Elon Musk on Fox Business News 9/12/13

[vfx]

.... But the non-stop hype machine at Tesla is really growing tiresome...
.

Yet at the same time car magazines get faster 0-60 times than Tesla publishes. They have been delivering cars weeks early to new customers and have been fixing problems in owners cars that come up even though they are not covered by warranties.


Broad generalization.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

OK, I guess you are right. It does feel like cheating, but you have a point, it's not something a normal owner would consider "charging time" - when compared to having to stop and charge on a trip.

Actually I believe he's said he'll only be charging at Superchargers.

Reasons he should be able to achieve it:
- he's driving from west to east, which should mean prevailing tailwinds.
- he'll be driving at the speed limit (because people are watching, you know).
- his car will secretly charge to full at 120kW, which by coincidence all of the chargers will support (although faster charging on "long distance" routes makes sense).
- his car will include some currently super-secret improvements including firmware 6.0, new more-efficient devices, a lighter 90kWh battery, and a range-extender in the frunk.

 

[Enadler]

I agree that it is very difficult to predict timing on these things. That is why I have an issue with Elon making statements about this. Originally he said that the trip would be at the end of the year. As you say it is very difficult to predict timing so I would have much preferred that he state that once the network is sufficiently complete he will be making this trip. By putting a timeframe on it as he did with the Summer Superchargers he just sets up failure, unless of course he has a sufficient level of certainty that the events he states will happen.

What I would truly love for him to say is that he will be taking this trip with his kids within 6 months and then beat his statement. I truly believe he needs to learn to under promise and over deliver when it comes to timelines. So far he has developed a track record of missing too many.

I'm grateful he didn't put a timeframe on it.
Every individual supercharger requires working with a seperate city and/or business to get the space/land, city planners and numerous permits.
The potential delays prevent a date from being set for any one of the stations much less a whole string of them.

 

[Zythryn]

I agree that it is very difficult to predict timing on these things. That is why I have an issue with Elon making statements about this. Originally he said that the trip would be at the end of the year. As you say it is very difficult to predict timing so I would have much preferred that he state that once the network is sufficiently complete he will be making this trip. By putting a timeframe on it as he did with the Summer Superchargers he just sets up failure, unless of course he has a sufficient level of certainty that the events he states will happen.

What I would truly love for him to say is that he will be taking this trip with his kids within 6 months and then beat his statement. I truly believe he needs to learn to under promise and over deliver when it comes to timelines. So far he has developed a track record of missing too many.

So you are critical of offering hard deadlines, and then want him to give a 6 month deadline??

He is going to make the trip, and has announced such. He isn't giving a hard date, which seems to answer your first concern.
Since your second statement contradicts your first one, I don't believe anyone could satisfy both

 

[Enadler]

Actually you misunderstand... I would let him to set an date that he can easily meet or beat. This would allow his statements to regain some semblance of credibility but more importantly it would allow owners to better plan their own travel. What I am critical of is setting expectations with no regard for fulfilling those expectations. I like everyone else is still waiting for him to build out the superchargers he announced would be ready by the end of June. If you hadn't noticed it is now mid-September and we are still waiting.

So you are critical of offering hard deadlines, and then want him to give a 6 month deadline??

He is going to make the trip, and has announced such. He isn't giving a hard date, which seems to answer your first concern.
Since your second statement contradicts your first one, I don't believe anyone could satisfy both

 

[roblab]

Whenever our backup generators need repair (12 cyl diesels), they rent a huge semi that backs up to the hospital and they pull out a 4 inch cord with a humongous plug on the end, and plug us in.

I would laugh if Elon comes up to a rest stop and there's a standard supercharger site sitting there that Tesla had dropped off a trailer a few hours earlier. All that empty space in the middle of the map could be negotiated with aplomb. Could even be powered by a small truck with a ton of batteries on board that would dump into the Elon-mobile.

Yeah, not fair. Cheating.

Sorry. I don't feel like demanding that Elon come up with a route, a schedule, a reason why he said 9 hours of charging. He is pushing the edge of the envelope, and if the superchargers aren't there, they WILL be soon. I suspect they will be there. I guess that makes me a cheerleader, but we cheerleaders have watched long enough to know. Those who don't cheer will eventually catch on. Elon makes pushes, the gap widens, fantasy becomes reality, the paradigm shifts.

 

[texex91]

He claimed only 9h of charging. Even with 120kW supercharger that is more or less impossible to do (given the taper).
Sadly there is a common tendency at Tesla to overhype things and to be overly aggressive. Whether it's the 5.4 rating in the safety test, the Supercharger Summer 2013 (and frankly, Fall 2013) rollout, the delivery dates outside of the US,... the list goes on.
This trip is just another piece of that mosaic. I love my car. More than I am willing to admit outside of this forum (friends and coworkers already think I'm weird given how much I talk about my car). But the non-stop hype machine at Tesla is really growing tiresome...

PS: go ahead, give me negative reputation feedback... as happens almost every time I post something even remotely not cheerleader-happy about the company or Elon...

No need for negative feedback--you make some valid points.

The one thing to keep in mind is Tesla does zippo paid advertising (don't need to when owners like you admitted do nothing but talk about it), so these news interviews, etc are free advertising and PR for Tesla, which I think is a good thing. Yep, they certainly cannot be exact on everything, but at least they are aggressive and trying to make things happen.

The more Tesla's we can get on the road and sold, the better off for all of us long term. So the so called 'hype-machine' needs to keep cranking in my book. Just my .02--it's not worth much :smile:

 

[dirkhh]

No need for negative feedback--you make some valid points.

The one thing to keep in mind is Tesla does zippo paid advertising (don't need to when owners like you admitted do nothing but talk about it), so these news interviews, etc are free advertising and PR for Tesla, which I think is a good thing. Yep, they certainly cannot be exact on everything, but at least they are aggressive and trying to make things happen.

The more Tesla's we can get on the road and sold, the better off for all of us long term. So the so called 'hype-machine' needs to keep cranking in my book. Just my .02--it's not worth much :smile:

I completely agree. I'm sure that every owner sells a hand full of additional cars over time - at this point three friends of mine are looking into it, one is about to finalize an order...
So I get the whole free advertising angle and I understand that Elon is playing the press for free publicity. I just worry about this going negative at some point.

 

[texex91]

I completely agree. I'm sure that every owner sells a hand full of additional cars over time - at this point three friends of mine are looking into it, one is about to finalize an order...
So I get the whole free advertising angle and I understand that Elon is playing the press for free publicity. I just worry about this going negative at some point.

Excellent--keep selling them!

I can tell you when it will go negative, if they don't hit or exceed their financial and unit targets for the year. But, I'm confident that if each of us can sell 3-5 cars each by showing it, we'll be in good shape