Prepare for Your New Tesla

While it might seem like its going to be forever before your car shows up, there are a few things you can do to prepare for its arrival and to help pass the time. 🙂

Is it Here Yet (Things to do While You Wait)?

Charging

• Get you home charging taken care of–check out this post on home charging
• Set up membership for the public charging network in your area.  If you are not sure which networks to pick, check out the section in this post on charging networks and check out Plugshare to see what networks are in the area
• Check out the charging options at work–if your employer does not have EV chargers, ask if they are willing to install them. Beyond internal “green” initiatives, there are often tax or other benefits for adding EV charging infrastructure
• Depending on your area, it might make sense to pick up a ChaDeMo or CCS adapter from the Tesla Store
• Call your utility and let them know you are getting an EV for three reasons
  • Find out if their rates they have for EV owners or Time of Use (TOU) plans and sign yourself up
  • Inquire on any rebates they might have for new EV owners
  • Your call might inspire them to upgrade the equipment in your neighborhood. If you and enough of your neighbors get EVs, they may decide to upgrade the equipment serving you (on their dime)
• Spend some time on the Tesla Find Us page and Plugshare getting familiar with the charging options in your neck of the woods
• Might not be a bad time to check out rooftop solar and stationary storage

Technology

• Make sure you have reasonable (at least a couple of bars) WiFi coverage in your garage.  This will help with getting software updates. If you don’t have good coverage, you might want to invest in a wi-fi extender.  Note: even if you don’t have good wifi coverage, you will still get updates over the cellular connection.
• On your smartphone install the following
  • Tesla app on your phone–the app is central to your (iOS, Android)
  • Plugshare app on your phone (iOS, Android)
  • The apps for whatever charging networks you join
  • Make sure you are up to date on SW updates for your phone
• Load some of your favorite tunes on onto a USB stick so you have a soundtrack for the drive home (Note: for Apple Mac users, the stick needs to be formatted at FAT.)

Other Pre-Delivery Tasks

• If you are getting any after market mods like paint protection or window tinting, make your appointments once you have your delivery date finalized
• Call your insurance company once you have your VIN
• Let your tax preparer know you are buying an EV so they can consider adjustments to your tax situation
• Hit the Tesla Store to pick up some Tesla gear 🙂
• Join the Tesla Owners Club to keep up to date on news and events. You can find info on the official Tesla clubs here
• Watch the vehicle walkthrough videos from Tesla (Model S, Model X, and Model 3)
• Visit online communities, including the Tesla Motors Club and r/TeslaMotors on Reddit
• Practice backing into parking spots–trust me on this one

Once its Home

Go for a drive!  Then go for another drive.  Trust me, you will be making up reasons to go for a spin.  In between trips, there are a few things left to do between trips:

Charging

• Practice all your charging options.  First, you want to make sure your car, your gear, membership cards, etc work as expected and second, you want to get comfortable with the process–better trying to figure out how to use the J1772 adapter at a public station when you really don’t need it:
  • Charge at home
  • Charge with the Universal Mobile Connector that came with the car and try the different plug adapters
  • Go to a public station and practice using the J1772 adapter
  • Hit a Supercharger
  • Try out the ChaDeMo or CCS adapter (if you got one)
  • Visit chargers for the various network you joined
• Set up the scheduled charging for for your new car–the point is basically to take advantage of the cheaper off-peak-rate electricity your utility offers (you did sign up for an EV plan with your electric utility, right?)

Technology

• It might take a couple of days for the Tesla app to get activated, but once it up, play around with the different options
• Link your garage doors
• Pair your phones to the car’s Bluetooth
• Connect your car to your home WiFi
• Add your home and work locations into the navigation system
• Bookmark Plugshare.com in the car’s browser–Plugshare will automatically load a special version of the site optimized for the Tesla’s browser

Other Post Delivery Tasks

• File your paperwork for any government rebates
• Apply for HOV lane stickers
• Apply for any rebates from your electric utility
• Read the manual!

Got all that?  Good, now go out for another drive. 🙂