Why I think Tesla is building throwaway cars

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 4:17 AM UTC

pbreit wrote: post #321

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between the touch screen control screaming "Look! Cool! Future! Oh yeah we had to sacrifice tactile feedback and usability when driving while ignoring fifty years of safety research but Cool!", trying to be a fast car but only really good for 0-60 in a straight line (and literally incapable of doing five laps at Laguna Seca without overheating and going into limp home mode), no OBD-2 port as another poster pointed ou…

I'm guessing you've never driven a Model S? If you like the way a high-end electric car drives, there's little comparison between a Model S and the BMW/Benz. And Tesla has completely changed the paradigm of car design and manufacturing. The fact that it can add self-driving to its cars with an over-the-air software update is amazing. People might buy for the zero emissions but they stay for the ride.

Post by ams6110 » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 4:34 AM UTC

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #290

brianclements wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the handful of people I know that have bought Tesla's, they are very much not of the hacking mindset. I'm not saying this is forever true, but I think the type of person that can actually afford one usually has the "premium" and "executive" mindsets (if I can makeup some terms). That is, they'd rather pay extra for 98% of everything they want and not have the worry of needing to get their hands dirty (the premium…

Silicon Valley is full of them. While I haven't met one of the owner, I'd be surprised if there weren't some who still had the hacker mindset.

Post by saulrh » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 4:38 AM UTC

TD-Linux wrote: post #232

vvanders wrote: post #122

I don't think things are as dire as he makes it out: 1. Small amount of cars on the road so there's limited incentive for aftermarket parts. 2. People already do brakes/tires/suspension/etc. It's a car after all. 3. I wouldn't want to get near the powertrain. 425kw(~400V @ 1,000 Amps) will kill you if you touch something that you shouldn't. I think it'll be a bigger issue once we see the Model 3 on the road.

Your computer power supply has a ~400 volt rail in it. Are you unwilling to ever open a desktop computer? The Tesla battery has contactors inside of it, so you'll only have 400V live when the car is on. Additionally, assuming the HV is floating relative to the chassis, you need to touch two spots at different potentials to actually get shocked. That said, it looks like this is an attempt to prevent service of a lot o…

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 4:52 AM UTC

MagnumOpus wrote: post #38

Retric wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@20.8 mpg city when new that's 10,000 gallons of fuel for 200k miles or ~30,000$ while gas is cheap. A Tesla model 3 (To Be Unveiled March 31st) is 35,000$, costs far less (~1/10th) for fuel, and is not 22 years old. That's why people care about electric cars.

10k gallons costs you $18,000 or less right now "while gas is cheap" - for a TCO of $20,000 in 20 years (plus cheap-ish repairs) - and you are driving a Merc. The model 3 (once you can actually get hold of it) will cost you $35,000 up front, plus about $7,000 in electricity for 200k miles at prices of 13-15c/kWh, plus about two battery replacements - battery lifetime is 8 years or 125k miles - at $10,000ish a pop - f…

Post by B1FF_PSUVM » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:06 AM UTC

PhilWright wrote: post #282

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, another youngster who didn't hear the one about the IBM mainframe upgrades done by moving a jumper. P.S. it's kind of funny that people who make a living from the sale of goods with zero marginal production cost (i.e. additional copies of a program) get weirded out by "pay-by-value" from hardware manufacturers ...

There is a diesel generator company that makes semi-truck sized mobile generators for backup purposes/remote locations. The difference between the cheap vs expensive variants is around $250,000. They only difference is the cheap one has software to limit the output. Now if you could hack that you could save yourself quarter of a mil.