Tesla Motors

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AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

pioneer98 wrote:
The concern about the range of the car....Tesla is putting "supercharging" stations across the country where you could recharge your car quickly (in like 30 minutes) when you are on a road trip. It wouldn't be that different from stopping for gas. I don't know if other cars like the Chevy Bolt would be able to use these stations, or if Chevy has a similar plan for something like this. I was pretty unimpressed with the Bolt when I read it would take 9 hours to fully charge. If electric cars take 9 hours to recharge, it will be a problem.

I agree that Musk's business model is almost exactly like Apple's when Steve Jobs was there. The giant touchscreen mounted on the dashboard even made it seem like the kind of car that Apple would make. It's an iCar. Musk's presentation last night started out with a spiel about global warming. You are paying a premium to be a part of their vision for the future or whatever.

I do think in the long term that electric cars are the way of the future and they will get these concerns about charging, range, etc, worked out. If the Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf work just as well as a Tesla, but are cheaper and have a better dealer network, then I'd have no problem buying one of those cars someday. I'm also an Android user though.
But, who is going to build those charging stations? Tesla? Where are they getting that money? They're blowing through cash hand over fist right now and have liquidity concerns atm. Also, 30 minutes is a long time to stop if you're on, say, a 5 hour drive. Natural gas and to a lesser extent E85 cars have the same issues. Natural gas cars make sense, but there's no place to fill them up. In Little Rock, there are two locations within an hour to get it. Our company has a natural gas hybrid car that runs on petrol and natural gas. 99% of the time it's on petrol because no one takes the time to drive 20 minutes out of their way to fill it up with natural gas.

And...it fails to be similar to Jobs' business plan in apple in that they don't have a distinguishable product. The iphone was revolutionary in that it put instant and unlimited access to information at the user's fingertip. Tesla does the same thing, mostly, as what tons of other cars do just with electricity instead of gas. Touchscreens and all the gadgets are becoming increasingly popular in all vehicles as well with the rise of carplay/appleplay.

Tesla's unique in it's systems at this point in time, but it's not unique in it's function which will be its downfall, imho.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

pioneer98 wrote:
Like I said they are putting "supercharging" stations around the country. There are 8 already in Illinois. There's one in Aurora, Normal, Springfield, etc.

https://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list ... ted+States
....that's extremely unimpressive though, no? If you wanted to tour Illinois, you'd essentially have to play connect the dots to charging stations.

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go birds
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by go birds »

be nice if they could invent cold fusion already!!!!!!!!!

get on it scientists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Jocephus
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Re: Tesla Motors

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by cardinalkarp »

IMADreamer wrote:Here's another question. When this thing breaks down, which it will, who works on it? You don't have a dealer to go to. It's a 35k dollar car so it's not like they are flying a tech out to your house to fix it.
Who doesn't have a dealer to go to? There's one in STL.

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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by MrSaigon »

In a generation or two I think electric cars will be legit. My aunt doesn't love getting 50 miles a 'tank' when she runs the AC in her leaf.

The Tesla on the road now is a cool car (from my limited exposure) and has the range. What I also like about it is that it isn't just a frame for condescending/pretentious bumperstickers about green righteousness that you see on every Prius here in Portland. I've never seen a bumper sticker on a Tesla.

Also, I drive a Prius now. I am everything I hate.
Last edited by MrSaigon on April 1 16, 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

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IMADreamer
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by IMADreamer »

pioneer98 wrote:
IMADreamer wrote:Here's my take on Tesla which I'm sure you guys are all dying to hear. Tesla makes an ok car, but you are basically paying a luxury for the electric car part of it. Take this car for example, if you look at the stats it's a Ford Focus. So you have a 20k dollar car selling for 35k. That the P85 or whatever they call it . This is Mercedes E class, BMW 5 series, and Audi S5 territory in price, but it's not that level of car. Again you are paying for the electric motor while you get stiffed on things like interior quality and features. Not to mention the limited range.

This new Tesla 3 is supposed to do 200 miles. This means if I'm heading to Chicago I'll need to fill up with electricity somewhere around Joliet and no one wants to stop at Joliet for the day. Even trips to St. Louis are iffy because that's about 150 miles round trip. Maybe we do a little shopping hit up some different malls, or restaurants, then head down to the game. Do I really want to be at Bowling Green and going "jesus I hope I can make it the next 30 miles home." Again because if you run out, you are screwed. This isn't a 5 minute fill up, not that you can just fill up with electricity anywhere anyway.

The main problem of this all is that while it sounds good. Hey I'm not using gas, you are just using coal or natural gas to make that electricity.

I'm just not sold on it yet. Clearly 120k pre orders says some people are, but I'll stick with gas for now.
Like I said they are putting "supercharging" stations around the country. There are 8 already in Illinois. There's one in Aurora, Normal, Springfield, etc.

https://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list ... ted+States

That's fine, but like I said who wants to drive to Chicago and have to make a stop over on the way. Ok it's only 30 minutes, but that's 30 minutes as opposed to five to fill up a car. That's if the model 3 gets it's advertised range, which it won't. The P85 doesn't. If you drive faster than 65 it goes down faster, hills drains faster, etc.

I still think this is a toy. It's not a real solution to anything. Especially when the big manufactures already have hybrids that are far superior in every way.

Btw no engine doesn't mean this doesn't break down. Electrical components fail too. Ok so theirs a dealer in St. Louis, that doesn't help people outside of their. Tesla remains a toy for the wealthy until they actually get a deal network nation wide and they increase their range so that the car is more practical. At 35k this will be a lot of people's only car. It has to be able to do road trips.

The biggest problem still stands in that this isn't a good value at all. It's priced 15k more than the nearest competitor in it's class.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

cardinalkarp wrote:
Who doesn't have a dealer to go to?
People in New Orleans, Memphis, San Antonio, and a ton of other cities as well as virtually everyone that doesn't live in a major metropolitan area...
MrSaigon wrote:The Tesla on the road now is a cool car (from my limited exposure) and has the range.
Yeah, I bet you can go to and from work. But, as ima points out, if this is your only car, you won't have the ability to take road trips (or if you do, you'll have to possibly alter routes to make sure charging stations are available) especially in middle America.

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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by TimeForGuinness »

I don't mind waiting 30 minutes, especially when it's free to charge at a Supercharger station, I'll grab a bite to eat.

As for the electrical components that fail, that's true, but the potential for failures are far less than a traditional car. And the total cost of ownership is lower when you factor in the maintenance & labor costs. I believe the drive train and battery power plant is guaranteed for 8 years (no limit on the miles) on the Model S. I don't know the details of the Model 3 warranty.

Also switching from petroleum to coal/natural gas is still beneficial environmentally over the long run. The power plant generators are always running, so charging at night brings no extra cost to the infrastructure...but maybe slight costs to peak draws in larger cities...but that should be minimal I would think. As for the environmental cost of creating the battery power plant over a traditional engine, I haven't looked into it enough.

I'm seeing less and less reasons to not go towards an electric car for my next purchase...if they can stay in business.

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Re: Tesla Motors

Post by pioneer98 »

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:
pioneer98 wrote:
Like I said they are putting "supercharging" stations around the country. There are 8 already in Illinois. There's one in Aurora, Normal, Springfield, etc.

https://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list ... ted+States
....that's extremely unimpressive though, no? If you wanted to tour Illinois, you'd essentially have to play connect the dots to charging stations.
Well you can still plug the car into your wall. That's the beauty of electric. It will just be a slow charge. You plug it in overnight and it will be charged in the morning. The problem is only on road trips when you don't have 9 hours to charge.

I believe they are putting in all these charging stations themselves and I think it is a big chunk of their cash burn. They are also saying that for a higher fee you could get a service where they just swap out your dead battery with a fully charged one, which might actually approach being just as fast as filling up a gas tank. If these kind of charging stations become popular, they could make them available for Tesla drivers only and shut out Leaf or Bolt drivers. That's what Apple would do.

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