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I'm not so sure there is a big difference in performance. I think traction control on EVs is certainly easier to implement (since you can directly control torque generation), but ICE cars also have many levers they can use besides just the throttle (brake force, fuel injection for individual...

Be that as it may, since the camera is apparently not functional yet, there's no harm in covering it if it makes you feel better. I'd like to hear from Tesla what they are planning to use it for though. Longer term, one potential concern I can think of is that captured footage from the camera...

Uhm, ICE cars have traction control too. They are not hard to launch these days. I haven't driven an RS3, but I'm sure it's a lot of fun. For one thing, it's probably more tossable than the Model 3 since it's smaller and a lot lighter. Just test drive both to make up your own mind. BTW, since...

Well, even Zuckerberg covers his laptop camera and he should know. :p If you are concerned about it, perhaps use one of those sliding webcam covers?

This is really strange. They do invitation-only test drives of the performance model at the Tesla HQ in Palo Alto as well, which is obviously much closer for you. It's a great location too, since there are some winding roads with little traffic as well as an easily accessible freeway closeby...

The guy is probably legit, but I would still not make a payment without having seen the car first, simply because you'd lose all leverage in case the car has significant paint flaws or similar. It should be possible to hand over a cashiers check when the car is delivered.

It's a question of personal priorities, but honestly I'd be surprised if they didn't make EAP more accessible once they are done "milking" the early adopters. A driver assistance package for $5k on a $35k car doesn't seem appropriate. Perhaps they'll unbundle individual features, offer...

No, it's just another blogger who has no idea what he is talking about. The potentially novel aspects of the Audi are (1) the degree of regen that it can apparently achieve (0.3g for such a heavy vehicle would indeed be impressive if true) and (2) that they appear to use a new kind of blended...

Interesting. The guy in the video claims that regen braking can decelerate the car at up to 0.3g, which seems high (same as the Model 3 P with track mode). They also appear to have a new kind of blended braking system.

I think it doesn't necessarily mean that the 330e has worse emissions. It's just that BMW hasn't done the certification for whatever reason. Perhaps they don't think it's worth the effort since the next generation of the 3 series is about to enter the market.

I think a lot of that has to do with the huge success of the Toyota Prius, which was the first "green" car that managed to enter the mainstream and seemed to prove that the target audience preferred odd looks. Perhaps to prevent rain water from entering while charging from a regular J1772 plug...

Are the climate settings stored in driver profiles? If yes, you could set up a "fan only" profile with temp set to 60 and A/C off, and then easily switch without fiddling with the temperature controls. I think part of the reason why almost all cars have an A/C button is that it sometimes makes...

The Volt is a great commuter car, but if I was buying an ICE car on top of existing EVs I'd also want to be able to use it as a road trip vehicle, which the Volt isn't great at because of the cramped interior, small cargo space and somewhat underpowered engine. It's really not comparable to the...

Honestly, as interesting as these videos are to look at for laymen like us, the motors are probably about the least interesting part of EV manufacturing (which is probably why they are sharing these videos freely). The production techniques must be very mature since electric motors have...

See here (near the top of the list): Why don’t I see my vehicle on the eligibility list?

With the current technologies the batteries required to achieve several hundred miles of range unfortunately weigh more than a 4-cylinder engine plus gas. E.g. the 530e is about the size of a Model S, but weighs about 400lbs less even including its smaller hybrid battery.

Agree with that. Apart from that, plug-in hybrids can be a good solution if you have a short commute (and/or workplace charging), so you can drive electric for most of the daily errants while having the engine for longer-range travel. Overall efficiency will be much better than the ICE version...

When I did a test drive earlier this year I found the road noise definitely louder than other cars in this price class, more in line with inexpensive economy cars a la Honda Civic (and no, it's not because I'm used to ICE cars; my main commuter car is a plugin hybrid that I drive almost...

If you watch the Autogefuehl video it's kind of there (they show a 3D rendering of the car on the center screen at some point, which has normal paint ;)). I love the interior. Apparently it has the same screen layout as the Audi A8, which is excellent (love the haptic feedback on the A8 touch...

Honestly I don't understand what "full self-driving features" is supposed to mean. Either the car can fully drive by itself or it can't. Note that Tesla's web site mentions "park seek mode" (i.e. driving without any driver being in the car) and car sharing, which also requires that the car can...

What model are you referring to? Our Audi does not "ping-pong". It works just as well as Autopilot did on my test drive (I only ever use it on freeways though). Our car definitely has side collison warning (I believe it even takes some precautions such as tightening the seat belts and closing...

The "Traffic Jam Assist" yes. But this actually offers more autonomy than the Tesla, as Audi specifically says the driver does not need to constantly monitor the car while it is in this mode. At higher speeds you still have active cruise control with stop&go and lane keep assists, which is very...

I tried EAP during my test drive with a colleague's Model 3. It worked well on a congested Bay Area freeway in stop-and-go traffic as well as a short trip outside in a less busy area. That said, I didn't see anything that was significantly better than the driver assist in one of our current cars...

If you read the original article it's specifically about US deposits only. I'm somewhat concerned that the trend may grow once the federal tax credit starts phasing out. Alternatively, Tesla may have to lower prices to compensate which will reduce their profit margins The cancellations may also...

Looks like your gas and electricity prices are extremely favorable for EV driving. In USD your prices are about $4.40/gallon and 5 cents/kWh. Here in the SF Bay Area, gas is cheaper and electricity much more expensive ($3.60/gallon and 20 cents or more per kWh). I think I should move to Canada. ;)

No, that's on a Model S. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. I just assumed that the 3 uses the same player software.

Are these purchased files or did you make them yourselves? Purchased audiobooks from iTunes have DRM and cannot be played using the Tesla player. If they do not have DRM, they are just standard AAC files in an MP4 container and should theoretically work (and the fact that you can see the covers...

Uhm, the car should just stop before the HV battery charge is so low that any component needs to be "sacrificed". Also, it should start charging the 12V battery much earlier of course.

While it is good that Tesla replaced the 12V battery free of charge, it shouldn't be possible to completely drain the battery in the first place, even when doing a mileage run. Isn't the car able to charge the 12V battery from the high-voltage battery while driving?

The AWD is also expected to have stronger regenerative braking, which may make up for the increased weight. It's all speculation at this point, but I think the real world range will be very similar overall.

Why do people on this forum feel the need to say that people who e.g. may not want to spend $50,000 on a car, make frequent long-range trips, or don't have a place to charge at home "just don't get it" or are "clueless"? It's great to enjoy our EVs, but nobody should have any illusions that they...

If digital cameras cost twice of what comparable film cameras cost, could only take 10 pictures and then require 45 minutes to install a new memory card they wouldn't have caught on that fast. ;) Seriously, you're completely right that EVs can work very well in many situations, but it would be...

No, but I wouldn't buy a house with a crappy interior in a good neighborhood either. ;) I agree that the 3 is fun to drive (I actually did a test drive in a colleague's car), but for that kind of money a want a well-rounded vehicle that doesn't cheap out on anything. I was also underwhelmed by...

I had the same experience when I first sat in a Model 3. The interior felt cheap to me and nowhere near what other cars in the $50k+ price class offer. For me it was one of the main reasons why I cancelled my reservation. I hope they'll put a little more effort into the interior of the Model Y.

Do NOT let Autopilot "drive freely". It cannot be trusted in its current state. See e.g. this new video:

You're right regarding the radio propagation characteristics of mmWave spectrum, but this isn't the only range where 5G NR (New Radio) can be used. There are also a number of bands in the sub-6 GHz range. They will also benefit from the latency improvements and efficiency gains of NR. See: 5G...

I think the Model 3's interior is primarily the way it is due to the need to cut cost. The battery is probably almost as expensive as the ones in the low-end Model S, so they had to cut cost elsewhere to bring the price down. It's most obvious in the interior, but also a few other things such as...

This is speculative at this point. Electify America primarily uses CCS, and it is not clear yet if and how Tesla can make their cars compatible. It may not be possible to make a simple adapter since the fast (150kW+) CCS chargers will use liquid cooled cables. While EA also plans to have some...

There will be several fast charging networks by the time these vehicles come to market, the largest being Ionity in Europe and Electrify America in the US. I just wish Tesla would offer some way to make their cars CCS compatible ...

Most cars restrict access to more complicated interactions on the screen while the vehicle is moving. Tesla, for whatever reason, is one of the few exceptions. It's a lot different. For one, physical buttons don't move, while the UI elements on a screen constantly change. This means you cannot...

I actually had some issues with my everyday progressives when I did my test drive. The reason is that the lenses have slightly blurry fields on the lower left and right (see this illustration: http://www.jonathanlenardopticians.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/progressive-lens-design.jpg), so when...

Disagree. This is a Golf-like design, which is very popular outside the US. To be honest, the Model 3 with its snout and Ikea interior is more of a weird-mobile than this in my eyes. They buy batteries from multiple suppliers in huge quantities, so they are likely getting heavy discounts...

Nope. They primarily support CCS, which Teslas cannot use. They'll also have limited support for CHAdeMO (which the Model 3 may be able to use if Tesla update their adapter to support the 3), but only on a subset of the stalls and limited to 50kW.

This is not a "weirdmobile". It looks very much like the Golf, which is one of the world's bestselling cars. Assuming it's a hatchback, it's more practical than a Model 3. One VW manager also stated that they are planning to sell the car for about $8000 less than the Model 3 costs. I think this...

Given how many different phones and OS versions are out there, I doubt that Tesla will ever be able to get this working perfectly with all phones. It doesn't seem feasible to test and validate the system for all possible combinations. Offering a BLE fob as a fallback solution that is guaranteed...

For a new car (any car, not just Tesla) I'd make sure to drive at least for a few hours before going on a long trip to see if there are any issues. In the worst case you may end up stranded in the middle of nowhere far from the next service center.

Well, I don't think it's only about the nesting depth, but also how busy the menu is. The more items are on screen the more time is required to find what you are looking for, and the more distracted the driver. Some of the menus are pretty full.

Talk about over-engineering. What's so hard about swapping the year sticker once a year? (tip: heat up the license plate; makes it very easy to pull off the old sticker in one piece). Back to topic: Please, California, let us apply the HOV stickers to the plates or the inside of the windows in...

Most cars restrict access to deeper menus while the vehicle is moving. I think this is a good idea and Tesla should do it too (perhaps in a relaxed form when autopilot is active). Fumbling around in the menus isn't much different from playing around with a phone, and we know where this can lead...

I am rather thinking about people who have no experience with Tesla and read things like this on their web page, not being aware that half of these things don't work yet: "Enhanced Autopilot adds these new capabilities to the Tesla Autopilot driving experience. Your Tesla will match speed to...