News of the Day III

[RSchmitz]

The Model 3 was supposed to be a $30K car originally, and mine was over $40K.

I'd guess a $25K Tesla is going to have to be a very short-range EV a la a Nissan Leaf.

In 2016 he said it would cost 30,000 English Pounds, he also said it would cost less than 30,000 after tax credit. Both statements were true, and it costs 35k right now.

No idea what the 25k car will feature, but the battery is the most expensive part and they have been making incredible advancements on longevity and price per kw, I think you will be surprised

[RSchmitz]

What will they do when the batteries start venting with flame? What percentage will be charged by burning coal?

having said that a very good idea for locally driven cars in urban areas that get energy from low carbon power plants/advance nuclear

Idk, but Tesla vehicles are the safest vehicles by a and it’s not even close. I would imagine that the same percent of recharge energy will come from burning coal as anything in your house, which means a smaller carbon footprint and more efficient use of fuel than using and ICE

[nutznboltz]

So when will we start discussing how Republican legislatures and governors across the country are trying to disenfranchise millions of voters? Seems like a pretty relevant topic after we just heard about Stop the Steal for months and months So patriotic of them. Can't win at the ballot box, so start eliminating voters from being able to vote.

[pete]

In 2016 he said it would cost 30,000 English Pounds, he also said it would cost less than 30,000 after tax credit. Both statements were true, and it costs 35k right now.

No idea what the 25k car will feature, but the battery is the most expensive part and they have been making incredible advancements on longevity and price per kw, I think you will be surprised

I got mine less than two years ago and it was not the dual motor version. I did upgrade the rims, paint, and interior. Total price was around $42K.

[RSchmitz]

I got mine less than two years ago and it was not the dual motor version. I did upgrade the rims, paint, and interior. Total price was around $42K.

What battery did you get? The longer range 310 mile batteries cost 9k more, that might be why it was more expensive. More important question, how do you like the car?

[pete]

I had the lower range battery, not the dual motor one with the longer range. In general, I really like the car and range is my only big concern about it. Right now the rated range at the 90% charged they recommend you keep it at is a touch under 210 miles. So, anything longer than 2 hours from home and you're sweating the return trip. You can stretch your range by not driving as fast and regulating your acceleration, but what's the point of having an electric car that goes 0-60 in a blink if you can't gun that mofo going down the freeway?

Beyond the range issue I have few real problems with it. It could use a heated steering wheel if you live in a colder climate, I guess.

If you get one, a pro-tip I'll give you is to make sure they put a surge protector on the dedicated circuit for your home charger. The Tesla-certified electrician who installed mine didn't recommend one on mine and my car's computer got fried by a power surge (replaced for free within 2 days) and I suspect one of my battery cells was damaged by the same surge and that's hurt my rated range. At some point I need to have them look at it.

[RSchmitz]

Thanks for the tip, my friend just got a used one and I wonder if he’s aware of the problem and will let him know. I’m waiting for the battery issues to go from a weakness to a strength before taking the plunge. I’ve never bought a new car since I simply can’t afford to do so, but it’s almost cost effective for me buy one if it’s 17.5k since they live so much longer

[Flycoon]

Tesla is coming out with a 25,000 sedan soon and Biden is giving a 7,500 tax credit if you buy and EV

I guess I figured out what my next vehicle will be.

200 mile range. Won’t work ffor me unless they put a charging station in the parking lot of my office

Dautghtes in-laws drove from Brevard NC in their Tesla; took three and one half hours longer with charging than their 25 yo Mercedes.

From a financial stand point, please buy a Tesla. I have a goodly number of shares.

[RSchmitz]

200 mile range. Won’t work ffor me unless they put a charging station in the parking lot of my office

Dautghtes in-laws drove from Brevard NC in their Tesla; took three and one half hours longer with charging than their 25 yo Mercedes.

From a financial stand point, please buy a Tesla. I have a goodly number of shares.

You're a Tesla bull but think it's limited to a 200 mile range? That doesn't make any sense, the underlying reason as to why that Tesla stock is a good investment is because of expectations for their battery technology. I bet the compact car once it's released will have a base range of 500 miles. Their full sized model s had a 400 mile range and it's old tech.

[Bolthed]

I mean, the only people with access to it now are a limited # of beta testers, and it's still cheaper and faster than any other satellite internet service provider. If your expectation is that they compete with ground based services, you may be waiting a while, Starlink is 1/7th of the way complete and they aren't expected to go public until at least next year.

I must’ve misunderstood when I signed up to be a beta tester then. I don’t recall if it was Starlink’s literature or if I read somewhere else that they would charge something like $17/month. I guess that’s down the road when the satellite arrays are all in place. Right now they’re charging over $100/month, which is about double the competition.

[Flycoon]

You're a Tesla bull but think it's limited to a 200 mile range? That doesn't make any sense, the underlying reason as to why that Tesla stock is a good investment is because of expectations for their battery technology. I bet the compact car once it's released will have a base range of 500 miles. Their full sized model s had a 400 mile range and it's old tech.

The 200 mile range was in a press release from Tesla.

[RSchmitz]

I must’ve misunderstood when I signed up to be a beta tester then. I don’t recall if it was Starlink’s literature or if I read somewhere else that they would charge something like $17/month. I guess that’s down the road when the satellite arrays are all in place. Right now they’re charging over $100/month, which is about double the competition.

Would love it if you could find that link. Which competitor is offering $50 a month? I also feel that if this is the final price point they fell way short of what they promised

[RSchmitz]

The 200 mile range was in a press release from Tesla.

I can’t find that press release, and I am a part of the Tesla cult with what I follow and know about them. Do you remember about how long ago Tesla sent it out? The only information that I have read about the range is that Musk said in September that anything less than 300 was too low, estimates I have seen are usually north of 400.

I know that they are building another car that isn’t available to the public which is part of their taxi service and won’t have great range.

[pete]

Some important things to keep in mind about Tesla and range:

1.) Rated range is, pardon my French, bullshit. The rated range assumes you're driving in ideal conditions and driving the car ideally. If it's cold, your battery will be cold and you won't get the range or the regenerative breaking you would get under ideal conditions. If you drive on the highway and are doing 70+ like everyone else, you won't get the rated range. According to my Stats app, the average across all Tesla vehicles is efficiency of about 83-84% of the rated range. My efficiency for my Model 3 is 86%. Model S's traditionally get a little better efficiency. Model Y's also show stats similar to the Model S's, but I believe that's just because all the Model Y's are relatively new. They should be very similar to Model 3's because they're built on the same batteries, frame, and firmware.

2.) Tesla encourages you to only charge your battery to 90% capacity for everyday use as a may of maintaining better battery life. So, my car had an initial rated range of 250 miles, but in reality the day to day range you were encouraged to charge it to was 225 miles.

3.) Just like your cell phone, your battery holds less of a charge over time. I've had my car now about 16 months. I've lost about a mile a month in day to day range thus far, although again, I may have a bad battery cell from when mine got zapped by a power surge.

IMO, ideally, we need to get to a point where batteries have not less than a rated range of around 450 miles, which would get you about the range that I used to get out of my Insight Hybrid and would require only stopping once a day at a Supercharger on a long trip. Right now, the only Tesla product that gets that range is the Model S Plaid+ that is coming out later this year. I know the new Roadster is also supposed to get about 600 miles in rated range. Problem is, the Plaid+ is a $150K car and the Roadster is supposed to be a $250K car.

So, it's still to be shown by Tesla that they can get to what I think is the sweet spot range affordably. As it is, the car I have is great for day to day city driving, but beyond that it gets dicey.

[RSchmitz]

So, it's still to be shown by Tesla that they can get to what I think is the sweet spot range affordably. As it is, the car I have is great for day to day city driving, but beyond that it gets dicey.

Agreed, Tesla cars aren't perfect. Yet