeping the car in lane. With the "Autosteer", on top of ACC, the car will automatically steer the car and keeping the car in lane. It is also during this "Autosteer" mode, the display shows your car riding on a streak of rainbow. While cruising on the rainbow, the car still requires the owner to make lane changes by signalling to the direction of intent and then gently nudging the steering wheel in that direction. The car will then engage the lane change when it deems safe to do so. This makes the "Autosteer" not a complete hands-off Autopilot. I was quite happy to use the "Autosteer"on the expressways and lean back to relax a bit. But I wasn't confident to let my senses stray, which is definitely a good thing. I think many lady drivers will apppreciate being able to engage "Autosteer" and put on make-up behind the wheels.
Despite having a fantastic camera setup, navigating around tight spaces can still be improved. The Model Y is not a huge car. It is shorter and not as wide as my Bimmer. However, when going into the most challenging of multi-storey carparks or basement carparks in Singapore, it pays to have extra set of eyes to assist. I am not ashamed to say that I rely a lot on the simulated bird's eye 3D view while driving into tight spaces. However, even with such a sophisticated camera setup and AI, the only camera views that you can use while driving, are the rear and B-pillar camera views! "Elon Musk, you can simply programme the car to switch to front camera, when you are in drive and going forward, and rear camera when engaging reverse gear." Why would I want to see my rear when I am driving forward into a tight corner! You can only rely on the proximity sensors and a simulated distance indication surrounding your car on the display to give you a guage on how close you are to the wall or an object.
Then again, the benefit of the B-pillar cameras give you a good view of your wheels distance to the kerb. That saves you from the misery of kerb rashes and tarnishing your beloved rims.
When it comes to parking, I like to park like a man and not rely of auto-park features. Yes, retaining some driver's ego. Although the rear fenders protrudes out of the body, which makes the Model Y feels wide-bottomed, constantly making sure the butt does not touch anything. Fortunately, both wing mirrors dips when in reverse-gear. With the additional rear and B-pillar camera views, reverse parking and parellel parking can be executed easily with confidence. The simulated distance indication on the display helps as well. Since the rear of the Model Y is slightly wider than the main body, you can be quite close to the next car. So do be prepared to gets some door dinks after some time. For head-in parking, you just have to rely on the usual senses with not camera aid.
There is no blind spot monitoring signal on the wing mirrors, but the moment you select the signal indicator, the B-pillar camera turns on and display a camera view of your blind spot on the screen.
The Charging
Tesla cars can be recharged using Tesla's exclusive Supercharger or standard commercial wall chargers, with the former being faster. When you constantly watch your range or battery meter, you can never escape the battery anxiety feeling, just like with a smartphone. Every activity you do with the car drains the battery, so it will definitely benefit if you have a wall charger installed at home. Nevertheless, you don't have to stay in a landed house to own an EV. On a heavy usage day, where I drove around 180 km, idle with the A/C on, watching videos and play games while idling, I can use up to 40 to 50% of juice. Fortunately, there are plenty of Supercharger in malls near to my home. I was able to recharge 50% of power in under 50 minutes. During the recharging time, I was able to do some grocery shopping and never once felt any inconveniences. In fact, the benefit of charging at Tesla Supercharger is that there are dedicated lots only for Tesla cars. I never had to wait or hunt for a lot during a busy time at the malls. I could almost always see the envious looks from other drivers when I can just zoom right in. If there are no Superchargers around, you can also recharge at the commercially-operated EV charging points. I had not tried those, since my charging was paid for by Tesla on their Superchargers.
Nevertheless, on an average work day, when I need to meet a client or two and fetching the family, the Tesla consumed around 15 to 20% of power.
One benefit of EV is that you can keep your car A/C on while idling or while the driver is away. I left my son in the car with the A/C on and lock the car, while I was fetching my daughter from school. There is a "Camp" mode or "Keep" mode or "Dog" mode which will not shut off the A/C when the car is locked. In fact, I accidentally left the A/C on ”Keep" mode overnight and when I entered the car after 9 hours, the battery drained about 25%. For those who might want to camp out, have a movie night in the car, or even up to some hanky panky business. You can also leave your engine idling while waiting in the long drive-thru queue. You don't have to worry about burning fuel and creating unnecessary emissions. By the way, it is illegal in Singapore to leave a car engine running while idling. You won't have to worry with an EV.
Most modern ICE cars are equipped with mild-hybrid 48V battery or capacitors that support the START-STOP function. Sometimes, the sudden rumble when the engine cuts off and restarts can be irritating. There is no such issue with an EV.
Another benefit of an EV is that there is no longer than car battery anxiety. We have all been there at least once when the car battery died and needed a jump start, not to mention the misery of waiting in for rescue. EV do not require ignition and will never face such misery (that is if you have a minimal charge left, which you can visibly check from the dashboard). No more second guessing the state of your car battery!
There is definitely going to be a mindset change when driving an EV. But it is really not a major concern. For me, it was like managing another mobile device. If I gotten a chance to top-up the power, I would do so. I won't be waiting till I am low on power before heading for a long charge. In that case, I would constantly be having more than sufficient power to get me through 3 to 4 days without heavy usage. I won't want to specifically plan to recharge the car and I didn't have to. With the EV infrastructure being more established now, I think my charging strategy will work without any inconveniences or time lost due to recharging.
The map on Tesla also shows the charging network in your country. You can also see the rates and lot availability before heading there. Do take note that in order to have a rapid charging at Tesla Supercharger, always select a Supercharger location to navigate to. This will then precondition the battery for supercharging (which only takes a few minutes while driving), otherwise the charging speed won't be super fast.
The Interior Cabin
Tesla Model Y has quite a comfortable cabin with plenty of headroom for the front and rear. There is also no transmission tunnel, which makes moving across the rear row comfortable. This also meant that you can comfortably sit 3 adults at the rear with having to clash shoulders and have plenty of legroom to slouch during long rides. There are no rear temperature controls, but unlike most cars, the fans and air-conditioning are strong and powerful! On most occassions, it felt like winter for both front and rear rows, when setting the A/C to 18C and maximum fan speed. Memory seats only available for the driver, while both front seats are power-assisted. The rear seats cannot be adjusted and can only a one-step of recline.
The Cargo Space
The beauty of an EV is the absence of an engine in the bonnet. That means that the bonnet can now be used as a storage space. Like a Porsche Carrera, which has a rear-mounted engine, the bonnet is actually the trunk. Tesla decided to give their front trunk a proper terminology, a "frunk". Since major automakers are reusing their ICE car chassis to build an EV variant, the bonnet space tend to be used to house components rather being made as a storage space. I immediately fell in love with the frunk! I had used it to store soiled camping gear and running gear. I had also used it to keep takeout cooked food. Since the frunk is isolated from the cabin, there is no odour lurking around in the cabin at all. However, do take note that the temperature in the frunk can get warm, since there is no A/C circulating there. So how much space is there in the 117L frunk? I can put in 2 field chairs, camping mat, a spare child booster seat and still have some space for a few cartons of water.
As with any SUV, the rear trunk has to be functional. Boasting 854L of boot space, the Model Y can easily swallow 2 foldable bicycles and 2 adult kick scooters. You may be fooled by the depth of the boot initially, but the boot space is actually hidden underneath the boards. Once the boards are removed, it exposes a cavernous trunk that you can stowaway groceries and tall bottles with ease. One of the board is cleverly designed to be able to stand upright to block the cargo from sliding around in the rear.
If you are heading off to IKEA to grab some furniture, simply collapse the second-row seats to slide your floor-standing cabinet in with ease. The second-row seats of the Model Y collapse in a 70:30 ratio.
All in all, the Tesla Model Y is not just a people-mover, it is also a remarkable cargo-mover!
The Controls
Tesla pride themselves as having the largest touch panel in the center console, sporting a 17-inch touchscreen display with a 16:9.5 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2200x1300 pixels. It is almost like having an upsized iPad Pro stuck to the dashboard. The touch panel is the heart of the dashboard, replacing any physical buttons, as well as speedometer and odometer. The user interface is very easy to get used to. The 70% left side of the user interface shows a google map layout by default, while any settings will overlay this side of the interface. The 30% right side of the interface shows a graphic of your Tesla and the a live graphical view of any vehicles and pedestrians picked up by the camera system. On the right side is also where the current speed and real-time speed limit can be visualized. My only issue with such a layout is that you need to momentarily take your eyes off the road to peek at your current speed. I guess I am too used to having a heads-up display that projects my speed on my windscreen. Temperature of the airconditioning can be seen on the bottom "taskbar" of the interface. Tapping on the temperature arrows, quickly allows you to adjust temperature in steps of 0.5C. Tapping on the temperature brings up the temperature control interface which overlays the bottom 40% of the touch panel. The temperature control interface allows you to adjust fan speed, temperature and blow direction by swiping the graphical air flow. I still prefer having physical buttons with haptic feedback, especially during driving. On many occasions, I wasn't so sure if I have accurately touched the arrows to adjust temperature and also the steps I had adjusted, such that I had to take my eyes off the road to check. To me, this isn't the safest thing to do while driving. Since the Tesla dashboard is designed to be minimalistic, there isn't a single physical button. Functions such as opening the glovebox, opening the boot and frunk, locking and unlocking the doors, adjusting the wing mirrors, adjusting the headlights, all had to be done through settings in the touch panel.
Fortunately, the windscreen wiper, signal indicators are still physical on the left stalk behind the steering wheel. Like Mercs, the drive selector is on the right stalk beind the steering wheel. FYI, the facelifted 2023 Tesla Model 3, removed the physical drive selector and made it as a selection on the touchscreen, along with a backup touch panel located on the ceiling where the hazard light button is located. I really appreciate that the windscreen fluid nozzles are mounted on the wipers. They gentlly sprays washer fliud onto the wiper, unlike most cars with bonnet-mounted nozzles that sprays a mess all over the windscreen where the wipers cannot reach. The mess eventually drying up to be cloudy smudge that can be an eye-sore!
The minimalistic steering wheel has only 2 thumbwheels on each side. Each thumbwheel scrolls through pre-defined shortcuts up and down, while depressing the thumbwheels serves as another shortcut. Once again, Tesla has upgraded the new steering wheel in the 2023 Tesla Model 3 with actual touch shortcuts to make life easier for the driver. At the same time, replacing the shiny chrome Tesla logo with a black Tesla word in the newest steering wheel.
The Cabin Storage
What is really crucial for drivers that is sometimes overlooked, is the amount of storage space in the cabin. Tesla Modely Y definitely excelled in this area. Since the dashboard has been freed from gear selectors and physical buttons on the center console, there are plenty of space available for storage. Firstly, kudos to Tesla, for putting two wireless charging pads on the center console, which accomodates tall smartphones like an iPhone Pro Max or a Galaxy S23 Ultra easily while charging them up wirelessly at rapid speed as well. Tesla wins hands down on this!
There are also 2 deep and cavernous cubby bins in the center console, separated by 2 cup holders. Each cubby bin is so deep and spacious that it swallows anything you throw into it. Once again, Tesla wins hands down!
The lack of a coin bin on the doors meant that coins need to be chucked into the cup holder or into the cubby bins. Of course, that meant coins are going to be lost in the deep, deep cubby bins. The door bins can each hold a standard 1L bottle and a pack of wet wipes easily.
The infotainment plays a key role in making the Tesla a winner. We all know Elon Musk does things the unconventional way and this is apparent in the way the infotainment system of the Tesla is being designed. Apart being the hub for all the controls and navigation system, the touch panel offers a whole suite of entertainment capabilities.
Tesla do not support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I assumed that would certainly bug me. However, I realised that I wasn't missing CarPlay and Android Auto at all.
Similar to modern computer operating systems, there is an app drawer where applications are stored. Apps can also be dragged to the home screen as shortcuts, otherwise recent apps will also appear on the home screen.
With such a huge screen, Tesla indeed knew how to put it to good use. There are the standard digital music streaming services like Spotify. There are video streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube.
Similar to modern computer operating systems, there is an app drawer where applications are stored. Apps can also be dragged to the home screen as shortcuts, otherwise recent apps will also appear on the home screen.
With such a huge screen, Tesla indeed knew how to put it to good use. There are the standard digital music streaming services like Spotify. There are video streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube.
You can even take a Zoom call with the built-in Zoom app. There is an inward facing camera embedded in the ceiling of the cabin for video-conferencing. If you are concerned with privacy, you delete any recordings from the system. I would love to see support for WhatsApp video calls or Microsoft Teams, but I am sure it won't be easy to get them due to licensing, although the hardware is already there. Then there are video games embedded in the system. These video games are no some 8-bit pixelated nonsense, but some serious shooters, racing games, action RPGs and brain games. If you are wondering how you can play games on a mounted touch panel, there are just such intelligent ways to do that. Games that just require touch can be play on the touch panel, like Chess. Beach Buggy Racing 2 is a game that can be played with the steering wheel! Otherwise games that require more sophisticated controls, can be played by pairing a wireless Bluetooth gamepad. Since I don't own a PlayStation or Xbox, neither do I play PC games, my only console is a Nintendo Switch. The good news is that you can pair your Nintendo Joycon controllers to the Tesla. I was able to pair both the Left and Right Joycon controllers to play 2 player games. The best part about pairing Nintendo Switch Joycon controllers is that I have spares and I can just throw them into the storage bins without taking too much space.
Here is how to setup your Tesla to work with Nintendo Switch Joycon Controllers.
Beach Buggy Racing 2 with the steering wheel
Sky Force Reloaded in 2 players mode
Cat Quest, an action RPG
The Tesla also comes with a few gimmicks that make the car fun. For example, there is an app that can generate different fart sounds and you can trigger them to play from independent speakers. That is good fun pranking your passengers.
There is also a "show-off" mode called the "Light Show". That is some serious 100% show-off app. Trust me, no other cars have this capability. Once again, Tesla take my money!
Personal opinion about the Tesla Model Y
Will I switch from a petrol-powered BMW to an all-electric Tesla?
I had always been apprehensive about the feasibility about owning an EV as my next car. After driving the Tesla for a week, I am certain that it is definitely not an issue to own and live with an EV. I won't specifically make time to recharge the car, but adopt a "charge-while-you-can" charging plan. Simply top-up the charge while you park your car. I also will not specifically drive to a charging point to recharge. I will recharge when I see one charging point available at my destination. That meant that time lost during charging is no longer a bug bear.
The kids immediately love the Tesla, because they can "squander" the power by having A/C on at all time while idling. Most importantly, we can play video games with our Nintendo Switch Joycon controllers, watch moves on Netflix or Disney+ while waiting in the car. I think Tesla definitely nailed it by leading the industry to rethink how a car is meant to be not just driven. I am very confident that no other cars in the market can do that with out costly upgrades. These entertainment features in the Tesla comes by default. Furthermore, having a huge touchscreen panel display with 3rd party controllers compatibility is one winning formula. Just imagine playing a vertical shooting game on the longitudinal display on the Mercedes EQ series, that just doesn't make any sense!
Comfort is one key factor for the wife. She has been pampered by the space and comfort of both Bimmers. Tesla Model Y gets the nod of approval in those aspects.
Security is another feature that I liked. With the camera system surrounding the car, these cameras eliminate the need to install after-market dashcams. You no longer need to worry about extensive battery drain from parking mode surveillance. Tesla comes with a "Sentry" mode, where the cameras will sense movement and activate the headlights as warning, while recording videos at the same time. It does give owners a peace of mind and evidence for any potential foul play or parking accidents. With your Tesla mobile app, you can do all the remote monitoring.
The only drawback of the Model Y is the suspension. The lowered and stiffer suspension on the Performance variant made the car wobble way too much for my liking. It just does not feel as elegant as my Bimmer or even a Lexus RX SUV which I drove previously.
The Conclusion
The Tesla Model Y has filled every check boxes: cabin space, storage space, entertainment, comfort, tech, upgrabability over-the-air (OTA). These are things that you cannot experience with just a few minutes test-drive. The short-term ownership experience truly brought out those benefits. I won't be hesitant to switch to an EV now, just not any EV, but one that is more than just a car. Tesla Model Y definitely has a few unique value propositions that none other auto brands can offer. In fact, you can never find equivalent features in even the most luxurious car brands. Give me a choice between a Porsche Cayenne or Tesla Model Y. My personal choice will the Tesla Model Y!
Head on down to Tesla showrooms at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 or Millenia Walk for a test-drive today.
Let your sales advisor know that you want to spend some time exploring the infotainment system, before hitting the roads.
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