$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now • Hacker News Board

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#541

Post by MertsA » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 7:50 AM UTC

awad wrote: post #479

chrisseaton wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put the car on a truck and then drive the truck? Might as well just drive the car?

The beautiful thing about trucks is...you can put _multiple_ cars on the truck.

Eh... Delivering multiple cars over a short distance by loading them up on a flatbed or car hauler just doesn't make any sense. Tow trucks will always be more expensive than calling a taxi. Especially given that this is basically a textbook example of the travelling salesman problem. And I don't mean computing a route is hard, I just mean that in practice while there's overlap between destinations for a sparse set of e.g. 10 destinations spread evenly over some area around a hub it's not like being able to go between destinations directly makes it 10x shorter. Trucks are expensive to maintain and operate, much more so than a regular passenger car. Trucks also can't deliver as easily or to as many places as a person driving it. If someone lives down a dead end road that's extremely inconvenient for the truck whereas it's a non-issue for someone driving.

Car haulers don't make sense for sparse local deliveries.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#542

Post by regularfry » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 7:59 AM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #464

saberience wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More favorably compared by who? I’ve sat in model 3,s, and x, and when compared with similar priced BMW or Mercs, there is a massive difference in interior luxury and comfort. Seriously, go and experience being inside a 100k 7 series bmw to a 100k model s. It’s like night and day in comparison. The Tesla’s always feel cheap in comparison. The handling, road noise, luxury features, seat comfort, etc are all inferior i…

I’ve had the opposite experience. A friend took me for a drive in their model 3 recently. At one point we hit around 130mph, and it was the smoothest and quietest ride I’ve ever had at the speed. That being said the BMW 7s I’ve been in were all from the early 2000s, but I never found any other car to be as quiet as a Tesla.

That was a rough time to be in a 7 series. Bunch of new tech with horrible teething trouble.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#543

Post by josefx » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:00 AM UTC

cmmartin wrote: post #295

irq wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won’t be able to test drive _the specific car you are buying_ before committing to purchasing it. You’d only be able to test drive another instance of that model, but not the specific one you’d be committing to for X years. This deprives you of the ability to, e.g., avoid purchasing a particular instance of a vehicle that has some annoying defect or flaw.

Defects and flaws will be repaired for free though

Do you also get a replacement car for the time you can't use the one you bought?

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#544

Post by jakobegger » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:02 AM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #505

donarb wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Middlemen help you buy a car from competing dealers. Buying only from Tesla means you can’t negotiate for a better price.

Dealers are stupid and make no sense. I may be a weird consumer but whenever I buy something expensive I always think about the unrelated things my money is paying for. So for example when I visit a car dealership I notice the big land footprint, the shiny offices, and well dressed salespeople—and I think to myself how much of my car purchase is going towards the upkeep of this crap, none of which I like or want. If…

My experience with test drives is that you immediately know if you like the car or not. Reviews have never really made sense to me, most reviewers seem to talk about stuff I just don't care about.

The only problem is that dealers usually only have cars with the most popular engines available, so you often can't actually try the car you want to buy...

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#545

Post by jillesvangurp » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:15 AM UTC

Good, It looks like economies of scale are starting to work in favor of Tesla; which I find to be unsurprising. Having this car out will shut up a lot of critics as this has been their favorite thing to whine about for the last years. Also it will make them even less likely to suffer an imminent bankruptcy. Another topic that seems to come up regularly, usually just before Tesla manages to move the bar yet again in some meaningful way. Finally, with this box ticked, it frees them up to start planning the model Y, their truck and whatever else they have been talking about for a while.

I would not be surprised to see them announce more price drops in the next years. They are not done making batteries better and cheaper and they seem to be very creative in figuring out ways to reduce cost in their production processes. I think it is that ability that is going to be key to their future because yes they have competition but the competition seems to have all the problems that Tesla already solved. They are ahead of the pack in terms of production capacity, processes, and battery efficiency with a product that so far seems to be selling such that they can do without the traditional overhead of having to have an industry of middlemen, sales, marketing, licensed dealers, etc. That's very disruptive to an industry trying to emulate what Tesla is doing while preserving all of that.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#546

Post by ballooney » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:16 AM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #480

elamje wrote: post #450

This thread is like politics - ignoring the amazing fact that an electric vehicle that can travel 220 miles is 35k (where many hybrids and other electric cars are way over that price point), to discuss the nuances of Tesla’s business model and how they market delivery fees etc. Comical. People 10 years ago would say WTF if they knew a high tech, all electric car with self driving ability was even remotely near 40k(in…

Yes, people seem to be bringing in problems beyond Tesla's control. Exaggerated E.g. Tesla: You can only order online HN: What if my internet is down? This is clearly a bad idea.

Don't do exaggerated e.g.'s, because the other name for them is 'lies'. I checked, there is not a single post in this comment section referencing the stability of an internet connection being a purchasing deterrent.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#547

Post by Judgmentality » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:17 AM UTC

dpkonofa wrote: post #488

Judgmentality wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you miss the part where they said they're closing their stores?

Where did they say they're closing all their stores? All they said was that they were moving sales to online only. They'll still have service centers and other physical locations unless there's a source somewhere that says they're closing all physical locations...

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/28/18245296/tesla-stores-clo...

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#548

Post by pembrook » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:20 AM UTC

elamje wrote: post #450

This thread is like politics - ignoring the amazing fact that an electric vehicle that can travel 220 miles is 35k (where many hybrids and other electric cars are way over that price point), to discuss the nuances of Tesla’s business model and how they market delivery fees etc. Comical. People 10 years ago would say WTF if they knew a high tech, all electric car with self driving ability was even remotely near 40k(in…

I don't know if you've heard, but the Chevrolet Bolt has been out for years now, and is also all-electric. MSRP has been about $30k after the federal tax credit.

I'd say its more likely we aren't in awe because the Model 3 has been overpromised and the "mass-market EV" feat has already been accomplished by someone else.

Of course, most people are like you in that they don't know that. Because GM is hilariously bad at marketing (and has no cult-of-personality founder promising grand visions).

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#549

Post by Tempest1981 » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:23 AM UTC

sethammons wrote: post #147

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #37

"To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is shifting sales worldwide to online only. You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide. We are also making it much easier to try out and return a Tesla, so that a test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for…

I would never buy something without a test drive. No level of return policy will be good enough.

Ask a friend or neighbor who owns one -- Tesla owners always seem excited to share. Viral marketing... viral test drives?

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#550

Post by tranchms » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 8:23 AM UTC

cjbprime wrote: post #23

tranchms wrote: post #21

It currently costs about $2.50 to manufacture a battery cell. There are 7,700 cells in a standard battery pack. That’s $19,250 in cells before battery pack assembly. I don’t know how they are making money on this. I’m inclined to believe they’re losing money, or someone is somewhere in the line. Maybe they expect those battery costs to decline rapidly in the near future? What do you think?

$2.50 at what volume? Are you saying that's Tesla's cost, or someone else's?

I think they’re doing about 3.5 million cells a day. The final production target is 10 million, from what I remember.