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Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

tesla.com

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Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#501

Post by dragonwriter »

Duladian wrote: post #500
Shivetya wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few observations, before I derail I do not want to dismiss the efforts of Audi or Jaguar but I think their initial focus was being good examples for their respective brands with regards to their packaging. Their interior quality of a different generation and caliber than Tesla. The EV part was an important concern but secondary. They can still rack up significant ZEV credits in California letting them off the hook…

Slight derailing again. 1997-1999 GM EV1 Gen 1 & 2 (leased for 1 year at a time with 3 different cars), 2001 Ford Ranger EV, 2003 Toyota Rav4 EV, 2010 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Chevy Volt, and 2017 Chevy Bolt. These vehicles were owned in the household I was living in at some point. With this being said, I've ridden in a Model 3. It is by far one of the noisiest electric vehicles I've seen. For anyone curious, the GM EV1 was…

> For anyone curious, the GM EV1 was by far my favorite. Those were years ahead of their time.

This is literally true: they were compliance products that were years beyond GM's (or anyone else’s) ability to make and sell sustainably, which is why GM and other manufacturers lobbbied to neuter the mandate and discontinued and destroyed the vehicles.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#502

Post by bitexploder »

ed_balls wrote: post #333
bitexploder wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on use. My truck essily likes 4000-5000 mile oil changes. It runs noticeably worse towards the end of that mileage range. It works harder than most cars and produces a lot of power to boot.

It's possible that your filters are clogged or there is some source of contamination. You may want to buy and oil Catch Can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-B4VRxAtbw

Maybe, I also just drive it hard. I should get a secondary filter regardless.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#503

Post by ben174 »

jamilbk wrote: post #203

Question for Tesla owners: Is the recharge time ever a problem? Have you ever felt regret from not being able to just pull up to a gas station, refuel, and be on your way? Part of me drools with child-like giddiness at the prospect of owning one, but part of me hesitates at the thought of taking roadtrips in one.

It takes a few months to get used to. But once you know the limits of the car and get used to plugging in every night, the convenience of a gas station is not missed at all.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#504

Post by stevetursi »

georgerobinson wrote: post #295
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less wear on brakes due to regenerative braking. No clutch, which is another wear item. No regular fluid / plug changes like ICE engines (and far fewer moving parts to go wrong generally). Essentially all you're left with are wipers and tyres, which don't really require a specialist / main dealer.

Clutches will last 80,000 miles on most cars unless driven unsympathetically by either dumping the clutch or riding it frequently. Fluid and spark plugs are some of the cheapest maintenance you can do on ICE cars. Timing belts, aux belts, water pumps, bearings are much more expensive wear items and I'd be much more concerned about those personally. You should however be changing your brake fluid every 2 years regardl…

My 2012 Subaru needed a new clutch recently. To your point, it was at about 80k miles. Mitigating that point, it was going to cost $2500 in parts and labor to get it replaced at the dealership (and it wasn't all that cheaper at the mom and pops).

Having said that, I also own a Tesla Model 3. It's probably a myth that maintenance is much less. Something about the weight distribution (or maybe it's the sheer torque) causes tires to last less than 30k miles. I'm finding this to be true in my own experience. And a set of tires will set us back nearly $1000.

Lots of great reasons to own a Model 3. Significantly reduced maintenance costs probably isn't one of them.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#505

Post by sjwright »

bluGill wrote: post #390
sjwright wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory the oils and engines have improved to the point where 10k miles is a sound number based on evidence. However given that the only downside to more frequent oil changes is the cost of the oil change, if you plan to keep a car for a very long time, changing it more frequently than the recommendation is a reasonable plan. Longer oil change intervals are undoubtedly fine for an engine that is expected to last at…

Actually long oil changes can be better for an engine. Oils break in: the molecules break down over time so they compensate by making the chains longer. As the molecules break down they get closer to the idea size, then the break again and get too short to protect. Tests on the oils used in my car show that you typically get least engine wear between 8k and 9k miles, with 12k being about the same as fresh oil, but 13…

That's genuinely fascinating and I'd like to learn more about it. Can you recommend some reading material for me? (Or better still an Engineering Explained-style YouTube video if someone has covered the topic well in that form.)

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#506

Post by m463 »

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #371
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to break it to you but very few vehicles are going to the dealer for engine/trans related work. Dealerships mostly only see vehicles that are new enough to be under warranty or recently out of it and major power-train stuff doesn't often break in that time period. It's stuff like steering and suspension wear items, the occasional window motor, trunk latches that won't pop, HVAC and stuff like that they make mo…

My parents both decided they trust the dealership's mechanics more than anyone else's, and have their vehicles serviced there. The family pickup, a Ford F-150, is expected to last ~18 years (makes me sad, because that's a long time to go without Bluetooth) and went out of "warranty" a few years back. The truck has yet to need major work on it, but my dad intends to get it worked on at the dealership. Mind you, we als…

What's kind of interesting is comparing the original tesla user interfaces from years ago with the current UI.

Although they didn't get new hardware, the UI has gained lots of features (not that all changes were popular)

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#507

Post by m463 »

laumars wrote: post #299
quanticle wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They break at much much lower rates, because they have many fewer parts. EVs don't have the pistons, valves, belts, fans, compressors, alternators, spark plugs, etc that gasoline engines have. There's probably order of magnitude fewer parts to break. Having seen the interior of an automatic gearbox, the surprising thing to me is that conventional automobiles are as reliable as they are.

I have had just as many issues with things braking unrelated to the engine. Eg washer fluid bottle leaking, air conditioning, disk breaks needing replacing, tire sensors breaking, tires going bald, etc. Out of the engine related problems, the cam belt and clutch are the things that's caused issues in the last 5 years across my various cars.

I just kind of realized that any part that lives under the hood of an ICE car is in a pretty harsh environment.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#508

Post by m463 »

Duladian wrote: post #500
Shivetya wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few observations, before I derail I do not want to dismiss the efforts of Audi or Jaguar but I think their initial focus was being good examples for their respective brands with regards to their packaging. Their interior quality of a different generation and caliber than Tesla. The EV part was an important concern but secondary. They can still rack up significant ZEV credits in California letting them off the hook…

Slight derailing again. 1997-1999 GM EV1 Gen 1 & 2 (leased for 1 year at a time with 3 different cars), 2001 Ford Ranger EV, 2003 Toyota Rav4 EV, 2010 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Chevy Volt, and 2017 Chevy Bolt. These vehicles were owned in the household I was living in at some point. With this being said, I've ridden in a Model 3. It is by far one of the noisiest electric vehicles I've seen. For anyone curious, the GM EV1 was…

I wonder what makes the EV1 memorable to you.

I've driven a model 3 performance dual motor, and I thought it was a very good car. Super fast. I don't remember it being noisy. I've driven a few model s's and I thought they were extremely quiet.

Now noise -- I've driven a 2012 Leaf and it was a nice car, which Nissan didn't forget how to make. But it was super noisy in a ridiculous way. Nissan added all kinds of stupid sound effects to the car. Some you can turn off, like the silly startup sounds that remind me of a canon camera. But some sounds like the fake electronic driving sound or the backup beep-beep-beep cannot be disabled. sigh.

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#509

Post by vsl »

prklmn wrote: post #491
mjamesaustin wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Panasonic isn't scaling back production. Tesla is the one who refused to approve additional scaling up because Panasonic hasn't been able to reach the promised production rate with their existing capacity.

> Nikkei said that Panasonic “froze” a decision to put an additional $900 million to $1.35 billion of investment into the Nevada Gigafactory in a bid to “reduce its dependence on the automaker.” Tesla is Panasonic’s biggest customer for electric vehicle batteries, and the Japanese battery maker had already suffered millions in losses due to the slower-than-expected ramp-up of Model 3 production. https://www.theverge.…

Yeah parent is saying Tesla denied that Nikkei report. Might be true, might be not, but lying would be very risky for a public company. Remember Bloomberg story about stealth chips in Supermicro servers?

Re: Changes to Models S and X allow them to travel longer without larger batteries

#510

Post by sidcool »

rsync wrote: post #445
sidcool wrote: post #79

What is super cool about Tesla is their laser sharp focus on creating a good electric vehicle. From the autonomy announcement and then this one, they are creating tools purpose built for cars, like new chips for self driving, battery tech etc. They have done so much in so little time, we have come to expect more from them. There is only so much a car company can innovate, Tesla has gone beyond it. Edit: I am a Tesla…

"What is super cool about Tesla is their laser sharp focus on creating a good electric vehicle. From the autonomy announcement and then this one, they are creating tools purpose built for cars, like new chips for self driving, battery tech etc." That's interesting that you cite that because I wish that Tesla would just focus on electric cars . Instead I see them wasting all manner of time, energy and goodwill on auto…

I argue that self driving is indeed the core of any car's experience. I agree when Elon says that a decade from now, a car without autonomy will be strange. They will be as common as smart phones are today. Smartphone revolution happened in less than a decade. Smartcar revolution will be little slower, but once triggered it will be unstoppable, even in developing nations.
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