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Model S range and interior update imminent?

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Who says everything gets updated at once? Tesla has a record of tricking out improvements as they are ready instead of doing them all at once on a model year.
This. I think in January we will see new sheet metal and interior. Suspension and powertrain unchanged from the current S. Batteries will be the same until later in the year when they release plaid.
 
This. I think in January we will see new sheet metal and interior. Suspension and powertrain unchanged from the current S. Batteries will be the same until later in the year when they release plaid.
Plaid is 2x the base cost of the S right now. Releasing a major update now before plaid is ready would kill the plaid demand vs having the plaid be all new when it launches and having the long range lag behind for a few months. Considering the crazy high margins on the plaid there is no way they’d do anything to hurt its demand.
 
Plaid is 2x the base cost of the S right now. Releasing a major update now before plaid is ready would kill the plaid demand vs having the plaid be all new when it launches and having the long range lag behind for a few months. Considering the crazy high margins on the plaid there is no way they’d do anything to hurt its demand.

Point taken, although Plaid has significantly more range than the current S.
 
Plaid is 2x the base cost of the S right now. Releasing a major update now before plaid is ready would kill the plaid demand vs having the plaid be all new when it launches and having the long range lag behind for a few months. Considering the crazy high margins on the plaid there is no way they’d do anything to hurt its demand.
I disagree.

Plaid is 100% about the performance, not the looks, and nothing not performance related is going to stifle the demand.

Plus, I think it’s well established at this point that iterative, continuous improvement is really the only option Tesla has for evolving existing products. They don’t have the resources or luxury to do major big-bang model year releases without killing demand for their existing products.
 
Releasing a major update now before plaid is ready would kill the plaid demand.

I totally disagree. There are so many logical arguments about value on this forum when most people with sufficient disposable income just go for what excites them. Many buyers of the P100D bought it cause it was the fastest production car in the world and will trade up even with the same interior for something faster. Others, like me, love the acceleration but aren’t really motivated in beating a Veyron but sure would like a more luxurious interior with door pockets....
 
... I think video tech for rear view mirrors could be ultimately better than mirrors ever were.
E-tron owners report the opposite. With a physical mirror moving the head will give different perspectives/coverage, but with a camera, the perspective is fixed until adjusted. Adjustment is not done on-the-fly though.
Also, dynamic range of our eyes are bigger and faster to adjust than any camera yet.
Added IR and radar etc can compensate for these shortcomings.
 
How much space is there in the rear for dual motors and dual transmissions in the S/X platform?

I guess new interior, new fenders and lamps are easily updated. But the chassis though is different. If there is a small facelift for the S or/and X, is it possible that 2022 Plaid is sold alongside 2021 "classic" on a different platform for a year or two?
 
E-tron owners report the opposite. With a physical mirror moving the head will give different perspectives/coverage, but with a camera, the perspective is fixed until adjusted. Adjustment is not done on-the-fly though.
Also, dynamic range of our eyes are bigger and faster to adjust than any camera yet.
Added IR and radar etc can compensate for these shortcomings.

you Might want to read the research paper in the docket I linked. It seems videos do indeed win. Especially with reasonable machine learning and annotation in the future (e.g. orange/red box around incoming vehicles representing their speed)
 
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It would seem to be possible to use the new cells in a battery pack design. The structural battery pack was, after all, envisioned as something for the new low price car.

Is it possible that Tesla is updating the frame and battery pack arrangement of the s, and probably x, but will use the current batteries (18650s) to fill it? Later they could use the new cells to create the plaid battery pack design. (The design would be optimized for the new cells, of course.) This would mitigate the issue of limited availability on the new cells, and allow construction of both styles of battery pack for some time into the future. Certainly another 10 years or so. Well worth the effort of creating both. It could also explain the absence of any talk of a plaid model X. You wouldn't need it, and I don't really think that many people would buy it, as opposed to the S plaid.

Just a thought.
 
you Might want to read the research paper in the docket I linked. It seems videos do indeed win. Especially with reasonable machine learning and annotation in the future (e.g. orange/red box around incoming vehicles representing their speed)
I can't see how ML and annotations will change the shortcomings when it comes to perspective and zoom by physical head movement. Scenario: reverse, parking, city driving. I mentioned IR though as a supplemental sensor that could be useful.
 
I guess we just use the side mirror a bit differently - I basically almost never perform those tasks (side mirrors adjusted so I _just_ can’t see my own vehicle in normal driving position) - I primarily use them when doing lane changes (and there speed-annotated approaching vehicles would provide some benefit, like very advanced dead spot detection). Parking - 99% done by the car itself, almost never do it myself anymore, the autopark works really well (I would only do it manually for a really small space that the car can’t do itself, and that is seldom indeed). Reverse, I use the large center camera view 95% of the time, seldom are side mirrors useful (but sometimes, can’t say electronic ones would be worse though). IR (preferably a blended image, “hdr” with ir+real would definitely also be interesting.

I guess we just use them differently...
 
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Tesla has plenty of resources. They have money to spare to hire any designers/engineers/developers in the world.
I love that Lucid are pushing them. We need more competition to improve the breed!

Tesla is still a fairly small company compared to the rest of the industry. Their resources are better than they were a few years ago, but they are still somewhat limited compared to other car companies. They are vastly more efficient at maximizing the effect of their limited resources, but there are still limits.

They are consistently profitable now, but that doesn't mean money is unlimited. They are still shoveling almost all the money after paying for operating costs and costs of production into R&D and expansion and only a small amount is left over for profit at the end of the quarter. I haven't looked lately, but a few years ago Tesla was throwing a higher percentage of its revenue at R&D than just about any other car company, but in total dollar terms it was one of the smallest investments in the industry. That's how small Tesla is compared to everyone else (other than specialty car companies than only make a handful of cars a year).

Expansion of development also is more complex than just throwing money at the problem. Having money helps, but things also take time to accomplish no matter how many people are working on it and how much money is thrown at it. One place I worked had a saying that it takes 9 months to get a baby, no matter how many women you throw at the job.

There are some things Tesla is doing that are so complex only a few people in the world may have the necessary skills. I saw an interview with the guy who is probably the top microprocessor designer in the world. I think he's had a hand in developing every major processor design in the last 20 years. Tesla hired him to develop the new autopilot processor. But if he didn't accept the job, there aren't many other options.

E-tron owners report the opposite. With a physical mirror moving the head will give different perspectives/coverage, but with a camera, the perspective is fixed until adjusted. Adjustment is not done on-the-fly though.
Also, dynamic range of our eyes are bigger and faster to adjust than any camera yet.
Added IR and radar etc can compensate for these shortcomings.

Good point. I was thinking about blind spot detection though.
 
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