Financial Times | The battery-powered Tesla two-seater

[dpeilow]

FT.com / Columnists / Test drive - The battery-powered Tesla two-seater

 

[mpt]

I'm never sure that leading on the negatives is wise; all too often that's as far as people read and the hope of ending on a high is lost. It lends a grounded feel to the article for those that do make it to the end though.

Almost completely accurate too.

 

[vfx]

Almost completely accurate too.

I agree.

Nasa should be NASA

 

[doug]

Things that stood out to me:

Using satellite-based communications, every car can be electronically interrogated for faults irrespective of the country in which its owner lives.

Are they really using satellites at this point? Last I heard they were still trying to work out details with the various 3G carriers in Europe. Satellite would certainly solve that problem, though.

... according to Cochrane: “We’re at the beginning of a huge curve. In five years the battery size and weight will be halved and the range doubled.”

Sounds rather optimistic.

Also consider
Sorry, no close rivals

 

[ChargeIt!]

Things that stood out to me:

Are they really using satellites at this point? Last I heard they were still trying to work out details with the various 3G carriers in Europe. Satellite would certainly solve that problem, though.

I believe I heard a technician refer to this feature as "GSM" (what a misnomer! ... at least as far as referring to the function of "remote diagnostics" with a type of communications protocol used in cellular telephone technology ) ... so, yeah, sounds like cell-phone technology to me.

 

[dpeilow]

If you just wanted to do some low bit rate remote diagnostics and not have to worry about where the car was, then a satellite service like Orbcomm's could be ideal.

And it just so happens that a certain LA-based rocket company is launching Orbcomm's next generation fleet.

 

[mpt]

I believe I heard a technician refer to this feature as "GSM" (what a misnomer! ... at least as far as referring to the function of "remote diagnostics" with a type of communications protocol used in cellular telephone technology ) ... so, yeah, sounds like cell-phone technology to me.

It's labeled GSM on the screen in the car; I don't know what carrier they use in the US but I'd install GSM so that it works everywhere. Serial port to GSM GPRS interfaces are the size of a thumbnail and cost cents these days, well dollars but still; cheap as chips. The carriers offer great plans for large scale deployment of mainly dormant devices.

Oddly, BMW assist in NA is on Verizon Wireless; that's CDMA not GSM so I'm guessing that the service plan is more expensive than the hardware. CDMA is a different mobile technology than GSM; different radios, frequencies and protocols so not a simple change but Qualcomm does do dual protocol chips... Am I going OT here?

 

[vfx]

Found a 1X3x3 white box glued inside the upper right front fender. Among other words it had the word "satellite" on it.

 

[doug]

Found a 1X3x3 white box glued inside the upper right front fender. Among other words it had the word "satellite" on it.

Probably for your audio system. So far Tesla hasn't said anything about a data up-link for 2008MY cars.

 

[Brian H]

The real bottom line

FT.com / Columnists / Test drive - The battery-powered Tesla two-seater

The final words of the FT article:

Also consider
Sorry, no close rivals

 

[BBHighway]

THe first negative is that it is the same size as the Elise but costs more?

Kind of meaningless if yu ask me. So, if a Ferrari is the same size as a Chrysler, does that mean it shouldn't cost more?