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Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

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Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speed (acceleration). Current Model S 0-6 times are from 5.2s to 2.8s, depending on trim. The Model 3 is “under six seconds” and maybe “substantially faster”: it could overlap the slower current Model S trims. Range. Current Model S ranges are from 240m to 270m, depending on trim. Model 3: 215m. Cargo volume. The Model S has 31.6 ft^3. The Model 3 looks much smaller. Free lifetime use of superchargers? I haven't seen…

He stated in the talk that supercharger was included with all Model 3's.

Supercharging hardware is included. Did not confirm it will be free. On the Model S there is a charge for supercharging hardware.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $1000 is 100% refundable. A person that can afford a Tesla can afford to put down $1000 with no risk. Heck, even a normal middle class person could probably foot $1000 at no risk. Reservations are not sales. They are just something to tout to shareholders. If they wanted real numbers they'd make it non-refundable and up the down payment. The stock trades at an absolutely insane valuation (it's actually valued not…

> Reservations are not sales Straw man. No one has said that. What they've said is Tesla just got a couple hundred million in free financing.

Most of this thread is people telling me that people put in $1000 so they are going to buy the car, which is ridiculous. That's not a straw man, that's people equating a refundable reservation with an order.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#223

One of the things I find fascinating, and that Tesla has to grapple with at some point with real ramifications, is: are they a self driving car company that just happens to be an electric car company? Or the other way around? I would argue that electric car companies are appealing to a much smaller subset of potential customers than are self driving cars. But the mission behind each is very different and that flows i…

Why do you need to define a car company in a single adjective like "[self driving] car company" or "[electric] car company"? Both are clearly the future. So what's wrong with doing both? You say "pivot" as though these are incompatible goals, when in fact they're perfectly complementary paths to a future ideal of ground transportation. To me, your point is like asking "Is Google a search company, or an advertising co…

That level of thinking is what you get from a company like GM. When asked about building charging infrastructure they said "we're a car company, not an infrastructure company".

Tesla also quietly changed it's name from Tesla Motors to Tesla Energy.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#224
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, auto-braking isn't useful until you need it, and by that point you're about a half second away from smashing into another car so you don't have much time to think about it. That feature alone could reduce total crashes by 10% [1] [1] http://www.autonews.com/article/20160128/OEM06/160129871/aut...

>That feature alone could reduce total crashes by 10% [1] Well, ofcourse. I am talking about ppl become less safety conscious because these features give them (false) sense of security. eg: Anti-Tsunami walls killed more people than they saved during great japanese tsunami because they gave people false sense of security and ppl didn't take evacuation warnings seriously assuming walls would take care of it. And ofcou…

This is not a new argument for car safety features. The same things were said about seat belts, 3-point harnesses, and air bags. In each case, they were wrong. Accident survival rates went up significantly, while overall accident rates did not.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#225
post #95

I wonder, when Tesla unveils something that doesn't fit within the parameters that those people think of as a 'car', how many will drop their reservation? Since we don't know the details yet, we don't know how much of a departure it will be.

I doubt that the demographic that pre-orders a Tesla Model 3 (years before shipping), is a demographic that is unwilling to embrace change. I also doubt that it will have no manual control mode, so it shouldn't an issue regardless. Tesla is clearly going the route of being a strict super-set of the capabilities of other cars, until the market decides what features are obsolete many years down the road (e.g. steering…

"I also doubt that it will have no manual control mode, so it shouldn't an issue regardless."

Could they even legally sell a vehicle with no human control right now?

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#226
Just flying over the comments I find it interesting that a lot of people try their best to find negative aspects of self-driving cars. I always try to be open to all parties, but a lot of people are wayyy too confident in human abilities. We are pretty bad, seriously.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#228

"The rear-wheel drive cars will be able to go zero to 60 in less than 4 seconds." Wasn't it like 6 seconds before? Or is this the top level rear-wheel drive version?

He said 6 seconds at the presentation. I think 4 is a typo.

The 4 seconds comes from speculation from an article before the reveal. Maybe that's the target for the performance variant?

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#229
post #118
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could it be? The regulations don't allow it. I don't see it happening sooner than 10 years. If so, what is their plan?

NHTSA is scrambling to make it possible, this is the biggest safety innovation in cars since the seat belt. And as long as they have the hardware capabilities, Tesla wouldn't have to launch it with full autonomous mode available.

Just imagine how safe we will be if we reach Level 5 autonomy, no driver control possible? I think the Model 3 is going to be the first production car to reach Level 4. I'm hoping that's what the "part 2" update is.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#230
post #22

> The Model 3 will come with standard rear-wheel drive, with an option for dual-motor all-wheel drive. It better be fully autonomous if you've ever seen how rear-wheel drive performs in a north-eastern snowstorm. Sure, there's a lot of weight over the back wheels but that sounds crazy to me as the default.

High torque FWD vehicles aren't exactly that great in the snow either. I think you would want RWD in an electric.
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