This actually seems like a really nice option. It allows you to get a loan for a cheaper car, and once that is paid off, you can upgrade it.
Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
51–60 of 75 posts
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the reason for me that closed source software [that does dubious things] is doomed to fail. As users find out about things like this, and as it starts effecting them more and more, there will be an aura of distrust. Currently, I'd say programmers or IT-related people are the only ones that care about this. But as soon as the consumer sees they need to pay 9k for something they already have? Closed source soft…
Doesn't Apple already use this model? They deliberately disabled Siri on older iPhones to force users to upgrade their hardware.
I can't find any evidence to support your story. Do you have a source?
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#53Maybe this is just pointless pedantry but... This isn't a software upgrade. It's an on/off switch. There's a difference. A software upgrade implies some new code which cost real money to develop is being made available. That's not the case here. As others mentioned, manufacturers do this already for cost reasons (reducing variation) on other software, but in that case it's legitimately a software upgrade because the…
Lots of people do this, it's often more expensive to make different versions of things then is it just to software cap something. So they make the same version for multiple price points and have variations of software cap in place. CPUs for example are clocked at a set speed when they reach the consumer, they can always go higher without any negative impact (infact most are underclocked). It's basically a software sw…
[deleted]
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#54Maybe this is just pointless pedantry but... This isn't a software upgrade. It's an on/off switch. There's a difference. A software upgrade implies some new code which cost real money to develop is being made available. That's not the case here. As others mentioned, manufacturers do this already for cost reasons (reducing variation) on other software, but in that case it's legitimately a software upgrade because the…
Carrier-grade microwave radios are usually sold at a base price for a specific speed (e.g. 100 Mbps). Software licenses can then be purchased to upgrade the capacity (e.g. to 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, or 1 Gbps). Licenses are also sold to enable features such as encryption and hitless backup radio failover.
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#55So we're going to have jailbroken Teslas that have the full range but can't update their software OTA... Current cost of Li-ion battery is $145/kWh. It surprises me that they'd chose to give away $2250 worth of battery simply because it costs more to develop a new one. I understand the batteries they use are pretty modular - the cost of adjusting down capacity should be minimal. I'm speculating that they expect a lar…
I imagine the lower price point still covers the full cost of the battery.
The lower price point plus the upgrade revenue can certainly be expected to cover the costs of the program (because that's how businesses work).
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#56Maybe this is just pointless pedantry but... This isn't a software upgrade. It's an on/off switch. There's a difference. A software upgrade implies some new code which cost real money to develop is being made available. That's not the case here. As others mentioned, manufacturers do this already for cost reasons (reducing variation) on other software, but in that case it's legitimately a software upgrade because the…
Carrier-grade microwave radios are usually sold at a base price for a specific speed (e.g. 100 Mbps). Software licenses can then be purchased to upgrade the capacity (e.g. to 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, or 1 Gbps). Licenses are also sold to enable features such as encryption and hitless backup radio failover.
That's a little different because those extra features required additional work to implement in software and just happen to run on the same base hardware. This is just hardware being artificially constrained. It's like buying a 6 pack of Coke and actually getting 8 cans but you can only drink 6 of them unless pay an extra $3 to "unlock" the two cans already in the box.
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#57This actually seems like a really nice option. It allows you to get a loan for a cheaper car, and once that is paid off, you can upgrade it.
That's a very interesting way to look at it.
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#58Maybe this is just pointless pedantry but... This isn't a software upgrade. It's an on/off switch. There's a difference. A software upgrade implies some new code which cost real money to develop is being made available. That's not the case here. As others mentioned, manufacturers do this already for cost reasons (reducing variation) on other software, but in that case it's legitimately a software upgrade because the…
Sure there is, nVidia and ATI/AMD have done pretty much exactly this sort of segmentation of many consumer->pro video cards in drivers practically forever.
I think that with graphic cards it is a little different: the manufacturing process is simply not perfect, so attempt to produce card with 56 Streaming Processors (Pascal) can result in 40 SP units working fine and 16 being broken. So you disable broken units and sell the piece as lower end card instead.
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#59Isn't this indirect evidence of too little competition? It has happened in the past with Intel for example...
Re: Tesla’s Betting You’ll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
this is very different, the closes comparison i could think of is bmw selling a 320i and 328i which both have basically the same engine running different amounts of turbo pressure, but EVEN THERE the engine internals have the be quite a bit different.
My understanding is that your claim is no true. Sure, some horse power upgrades are hardware within the model, but some are just bit flips in software. Do you have a source for your claim?
Even if the engine is the same they could be using the same binning process that is used in many other industries.
If the same engine can run at higher RPM it could mean that it needs better tolerances to achieve it so they bin the better parts for those engines.
Other things might also be slightly different like slightly different fuel injectors, seals etc. that can handle the more demanding workload.
You can tune virtually identical parts to perform differently but that process usually has a cost to it.