41–50 of 196 posts
Great progress on the supercharger buildout [1]! That said, traveling from LA to NY via New Mexico and South Dakota is a pretty funny route. [1] http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
Have you considered that some people do feel free when driving their cars?
I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
After moving to California 3 years ago I've seen stretches of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and of course California I'd never have seen without a car. Gotten to go to places impractical with any other transportation. I can't really imagine not having a car for my weekend trips. I get not wanting to stay in a car for 40 minutes each way on a weekly commute, but being trapped in a city like LA or San Francisco with no…
I am saying, you shouldn't be doing it every day. That, right there, is one of the unhealthiest lifestyles, for everyone.
The average American spends an hour a day in their car. This number changes over the years, of course, but generally Americans spend a large portion of their lives, consuming gas. Its just built into the nations life-lines at this point.
Weekend trips with the car would be great! Alas, thats not how America uses its cars ..
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If that fits your pace, that's great, but that would have driven me nuts last time I was driving cross-country.
Yeah, but it's still cool that someone can drive across the country in a Tesla. Shouldn't we get something like a 50% improvement in battery technology within 5 years? That should push it over the limit for most people.
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If that fits your pace, that's great, but that would have driven me nuts last time I was driving cross-country.
A 30-minute break every 3 hours seems just a little bit high - if 30 minutes got you closer to the full charge, it would be fine for road trips. 4 or 5 hours seems the upper limit for reasonable "driving without a half-hour break" and taking only 1/10th of your time instead of 1/7th recharging would be more palatable. But either way, driving screws up our concepts of convenience and efficiency. Drivers aren't rationa…
I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
We don't have high-speed rail, and public transit is reserved for only the most densely-populated cities. We don't drive because we want to, or because we're stubborn, or because we don't know any better. We drive because for all intents and purposes it is the only reasonable method for getting from point A to point B.
But don't worry, I'm sure you've still got plenty of other reasons to feel smugly superior.
I'm curious if I'd want a Model S (top model) or a BMW 535d or other mid-luxury diesel sedan in Germany in a couple years. Around the city, sure, big advantage to the Tesla. For Autobahn trips at 150-250 km/h, stopping every 1-2h would get old fast, even if every service stop had a supercharger.
If you're going that fast, you'll have to stop every 1-2h to refuel in just about any car, ICE or EV. On the one hand, yeah you might have to stop for a little longer in a Tesla, but on the other hand you're going to save shitloads of money: driving that fast is massively inefficient, so you're going to spend a lot of cash on fuel in an ICE, whereas the superchargers are free.
edit: and do note: your 5~10mn refuelling break on a normal car brings you back to full range, on a Model S it's 170 miles not the original 260-ish.
[0] http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/03/16/the-diesel-driver-reviews-...
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The nice thing is most US states have reciprocity with Germany, so you don't actually have to take the tests. I noticed a fair number of "bad" (by German standards) drivers on the southern Autobahnen over the past few weeks, but they were mainly non-Germans; I'm 99% sure the drunk guys in the 15 year old Honda were US military, and by the plates, most of the other bad drivers were also not German. So it's not foolpro…
It's also because people in Germany have manners. In California, or the rest of US, people just throw garbage on the side of the road. It's so infuriating! I once saw a guy throw a cigaret pack on the ground literally, and I kid you not, literally 3 feet away from a garbage can. I had to "kindly" insist that he picks it up and disposes of it properly. It's like some people here were raised by fucking wolves or someth…
Not the most direct route between the two cities [1]. It looks like there are at least two parts of the route that don't follow interstates. The excursion up to South Dakota to go past Mt. Rushmore makes sense, but I can't figure out the jog into New Mexico. Unless someone's really interested in a couple of National Monuments in that corner of NM, it looks like the only reason for that jog is to go to the Four Corner…
I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less , not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..
You really have no idea what it's like in America, do you? We don't have high-speed rail, and public transit is reserved for only the most densely-populated cities. We don't drive because we want to, or because we're stubborn, or because we don't know any better. We drive because for all intents and purposes it is the only reasonable method for getting from point A to point B. But don't worry, I'm sure you've still g…
Distances aren't big because "but America is so big!", they are because cheap gas enabled people to live hours away from their place of work or everyday infrastructure in some suburb. If we would properly price gasoline for the collective damage its consumption causes, this nonsense would disappear tomorrow (and Teslas would be sold out, because you know, they have none of these problems).