Welcome to “This is TOSV,” a series of interviews with our members. In this first interview, TOSV talks to Leo Nguyen, the proud owner of an early rear-wheel-drive Model 3. Leo isn’t just a Tesla owner—he happens to be one of the engineers who worked on Tesla’s battery cell technology, specifically the battery for the Model 3.
By Birgitte Rasine
Name: Leo Nguyen
Home City: San Jose, CA
Tesla Model: 2017 Model 3 LR RWD (white)
Name: MY TM3
TOSV: Hi Leo! We’re excited to talk to you. Tell us about your baby.
Leo: My car is a Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive, which has only one motor in the back. They don’t make those anymore. I got one of the first thousand cars made, and it’s special to me because it has my sweat and tears in it.
TOSV: As long as there’s no blood, that’s great! Have you named your Tesla?
Leo: It’s “MY TM3,” which stands for My Tesla Model Three. When I got the car, it was my first electric vehicle, and the first Tesla, and I didn't know what to call it. People said, you should just call it Tesla Model Three, and I said okay. I made it “My TM3” and I put it on my license plate as well.
TOSV: Did you do any customizations?
Leo: I did. I have carbon fiber for the cupholders. I have some modified carbon fiber on the mirror covers. I did paint protection film on the front, clear bra protection; I have an aftermarket spoiler; and I have some lights on, you know, the [puddle] light on the door, when you open it the Tesla logo lights up. And I have a SpaceX logo on the back of the Tesla.
TOSV: And are you planning on doing anything more?
Leo: No, I think I'm over that stage after four years of driving it, I think! (laughs) I'm planning to buy the Model Y, because maybe we’re expecting a bigger family next year. I’m [keeping the] Model 3 because as I said it has my sweat and tears in it. We did a lot of work on the battery, so I will try to drive it until it breaks down. I want to see how long this battery pack lasts. So far it’s lasted pretty well. We'll see if I can drive it to 200 or 300,000 miles. Maybe I'll pass it on to my kids and say this is the car that I worked on!
TOSV: What’s your driving style like?
Leo: Driving style...Oh, I think I drive a bit aggressively. A lot of times I accelerate fast because it's definitely a fast car. I still use the autopilot on the freeway, but only for work. I commute from San Jose to Palo Alto, which is the [former] headquarters of Tesla. I use autopilot regularly in the carpool lane. I don't think I'd use Full Self Driving enough to upgrade.
TOSV: How’s it been driving the M3?
Leo: Pretty good! I'm surprised about the [low] degradation because I currently have 111,000 miles, after four years. I picked it up in November 2017, and now it's November 2021.
TOSV: Wow, 111,000 miles in four years!
Leo: Well, I Turo’d the car too. So I got really meaningful range out of the battery. When I first picked it up, the range was 316 miles. And now when it's fully charged it’s got 295, almost 300. So that's only like a 5% loss. I'm pretty happy with it.
I’m also amazed at the brakes on the Model 3. I recently rotated the tires in my friend’s body shop and he said my brakes have 80% left. With the regen, you know, you don’t need to brake anymore. The momentum of the car slows it down and recharges the battery. I don’t think I’m gonna replace the brakes until the car dies.
TOSV: What’s your favorite way to pass the time when you’re charging your car? Do you play any games for example?
Leo: I rarely play games on the Tesla. When I charge I usually walk out, like to a restaurant. At Kettleman [Supercharger station] I would walk to the lounge, get some coffee. Or if I supercharge at the mall, I just walk around. But now they’ve come out with the V3 supercharger, 250kW. It's so fast, you don't have any time to do anything else. So if you charge on a V3, you’re done in like 10-15 minutes.
TOSV: That’s crazy fast. What about at home, or routine charging, what’s your practice?
Leo: I just do a normal charge, like up to 90%, at a Level 2 charge. And I charge once in a while and I don't go on that many long trips now, maybe 2-3 per year. But just one thing, don't supercharge a lot because it'll degrade the battery pack. I mean once in a while, once a week, you know, it's fine but don’t do it every day.
TOSV: Good advice. Speaking of charging… I understand you were a battery engineer for Tesla. Tell us about that.
Leo: I started at Tesla right at the beginning of the Model 3. We had to decide which battery cell should go into the Model 3. And if you remember, back then it was a dark time for Tesla, it almost went bankrupt. We had a bottleneck at the new Giga factory with the new [battery] cell, the 2170. We had only a couple hundred million dollars left. But then we survived and we figured out the bottleneck and then we wrapped up the Model 3.
TOSV: Inspiring to hear this. When would you say was the moment when you guys realized, “Hey, we're going to make it”?
Leo: We had two big layoffs when they laid off like a thousand people, but luckily our team was cell engineering, and [we were] responsible for the battery so it was kind of important. So we only got a few people laid off.
I was not on the production team, but from what I heard it was the way they had put the battery pack together that caused the module to fail early on—the failure rate was very high. They investigated and changed the way they packaged the battery to keep the failure rate lower, only 5% instead of the 30-40% initially.
So when we lowered the failure rate and increased the efficiency [of the battery], that's the moment we said, “Okay, we should be successful.” But then there was that bottleneck with production at the factory, so we moved from one problem to a different problem. And then we had other problems. So we just kept solving one problem after the other. At that time, Elon decided to build a tent outside as you remember, in order for us to speed up the process. And we did, but we got to the point that we produced so many cars we didn't have space to store them.
At that time, we had many empty parking lots across the Bay Area. I know that because I helped out with the delivery. Every quarter, we got called in, all hands on deck, to help with delivery. So we had too many cars and we didn't have enough people to move the cars between the lots. So what we did to solve that problem was, we used cargo vans to take us to the parking lots and we’d write the delivery dates on the windows of the cars. And then we’d drive that car [that was due] to the delivery center the day before or maybe like half a day before, so they could do the detail and clean it up.
So we solved the problem of delivering the cars to the delivery center, but now we didn’t have enough people to greet the customer. You know, you have to check the car and do a visual inspection. And if there's something wrong with the car, we’d have to bring it into the back and clean it up. Now we do home deliveries because many delivery centers cannot handle that many customers. I had to drive a car to the customer's house many times. The farthest I would go from Fremont was all the way to Vallejo—and then took an Uber back.
TOSV: So what does it mean to you personally to own a Tesla, having been a part of the team that made the Model 3 happen?
Leo: When I first picked up the car I thought it’s pretty cool. I got to own the newest technology. I think Tesla is like a computer on wheels. I still remember when I first picked up the car I drove right away from San Jose to Orange County on the I-5 and people would take out a camera and record my car. Many cars would pass by and people were like, Hey man! oh, that’s the Tesla Model 3? And I still remember when I stopped at the Kettleman station, many Tesla owners would come up to me and say “Hey, that's a new Tesla Model 3, right? How do you like it?” Because most of them didn't get the model yet.
You would not believe in 2017 how curious people were about the Model 3. When the Model 3 was [in production], I saw people standing with their cameras across the street from the headquarters the whole day just to see if any Tesla Model 3 would come out. And now, after four years, I see Teslas everywhere, on every corner in the Bay Area.
TOSV: How would you describe to someone what it's like to drive a Tesla compared to either gas-powered cars or even other EVs?
Leo: So I also Turo my Tesla car. I’ve met 89 renters. A lot of them were first-time [Model 3 drivers]. They loved it! They said that it’s beautiful, it’s more aggressive, it’s more responsive than the Model X. And some people, first-time driving a Tesla, were amazed how it accelerates... It’s different from a regular gas car with the regen braking. A lot of them became [new] owners after they returned the car. I also met the president of the UK Tesla Owners club because he rented my car. I met a lot of Tesla enthusiasts around the world—they come from Germany, China, Canada. They all love Tesla.
TOSV: Would you say Tesla is a changemaker?
Leo: Yeah. I think Tesla changed the whole ecosystem for sure. Back in 2017, nobody imagined the Model 3 would be the best-selling sedan in the world. Just like the Ford Model T was a revolution. And now so many automakers are trying to catch up with Tesla. I think Tesla changed everything. No one expected it to happen so quickly, just four years. Now Ford, Toyota, Honda, you know, even Audi, Mercedes, every other carmaker now wants to become Tesla. I think, on the whole, Tesla changed people’s perspective about electric cars. Before, people would think electric cars are slow, ugly, don’t have the performance. But after they test drive a Model 3, Model Y, or other Tesla cars, they’re amazed at the technology, the performance. The whole Tesla direct-to-buyer [experience] would change the whole dealership ecosystem to where now people love the convenience of buying online, with no pressure.
TOSV: Has Tesla changed your life, personally?
Leo: It helped to get the house (laughs). I feel like I contributed to the mission to help the world accelerate faster to sustainable energy. I love to see a lot of Teslas on the road now. The more electric cars Tesla sells, the better for the environment.
TOSV: What about EVs in general? What do you think their role is in shaping the future of transportation and energy?
Leo: I think they’re all important and they’re all playing a role in helping the whole world. There will be real competition for Tesla on many levels. Lucid just came out, I love their look. And Rivian is coming out soon. I love the look of the SUV and pickup truck. And the Ford pickup truck’s gonna come out soon. A lot of players need to get into the mainstream and build their name. You know, China’s coming out. And also with Europe’s ban on [new] gasoline cars in 2035 and California’s ban on [new] gasoline cars [starting in] 2035, this will help EVs accelerate to mass adoption. Also with the gas price going up so high, four or five dollars per gallon. My wife drives a hybrid, so sometimes I help her pump gas, and it’s like, wow. It used to be like $20 for a full tank and now it’s $40. So I cannot wait to replace the car with a Model Y.
TOSV: Why did you decide to join the club?
Leo: I’ve been a member for a while. I did the drive from San Jose to Santa Cruz 2-3 years ago. I feel that I can share my knowledge and I can learn from other people about their cars. I love how people share tips and problems with the car. It’s a place for people to help each other, to share their stories and how to get [familiar] with their Tesla. I love how Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley was created to connect all Tesla owners together and share experiences and tips. I wish the club will be more successful and get bigger.
TOSV: Had you ever been part of a club like this?
Leo: No, never! I think Tesla has really unique and awesome fans. They’re powerful. I believe Tesla owners are proud because they do something better for the environment. And then the power of the Tesla owners, I have never seen that before. TOSV actually came out to the delivery centers to help with the delivery push. That was, you know, really amazing. They brought pizza, they had food delivered to the centers. Even though they are not allowed to deliver a car [officially], they share tips with new owners and teach them about the car. We really appreciate that, because sometimes we don't have time. Sometimes we only have 15 minutes with the customer: five minutes to sign the paperwork, five minutes to walk around the car, and five minutes to [finalize] delivery, and that’s it. 15 minutes. It’s a really high-tech car and a lot of times the new owner doesn’t know anything about the car. So the TOSV club would hang around and teach them about the car. Tesla really appreciates that.
TOSV: Leo, thank you. We appreciate all the time you’ve spent with us today.
This interview has been edited for clarity.