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2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

automobilemag.com

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Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#61

Post by CamperBob2 »

001sky wrote: post #58
kalininalex wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The battery on Model S IS swappable, in fact quick-swappable, at least per Reuters ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/idUS24518959652011... )

That's cool for replacement, but the weight of these things is in the X00 kilos range. This is not swappable like a laptop battery. It may weigh up to a quarter ton. =/

I imagine you'd see small forklifts at service stations for that purpose. It would require a standardization effort that I don't believe is happening, though.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#62

Post by swohns »

moted wrote: post #25
correctifier wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Model S is a revolutionary car, but I really hope the the big touch display without physical buttons doesn't become the norm. I really prefer the feedback you get from them while keeping your eyes on the road, especially for common functions like the temperature and basic stereo control. People will disagree with me, but I have really grown to like the current iDrive system which lets me keep my looking up high w…

I prefer tactile response as well, however I'd guess that good voice activated controls will be introduced soon enough.

When driving, tactile response is a key safety feature, so you're eyes don't have to leave the road to make sure your button was pushed. However, I totally agree that the voice command is the next step, it is the only time I use Siri!

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#63

Post by jeremyarussell »

zalew wrote: post #41
jeremyarussell wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err, exactly what makes those awards more real? Just how many people would concede the point?

these are the world's most recognized awards for production cars, so they are the ones that could affect the stock price, if any. they are not a single national magazine's editors recognition.

So yes was the answer.

PS: Err it looked like ALL the editors of the magazine had only good things to say about the car. I digress though seeing as to how it's a popularity contest in any case.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#64

Post by jblow »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #59
mncolinlee wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an electric car owner, I haven't found a need for swapping batteries. Consider this: if a refueling station offered battery swapping they would also need to exhaustively test your batteries to determine that they were not abused and to determine how much credit to offer for their current capacity. How does that save much time from just using a quick-charge station? Today, I have plenty of range to get to and from…

As an electric car owner, I haven't found a need for swapping batteries. Consider this: if a refueling station offered battery swapping they would also need to exhaustively test your batteries to determine that they were not abused and to determine how much credit to offer for their current capacity. How does that save much time from just using a quick-charge station? Because the batteries wouldn't have to be tested…

Forgot to mention that I am an electric car owner as well (Roadster).

I don't really like the idea of battery swapping. It seems like a big hassle. The current Supercharger seems totally fine. I guess it remains to be seen how well it works in practice, once a lot of people have the cars, but right now things look really good.

One of the most common pieces of anti-EV rhetoric is "the infrastructure doesn't exist". This is actually FUD. The infrastructure is everywhere: we have electricity pretty much everywhere. (Consider: all these gas stations have electricity, so the penetration of electricity is a superset of the penetration of gasoline). What we don't often have is the right plug, but that is a relatively small problem.

But if you start talking about installing a widespread battery swapping paradigm, then that is a huge infrastructure problem, because you need to have stocks of all these physical things all over the place.

On the other hand, with Supercharger, you don't need that. You just need some electricity. It is much simpler.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#66

Post by arjunnarayan »

zalew wrote: post #16
rdl wrote: post #12

If they can get to volume production, I think the $50-60k models, leased, could be great sellers. The really interesting thing would be to rip off Better Place's model and lease the cars at a discounted monthly payment plus a per-mile "fuel equivalence" charge. It's just accounting, but you could basically price the Model S at BMW 3-series lease rates (or even Toyota Avalon!), plus a per-mile fuel cost which was 10-2…

> (90+% of the girls I've polled would be more impressed by a Model S than a 2-3x as expensive Ferrari) maybe in SF (or US in general, I don't know). around most of Europe flashy loud cars are still cool, fortunately.

In general, you should be careful in choosing which set of girls you want to impress.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#68

Post by Adirael »

zalew wrote: post #16
rdl wrote: post #12

If they can get to volume production, I think the $50-60k models, leased, could be great sellers. The really interesting thing would be to rip off Better Place's model and lease the cars at a discounted monthly payment plus a per-mile "fuel equivalence" charge. It's just accounting, but you could basically price the Model S at BMW 3-series lease rates (or even Toyota Avalon!), plus a per-mile fuel cost which was 10-2…

> (90+% of the girls I've polled would be more impressed by a Model S than a 2-3x as expensive Ferrari) maybe in SF (or US in general, I don't know). around most of Europe flashy loud cars are still cool, fortunately.

I guess it depends on the country. Rare stuff sells. Depends on the type of person too. I've lived in Marbella and there's a lot of Ferraris and really expensive cars there, almost more than normal utility cars.

Now when I see a red Ferrari is like: oh nice, you've got the same car every rich guy has in the same fucking color, good for you!

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#69

Post by jblow »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #59
mncolinlee wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an electric car owner, I haven't found a need for swapping batteries. Consider this: if a refueling station offered battery swapping they would also need to exhaustively test your batteries to determine that they were not abused and to determine how much credit to offer for their current capacity. How does that save much time from just using a quick-charge station? Today, I have plenty of range to get to and from…

As an electric car owner, I haven't found a need for swapping batteries. Consider this: if a refueling station offered battery swapping they would also need to exhaustively test your batteries to determine that they were not abused and to determine how much credit to offer for their current capacity. How does that save much time from just using a quick-charge station? Because the batteries wouldn't have to be tested…

I think this "electric grid can't handle it" is another piece of anti-EV FUD that is not representative of the situation in reality.

Right now, peak electricity usage times are during the day. This is why in most urban areas electricity is cheaper at night: they want to encourage you to distribute your usage more evenly throughout the day.

The NEMA 14-50 (a.k.a. standard appliance outlet that most people plug their dryers into) is a totally fine plug for an EV. It will charge the car up fully overnight. This plug is going to deliver you, at maximum, 40 amps at 220 volts.

Electric dryers often use something like 25 amps at 220 volts (of course it varies by machine). This is not far from the 40 amps we are talking about. So this whole "grid can't handle it" pseudo-panic is sort of like worrying that everyone is going to run their dryer at the same time, times 1.5, at off-peak hours. It is just not a big deal. FUD.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#70

Post by tocomment »

mncolinlee wrote: post #60
tocomment wrote: post #3

Is that why TSLA stock is up today?

I would guess a mix of the positive jobs report and short covering from margin calls is at fault. Right-leaning investors have seemed to want the company to fail for months, but Tesla is looking resilient with their good backlog and a strong economy. They're paying back their DOE loan early.

What do you mean by short covering from margin calls? What's causing the margin calls?
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