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Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

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Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#61

Post by chiph »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #55
chiph wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla needs to start talks with quick-serve restaurant chains (McDonalds, in particular) for setting up charging stations at their restaurants. I don't know what a Supercharger draws (30 amps?), but the restaurant probably has enough excess utility power to run 1 or 2 of them.

They should be looking at installing charging stations everywhere there is commercial 3-phase power available, and charge other car maker's for access for their own EVs (like the LEAF).

The Tesla vehicles have their own connector design (they don't use the standard IEEE one). The best reason I can come up with for doing this is that the car communicates charging conditions to the station so it can regulate current flow, and the standard connector doesn't allow that. When you buy a Model S, you get about 3 different adapters so you can plug in somewhere other than their own charger.

Will Tesla license this design to the other car makers? They may have offered to, but Nissan/GM/etc are probably thinking why pay Tesla when they get the IEEE design "for free".

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#62

Post by grecy »

chaz wrote: post #15
pixie_ wrote: post #2

Waiting 30 minutes is still a dealbreaker for a lot of people. How about switching out those batteries like propane tanks. I'll let someone else figure out the technical details of that.

There was an interesting article in the WSJ that talks about "contingency anxiety," and explains why car manufacturers like Land Rover add ridiculous capabilities, like fording waters 35.4" inches deep, in their Range Rover. Car makers call it "contingency anxiety," the urge to buy a mechanically overqualified vehicle because maybe, once in a blue moon—or a hurricane on a high tide—the car buyer might need the extra…

I'm heavily involved in the Overlanding community, which is all about traveling around the world in your own vehicle[1]

People constantly raise the question as to why people from the United States don't do this nearly as much as people from other countries. I've come to the conclusion that it's mostly related to this "contingency anxiety" you speak of. US citizens are so concerned about covering every possible situation they spend their time buying and building, but never actually go anywhere much. The few that do go have so much stuff their vehicles are huge and extremely heavy and they wind up having all manner of serious mechanical issues.

I drove Alaska->Argentina[2] in a dead-stock Jeep TJ with little more than camping gear[3] and didn't have a single issue the entire 2 years.

It's amazing how US Citizens will attack the "get out and go" approach by listing the 5000 things that could possibly go wrong. Before I left, I had people telling me (among other things) I'd die in an earthquake, get bitten by an exotic critter, catch H1-N1, get AIDS from a shoddy 3rd world blood transfusion, etc. etc. So much fear of the "what if"

[1] Details on Overlanding http://wikioverland.org/Overland_Frequently_Asked_Questions

[2] My blog http://theroadchoseme.com/

[3] The gear I took http://theroadchoseme.com/on-the-road

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#63

Post by devrelm »

Retric wrote: post #36
rdl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 636 miles to Portland. I've averaged in the 70mph range on that trip, since there are stretches of I-5 where much higher speeds are fairly safe (and the speed limit is 75 on a lot of it). 9h of concentration isn't that unreasonable, since you do need to stop for gas once (in Oregon, usually, which means it's slow). San Jose to Vegas is 523 miles, and doing that in 6-7 hours is quite feasible (although it's entir…

1300 km is 800 miles or 11.5 hours at 70mph + one fill up. I don't see most people being able to do that without zoning out.

It's not that bad. I take weekend trips between NYC and [1 hour west of Chicago] multiple times a year. At around 870 miles, it's about a 13-14 hour drive with pit-stops. I usually split the trip into 2 days from NYC to Illinois, but only because I typically leave right after work, and I certainly wouldn't want to drive overnight.

The trip back is usually done in one day, ~10am to ~midnight. This usually includes 2-3 stops for gas and food. I wouldn't mind these stops being half an hour instead of their usual ~15 minutes, but it would mean that I would have to leave an hour earlier, or get home an hour later. since I'd have 50-100 miles less range per "fill-up" with the top-of-the-line Model S, I'd probably have to make an extra stop as well.

Ultimately, I look forward to none of this discussion mattering in 10 years, at which time I fully expect 400+ mile range in self-driving EV cars that charge in 10 minutes.

  ***fingers-crossed***

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#64

Post by jared314 »

chiph wrote: post #49
pixie_ wrote: post #2

Waiting 30 minutes is still a dealbreaker for a lot of people. How about switching out those batteries like propane tanks. I'll let someone else figure out the technical details of that.

Tesla needs to start talks with quick-serve restaurant chains (McDonalds, in particular) for setting up charging stations at their restaurants. I don't know what a Supercharger draws (30 amps?), but the restaurant probably has enough excess utility power to run 1 or 2 of them.

Don't forget large-chain grocery stores, movie theaters, and shopping malls. You spend at least 20 mins just buying one item in those places.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#65

Post by [deleted] »

chiph wrote: post #61
toomuchtodo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should be looking at installing charging stations everywhere there is commercial 3-phase power available, and charge other car maker's for access for their own EVs (like the LEAF).

The Tesla vehicles have their own connector design (they don't use the standard IEEE one). The best reason I can come up with for doing this is that the car communicates charging conditions to the station so it can regulate current flow, and the standard connector doesn't allow that. When you buy a Model S, you get about 3 different adapters so you can plug in somewhere other than their own charger. Will Tesla licens…

[deleted]

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#66

Post by toomuchtodo »

chiph wrote: post #61
toomuchtodo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should be looking at installing charging stations everywhere there is commercial 3-phase power available, and charge other car maker's for access for their own EVs (like the LEAF).

The Tesla vehicles have their own connector design (they don't use the standard IEEE one). The best reason I can come up with for doing this is that the car communicates charging conditions to the station so it can regulate current flow, and the standard connector doesn't allow that. When you buy a Model S, you get about 3 different adapters so you can plug in somewhere other than their own charger. Will Tesla licens…

Mercedes and Toyota are already licensing the battery and drivetrain technology from Tesla, and I'm sure other manufacturers will fall into line soon. Why not license the charging technology at the same time?

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#67

Post by rdl »

marssaxman wrote: post #60
markvdb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safely driving over 1300km (edit: SF to Seattle) without stopping is impossible. http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/ Please adjust your driving behavior.

What do you mean by "without stopping"? Are you including fuel stops? I don't know of any vehicle which has an 800-mile range, so in a purely superficial sense your statement is of course correct; but your reference to "driving behavior" and link to "drowsydriving.org" suggests that you are focused more on human limits than those of our vehicles. If that is the case, I am here to tell you that driving from Seattle to…

F-250 diesel gets 22mpg on the highway. You can easily get dual 25 gallon tanks, and I've seen them with extra 60-70 (yes, this is absurd). With 50 gallons you'd have about 1k miles range. (I've driven one with dual big tanks, but it also had about 3000 extra pounds of weight and run-flat tires and modified suspension, so it wasn't really comparable, and never went above 50mph)

A VW Jetta can get 45mpg if you're really lucky, with a 14.5gal tank, so about 650.

ML350 is about 700 miles, and the old TDI VW Passats were about a 20 gallon tank and good for about 1000 miles stock.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#68

Post by [deleted] »

marssaxman wrote: post #60
markvdb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safely driving over 1300km (edit: SF to Seattle) without stopping is impossible. http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/ Please adjust your driving behavior.

What do you mean by "without stopping"? Are you including fuel stops? I don't know of any vehicle which has an 800-mile range, so in a purely superficial sense your statement is of course correct; but your reference to "driving behavior" and link to "drowsydriving.org" suggests that you are focused more on human limits than those of our vehicles. If that is the case, I am here to tell you that driving from Seattle to…

[deleted]

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end

#69

Post by Goopplesoft »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #56
Goopplesoft wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Right now it costs an average of about $7-8 bucks for a typical 230 mi range (about a tank). If the service costs anywhere near $50, it'd be disappointing. Cost reduction plays a huge (if not the biggest) consideration in going electric.

Based on how much per kWh? I can charge my car for $0.01/KwH at night.

Sorry I missed this. Used Tesla's blog published data as my source here:

http://www.teslamotors.com/it_CH/forum/forums/cost-charge-an...

Linking to:

http://teslarumors.com/USA-Residental-Energy-Cost-2011-by-St...

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