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I'm optimistic about the future of EVs too and I think this process is unstoppable! Just it's not gonna happen as fast as many of us have thought. It takes more than a decade instead of few years. About a year ago I read a report about the penetration of EVs in the global car market. And it said...

OK, but we were comparing Tesla's (Model S) prices to the Germans. So let's compare it to the 7 series, not to the entry models. Model S US base price: $71.5k 7 series US base price: $81.3k Even the 6 series is more expensive: $77.3k Model S EU (Germany) base price: €82.7k ($92,8k) 7 series EU...

Yeah... It's true, but it's only a half truth. Probably the demand was a bit bigger, if more models would be available with longer range. But even Tesla isn't good enough for the world. On the US market it performs pretty good, but on the rest of the world it's sales are "pathetic" (specially on...

As I said in this other thread, this is not my opinion, these are just bare facts based on sale numbers. And you're true, in the USA Tesla truly outsold them. But it's not a big surprise since Tesla is an American company and it can be cheaper than the German brands. But USA isn't the entire...

The day will come, for sure, but I don't think they want to use Tesla's technology. Instead they're working on their on solutions. I'm not arguing that Tesla will steal some customers from the German premium brands with the Model 3, but I don't think this is gonna be many. The people who have...

It should be cheating too! It seems the "bad advertisement is an advertisement too" theory works. ;) No, I don't have a Tesla and I'm not a Tesla fanatic. But I like and support EVs and I keep an eye on Tesla since it's the frontier of this EVolution. Anyway... What I said is just bare facts...

In an other thread about the same article I've already told my opinion so let me quote myself:

I don't even need to read the article to say that this is ridiculous! I really would like see more EVs on the roads, but the fact is the German car makers are living their renaissance. E.g. MB could increase its sales with more than 54k cars only in Q1(2016). It's more than Tesla's entire last...

I like this new style (the old one looked like the sites in the late 90s), but the two columns layout on the home page is not really transparent. It's hard to read and the line height in the list of threads should be smaller. It's also hard to browse through. Anyway, a big thumbs up for the...

I agree in some sort of way. I like Tesla because it had the balls to show the world that the EVs are livable (and lovable) cars and they have reason for existence, but the other companies'd already had most of these technologies years earlier than TM was established. E.g. BMW's first electric...

Just a quick correction: It has 3 electric motors with a total of 700 Hp (torque: 900 Nm) and an internal combustion engine with 1100 Hp (torque: 1250 Nm) power output. (The ICE has bit more power on E85.) Now, it seems the total power is 1800 Hp (as the title says) but the power peaks are...

I must agree with Spidy and Laserbrain. This video is more than 5 years old and a BMW could already push hard on a race circuit in fully autonomous mode: Or here's my favorite. Two years ago on the CES (even before Tesla released the first version of its AP) a BMW was even drifting (!!!) with...

Please, don't take it as a personal offense! This is just a generalization, based strictly on European experiences. And as always, there are exceptions, you may be one of them. But as I said, this is a general stereotype over here, so it's not only my opinion. E.g. my father's friend average...

IMHO most typical BMW (and basically all German luxury brand) drivers biggest problem would be the range with the Model S. The rated range of Model S is ~300 miles. Now, it's hard to reach even for the most eco-conscious driver. In Europe there's a stereotype about Germans which is like "they...

Since drifting on public roads is illegal these demonstrations had to be on a closed circuit. No surprise. The purpose of these demonstrations - as the caption says at the end of the drifting video - is to show the "enhanced safety and precision at the vehicle's limit with highly automated...

No problem at all! :wink: Disagree! The AP and battery developments are never gonna be in the past. You can never say that it's done because they're never gonna be good enough. And this is true for all automakers. These developments are like a never ending stories. Right now, I don't see any...

Tesla has already shown that the EVs are livable (and lovable) cars, the people like them and most importantly the people would buy them. IMO the quantity depends mostly on the price and some bad innervation of the majority to the EVs, and a little bit on the range.

First of all, it wasn't a retort. I didn't mean it that way! I just wanted to show an other viewpoint. Even I don't think Tesla will be washed away from the marketplace. And I didn't want to suggest that too. And again: they didn't just start these developments and they still have plenty time...

"If all their current research doesn't produce a battery significantly better than Tesla's..." If..., if..., if... This is what we call development, don't we? A bunch of trials and errors lead to the final product. Even after a decade only a few percent of the new cars will be fully electric...

They are serious about EVs (well... some of them at least), but they are not in the same shoes like Tesla. They cannot stop making ICE cars one day and get making EVs on the other. They have built a reputation in the recent decades, they have a strong customer base (millions of people), and...

I know, it wasn't addressed to you. Just reading the comments it feels many people here think the other major automakers are just sitting on their ass and not doing anything in the EV segment. And this article is suggesting the same.

Actually BMW is seriously investing in battery development. (And I think the others do too.) BMW Pursues Battery Research at MIT - YouTube They haven't got building an own battery plant yet, since it wouldn't be worth the money for them (yet). They're making only a "few" EVs, and all of them...

Exactly what I wanted to say. I'm just 33 but I'm not sure I will see this utopia.

+1 for the video! Thanks! I don't know... China is just piling up tens of thousands of barrels of oil daily in it's reservoirs with hundreds of millions of barrel capacity.

I like Tesla for what it represents but I have to respectfully disagree with you too :smile: and defend jaguar36's opinion who said: The fact is the current (2016) 7-series is really huge step forward compared to even the previous generation. BMW has put the state of the art technologies into...

I don't want to make you more disappointed but you also forgot to count the charging loss (~10%). :eek: But hey... It's a much bigger, more powerful sedan. If you compare a similar big car with a powerful petrol engine to the Prius, you get even bigger (much bigger) consumption. They are not in...

+1 ;)

If you ever try bookmarks you'll never be the same again! :D

I'm not 100% sure, but in my interpretation Tesla will still be able to offer free charging, but it has to make the new chargers available for everybody "for a reasonable price". Problem with that is these charging stalls will be occupied by somebody all the time, and it makes difficult for...

Are you sure Tesla will be rushing the SC installations (for tens or hundreds of million $) before the Model 3 launch (which sucks up a lot of money too) specially in the light of that promise they will be cash positive from now on???

I'm not sure about that! I mean it's possible but definitely not how you think. I don't know how other car makers perform nowadays, but BMW's still growing beside Tesla. Here's BMW's sales numbers: 2010 : 1,461,166 cars 2011 : 1,668,982 cars 2012 : 1,845,186 cars (when Model S was launched)...

If you drop any electronics into water then drop it again but this time into distilled/deionized water, wash it out and let it dry. If you simply dry it, the dissolved salt in the water precipitates on the circuit and causes a quick oxidation of the metal connections. It doesn't kill it...

It was a shot in the balls for the economy until the entire transport system is not fully electrified. The cargo trucks are going to be the last vehicles that can get green, and it's still decades away. If you punish the freight companies with high taxes on diesel, they have to increase their...

BMW 3 series sales numbers: Calendar yearTotal productionUS...

It does, definitely! But it doesn't save Tesla from the upcoming storms.

The scenario is that Tesla won't have that $7500 federal incentive while others will still have. That $10k difference comes with the incentive, so they don't need to lower their prices that much. And this is really just thought, a possibility that could happen IMO. Even I'm not 100% sure about...

I don't think this would be a problem. And anyway, the prices are already different on the markets. The European cars are more expensive in the US (thanks to the import tax and transport), and vice-versa. E.g. a P90D with all goodies costs €164000 ($184600) in Netherlands and Germany (and most...

I do agree with everything in the previous comments about Lutz, he can't accept that the time has passed over him. But this price war is a real danger IMO. Tesla's federal EV incentive in the US (or whatever it's called) will run out 'soon', while others still have for many cars. When it...

Chris Porritt (Tesla’s vice-president of engineering) has already said: "We’ve got to be cost-effective. We can’t use aluminum for all the components.” So it's gonna be mostly steel. They may use aluminum for some components, but steel is the most cost efficient material in car industry. To Cut...

I don't think (actually I'm pretty sure) it won't have a much lower consumption. Both the chassis and battery will be smaller but the chassis will be steel instead of aluminum. The AWD version will be around 1.8-2 tonnes IMO. And even if it consumes a bit less, the batteries C rate is fixed so...

Tesla has to multiply its service centers (needs 5-10 times more until 2020, minimum) or it has to give it to other 3rd party companies like others do. Otherwise it's gonna end in full chaos. There's about 100000 Teslas on the roads nowadays, and the SCs are already overloaded. By the forum...

Koenigsegg Regera - YouTube

It's the gearbox. The gears and/or bearings make that noise while the tiny metal particles are scratching them.

Listen! I don't want to start a purblind "Tesla vs. anything" kind of fight! All I wanted to point out is that, the autopilot is not unique to Tesla. Yes, one of them is always better than the others, but there are no big differences between them. Actually I (being a kind of geek) find Tesla's...

For smaller city EVs it's probably meaningless to bother with any kind of transmission. But for larger, faster EVs (with a bigger range of speed) it makes sense in my opinion. The transmissions ought to be careless and generally they are. Most other cars (even the high power sport cars) don't...

There are only power and torque curves. The efficiency is not event mentioned there since it cannot be depicted with a single line. It depends on both torque and rpm.

Autopilot? I just mentioned in an other tread, BMW's new 7 series knows Tesla's all AP tricks except auto lane change, but it's not a big deal to catch up with that. Same story with MB's new E class or Audi etc. Autopilot isn't gonna be a crucial feature in the future. All major automakers are...

When we speak about electric motor efficiency it basically means PEAK efficiency. But it's not available in the entire rpm and torque range, and the induction motors are actually worse in this sense. You can see the differences here (slide 16). As the graph shows the induction motors only work...

I would say Tesla will make one of the most advanced self driving cars with several others, but definitely not years ahead of others. BMW's new 7 series knows all autopilot tricks that Model S/X knows except auto lane change, but it's not a big deal to catch up with that. Same story with MB's...

Guys! Have you seen the last video on Seeking Alpha about TM. It's starring Bob Lutz (I know...), but what he says makes sense (in my opinion) and it's really not good! I would like to know what you think about that! I can't give a link to it, since the system filters out my comments, and the...