Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 196 posts

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#51

Post by lelandbatey »

Zikes wrote: post #46
fit2rule wrote: post #14

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…

Yep. I live in a pretty typical American town (not a big city, not a huge amount going on here) and doing even the simplest things takes a lot of driving.

Want to go to the grocery store? That's about 7 miles away. Want to do some general shopping? That's 6 miles away. Want to go to an actual mall, with a variety of stores? That's 20 miles away.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#52

Post by sliverstorm »

grecy wrote: post #39
sliverstorm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that fits your pace, that's great, but that would have driven me nuts last time I was driving cross-country.

People said exactly the same thing when the automobile was introduced and it was horribly less convenient than a horse and cart. Of course a new tech is slightly less convenient out the outset, and of course it will only appeal to a certain percentage of the population, and of course it will get better over time. Which side of history are those people on? Which side of history will you be on?

The side of history that can't afford a Tesla S anyway. Small-minded of me, I know.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#53

Post by rdl »

aryastark wrote: post #48
x0054 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Pretty sure he meant debris, not trash. Stuff that falls off trucks because it hasn't been properly secured. I've had a number of close calls due to large items blocking entire lanes on the freeways.

Yeah, I mean like a sofa, bumper, etc. I leave a larger-than-usual amount of space between me and the car in front of me, but in heavy traffic, you can't always evade, particularly if the car in front is a high-clearance truck, and the object clears that car, but not necessarily my normal-height sedan. Within hours of being back in SFBA I'd run over a boot, then another shoe (possibly the boot or another shoe), in separate directions of 101. It struck the front bumper and didn't seem to catch on anything underneath, but I was worried.

Roadside trash sucks, too, for different reasons.

(I call 911/CHP to report this stuff frequently, on average once a week or more. They send a CHP car or two out to road-break and remove it, or CHP+Caltrans if it's big.)

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#54

Post by Zikes »

revelation wrote: post #50
Zikes wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Gee, how did this happen? I always find this line of thought amusing. It's like people just woke up one day to the America we have now and then pretend its forever. 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 consu…

Distances aren't big because gas is/was cheap, they're big because nobody wants to pay $2,000/month for a crappy one-bedroom apartment within biking distance of their job. Distances ARE big because America is so big, and even now there's still plenty of land to be cheaply bought and decently priced housing built upon.

For the past decade everyone's been balking at the rising gas prices, and so far as I know no two places have magically become closer together as a result.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#55

Post by rdl »

masklinn wrote: post #47
NickM wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Heh. The BMW 535d mentioned has a 70L tank, and even on worst-case drives (sporty behaviour, not highway), it's quoted (by users) around 15L/100. On standard highway (not unlimited-speed autobahn, euro highway 120~130km/h) it's quoted (again by users) around 7~8L/100. 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…

At 160-180 km/h in a rental 116d with winter tires I was actually getting about 6L/100km. I was able to do Berlin to Auschwitz (Poland) on a single tank, with 0.2 tank left over. (Poland technically has speed limits I think, but they weren't enforced) For a combination of high-speed-autobahn and city/etc driving, I was basically refilling for EUR 65 or so every 600-700km.

The rental 116d couldn't do >200 km/h, so I'd probably want something a bit bigger, but even a 123d would be a reasonable option. I was thinking 535d just in case I had to have passengers.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#56

Post by thrownaway2424 »

protomyth wrote: post #45
Pxtl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If the speed limit is 70mph or 75mph, it is less than every three hours.

Isn't it counterproductive to drive a model s at high speeds cross-country? You get an extra ~40 miles of range by going 65 instead of 75.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#57

Post by grecy »

sliverstorm wrote: post #52
grecy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People said exactly the same thing when the automobile was introduced and it was horribly less convenient than a horse and cart. Of course a new tech is slightly less convenient out the outset, and of course it will only appeal to a certain percentage of the population, and of course it will get better over time. Which side of history are those people on? Which side of history will you be on?

The side of history that can't afford a Tesla S anyway. Small-minded of me, I know.

> The side of history that can't afford a Tesla S

Yet.

There were millions that couldn't afford an automobile when they came out too you know..... Give it time, stop thinking a new product has to be everything to everyone so early on.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#58

Post by NickM »

masklinn wrote: post #47
NickM wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Heh. The BMW 535d mentioned has a 70L tank, and even on worst-case drives (sporty behaviour, not highway), it's quoted (by users) around 15L/100. On standard highway (not unlimited-speed autobahn, euro highway 120~130km/h) it's quoted (again by users) around 7~8L/100. 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…

Sporty behavior not on a highway is still going to get better consumption than extremely high speed driving, because wind resistance rises as the square of the velocity. If you double your velocity, then air drag increases by 4x, so if users are quoting 8L/100 on 120-130km/h then you can expect to get about 32L/100 going 250km/h.

With a 70L tank at 250km/h you may well exhaust the tank in under an hour. These are worst case numbers though, so if you drive a bit slower, then 1-2 hours between refueling seems like a reasonable estimate.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#59

Post by Avshalom »

revelation wrote: post #50
Zikes wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Gee, how did this happen? I always find this line of thought amusing. It's like people just woke up one day to the America we have now and then pretend its forever. 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 consu…

Sure, if you leave out the reality that the US had already expanded to the west coast by the time the car was invented.

Re: Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

#60

Post by jcurbo »

rdl wrote: post #18
Nrsolis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this sounds crazy, keep in mind that getting a drivers license in Germany isn't a one-day affair with minimal testing standards like it is in the US. Getting a German driving license is somewhat laborious but the upside is that German drivers are pretty darn safe and have amazing discipline on the road. http://www.amcham.de/services/drivers-license/us-citizens-in...

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…

Worth noting that US military that are stationed in Germany must take a test before receiving a US Army Europe license (they run the program for all US military in Germany) in order to drive in Germany. Based on my experience (got there in 2004), the test was not that easy and did require a bit of studying, especially for road signs and the rules at intersections, which are a little bit different than US rules, from what I can remember.
Post reply on HN