I wonder about the Model 3 if it will have this problem, though 80,000mi into ownership I find I drive it too often to find out. Adding a trickle charge lead seems like a sensible thing to do for multi-vehicle owners.
We have battery tenders like that in the US but with more robust weatherproof connectors. I usually poke them through the grille or over the top of the cowl and just tuck them in when not in use, they work great.
Interesting, did the car provide any notification through the app that the 12v battery was low. Or even that due to prolonged non use, was at risk of being low? Seems like a major oversight on Tesla’s part, especially with the terminals being so hard to reach.
Hi James, Just a thought.... Might your additional trickle charge interfere with the charge cycle provided by the car? (Once you've got things up and running again.) I have a Model 3 and no problems at all through lockdown, but I know a number of Model S drivers have had issues with their 12v batteries.
Am I right in thinking that if the car has been sat for a while on the main charger, surely it must have been cycling some charge through periodically. My understanding was that the car stops charging as the first set of cells in the battery pack hits 4.2v and then uses bleed resistors to bring the rest to equilibrium and tops up and repeats to reach the set % of charge (when set to above ~80% charge and idle for long periods). The car should be checking for cells that reach 5mV of imbalance and start charging and equalising again. Over time as the cells drop to the 5mV limit surely this would trigger power to be cycled through and in doing so realise the state of the 12V battery and trickle charge it. I’m surprised there is no warning mechanism for this from Tesla as it doesn’t seem like a huge step to consider a car not being used for long periods of time. Especially when the car is hooked up to a mains charger and has the ability to trickle charge the 12V internally.
@@warpfrenzy it is oddly satisfying. Im hopeless at diy and all that kind of stuff but find James immensely entertaining whilst he puts things together.
I assume they keep the cameras rolling and that footage just ends up on the cutting room floor. They should upload all that extra footage here, or make a new "James May Rants" youtube channel.
@@noahcalland8316 If i recall correclty, on one of the GT behinds the scesnse vids, they said they roughly have 250 hours worth of footage to compress into a hourish, that mightve been for one of the specials mind you but you get the idea .. ps spelling i know v high
Tesla owners won't look so smug when being recovered by a rusty transit. What's the equivalent of a 5 litre petrol can for an E.V.? And will the fine for running out of fuel on the motorway be the same for electric vehicles as it is for petrol/diesel vehicles?
hey, at least he could get to the battery when the battery was flat. That's something. The same interlock system could have locked the frunk as well :)
@@300DBenz it happened to me in a Vette luckily I had my phone called the mechanic who instructed me that there is a lever on the floor on the left that will pop the door. It was hot the windows were only down about 2 inches won't lie felt a little panic starting
This is the perfect May video. Tech explanations, May using his engineering prowess to resolve the issue, solutions suggestions, sprinkled with borderline curmudgeonality disorder, all whilst wearing another item of clothing from a teenager's wardrobe. Perfection.
@@chrisbecke2793 smashing front bumper off of the car, yelling every 30 seconds, hammering the headlights out of frustration, sewing the roof just because why wouldn’t you and then just casually walk away for som’ drinks. Oh and blaming it on Elon via Twitter while drinking.
Dear lord.. my old e-golf had it's 12v battery die on me once. When I got in the car, the dashboard said: "The 12v battery is empty. Drive normally to charge it back up". Just that. The car still started with the big battery and after 5 minutes of driving the warning light turned off. A very simple and elegant solution allowed by having a physical key.
@@hermanvansanten4408 That may be true, just that why when the smaller battery can be charged while the car is running or big battery is being charged can it not charge the smaller battery using a little bit of energy from the bigger battery? With that much amount of computing and software in the car, the car can certainly detect when the 12 V battery is almost dead and charge it up a bit. Maybe VW did just that.
@PipiX: You bought a car. Not a smartphone on wheels. What would happen to a customer w/o tools and car mechanic experience? Would they ask the dealer to pick it up? Or upload it to a service cloud?
Normally the main battery charges the 12V battery once the system detects that it needs to be charged. Or at least that's what's happening on the Model 3 and Y. Though, the Model S is their second most oldest car, and the design is from 2012, or well. Actually older, the prototype was finished in 2009. I suspect the refresh Model S will be a lot different to the one James owns.
@@germanmosca i used to be a valet and encountered this same problem. It was hilarious to have to boost the other batters that controls the door handles etc. It is charged via regen braking.
@@gramathy999 The battery is only tiny as it's not designed for turning a starter motor. Probably doesn't have the cranking amps for jumping other cars.
@@DEADB33F Not on its own, but a slightly more powerful build with the battery and a DC-DC conversion circuit could certainly put out enough power. Even as is the live charging circuit should be able to bring a dead battery up enough to start an ICE by charging it for a few minutes, there are cigarette lighter jump devices intended for that purpose right now.
@@gramathy999 I'm not great at electronics, but IMO I think this could be solved rather easily. The car knows when it's plugged in and already charges that battery during charging. Why couldn't the car continue to charge the smaller battery with the main unit as long as the car is on the charger? I can understand not wanting to have that battery draw power from the main battery while unplugged, but there is no need for that when when it has a power source. I would be willing to bet they could solve this issue with a software patch. Also, on the hardware side, they can easily add a port for a standard extension cord to be plugged into the car and have a trickle charger built in. Then locate it in an area that has a manual release in a spot that didn't require panel removal. Or maybe go retro and put it behind the license plate.
Actually it does. My Tesla Model S warned me a couple weeks before failure. I’ve had my car sit for 5 months just leaving it plugged in. Worked fine. His 12v battery must have gone bad.
I sort of feel like Jeremy would relish the opportunity to level aspersions on the impracticality of electric vehicles while James was an immobile captive audience. Hammond wouldn't be around because he would have crashed.
This video shows why repairing cars cost so much and takes so long. I'm a mechanic and some cars are a big sandwich. You can't take "this" off without taking "that" off which is attached to "that" and "this" 😂
Same with laptops. Everything is piled on top of everything else. Which is why I prefer a nice big chunky full tower desktop computer I can get in to up to my elbows.
@@yamayama8472 but it takes 5min cuz u already know how, or are you factoring the time it takes to figure it out for the first time, or perhaps the call to tesla to ask how to get it open without the fob?
@@yamayama8472 it wouldn't have been a big deal at all if Tesla would simply install manual door and boot latches like any other normal car manufacturer
@@yamayama8472 if you work for Tesla maybe. When we first started getting Teslas at the auction we couldn't even find two Tesla reps to agree on how to turn a Model S off. One said go into the computer the other said it would turn itself off and not to worry. And it doesn't just say off on the computer you have to go into Security I think and follow prompts. Tesla seems to have a couple of ways to do 1 thing but hasn't told anybody how to do any of it.
The trouble with so many things and I've worked on quite a lot of different mechanisms and fixtures is that it appears that the designers never have. They leave the assembly or maintenance to mechanics who have fight with the incompetence shown in this posting.
In Top Gear/Grand Tour his long winded ramblings would destroy the flow and energy. When on his own the whole thing has different pacing and i do love that we get to see May in his own element.. but.. being in the company of two different kind of knobheads makes the trio. You can actually take Hammond or Clarkson away and it still works... ;) May is the irreplaceable one. Hammond and Clarkson has other qualities that makes them unique but the whole dynamic of an idiot vs Captain Slow.. requires one Captain slow and then some dude. And yes, i find it still funny when the two interrupt Mays ramblings, it just.. is the right thing to do for that show, it is comedic.
Incorrect, Tesla provides free roadside assistance for fault or 12v battery failures, they just never assume the car will be sat doing nothing for 5 months
@@mikeb1039 that's true because Tesla is changeing individual mobility forever. BTW the Tesla Service Center is listed as a cost center and not a provit center, therefore Tesla have no intresst in generating costs! There will be a day when you wake up and realize that the dinos have extinct
I'm under a firm belief the vehicle engineers intentionally like to make simple tasks difficult just so they can google people struggling with it and get a little enjoyment
It's not really that complex a problem. Motorcyclists who don't ride every day and owners of vintage cars deal with this problem all the time. They solve it with a simple battery tender that costs a few dollars. But this is unquestionably a flaw in a new, expensive, supposedly technologically advanced automobile - a flaw for which either designers or management deserve blame, depending on whether the cause was oversight or cost-cutting.
Jeremy: "James, what is the problem?" James: "The battery has gone flat. I have to dismantle the front of the car to recharge it." Jeremy: "I will get the hammer." James: "Go away, Clarkson."
@@Platesmasher they are deployed into battle via amphibious landing craft and attack from the water moving onto land. Same as the parachute regiment fight on land but they are deployed via the air. It’s the method of deployment into the battlefield which gives them their names. For actual maritime warfare we have the Royal Navy and for actual airborne warfare we have the Royal Air Force.
@@Mrwaffleandmilk I think they would care. It adds reliability. Look at Alfa Romeo when they were sold in the late 80s to early 90s. Dealerships refused to service these cars and people complained and they stopped selling them in the US untill recently. So, how is not a design flaw.
@@ericpisch2732 storing at 100% soc seems like an extremely common use case (so Tesla should priorize it) and I don't see a technical limitation to the step down converter not running occasionally when the car is at full soc
@@Ryukachoo unless you hate money, you should only charge to 100% of you are about to go for a trip. Normal storage charge is under 80%. I suspect that this problem would happen anyway when the set limit is reached and the charger shuts down.
@@Ryukachoo the car and the app tell you to not charge to 100% unless your doing a long distance drive, the app gets more stroppy if you multiple 100% charge in a row. The manual tells you to store the car on 80%. I have yet to see an ev that doesn’t tell you to only use 90% soc for day to day use to increase battery life
Tesla is the worst OEM manufacturer in terms of “Engineering” simplicity and competence. This perfectly sums it up and you can tell this company does not have to 100+ years of experience and forethought that the other OEMs have(not saying their perfect either)
my thoughts too, publicly broadcasting how to break into the 'froot' and grab the laptop or whatever from in there... In all honesty though, I don't think many people put stuff in there, usually 1 person in these cars and stuff just goes on the back seat lol
Lol not a security flaw per se. you have to physically bend the plastic wheel arch trim which takes considerable effort. And while all this is going on, the car is recording you in sentry mode. People break into cars everyday. If a thief wants something, they’ll find a way to get it.
@@waynedl99 if you can get into the bonnet of a car you can get into any boot. There are ways to unlock all cars without the key via the bonnet (without doing damage). Just buy any Haynes manual to find out how or Google it these days I guess. So frunk or not it's no less safe than any other car.
Are you kidding I've had minor problems on conventional cars that have cost me a small fortune. This honestly is pain the a** but fixable in your garage.
So relatable, every time I try to fix anything that should be relatively simple turns into an hours long expedition. The kids know Dads done when every tool in the house has been pulled out and I'm weeping in a corner.
I'm a techie and I'll generally at least investigate and usually also fix any fault or issue but I hate working on cars because it inevitably involves getting filthy, contortion and hand or head injury. Oh and yes, using every tool I possess because the one one I really need is some specialist proprietary one (eg, 7-pointed torx head driver - never seen one but I bet it exists)
@@trance9158 the range of 200 miles sounding like a washing machine and costing over 120 grand what sort of mug would pay for that s*** and that's the best they can do haha
@@ravjayakodi2746 nah. Watch the episode. It was a fair review with fair criticisms I think. The main issues he pointed out were, reliability and battery life. Tesla still has a reliability problem that's pointed out by US and Chinese regulators now. Also, as for battery, musk created a massive supercharger network since then, so I guess that one was valid after all. Racetracks eat up range in any car petrol or electric.
James may, mr. Cheese himself has just pointed out to everybody on the internet how to rob the frunk of all Tesla model 3s without a key and access anything inside. James May, never change you are a blessing to us all
after all these years it still makes me wonder why a standard out charge port which you can access via a flap on the vehicle still not standard equipment on all cars
Chrysler Sebring (wheel well, remove tire) Chevy HHR with electric only opening trunk hatch and battery buried under the cargo floor, requiring tunneling in, breaking off a plastic cap, reaching in with a hook or about to be injured finger to jack pull the latch cable, because the battery won't open the trunk.
After the 12v battery has recharged and you have removed the croc clips, you start reassembling the car. By the time you have got it back together, the battery has gone flat and you start again.
Surely it would be simple enough for the Tesla to programme things in such a way that the crucial 12V battery is kept topped up by the main battery regardless of whether the car is plugged in or not.
It already has an inverter too since it will charge the 12v when on. So you’re idea to just periodically cycle and top or a trickle type mode, seems fair. Having the main battery flat would be better than the 12v. But also, it’s plugged in, and the car has an inverter, so why can’t it just trickle charge the 12v and leave the main battery at end of cycle? It’s seems like a very small bit of electrical or programming work 🤷♂️. 💯 deserves a rant.
Most EVs disconnect the 12V system from the 320/400V main power battery during charging for electrical safety reasons. Some EVs have bigger issues than others on this. The MG ZS EV disconnects the 12V battery system from the 400V main battery during rapid DC charging. However, you can still run the air conditioning unit or heater while DC charging, which means that if you leave the A/C or heater on while DC charging, you could come back to your car with a flat 12V battery... Most EVs tend to avoid this problem by running systems like the A/C or heater directly from the DC charger while plugged in. Though in most EVs, this will make charging the battery slower... Except in the Audi e-Tron, which just pulls more power from the DC charger on top of what's needed for the main battery. Most EVs aren't as complicated as Teslas are for getting access into the 12V battery. But relatively few manufacturers include a frunk like Tesla do.
@@markrainford1219 yeah but now he's actually old... It's like me when I was a kid with big ears... But i grew into them... His body grew into his 60 year old mind
This was either a drastic oversight during the engineering process, or it was a terrible decision. There's so many ways they could have improved this 🤣
Storing energy in liquid form is still more efficient than batteries. Battery cars won't be as practical as internal combustion cars for another 50 years, even though the DNCCP is intentionally destroying the energy infrastructure to convince morons that batteries are currently superior to gasoline.
@@poweraccountabilityleague6877 It will never beat the internal combustion engine because of the dead weight it is forced to carry around. This car weighs 2 tonnes, half of that weight is imposed by the batteries, and people still rag on about the 100% efficiency of the electric motor. The concept itself is flawed, to "store" the charge of an electron you need to store two protons somewhere on this car, one on each side of the electric circuit.
@@Ryan_Winter And yet despite the concept being “flawed”, batteries clearly work just fine, including those required to run a a car. Where is the problem?
It is a pretty big oversight. If the big battery charge shuts off, it could then trickle charge the 12v with the big battery. And when the big battery gets a bit low from this, the main charge kicks back in to bring it to 100% again. Most chargers have features like this now
@@beeftec5862 This. The Prius has done this for over a decade if I recall correctly there is no reason why Tesla can't. From his explanation it should just be a software thing since the big battery is already set up to charge the 12v battery when charging.
@@odisy64 There is a DC/DC converter. James explained in the video that while the car is charging or running the big battery keeps the 12 v battery running. If there was no charging mechanism in place you'd need a new 12v battery every couple days...
This is literally the first thing that madee want an electric car 'oh you could leave it for months and it will still have battery to start first time. Mental that they didn't think of this.
@@felix-bk7ne I think each Tesla has about a 50W constant drain, depending upon gadget setup. It adds up, 200,000 cars at 50W each = 10MW. Very 'green'...
the most idiotic thing about electric cars is how they replace simple mechanical parts with only operated by electric parts. i dont want a car that doesnt have mechanical door handles or hood operation. am i against push button windows....not entirely but being that this is a proper anti electric tech rant well, kindof yes. the convenience is nice but i hate having to put the key into the ignition just to roll my windows down or up. i also hate the trend of putting a giant touch screen on the dash and making everything that could be/used to be operated by mechanical switches and buttons use it instead.
Working in IT,.. I do worry about the trend to require large touch-screen LCD panels in cars. Monitors (non-touch ones at least) do tend to be fairly robust, though the ones I'm used to working with don't sit in hot car interiors for long stretches. I was looking at an old Willy's pickup that was up for auction recently. Engine looked original.. It was over 70 years old and still operational. How many of the current vehicles that are entirely reliant on touch screens will be operational in 20 years (or 10 years) without having these fairly expensive components replaced?
A giant screen in an car is just a recipe for driver inattention while he takes his eyes off the road to look for something on the screen. Honestly, can't believe that this is even allowed in a vehicle for purely safety reasons.
Presumably. It's quite possible that the engineers pointed it out, but management decided that scenario was unlikely to occur. Either way, it's absolutely inexcusable.
@@michaelnoble2432 New models all have what he recommended, an external 12V jumper cable. It's behind a little door on the front bumper. I think you are correct, most people don't own 10 cars where they might leave it sit for a month unused. The owners manual does say to power the car down if you are going on eg a trip for extended period.
@@steveseeger even having a separate 12V battery is a little odd. As an electrical engineer, it makes more sense to me to just convert the main storage battery voltage down to 12V to run auxiliary loads. Having an easy way to connect a charger to the 12V battery is just a band-aid fix, IMO.
@@michaelnoble2432 Or have it top off the little battery but you are right there is no reason why they couldn't drop the voltage down to run the other systems.
@@Meekerextreme I'm sure they drop the main battery voltage down to run 12V items when the car is actually running. Even if the step-down circuit is switched off when the car isn't running (to save power), they should switch it back on automatically when required to top-up the 12V battery.
3:37 *Tesla ticking* James: "Why is it making that noise...?" Tesla: 'You've partially dismantled me yourself, so now I'm counting down to the point that I'll suddenly and violently release all the energy stored in my main battery all at once.' James: "Run away!"
They have fixed this on the model 3, inside the tow hook they've mounted 2 wires to access to either supply power (to open the car), or use to charge the battery in this case.
Just FYI, those leads only go to the latch solenoid, they do not go to the battery unfortunately. That's a big oversight IMO. There's still 2 panels you have to remove though, which is kind of annoying, but still easier than this model S.
Also you can take the grille off with a credit card or trim tool and use the positive and negative jumper leads on the top of the metal bumper under the facia.
Not sure if it’s a design flaw. Tesla’s seem to want to be a bit exclusive with their servicing and IMO kind of make the assumption that whenever a car doesn’t work Tesla will be the ones to fix it. They thought far enough to put in emergency hood releases… which was why I think it’s just intentionally difficult.
@@andrer3764 I'm pretty sure that emergency hood release failsafe was never meant to be information given to customers to broadcast on the internet... probably just info for their service personnel for workshop knowledge sharing.
@@TheComputec i would agree with you and IMO that’s even worse. Batteries run out; they go bad. I’m not a fan of relying on a Tesla service even something goes wrong that isn’t related to something that only Tesla’s has (e.g main battery, screens etc).
I have an idea for a show, maybe not a television show, but a RUclips series: Have James May read complaints out loud. Doesn't matter the industry, just have him read complaints, the man does it to an art.
Citroen put the Picasso battery under the passenger seat and almost inaccessible - but they did at least put charging ports under the bonnet where they were easily accessible. My brother had similar problems with his BMW and the battery in the boot - the electrically opened boot.
This video wins the internet for today (Sunday 16/5/21) and "Hall of the Mountain King" playing in the background while JM is being just logical is absolutely brilliant.
this guy is at his most entertaining,when he is irritated,he makes victor meldrew look like mary poppins,but now at 62,i totally get it.technology has enslaved us all.
or they can install a trickle system to trickle power from the lithium pack to the lead acid battery. Then just have like an emergency button they activate it when needed. I'd imagine it'd be even easier when they replace those batteries with lithium batteries. Which Tesla already said they'll do with the current S and X cars.
Yeah I’m just talking about the emergency releases to get to the storage space. If that only works when the battery is flat then it’s fine, but I’m not sure.
The key fob for my 16 year old Honda Civic Type R still has the original battery from the factory and it still works and powers the central locking from 40m away.
When the battery of my old Peugeot 307 (yes, the same car Top Gear made fun of) goes flat, I just unlock the car with my key, open the bonnet, connect the other battery that I have in my trunk and start the car. All of this takes 3 minutes tops.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
To be clear, I set the battery to charge to 80 per cent. When I say 'fully charged' I mean the cycle is complete.
I wonder about the Model 3 if it will have this problem, though 80,000mi into ownership I find I drive it too often to find out. Adding a trickle charge lead seems like a sensible thing to do for multi-vehicle owners.
We have battery tenders like that in the US but with more robust weatherproof connectors. I usually poke them through the grille or over the top of the cowl and just tuck them in when not in use, they work great.
Interesting, did the car provide any notification through the app that the 12v battery was low. Or even that due to prolonged non use, was at risk of being low?
Seems like a major oversight on Tesla’s part, especially with the terminals being so hard to reach.
Hi James,
Just a thought.... Might your additional trickle charge interfere with the charge cycle provided by the car? (Once you've got things up and running again.)
I have a Model 3 and no problems at all through lockdown, but I know a number of Model S drivers have had issues with their 12v batteries.
Am I right in thinking that if the car has been sat for a while on the main charger, surely it must have been cycling some charge through periodically.
My understanding was that the car stops charging as the first set of cells in the battery pack hits 4.2v and then uses bleed resistors to bring the rest to equilibrium and tops up and repeats to reach the set % of charge (when set to above ~80% charge and idle for long periods). The car should be checking for cells that reach 5mV of imbalance and start charging and equalising again.
Over time as the cells drop to the 5mV limit surely this would trigger power to be cycled through and in doing so realise the state of the 12V battery and trickle charge it. I’m surprised there is no warning mechanism for this from Tesla as it doesn’t seem like a huge step to consider a car not being used for long periods of time. Especially when the car is hooked up to a mains charger and has the ability to trickle charge the 12V internally.
“It’s a bit boring this but I’m going to have to explain it all.”
I am all in.
mansplaining
@@Chris_the_Muso Tesla is under built
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ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
James May explaining anything is something I need to hear at least once a day.
Nice color on that s80
Look him up on amazon prime. He has a series where he cooks and one where he assembles things. Oddly satisfying.
@@warpfrenzy it is oddly satisfying. Im hopeless at diy and all that kind of stuff but find James immensely entertaining whilst he puts things together.
"Jamesplaining"
I’ll give ya once a week. Because Jeremy and I are “allergic” to May 😁
"It was about and hour's work", what he described would have taken me three days. And Clarkson about three weeks before he got Caleb to do it.
This video is basically whenever the grand tour cuts to black with “many hours later” and he’s still going
And top gear
Such a shame they do that. We miss out on some gold material.
I assume they keep the cameras rolling and that footage just ends up on the cutting room floor. They should upload all that extra footage here, or make a new "James May Rants" youtube channel.
@@noahcalland8316 If i recall correclty, on one of the GT behinds the scesnse vids, they said they roughly have 250 hours worth of footage to compress into a hourish, that mightve been for one of the specials mind you but you get the idea .. ps spelling i know v high
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
Imagine your neighbor comes to you saying “Hey can you help me jump start my Tesla?”
Underrated comment 👍😄
Time for the smug face!
Tesla owners won't look so smug when being recovered by a rusty transit.
What's the equivalent of a 5 litre petrol can for an E.V.?
And will the fine for running out of fuel on the motorway be the same for electric vehicles as it is for petrol/diesel vehicles?
There is an easy access to the battery through tow hook cap. If he does not know how to do it doesn't mean the car has design issue.
@@sally6457 so don't let your vehicles sit for long periods?
The most interesting part is always right after James says 'this might be a little boring...'
...*5 years later*...."What the eff did James say?"....
🙄😄
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If only we'd invented some kind of device that physically locked a car but could be opened without batteries, something like a metal key.
What is this heresy. We have no need for your magickal trinkets.
But then anybody with one of these bits of metal could unlock my car, doesn't sound very secure.
Eww what is a " key " ?
Tesla need a wireless card that swipe off the hood from outside.
@@jcse16 yea, and all the car has it . Put everthing electric but let the manual system too to unlock/lock the car like every car on the earth.
Keys? So 200 yrs old idea.
James is so well suited for RUclips. He's just great at everything.
I understand he's a wonderful love maker as well
Hello
“Hello”
@@aldozilli1293 ayo hold up 😳
Indeed
"The door won't open because the battery's flat"
We're reaching levels of design incompetence that shouldn't be possible, captain!
hey, at least he could get to the battery when the battery was flat.
That's something. The same interlock system could have locked the frunk as well :)
Oh, we reached that point a long time ago.
(Years ago a guy was trapped in his Corvette for HOURS because doors wouldn’t open due to a dead battery)
@@300DBenz it happened to me in a Vette luckily I had my phone called the mechanic who instructed me that there is a lever on the floor on the left that will pop the door. It was hot the windows were only down about 2 inches won't lie felt a little panic starting
@@300DBenz A man and his dog died of heat exhaustion when the electronic windows and doors wouldn’t open in his Corvette.
@@jwenting It did
This is the perfect May video. Tech explanations, May using his engineering prowess to resolve the issue, solutions suggestions, sprinkled with borderline curmudgeonality disorder, all whilst wearing another item of clothing from a teenager's wardrobe. Perfection.
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
Engineering prowess? He followed directions and charged a battery..
@@necoates77 ok. Now play out the same scenario with Clarkson.
Unfortunately he didn't need to name all the spanners. 8 out of 10
@@chrisbecke2793 smashing front bumper off of the car, yelling every 30 seconds, hammering the headlights out of frustration, sewing the roof just because why wouldn’t you and then just casually walk away for som’ drinks. Oh and blaming it on Elon via Twitter while drinking.
Dear lord.. my old e-golf had it's 12v battery die on me once. When I got in the car, the dashboard said: "The 12v battery is empty. Drive normally to charge it back up". Just that. The car still started with the big battery and after 5 minutes of driving the warning light turned off.
A very simple and elegant solution allowed by having a physical key.
The battery wasn't dead if the car was still able to tell you to charge the battery. That's just VW lying again.
@@kentadams4589 the main 35 kWh battery was full, 12V battery was empty
The 12v battery was nearly empty then. If it was empty the E-Golf will not power up just like the Tesla. So you were just in time..
@@hermanvansanten4408 That may be true, just that why when the smaller battery can be charged while the car is running or big battery is being charged can it not charge the smaller battery using a little bit of energy from the bigger battery? With that much amount of computing and software in the car, the car can certainly detect when the 12 V battery is almost dead and charge it up a bit. Maybe VW did just that.
@PipiX:
You bought a car.
Not a smartphone on wheels.
What would happen to a customer w/o tools and car mechanic experience? Would they ask the dealer to pick it up? Or upload it to a service cloud?
"cant open the door because the battery has gone flat"
"why is the battery flat"
"because the other battery is charged"
makes perfect sense
Normally the main battery charges the 12V battery once the system detects that it needs to be charged. Or at least that's what's happening on the Model 3 and Y.
Though, the Model S is their second most oldest car, and the design is from 2012, or well. Actually older, the prototype was finished in 2009. I suspect the refresh Model S will be a lot different to the one James owns.
because it's designed by DUMB ENGINEERS!
@@germanmosca i used to be a valet and encountered this same problem. It was hilarious to have to boost the other batters that controls the door handles etc. It is charged via regen braking.
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
James May better receive commission when Tesla eventually adds that battery charging connector
They should add a full terminal so you can jump other cars as well
@@gramathy999 The battery is only tiny as it's not designed for turning a starter motor. Probably doesn't have the cranking amps for jumping other cars.
@@DEADB33F Not on its own, but a slightly more powerful build with the battery and a DC-DC conversion circuit could certainly put out enough power. Even as is the live charging circuit should be able to bring a dead battery up enough to start an ICE by charging it for a few minutes, there are cigarette lighter jump devices intended for that purpose right now.
They should just add a little wireless charger.
@@gramathy999 I'm not great at electronics, but IMO I think this could be solved rather easily. The car knows when it's plugged in and already charges that battery during charging. Why couldn't the car continue to charge the smaller battery with the main unit as long as the car is on the charger? I can understand not wanting to have that battery draw power from the main battery while unplugged, but there is no need for that when when it has a power source. I would be willing to bet they could solve this issue with a software patch.
Also, on the hardware side, they can easily add a port for a standard extension cord to be plugged into the car and have a trickle charger built in. Then locate it in an area that has a manual release in a spot that didn't require panel removal. Or maybe go retro and put it behind the license plate.
“What’s that noise?”
That’s Tesla invalidating your warranty remotely via Wi-fi 🤣
I thought that Tesla just disabled rapid charging...
@@TheRealWindlePoons I imagine they can do quite a bit more than that, especially if it were stolen.
@vinasu maaj oh settle down lol. No self respecting car theif wants to steal a tesla.
@@Shornandkenny and I'm pretty sure a reputable one could manage to get in through at least one of the multiple panel gaps anyway!
Is someone can help to find which car is sitting next to this Tesla S .and is tis is the front or rear of that mysterious car ?
Clearly battery monitoring didn't factor into the design process - genious level thinking.
Actually it does. My Tesla Model S warned me a couple weeks before failure. I’ve had my car sit for 5 months just leaving it plugged in. Worked fine. His 12v battery must have gone bad.
This is a James May problem only James May would have and is now fixed via software
The implementation of like comment subscribe at the end was hilarious, made me laugh my lungs out.
The only reason I gave a like.
Yes. Me too. Brilliant.
It was very funny.
@@DashCamSerbia same
Yeah, that was great like comment subscribe.
This is the video where Hammond and Jezza would drive away without giving any help
And James would love every moment of them being gone and puttering around by himself at his own pace.
Sorry, there's simply nothing we can do to help.
They would most likely take something of importance before going off
Oi
I sort of feel like Jeremy would relish the opportunity to level aspersions on the impracticality of electric vehicles while James was an immobile captive audience.
Hammond wouldn't be around because he would have crashed.
This video shows why repairing cars cost so much and takes so long. I'm a mechanic and some cars are a big sandwich. You can't take "this" off without taking "that" off which is attached to "that" and "this" 😂
There’s always an element of that with cars, older the better generally though.
Same with laptops. Everything is piled on top of everything else. Which is why I prefer a nice big chunky full tower desktop computer I can get in to up to my elbows.
@@yamayama8472 but it takes 5min cuz u already know how, or are you factoring the time it takes to figure it out for the first time, or perhaps the call to tesla to ask how to get it open without the fob?
@@yamayama8472 it wouldn't have been a big deal at all if Tesla would simply install manual door and boot latches like any other normal car manufacturer
@@yamayama8472 if you work for Tesla maybe. When we first started getting Teslas at the auction we couldn't even find two Tesla reps to agree on how to turn a Model S off. One said go into the computer the other said it would turn itself off and not to worry. And it doesn't just say off on the computer you have to go into Security I think and follow prompts. Tesla seems to have a couple of ways to do 1 thing but hasn't told anybody how to do any of it.
The trouble with so many things and I've worked on quite a lot of different mechanisms and fixtures is that it appears that the designers never have. They leave the assembly or maintenance to mechanics who have fight with the incompetence shown in this posting.
Spot on
Always nice to see James May!
I think he is looking like Benny Hill these days!
Identifies a problem, and proposes a simple, workable solution. This is why I watch Bim!
ruclips.net/video/nGAGmZlr6HE/видео.html.
Hey bim, guess what
Tesla has a problem
👀👀
Who’s bim?
Simple???😂😂
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
Clarkson and Hammond think that May's explaining and rambling is boring, but i honestly love it.
It's genuinely interesting to me.
He's easily the most interesting of the trio.
That is because the Hamster and the Orangutan are knobs.
They don't mean that of course. They only say it as part of the script. Each one of them has a part to play on the show. James plays the "boring" one.
In Top Gear/Grand Tour his long winded ramblings would destroy the flow and energy. When on his own the whole thing has different pacing and i do love that we get to see May in his own element.. but.. being in the company of two different kind of knobheads makes the trio. You can actually take Hammond or Clarkson away and it still works... ;) May is the irreplaceable one. Hammond and Clarkson has other qualities that makes them unique but the whole dynamic of an idiot vs Captain Slow.. requires one Captain slow and then some dude.
And yes, i find it still funny when the two interrupt Mays ramblings, it just.. is the right thing to do for that show, it is comedic.
He's like a talking Harlequin novel to me.
They make it difficult on purpose so people have to pay them for repairs, how ever minor the issue. Same as Apple
Incorrect, Tesla provides free roadside assistance for fault or 12v battery failures, they just never assume the car will be sat doing nothing for 5 months
you obviusly have no clue about tesla
@@mikeb1039 that's true because Tesla is changeing individual mobility forever. BTW the Tesla Service Center is listed as a cost center and not a provit center, therefore Tesla have no intresst in generating costs!
There will be a day when you wake up and realize that the dinos have extinct
This is not unique to Tesla, almost all cars today, are over engineered.
@@Alice-D-23 oh behave.
Electric cars have been used for over 100 years. New York had around 15,000 at one point in 1920.
You know you messed up when you get called out by the man who can find beauty in even the most ridiculous designs.
You know your car has a flaw when a man that has driven a brick car points it out.
For example, Dacia
Instead of hating the designers he found the solution, this is why we love him so much. Thank you😊
Seriously love this man
I'm under a firm belief the vehicle engineers intentionally like to make simple tasks difficult just so they can google people struggling with it and get a little enjoyment
Muti task do both
If he did hate on designers though he would be perfectly in the right, because it is the designers fault for creating such a faulty design.
It's not really that complex a problem. Motorcyclists who don't ride every day and owners of vintage cars deal with this problem all the time. They solve it with a simple battery tender that costs a few dollars. But this is unquestionably a flaw in a new, expensive, supposedly technologically advanced automobile - a flaw for which either designers or management deserve blame, depending on whether the cause was oversight or cost-cutting.
Jeremy: "James, what is the problem?"
James: "The battery has gone flat. I have to dismantle the front of the car to recharge it."
Jeremy: "I will get the hammer."
James: "Go away, Clarkson."
Spot on mate!
"So, since we are not the marines, we decided to leave James behind"
@@IvoTrausch Why do they call them “marines” when they fight on land?
@@Platesmasher they are deployed into battle via amphibious landing craft and attack from the water moving onto land. Same as the parachute regiment fight on land but they are deployed via the air. It’s the method of deployment into the battlefield which gives them their names.
For actual maritime warfare we have the Royal Navy and for actual airborne warfare we have the Royal Air Force.
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Sounds like a huge design flaw on the Model S.
@@Mrwaffleandmilk I think they would care. It adds reliability. Look at Alfa Romeo when they were sold in the late 80s to early 90s. Dealerships refused to service these cars and people complained and they stopped selling them in the US untill recently.
So, how is not a design flaw.
@Dan M Absolutely. I don't think @Mrwaffleandmilk understands what 'design flaw' means.
The art of manufacturing is to make it and get it out of the door quick
@Dan M a "design" flaw, not "designed" flaw... A design flaw is a flaw in the design, not a flaw that has been designed to be a flaw on purpose...
@Dan M No, it's two different things... Not the same thing said in different ways
"to change battery you must dismantle the car 😂" lol
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
*charge
Phone trends are coming into the car business
That would be a boring dystopia, to have cars made like modern phones
Yep, gotta go with NIO if you want a real EV
"This is an unauthorised modification to your Tesla vehicle and you have been locked out of the supercharger network"
There's not much of tesla supercharger in UK and EU anyway... Mostly owned by the government or other energy company
HA, ha !
The 12v step down converter not being able to wake up and run when the 12v system is low is....kind of a big design oversight
Kinda! you've never thing Elon makes things that go in space.
It works perfectly If you use it as directed and dont store the car on 100% SoC
@@ericpisch2732 storing at 100% soc seems like an extremely common use case (so Tesla should priorize it) and I don't see a technical limitation to the step down converter not running occasionally when the car is at full soc
@@Ryukachoo unless you hate money, you should only charge to 100% of you are about to go for a trip. Normal storage charge is under 80%. I suspect that this problem would happen anyway when the set limit is reached and the charger shuts down.
@@Ryukachoo the car and the app tell you to not charge to 100% unless your doing a long distance drive, the app gets more stroppy if you multiple 100% charge in a row. The manual tells you to store the car on 80%. I have yet to see an ev that doesn’t tell you to only use 90% soc for day to day use to increase battery life
No it also need to have the sense to check the battery level while plugged in and charge if needed
That sounds like a system designed by a 1980s adventure game developer.
Very under rated comment 😏 it's like a Space Quest puzzle
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ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
Tesla is the worst OEM manufacturer in terms of “Engineering” simplicity and competence. This perfectly sums it up and you can tell this company does not have to 100+ years of experience and forethought that the other OEMs have(not saying their perfect either)
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editing just make this even better
just constantly zooming in and out, very amateur imo
The zooming is 100% super distracting.
@@behruz1691 who cares?
That is what editing is for...
You know Jezza and Hammond would be on some,"We decided to help James, by leaving him."
Unfortunately I don’t Jezza is allowed within 100ft of a Tesla anymore
But watching James on his own is so interesting and fun.
That is a bit of a design flaw. Also, the emergency bonnet release security flaw.
my thoughts too, publicly broadcasting how to break into the 'froot' and grab the laptop or whatever from in there...
In all honesty though, I don't think many people put stuff in there, usually 1 person in these cars and stuff just goes on the back seat lol
Lol not a security flaw per se. you have to physically bend the plastic wheel arch trim which takes considerable effort. And while all this is going on, the car is recording you in sentry mode. People break into cars everyday. If a thief wants something, they’ll find a way to get it.
Spoiler, every car has an emergency bonnet release system by pulling on cables underneath....
@@MyAirMyles but this is the BOOT - Froot - Frunk. Whatever you want to call it, likely to have valuable stuff in there.
@@waynedl99 if you can get into the bonnet of a car you can get into any boot. There are ways to unlock all cars without the key via the bonnet (without doing damage). Just buy any Haynes manual to find out how or Google it these days I guess. So frunk or not it's no less safe than any other car.
That noise is the swarm of lawyers trying to break in
Underrated comment. 🤣
The lawyers likely designed the car themselves.
@@robsimer9296 If they did, it would be a horse.
the sound of an ev driver have to pay £400 to have his car haled back because it ran out of juice.
Are you kidding I've had minor problems on conventional cars that have cost me a small fortune. This honestly is pain the a** but fixable in your garage.
So relatable, every time I try to fix anything that should be relatively simple turns into an hours long expedition. The kids know Dads done when every tool in the house has been pulled out and I'm weeping in a corner.
Me too. I always dread the little jobs that i think "oh ill give it a go trying to do it myself". Nah.
I feel your pain
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
I feel the pain. And I think I gonna hold on to my Lexus for a couple of years.
I'm a techie and I'll generally at least investigate and usually also fix any fault or issue but I hate working on cars because it inevitably involves getting filthy, contortion and hand or head injury. Oh and yes, using every tool I possess because the one one I really need is some specialist proprietary one (eg, 7-pointed torx head driver - never seen one but I bet it exists)
"To Charge the battery you have to dismantle the car "🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
this is 1990 Chevy Lumina all over again
Just like Peugeot 308
Just another example of the brilliant tesla engineering.
Ok, the subtle increase in volume of “Flight of the Valkyries” is possibly the most perfect use of this composition in a social media post ever!
This is The Mountain King
as someone who was an intern at a tesla service center for a few months, i can feel your pain
@Finnish bear not according to any survey.
@Finnish bear LoL...Mercedes is basically a knock-off of Chinese EV by BYD. Same battery, same motor, and even same LED Screens.
Porsche is the best.
@@trance9158 the range of 200 miles sounding like a washing machine and costing over 120 grand what sort of mug would pay for that s*** and that's the best they can do haha
O boy when people came in my shop with a broken ev it's PAIN to fix it but somehow I can fix it
This is why I love RUclips, because it means James May can tell off Elon Musk like this
I sort of doubt it is a video straight to his inbox though 🤣
Hopefully he doesn't get sued like Clarkson
@@MelloOwnsRyuuzaki yh but musk had fair reasons to sue him
@@ravjayakodi2746 nah. Watch the episode. It was a fair review with fair criticisms I think.
The main issues he pointed out were, reliability and battery life. Tesla still has a reliability problem that's pointed out by US and Chinese regulators now. Also, as for battery, musk created a massive supercharger network since then, so I guess that one was valid after all. Racetracks eat up range in any car petrol or electric.
This is the type of constructive critique Elon loves and often quickly respond to. Faking failures in Top Gear videos isn't cool though.
*I can already hear Jezza cackling manically!*
Maybe you just heard me laughing
"What else is electric in here?!" "Well not the exhaust manifold!" xD
I believe he would have brought a hammer!
@@CarlosLusoooo more like a crane and wrecking ball
@@CarlosLusoooo that’s correct. A hammer
That’s a well thought out, planned and executed piece of engineering lol
James may, mr. Cheese himself has just pointed out to everybody on the internet how to rob the frunk of all Tesla model 3s without a key and access anything inside. James May, never change you are a blessing to us all
They should put a battery and a cable in James may so that he never runs out and keeps entertaining us with amazing content forever!
Or use the car like you supposed to then you don’t need to
James is pure class. I love every bit of him and everything he does.
True, if there was a video of James May painting a wall and watching it dry I would watch it in it’s entirety.
@@mohamedimardbrucelee8829 As long as he explained what he was doing while he was doing it.
after all these years it still makes me wonder why a standard out charge port which you can access via a flap on the vehicle still not standard equipment on all cars
We've finally found a car whose battery is more difficult to access than the Dodge Neon.
Chrysler Sebring (wheel well, remove tire)
Chevy HHR with electric only opening trunk hatch and battery buried under the cargo floor, requiring tunneling in, breaking off a plastic cap, reaching in with a hook or about to be injured finger to jack pull the latch cable, because the battery won't open the trunk.
Lol.. goodluck finding a ranger rover Battery
@@STho205 Don't forget the viper, lr wheel well ,smart car, passenger foot well. Olds aurora, rear passenger floor, we can get into the euro stuff.
Some jettas ha t the battery under the washer fluid tank
Chrysler Concorde is ridiculously bad. You have to remove a wheel and the wheel arch to get to it.
It's just missing Hammond being annoying and Clarkson laughing at the car.
naaah clarkson would have spent the whole time telling james to shut up
Or maybe those two have tampered his car as usual.
with a hammer
“Why’s it making that noise?”
“... RUN AWAY!”
I died-
Because you didn't run away.
Pity you didn't.
Anyway.
@@nickturner2813 i will try to open the trunk on a Tesla now that James told me i can do so without a key.
Yup, I was looking for the white bunny... 🐇
After the 12v battery has recharged and you have removed the croc clips, you start reassembling the car. By the time you have got it back together, the battery has gone flat and you start again.
I think he'll fit a 'fly lead' for his Optimate
Surely it would be simple enough for the Tesla to programme things in such a way that the crucial 12V battery is kept topped up by the main battery regardless of whether the car is plugged in or not.
Exactly. Why have a system where you have to charge 2 batteries independently?
I am finding it difficult to believe that tesla put such a dump system on their car.
It already has an inverter too since it will charge the 12v when on. So you’re idea to just periodically cycle and top or a trickle type mode, seems fair. Having the main battery flat would be better than the 12v.
But also, it’s plugged in, and the car has an inverter, so why can’t it just trickle charge the 12v and leave the main battery at end of cycle? It’s seems like a very small bit of electrical or programming work 🤷♂️.
💯 deserves a rant.
@@tendaitambanemoto8178 Lets hope his Big F#####g Rockets don't suffer the same fate.
@@xzox 😆 😆 🤣 😂 😹 it wont he is a genius
Needs a sensor on the 12v that talks to the system and the control software updated to monitor it and charge it if needed.
Most EVs disconnect the 12V system from the 320/400V main power battery during charging for electrical safety reasons.
Some EVs have bigger issues than others on this.
The MG ZS EV disconnects the 12V battery system from the 400V main battery during rapid DC charging. However, you can still run the air conditioning unit or heater while DC charging, which means that if you leave the A/C or heater on while DC charging, you could come back to your car with a flat 12V battery...
Most EVs tend to avoid this problem by running systems like the A/C or heater directly from the DC charger while plugged in. Though in most EVs, this will make charging the battery slower... Except in the Audi e-Tron, which just pulls more power from the DC charger on top of what's needed for the main battery.
Most EVs aren't as complicated as Teslas are for getting access into the 12V battery. But relatively few manufacturers include a frunk like Tesla do.
@@WhiskyCardinalWes thats far too obvious for tesla who are trying drive everything with software
Or just eliminate the 12v computer, climate and door latch battery completely.
@@STho205 seems a bit dangerous to have 400v flowing through door latch circuits
It does charge as needed if you store the car as Tesla instruct you to, user error here
James looks so cool as an old man... He's finally at his peak
He's been old for thirty years.
@@markrainford1219 yeah but now he's actually old... It's like me when I was a kid with big ears... But i grew into them... His body grew into his 60 year old mind
It’s the stubble that does. Kind of edgy oap. You’ll see him soon, talking to himself on street corners.
😆👍
He's like a pokemon reaching final evolution.
This was either a drastic oversight during the engineering process, or it was a terrible decision. There's so many ways they could have improved this 🤣
Storing energy in liquid form is still more efficient than batteries. Battery cars won't be as practical as internal combustion cars for another 50 years, even though the DNCCP is intentionally destroying the energy infrastructure to convince morons that batteries are currently superior to gasoline.
@@poweraccountabilityleague6877 It will never beat the internal combustion engine because of the dead weight it is forced to carry around.
This car weighs 2 tonnes, half of that weight is imposed by the batteries, and people still rag on about the 100% efficiency of the electric motor.
The concept itself is flawed, to "store" the charge of an electron you need to store two protons somewhere on this car, one on each side of the electric circuit.
@@Ryan_Winter And yet despite the concept being “flawed”, batteries clearly work just fine, including those required to run a a car. Where is the problem?
@@henrikoldcorn you clearly are a liberal
@@ivanvalentin3898 Can’t even watch a James May car video without some mouthbreather bringing up politics
Lol, I love James giving an explanation like this for a very serious defect.
It is a pretty big oversight. If the big battery charge shuts off, it could then trickle charge the 12v with the big battery. And when the big battery gets a bit low from this, the main charge kicks back in to bring it to 100% again. Most chargers have features like this now
@@beeftec5862 the big battery cant really trickle to the smaller battery, the voltage difference is gigantic.
@@beeftec5862 This. The Prius has done this for over a decade if I recall correctly there is no reason why Tesla can't. From his explanation it should just be a software thing since the big battery is already set up to charge the 12v battery when charging.
@@odisy64 There is a DC/DC converter. James explained in the video that while the car is charging or running the big battery keeps the 12 v battery running. If there was no charging mechanism in place you'd need a new 12v battery every couple days...
@@beeftec5862 Yup, seems like a simple thing that could be done in software.
That Alpine behind him is an absolute beauty❤️
Looks better than the alpine F1 car tbh
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
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If this was Jezza’s car, he would have hammered everything until it worked again.
"Run away!"
*Slowly wanders off.*
For something as simple built as the Tesla, the build quickly manages to be even less than you would expect.
There is NOTHING simple about Teslas...
@@edwardfletcher7790 simplest cars on the road
@@dommy114 In space perhaps... On the roads? Lol I'm guessing tesla is the first car you ever saw in your life.
@@MegaDobieDog I'm an engineer. I assure you, they are mechanically simple. Impressive software, sure. But simple.
Oh,it's a surprise seeing you here man. Love your vids
With classic music in the background, classic May
Hall of the moutain king 🎶
You should do a series called ‘they didn’t think of everything!’ This could be item number 1
a series?
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
Series*
This is literally the first thing that madee want an electric car 'oh you could leave it for months and it will still have battery to start first time. Mental that they didn't think of this.
@@felix-bk7ne I think each Tesla has about a 50W constant drain, depending upon gadget setup.
It adds up, 200,000 cars at 50W each = 10MW. Very 'green'...
"This might be a little bit boring"
Is totally not boring.
the most idiotic thing about electric cars is how they replace simple mechanical parts with only operated by electric parts. i dont want a car that doesnt have mechanical door handles or hood operation. am i against push button windows....not entirely but being that this is a proper anti electric tech rant well, kindof yes. the convenience is nice but i hate having to put the key into the ignition just to roll my windows down or up. i also hate the trend of putting a giant touch screen on the dash and making everything that could be/used to be operated by mechanical switches and buttons use it instead.
I hear ya buddy!
I'm with you, now tell me which car to buy.
Working in IT,.. I do worry about the trend to require large touch-screen LCD panels in cars. Monitors (non-touch ones at least) do tend to be fairly robust, though the ones I'm used to working with don't sit in hot car interiors for long stretches.
I was looking at an old Willy's pickup that was up for auction recently. Engine looked original.. It was over 70 years old and still operational.
How many of the current vehicles that are entirely reliant on touch screens will be operational in 20 years (or 10 years) without having these fairly expensive components replaced?
A giant screen in an car is just a recipe for driver inattention while he takes his eyes off the road to look for something on the screen. Honestly, can't believe that this is even allowed in a vehicle for purely safety reasons.
The only electric car I know that looks and operates like a normal car is the Corsa E
But who wants one of them?
"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." - Scotty
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ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
"the mains are bypassed like a Christmas tree"
My first thought as well.
Synthehol. "Synthetic scotch, synthetic humans"
So essentially an engineer made a bonehead move and not a single person caught this through the dev process 🙄
Presumably. It's quite possible that the engineers pointed it out, but management decided that scenario was unlikely to occur. Either way, it's absolutely inexcusable.
@@michaelnoble2432 New models all have what he recommended, an external 12V jumper cable. It's behind a little door on the front bumper. I think you are correct, most people don't own 10 cars where they might leave it sit for a month unused. The owners manual does say to power the car down if you are going on eg a trip for extended period.
@@steveseeger even having a separate 12V battery is a little odd. As an electrical engineer, it makes more sense to me to just convert the main storage battery voltage down to 12V to run auxiliary loads.
Having an easy way to connect a charger to the 12V battery is just a band-aid fix, IMO.
@@michaelnoble2432 Or have it top off the little battery but you are right there is no reason why they couldn't drop the voltage down to run the other systems.
@@Meekerextreme I'm sure they drop the main battery voltage down to run 12V items when the car is actually running. Even if the step-down circuit is switched off when the car isn't running (to save power), they should switch it back on automatically when required to top-up the 12V battery.
3:37 *Tesla ticking*
James: "Why is it making that noise...?"
Tesla: 'You've partially dismantled me yourself, so now I'm counting down to the point that I'll suddenly and violently release all the energy stored in my main battery all at once.'
James: "Run away!"
They have fixed this on the model 3, inside the tow hook they've mounted 2 wires to access to either supply power (to open the car), or use to charge the battery in this case.
Just FYI, those leads only go to the latch solenoid, they do not go to the battery unfortunately. That's a big oversight IMO. There's still 2 panels you have to remove though, which is kind of annoying, but still easier than this model S.
Never saw a more perfect transition to "like, comment and subscribe."
..Done.
It is interesting that "Hall of the Mountain King" is now recognized by our society as the musical equivalent of the word "fiasco!"
Madness reigns, in the hall of the mountain king.
James May, you’re a living legend.
Also you can take the grille off with a credit card or trim tool and use the positive and negative jumper leads on the top of the metal bumper under the facia.
In the Hall of the Mountain King is the perfect background music for this...
I would have preferred the Benny Hill theme (Yakkity Sax)
Very irritating
If this was four years ago the music would have triggered irrational bouts of anxiety. [The Witness (video game)]
Absolute legend! He has the ability to make his voice heard as well! I have to say that is a weird design flaw though.
Not sure if it’s a design flaw. Tesla’s seem to want to be a bit exclusive with their servicing and IMO kind of make the assumption that whenever a car doesn’t work Tesla will be the ones to fix it. They thought far enough to put in emergency hood releases… which was why I think it’s just intentionally difficult.
@@andrer3764 nailed it. Have to rack up those service charges lol so dumb it's cheaper to just let people fix their own cars
@@andrer3764 I'm pretty sure that emergency hood release failsafe was never meant to be information given to customers to broadcast on the internet... probably just info for their service personnel for workshop knowledge sharing.
@@TheComputec i would agree with you and IMO that’s even worse. Batteries
run out; they go bad. I’m not a fan of relying on a Tesla service even something goes wrong that isn’t related to something that only Tesla’s has (e.g main battery, screens etc).
I have an idea for a show, maybe not a television show, but a RUclips series:
Have James May read complaints out loud. Doesn't matter the industry, just have him read complaints, the man does it to an art.
When he started explaining, I started humming In the Hall of the Mountain King. Then the editors added it in, and I was not disappointed.
Tbh I'm surprised the video didn't fade out after 15 seconds, followed by "Meanwhile..." 😂
it probably would have if clarkson had a say
That has to be one of the dumbest thing I've ever seen on a car... Hopefully, this will be fixed in the future... Insane engineering...
Fixed? Surely they do it on purpose so you get your car to their service, profit
for an insane future!
It's simply Tesla engineering! LOL
Citroen put the Picasso battery under the passenger seat and almost inaccessible - but they did at least put charging ports under the bonnet where they were easily accessible.
My brother had similar problems with his BMW and the battery in the boot - the electrically opened boot.
Yep now they have there Chines factory up & running
This is probably one of my favourite videos on youtube.
Nice to see the Alpine in the background, was one of the nicest cars featured on GT imo.
"I have to prop it up with a piece of card board box" 🤣🤣
And the cardboard box has more thought put into the design🤯
This video wins the internet for today (Sunday 16/5/21) and "Hall of the Mountain King" playing in the background while JM is being just logical is absolutely brilliant.
It's just a pleasure to listen to someone who knows how to pronounce Battery.
Is there another way to pronounce battery?
@@Aotearoa_Kiwi It's increasingly pronounced as in ' assault and battery'.
@@bobwarner8158 Heaven forbid!
The In the Hall of the Mountain King playing in the background was a perfect touch!
I love how James has a way of convaying information - in this video - how to open the hood on someone else's car.
I learned that I should never keep anything valuable in the frunk anyway. :D
@WarningBrothers Studios And as we all know, whenever a car alarm goes off people come running to assist.
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/EeYeOOQi2pg/видео.html
the background music and editing just make this even better lol
as a person that owns a car from the 90's, i have none of these problems :)
this guy is at his most entertaining,when he is irritated,he makes victor meldrew look like mary poppins,but now at 62,i totally get it.technology has enslaved us all.
You actually need a charge point on the OUTSIDE of the 'bonnet' so that you can charge it, then open the car!
The quick disconnect plug thing should be near the default charging port , that would be convenient and intuitive.
or they can install a trickle system to trickle power from the lithium pack to the lead acid battery. Then just have like an emergency button they activate it when needed. I'd imagine it'd be even easier when they replace those batteries with lithium batteries. Which Tesla already said they'll do with the current S and X cars.
@@khanikun2587 Agree, that's madness that it lets the control battery go flat while there's a chuffing great traction battery in the same vehicle!
@@khanikun2587 I don't understand why teslas ever shipped with lead acid conventional batteries to begin with?
@@definingslawek4731 low cost? And I would imagine that those are AGM, EFB or GEL batteries
I guess we now all know how to open the frunk and take whatever they’ve put inside. Well done Tesla
It'll take you a hour though.
This only works when the 12V is dead. It won't work when the 12V has power.
Sounds like too much work to be honest.
@@quagmire25
Isn't it a manual release?
What do you do when the switch doesn't work, wait until your battery goes dead?
Yeah I’m just talking about the emergency releases to get to the storage space. If that only works when the battery is flat then it’s fine, but I’m not sure.
The key fob for my 16 year old Honda Civic Type R still has the original battery from the factory and it still works and powers the central locking from 40m away.
Surely in Britain and Australia the “frunk” should be called the “froot”.
And pronounced “frut” right?
By the foot
Bonoot? Nah, that's canadian.
Fronnet?
Why call it trunk in the first place. A trunk is in front of an elephant. So it should just be a trunk and a brunk if it's in de back
This would be a mildly amusing JM video. But the brilliant editing and music really makes this fantastic. Nicely done.
This just made my day better!! Getting someone annoyed by some mechanic trouble makes your day a little happier lol
When the battery of my old Peugeot 307 (yes, the same car Top Gear made fun of) goes flat, I just unlock the car with my key, open the bonnet, connect the other battery that I have in my trunk and start the car. All of this takes 3 minutes tops.
Wait till it's fully charged and he finds out all settings are back to factory default. Then, indeed, "What's that noise?"
Surely Tesla know about flash memory?
If James May taught me at school, I will have paid attention so much better 😂
Only a James May video can open with "it's a bit boring, this" and everyone continues to watch anyway.
I think you woke the Gremlin up at the end! Run away James! Run like you're being chased by Jeremy for saying "Back to the Studio"!.