I previously blogged about the importance of the end-to-end user experience with products (e.g., the discover, learn, try, buy, etc. experience). I gave examples from Tesla and Apple. I’d now like to do a deep dive into the use experience, that is the experience of using a product, with a focus on comparing my Tesla to that of a traditional vehicle like the Ford Bronco that I rented this week.
I spent the week in Austin, Texas at our awesome design studio there with my fellow design and research senior executives and my own amazing staff.
I mostly drive a rental car when I travel. As I mentioned before here, I drive a Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor when I’m home in Toronto. I tried to rent a Tesla through my company’s online system but apparently you need to be an American employee to do that. Being Canadian, I was out of luck!
Hertz does permit it’s customers in the 5-Star category to choose from a selection of models and makes of cars. Lately, I’ve been choosing the most environmental cars but this time I decided to try a vehicle in the broad category that my eldest son is considering buying.
I got a Ford Bronco Sport. It looked pretty good but I wanted to compare its use experience with that of Tesla. You may say, but they’re not in the same category and you’d be right. However, I suspect that the use experience of any of this class of traditional internal combustion vehicles may well have been similar. In fact, I’ve validated that the rental cars I’ve driven for the past number of years. And my Tesla isn’t in the luxury category and in fact is the best selling electric vehicle in the world so it’s not that exclusive
Unlocking & Starting
In my Tesla, I’m used to walking up to my car and it automatically unlocking the doors and turning on sufficient lights to see what I’m doing to get in the car. I also don’t need to carry a key, in fact, there isn’t one. There’s only a credit car piece of plastic that I keep permanently in my wallet in case my iPhone is stolen because my phone is the key.
The Bronco required me to carry a bulky key and press a button on it to unlock the vehicle. The physical key needed to be in the car in order to press the start button to start the engine. It then require me to turn a knob on the console from park to drive. You don’t have to start the Tesla and you just need to indicate by moving a stalk on the steering column whether you want to go forward or backward.
Driving & Braking
The Bronco required me to press on the accelerator pedal to get the vehicle moving and then press the brake pedal to slow or stop it. I found it cumbersome and at times quite dangerous to constantly have to hover over the two pedals in the Bronco when a single pedal, the accelerator one, handles most of the acceleration and deceleration and stopping in the Tesla. There is a brake pedal in the Tesla but I very rarely use it, and then occasionally just to clean the brakes given they get so little use.
Windshield Wipers
When it started raining in Austin, I had to fumble around to find and then figure out the windshield wiper controls which was extremely frustrating and at times dangerous. The windshield wipers on the Tesla just come on automatically when required and at the requisite speed. I realize that many traditional vehicles now also have automatic windshield wipers.
Power
Of course, there was a massive difference in the two vehicles when comes to power and acceleration. I often felt unsafe not having sufficient speed in the Bronco and it was a comparatively horrible driving experience.
Self-Driving
It probably goes without saying but let me mention it nonetheless that I often don’t actually have to drive the Tesla. It drives itself and does a pretty good job of it, especially on the highway.
Locking & Walking Away
When I get to my destination with the Tesla, I just stop the car and get out and walk away. The Bronco by comparison required me to stop the vehicle, turn off the engine, get out remembering to take the key and then pressing a button to lock the vehicle. I kept forgetting to take the key and when I did, I’d forget to turn off the vehicle.
Final Thoughts
I know that many of you reading this will say, but the Bronco is the way that vehicles work. You’d be right but the point I’m making is that we can do better! And Tesla has. It has created an absolutely stellar driving use experience.
As I mentioned in my previous post, your mileage may vary and you may have a different experience from mine but for me, everything pales in comparison to my Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor.