Elon "About to end range anxiety"

[JerryNycom]

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S will go farther on a charge!

Just read this article that Musk says Thursday they will announce that ALL Model S's will get a software update for more range! What? Anyone? Here we go!

Heres the link:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/15/autos/elon-musk-tesla/

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Here is the Tweet:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/577100755427061760

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S will go farther on a charge!

There's a thread for that:

Elon "About to end range anxiety"

 

[Todd Burch]

Hey folks, not sure how this didn't get in the conversation yet, but:

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S will go farther on a charge - Mar. 15, 2015

If you believe this article (none of us here is stupid enough to believe articles, but...), notice the caption under the video:
"Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted Sunday that the Model S electric sedan is about to travel farther on a single charge."

That implies that perhaps microsleep or adjustment to the upper/lower "unusable" area on the battery is about to change. The tangled web gets...well...tangled-er.

 

[dirkhh]

Hey folks, not sure how this didn't get in the conversation yet, but:

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S will go farther on a charge - Mar. 15, 2015

If you believe this article (none of us here is stupid enough to believe articles, but...), notice the caption under the video:
"Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted Sunday that the Model S electric sedan is about to travel farther on a single charge."

That implies that perhaps microsleep or adjustment to the upper/lower "unusable" area on the battery is about to change. The tangled web gets...well...tangled-er.

Umm. It's CNN. Which means it's not exactly based on facts or reality.
According to this article, Tesla changed the Roadster with an OTA update to have 400 miles of range. I'm sure there are a couple of Roadster owners here who somehow missed out on that update.
What CNN is writing is as much based on facts as our glorious set of 260+ posts here

 

[MSEV]

Ok, so mine is on the way. It got better while in transit (once the upgrade is installed), which will probably happen at the ServC before it gets to me. Tesla really impresses me--the car got better on its way to me. There are indications that it is faster than stated also (see the 4.33 0-60 85D thread elsewhere on this forum). Amazing company, amazing car. Never have I had this kind of experience with a purchase, never have I bought a car and enjoyed the process of getting it so much. How will I feel when I own it and get to drive it?

 

[mikeash]

Sounds like CNN would be a good market for Jump to Conclusions mats.

Elon says an update will end range anxiety, so CNN just assumes it means it must be increased range? Think before you write! Oh wait, it's CNN.

 

[breser]

My predictions.

• Public announcement of the 6.1 nav improvements including the trip tab on the energy app. Probably with more improvements coming like routing through chargers. This isn't the first time that Tesla has announced something we already have. People were already getting cars with Autopilot hardware before it was announced. Granted most of the features of autopilot weren't available on those early cars.
• Announcement of new colors (Ocean Blue, Titanium, and maybe Obsidian Black). (See also the update to the Android App from Yesterday)
• Announcement of a solar charging roof, doesn't add a lot of power but some. (speculation based on the android app saying new roof style)
  

These sorts of announcements aren't for our benefit (as others have already pointed out in this thread) but are for the general public. Tesla wants to draw more attention to the 6.1 nav improvements (and possibly some future ones still coming) than has been received already. What better way to do that than have Elon tweet something and then have a week of speculation and then everyone watching when they do the announcement. Articles will be written. New people will see it and more demand will be driven to help fill the 50% increase in production this year. In short this is Tesla's marketing plan.

 

[hiroshiy]

Just for additional information, nav isn't available in Japan and China. PlugShare also doesn't have correct data here (do they work in Europe?). As a global company I would hope Tesla invest in technologies and relationships that work globally.

Current Model S doesn't even have a good IME (a software to input CJK languages) so Map is essentially viewing only. No searching no navigation with outdated CHAdeMO charger information.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

@Todd Burch, I think you are going to bag this as you called it first: this increasingly looks like microsleep to me, even with a single motor.

 

[Todd Burch]

Umm. It's CNN. Which means it's not exactly based on facts or reality.
According to this article, Tesla changed the Roadster with an OTA update to have 400 miles of range. I'm sure there are a couple of Roadster owners here who somehow missed out on that update.
What CNN is writing is as much based on facts as our glorious set of 260+ posts here

Haha, not to mention the fact (now that I've actually read the article now) that the statement "will go further on a charge" was merely a conclusion drawn from Elon's original tweet that we're already discussing.

Further confirming the uselessness of the media.

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@Todd Burch, I think you are going to bag this as you called it first: this increasingly looks like microsleep to me, even with a single motor.

Nah...take a look at that article. Looking like the caption was a conclusion drawn from Musk's tweet...which is completely wrong, at best!

 

[RubberToe]

Agree completely. The only thing that makes sense is an extremely accurate range estimator. I also think we *might* se an energy conservation mode, where the car does everything in it's power to reach the destination, including limiting acceleration, limiting heating/cooling, giving recommendations to the driver about driving slower and suggesting alternative lower-speed routes, if the car isn't comfortable with the range margin. And autorouting via superchargers and chargers you have used previously, possibly also some Tesla-certified chargers.

My first thought was unlocking more of the battery and making it available for driving. The idea being that their battery testing is maybe showing that they were overly conservative in initially setting the limits,
and can now free up some of it for use.

After reading through the entire thread, I'm more inclined to agree with the quote here. No one has mentioned that Tesla gets reams of diagnostic data from the cars on the road. What Tesla really has is a network of beta testers whose cars report back on every trip they make, including how much energy was used, how much battery was left, temperature, etc. When you get enough cars reporting that kind of information back, pretty soon you know nearly *exactly* how any given car will perform on any given route. That leads directly to an extremely accurate range estimator.

My third choice is SBUX partnership for HPWC installation, possibly some other retailer with a large geographic footprint and a CEO with a vision that matches Elon's (Ok, 10% of Elon's vision...)

RT

 

[drinkerofkoolaid]

Could this update raise the maximum range to around 500 miles? Remember Elon's comment from last year?

 

[jerry33]

Would be quite the neat trick if Tesla figured out a way to change your tires via an OTA update.

Strictly speaking an over the air update could be tires delivered by air freight

 

[Jack]

The CNN article specifically states range extension, and cites a previous article regarding a 400 mile battery pack upgrade: Tesla set to upgrade range of original Roadster to 400 miles - Dec. 26, 2014 .

At the plant last year, I heard rumors of a 450 battery pack upgrade about this time frame - i suspect that is what might be announced if the above is accurate.

 

[Saghost]

Hey folks, not sure how this didn't get in the conversation yet, but:

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S will go farther on a charge - Mar. 15, 2015

If you believe this article (none of us here is stupid enough to believe articles, but...), notice the caption under the video:
"Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted Sunday that the Model S electric sedan is about to travel farther on a single charge."

That implies that perhaps microsleep or adjustment to the upper/lower "unusable" area on the battery is about to change. The tangled web gets...well...tangled-er.

It looks to me like CNN is just citing the same tweet we've been working with, and has put their own interpretation on what that means (longer range.) I didn't see any new material there, or any reason to believe that the "solution to range anxiety" is more range.
Walter

 

[dirkhh]

Strictly speaking an over the air update could be tires delivered by air freight

:gigglefit:

 

[Mario Kadastik]

Everyone, please keep in mind a few things:

* OTA update, so forget all hardware upgrades like tires, battery swap or what not
* it affects the whole fleet. So giving free supercharging doesn't do that as 90+% already have it...
* if the whole fleet then it has to be US, EU and Asia. So forget plugshare as it's useless outside US.

It can only be a software tune. Either some algo change so that you get some extra range, but it's unlikely as on a long constant drive I doubt the engine could microsleep on RWD cars as the air-resistance and rolling resistance are pretty much constant.

So it mostly comes down to better navigation and trip planning with routing to chargers. However the question remains on how that works with non-tech cars...

 

[Thud]

The CNN article specifically states range extension, and cites a previous article regarding a 400 mile battery pack upgrade: Tesla set to upgrade range of original Roadster to 400 miles - Dec. 26, 2014 .

At the plant last year, I heard rumors of a 450 battery pack upgrade about this time frame - i suspect that is what might be announced if the above is accurate.

That CNN article is crap. It's just an assumption based on no more information than what we have. I predicted there might be some sort of a range boost, but I'm talking like 10 miles or something (though I admit that by itself wouldn't get rid of range anxiety)

 

[Madartist]

FWIW, I attended the dual-motor insanity event in Denver this morning. At the tech talk, the speaker let slip that Supercharger-integrated nav is coming real soon now. His example was someone in Denver entering SF as their destination, then being routed there through SCs, including estimated charge times at each stop.

So I'd think that's a large part of this announcement.

I really like this idea. It will certainly make demonstrating long distance travel much easier. This can certainly be rolled out via OTA. OTOH, many on this forum will point out that it does not "affect the entire fleet" because not all cars have SuperCharging capabilities. Of course, if Tesla takes this a step further and incorporate altitude, temperature, wind, and PlugShare data into the algorithm, it could be a game changer which removes a large lingering doubt in many people's minds prior to buying a Model S. :smile:

 

[MSMX2014]

I'm thinking it's one of two things, either Elon is grasping at straws trying to come up with something to turn around/prevent a nose dive in market sentiment or this is something much bigger than a software update. In the first scenario, it feels like just about anything that could be achieved with software, like integration with plugshare, risks falling short and causing this to go down as a huge overstatement, an overstatement in two ways. first off, I don't feel that range anxiety is really an issue on a day to day basis with the S, even at the 50% charge setting, so saying it's a big deal now feels like an overstatement, though some range anxiety still occurs from time to time. secondly, anyone with a smartphone already has the anxiety cure that integration with plugshare would offer... I just can't imagine any kind of software update making much of a difference over what we already have.

Cautious pessimism leads me to wonder if this is something much bigger than a software update. a truly ground breaking announcement, IMHO, that would virtually eliminate range anxiety needs to be something substantial. a big piece of range anxiety isn't just being worried that you are going to get stranded on the road, but that you are going to be faced with long waiting times to recharge, calling family to say you will be late, etc. Even Super Charging eats up time with transitions (getting off the highway, parking, plugging in, finding a place to go while charging, monitoring progress, etc). What would really be the cure? the real cure in my mind would be something that would virtually eliminate the need to stop on long distance trips, something on the order of magnitude of a consumable aluminum air battery that would fill the frunk, perhaps every S has the wiring for the addition of such a battery and only needs a software update to enable the feature. In any case, if Tesla announces a way to nearly double the range of the S, making it possible to drive all day long without thinking about stopping for a charge, that would put the final nail in the coffin of range anxiety in my book and truly be revolutionary. sadly I am prepared to be underwhelmed but would be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong.

This is what I want to hear on Thursday, "...a consumable aluminum air battery that would fill the frunk, perhaps every S has the wiring for the addition of such a battery and only needs a software update to enable the feature..."