Tesla Insurance Customers Can Now Add Their Insurance Cards to Apple Wallet

[BC2009]

The Leaf‘s fatal flaw is that the battery is not thermally managed. It’s air cooled and that has led to drastic degradation and range loss in the winter.

The best cheap EV out there when the LG battery doesn’t decide to combust is the Bolt. I’m looking forward to hearing more details about the Equinox EV that will start at $30,000 and is on the newer EV platform.

I am pretty sure there has been a cold weather package with a battery heater available on the Leaf since 2011. I don’t live in a cold climate so it does not affect me and I cannot speak to cold weather performance. My 2019 SL is fully loaded so it has the battery heater, but where I live it only gets down to about freezing temperature during winter lows (like 30F to 32F) and only on some nights.

 

[imola.zhp]

But you still can't add CarPlay to your Tesla

I agreed with sentiments like this one before buying my Tesla, now I find them comical.

is that even happening still? it seems that bmw is quietly getting out of it.

You can already use the Tesla app as a key, it's just not in the wallet yet.

Funny, Progressive has had this feature for at least a year or more now. I don't recall any articles touting this capability.

Cool, what does this add to the discussion? You dislike Tesla or Tesla Insurance or both?

Just give us Apple Music and Podcasts in the included apps, Elon.

Agreed, all we need is an native Apple Music streaming app.

Hell carplay should be in telsa, I know few people who refuse to buy them just because they won’t support CarPlay or android auto

I almost didn't buy one because of the lack of it, but there wasn't anything else out there that met my needs. Now 32 days later that nonsense holding me up makes me laugh. Now CarPlay looks like a cheap foreign tablet for kids to me and makes me realize how terrible other automakers are at making a decent UI. I say that coming from owning several BMW's with iDrive which I really thought was decent, now that makes me laugh as well.

 

[alexandr]

I agreed with sentiments like this one before buying my Tesla, now I find them comical.

well, the reason for these sentiments are true, regardless of how you find them

 

[IllinoisCorn]

I agreed with sentiments like this one before buying my Tesla, now I find them comical.



You can already use the Tesla app as a key, it's just not in the wallet yet.



Cool, what does this add to the discussion? You dislike Tesla or Tesla Insurance or both?



Agreed, all we need is an native Apple Music streaming app.



I almost didn't buy one because of the lack of it, but there wasn't anything else out there that met my needs. Now 32 days later that nonsense holding me up makes me laugh. Now CarPlay looks like a cheap foreign tablet for kids to me and makes me realize how terrible other automakers are at making a decent UI. I say that coming from owning several BMW's with iDrive which I really thought was decent, now that makes me laugh as well.

Yes, 100%. I have CarPlay on our second vehicle, but the sat nav in Tesla is the bomb diggity. I think CarPlay would screw up a lot of what Tesla's got going on under the hood, so I doubt we'll see it. A native Apple Music and Podcast apps would be fantastic (although the streaming service in the Tesla if you purchase the monthly LTE plan is pretty solid if you just want music--it's basically Slacker Radio).

Most underrated part of a Tesla? No key needed.

 

[joeblough]

I am pretty sure there has been a cold weather package with a battery heater available on the Leaf since 2011. I don’t live in a cold climate so it does not affect me and I cannot speak to cold weather performance. My 2019 SL is fully loaded so it has the battery heater, but where I live it only gets down to about freezing temperature during winter lows (like 30F to 32F) and only on some nights.

battery heater, yes, but battery cooling, no. the first 2011 leafs in arizona all died within months due to the extremely high temperatures. nissan rejiggered the battery chemistry (the so-called "lizard" battery pack) but they still didn't add any proper thermal management to the battery subsystem for the leaf or leaf 2.

it is a serious shortcoming. i don't know what they are thinking. almost every other EV has active battery thermal management.

 

[BC2009]

battery heater, yes, but battery cooling, no. the first 2011 leafs in arizona all died within months due to the extremely high temperatures. nissan rejiggered the battery chemistry (the so-called "lizard" battery pack) but they still didn't add any proper thermal management to the battery subsystem for the leaf or leaf 2.

it is a serious shortcoming. i don't know what they are thinking. almost every other EV has active battery thermal management.

When I researched the vehicle I did read about early battery problems and a replacement battery program. Then I read a stress test that somebody did using their Leaf in Phoenix, AZ as an Uber vehicle and doing all their charging on DC during hot days. This guy abused the car (even doing stupid things like buying bags of ice and pouring them into the battery service compartment in the rear seat). Despite the abuse and a ton of miles he said that after like 18 months (I think) he had not even lost one bar of battery health. The Edmunds long-term review of the 2018 model was more realistic and very favorable.

I knew that 99% of my charging would be level 2 charging on the 220V in my garage (we have used DC charging once for a full recharge on a mini road trip and once for 20 minutes for a top-off on a busy day). We live in the dessert too. So far, no issues even when it is 115F outside. I even leave the AC turned on when I am grocery shopping so I come back to a cooled cabin.

Just wish I got the longer range version because everybody in the family wants to use the Leaf to go places with the price of gas so high and there are some days we need to plan our usage and charging time to make sure we can at 150 miles of range. The new SL gets like 230 miles for the same $38K (minus $7500 tax credit) price I paid, but in 2019 it was a $5K upgrade for the “plus” battery on the SL (now standard).

I’d recommend the Leaf to anybody who is looking for an electric to save on gas. You don’t pay a ton of money up-front but you save a bunch of money after you buy it. It has instant torque and accelerates quickly, but not at all like a Tesla — but makes it so easy to pass and merge on the freeway with no lag. After my tax rebate and my interest savings from 0% financing (allowing me to use my cash to pay off a home loan faster) the $37K Leaf will cost me only $17K. That does not even count the $350 per month in fuel savings since we bought it. On top of that, my power bill is $14 per month because of solar. This car has been a great investment and a great starter electric car. I cannot complain.

 

[joeblough]

yes, i agree with your assessment. it was a nice car and was a game changer for me (eventually installed solar to support the car.)

ironically, there was a class action lawsuit about leaf battery degradation and the remedy was free DC charging. so of course i used it - and that really killed the battery. the range was about 60mi in 2016 when we sold it, which is something like 40% degradation. only got $5500 for it. if you plan to keep yours forever and run the wheels off of it that will work out ok but i've never had a car depreciate like the leaf. if you have the 'lizard' pack then you might do better and of course stay away from the DC quick charger.

after owning the leaf we leased a bolt and it lost maybe 7% of the battery over the next 3 years. have had a tesla M3 performance since 2019 and the max range is down from about 305mi to 285mi. both of those cars have active battery management. again ironically the leaf experience made me want to only lease electric cars from that point on since i didn't want to be saddled with the huge depreciation. however, it looks like neither the bolt nor the M3 suffer from that, and in fact tesla will probably turn around and sell my car for far more than the residual used to calculate the lease. you win some, you lose some.

musk is a lunatic but the model 3 is truly next level. really fun to drive and the software keeps getting better (although the self driving thing is a complete disaster - i didn't get suckered into that.)

 

[BC2009]

yes, i agree with your assessment. it was a nice car and was a game changer for me (eventually installed solar to support the car.)

ironically, there was a class action lawsuit about leaf battery degradation and the remedy was free DC charging. so of course i used it - and that really killed the battery. the range was about 60mi in 2016 when we sold it, which is something like 40% degradation. only got $5500 for it. if you plan to keep yours forever and run the wheels off of it that will work out ok but i've never had a car depreciate like the leaf. if you have the 'lizard' pack then you might do better and of course stay away from the DC quick charger.

after owning the leaf we leased a bolt and it lost maybe 7% of the battery over the next 3 years. have had a tesla M3 performance since 2019 and the max range is down from about 305mi to 285mi. both of those cars have active battery management. again ironically the leaf experience made me want to only lease electric cars from that point on since i didn't want to be saddled with the huge depreciation. however, it looks like neither the bolt nor the M3 suffer from that, and in fact tesla will probably turn around and sell my car for far more than the residual used to calculate the lease. you win some, you lose some.

musk is a lunatic but the model 3 is truly next level. really fun to drive and the software keeps getting better (although the self driving thing is a complete disaster - i didn't get suckered into that.)

After getting my feet wet with the Nissan Leaf, I am looking for the "next level". Model 3 and Model Y both look nice and I would consider them if they had integrated Apple Music (CarPlay would be nice, but Apple Music would be sufficient). I would *like* Apple Maps since I prefer Apple's privacy policy on Maps, but I figure any electric car can likely track where you are going anyway -- regardless of which Maps app you use.

I'm definitely going to test drive a few before I buy another electric through -- with so many coming out. The Ford Mach-E and VW ID.4 both look comparable to the Model Y. In a few years it seems there might be 10 cars like that to choose from that are good. Kinda waiting to see how things play out. The Nissan Ariya looks like it might be a bit smaller.

We had a Kia Niro electric as a rental car for 3 weeks and enjoyed the 250-mile range and Kia's wonderful cabin design, but having the battery situated behind the rear seats really threw off the handling. Kia has an a new vehicle coming out this year that is electric from the ground up rather than optionally electric.

There are only two things holding me back on the Tesla Model 3 or Model Y. I'm not a huge fan of the cabin design having all the displays in the center of the dash rather than in front of the steering wheel and I feel like the Model 3 and Model Y are everywhere I look -- there is nothing distinctive about them anymore. Of course, I have heard the fit-and-finish issues with missing paint under the trunk or in the door jams, but I have heard that if that happens the Tesla dealership will take care of it. Tesla's charging network is pretty awesome, but we are still currently planning on keeping 1 gasoline powered car for road trips. A family member bought a Model X with a tow package to tow his boat and he has to stop and charge on the way back from the lake because it does not get anywhere near the same range when towing a boat. It seems to me that gas-powered vehicles still have their place.

 

[quagmire]

There are only two things holding me back on the Tesla Model 3 or Model Y. I'm not a huge fan of the cabin design having all the displays in the center of the dash rather than in front of the steering wheel and I feel like the Model 3 and Model Y are everywhere I look -- there is nothing distinctive about them anymore. Of course, I have heard the fit-and-finish issues with missing paint under the trunk or in the door jams, but I have heard that if that happens the Tesla dealership will take care of it. Tesla's charging network is pretty awesome, but we are still currently planning on keeping 1 gasoline powered car for road trips. A family member bought a Model X with a tow package to tow his boat and he has to stop and charge on the way back from the lake because it does not get anywhere near the same range when towing a boat. It seems to me that gas-powered vehicles still have their place.

And to be fair, gas vehicles get no where close to their rated fuel mileage when towing either. Just there are more gas stations than charging stations making for a less stressful trip.

Airstream though is coming out with a trailer that has its own electric propulsion that should help EV's range when towing( though nothing will help the aerodynamic impact). So solutions for EV's when towing are starting to come out which is nice to see!

 

[joeblough]

After getting my feet wet with the Nissan Leaf, I am looking for the "next level". Model 3 and Model Y both look nice and I would consider them if they had integrated Apple Music (CarPlay would be nice, but Apple Music would be sufficient). I would *like* Apple Maps since I prefer Apple's privacy policy on Maps, but I figure any electric car can likely track where you are going anyway -- regardless of which Maps app you use.

I'm definitely going to test drive a few before I buy another electric through -- with so many coming out. The Ford Mach-E and VW ID.4 both look comparable to the Model Y. In a few years it seems there might be 10 cars like that to choose from that are good. Kinda waiting to see how things play out. The Nissan Ariya looks like it might be a bit smaller.

We had a Kia Niro electric as a rental car for 3 weeks and enjoyed the 250-mile range and Kia's wonderful cabin design, but having the battery situated behind the rear seats really threw off the handling. Kia has an a new vehicle coming out this year that is electric from the ground up rather than optionally electric.

There are only two things holding me back on the Tesla Model 3 or Model Y. I'm not a huge fan of the cabin design having all the displays in the center of the dash rather than in front of the steering wheel and I feel like the Model 3 and Model Y are everywhere I look -- there is nothing distinctive about them anymore. Of course, I have heard the fit-and-finish issues with missing paint under the trunk or in the door jams, but I have heard that if that happens the Tesla dealership will take care of it. Tesla's charging network is pretty awesome, but we are still currently planning on keeping 1 gasoline powered car for road trips. A family member bought a Model X with a tow package to tow his boat and he has to stop and charge on the way back from the lake because it does not get anywhere near the same range when towing a boat. It seems to me that gas-powered vehicles still have their place.

i worried about every one of those things with respect to the M3 and they don't bother me at all in practice. however, the fit and finish problems are real (and mine has them) but since i leased it i don't really care.

i considered the mach-e and i also put down the $1500 deposit on the new electric BMW i4 M or whatever it is, but in the end i decided i didn't relish sitting in the back room of the dealer with them holding me hostage to upgrade the floor mats or whatever. the tesla direct sales model is so much nicer. i have to figure out how to get my $1500 back from BMW corporate lol.

the tesla charging network is a huge, huge big deal. i've been able to drive back and forth to LA from the bay area a couple of times with no real hassle thanks to the huge supercharger stations on I5. your towing case would be a problem, but i don't own a boat...

 

[GLS]

Cool, what does this add to the discussion? You dislike Tesla or Tesla Insurance or both?

Plenty. Other insurance companies have had this feature for a while now. Tesla finally does it (really? What took them so long?) and it's newsworthy.

That's what I added; something you were incapable of picking up on. Others have beat Tesla at something, yet the world didn't notice or react quite the same way. Tesla = clickbait, yet Progressive, offering the very same feature, almost 3 years ago, is not. Can you figure that out?

Instead of saying "cool, what does this add to the discussion" you should be thinking why such a cool company as Tesla was slow to adapt to something that stodgy old Progressive was easily able to do years ago.

Let me guess. You are a Tesla fanboy, right? If so, that explains a lot.

 

[imola.zhp]

well, the reason for these sentiments are true, regardless of how you find them

I disagree, Apple and Android have convinced vehicle owners that they NEED their systems in their vehicles. OEM's, that are slow to change and usually have terrible UI's anyway, were so happy and lucky to have this change occur. They just throw in a screen and call it a day. If the OEM can provide a decent UI, then CarPlay and AA are not needed; which is what you get with a Tesla. If you haven't spent a week with a Tesla, you probably should, it might change your mind. I came from BMW iDrive and I use SYNC (and CarPlay) in my work truck; Tesla's UI blows them away and I don't even have the latest chip.

 

[imola.zhp]

Plenty. Other insurance companies have had this feature for a while now. Tesla finally does it (really? What took them so long?) and it's newsworthy.

That's what I added; something you were incapable of picking up on. Others have beat Tesla at something, yet the world didn't notice or react quite the same way. Tesla = clickbait, yet Progressive, offering the very same feature, almost 3 years ago, is not. Can you figure that out?

Instead of saying "cool, what does this add to the discussion" you should be thinking why such a cool company as Tesla was slow to adapt to something that stodgy old Progressive was easily able to do years ago.

Let me guess. You are a Tesla fanboy, right? If so, that explains a lot.

Tesla = clickbait, absolutely agree with that. No, I did finally get a Tesla, but after years of waiting and when necessary, criticizing them. Progressive is an insurance company, so of course they would be quick to implement this, Tesla is just getting into the game, so here we are. I guess you should let MR know you are this upset about a Tesla news article, they might appreciate the feedback; or not.

 

[alexandr]

I disagree, Apple and Android have convinced vehicle owners that they NEED their systems in their vehicles. OEM's, that are slow to change and usually have terrible UI's anyway, were so happy and lucky to have this change occur. They just throw in a screen and call it a day. If the OEM can provide a decent UI, then CarPlay and AA are not needed; which is what you get with a Tesla. If you haven't spent a week with a Tesla, you probably should, it might change your mind. I came from BMW iDrive and I use SYNC (and CarPlay) in my work truck; Tesla's UI blows them away and I don't even have the latest chip.

And that is your right as a consumer) I didn't say that this has to be true for everyone, but for a lot of people it is. Now one may choose to stick to using the native OEM, but it's nice to have a say in the matter.
I'm sure I would like the Tesla interface, I'm just interested in Teslas, or other electric cars, for that matter. My BMW is one year too old for CarPlay, and I'm not losing sleep over it by any means. However, when I get a new car — I would like to be able to use CarPlay. If I choose to.