LED Headlights Are A Must

[ratsbew]

I'd prefer them to be standard, but LED headlights (low and high beam) are an absolute must have option in my opinion. I nearly bought a VW e-Golf simply because I loved the LED headlights.

I'm surprised that the Model S doesn't have them and I'll be very surprised if Model X doesn't.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[ecarfan]

Why are they a "must" for you? The current Model S headlights are very good.
I suggest you consider all the features of the car instead of focusing on one minor aspect. You seem to imply that you will not purchase a Tesla unless LED headlights are available. Is that your position?

 

[ratsbew]

It's not that I wouldn't purchase it, it's that I would expect a clean sheet design of 2018 model year to have this feature.

 

[purplewalt]

Nice to have option maybe.
Not a "must have" option.
Biggest hurdle is to maintain the $35K price, maybe not get all the goodies into that clean sheet design.

 

[Mr X]

As long as a car doesn't have halogens its good.


LED headlights would be nice but really wouldn't be any different from the Xenons except they'd look cooler.

 

[ratsbew]

BMW has laser headlights on the European version of the i8...that's a step above LED in the cool factor.

 

[ecarfan]

It's not that I wouldn't purchase it, it's that I would expect a clean sheet design of 2018 model year to have this feature.

Okay I see. Sorry, reading the forum using Tapatalk on my iPad and didn't notice that you were referring to the Model 3. Correct?
I suspect that LED headlights will be an option on the Model 3, not standard. No doubt they are coming to the Model S in a year or two. But it remains to be seen if they will be better than Xenons in terms of illumination. They will use less energy and last longer, I assume.

 

[eye.surgeon]

$3,000 headlights are cool until you have a 5 mph fender bender in a parking lot. And insurance companies increase rates on cars with expensive headlights.

 

[DFibRL8R]

$3,000 headlights are cool until you have a 5 mph fender bender in a parking lot. And insurance companies increase rates on cars with expensive headlights.

Personally I prefer the improvement in illumination achieved with diamond headlights
W Motors: The world's first Arab supercar manufacturer - CNN.com

 

[ratsbew]

$3,000 headlights are cool until you have a 5 mph fender bender in a parking lot. And insurance companies increase rates on cars with expensive headlights.

The new Toyota Corolla has standard LED low beams (not DRL). The tech isn't very expensive. A high output LED is like $5 and the optics/heatsinking aren't that fancy either compared to Xenon. The great thing about LED is that the LED is such a small point-source of light that the optics can be highly refined to cast the beam exactly as you want.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

just swap out the HID's or Halogens for the LMZ LED Headlights -- High Performance LED Car Lighting, Light Bulbs, LED Headlights, Taillights, Turn Signals, and Brake Lights

 

[Twiglett]

My Leaf has led low beams which work really well.
I thought they weren't standard on the bottom range Leaf, so I'm assuming they could be cost prohibitive on a base model.

 

[Rashomon]

LED lights are now a no-brainer

I'd prefer them to be standard, but LED headlights (low and high beam) are an absolute must have option in my opinion. I nearly bought a VW e-Golf simply because I loved the LED headlights.

I'm surprised that the Model S doesn't have them and I'll be very surprised if Model X doesn't.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Solid-state headlights (LED or laser) will be standard on almost all newly introduced cars by 2018, and will be on the Model 3 for energy efficiency, if nothing else. The reason is rapidly falling costs. I started looking at LED lights for vehicle programs I was leading in 2007 -- there was about a 4x to 6x cost penalty at the time when compared to incandescent, and that was for small volume lights. If also took 5 LED lighting engines (multiple LEDs, typically 5, mounted on a substrate) per light to max out the FMVSS lighting standard. Technology improvements mean that you can do it today with just 2 engines, and there are some companies out there (Soraa) who could do it with just two LEDs. The costs have fallen to about a 1.5x to 2x penalty, and are still dropping.

As to why the Model S doesn't have them, that's easy. Costs, and when the Model S was being designed, Tesla had no leverage with suppliers whatsoever. Delphi and Osram, two of the leaders in LED lights, almost certainly wouldn't have bothered with them, and the smaller suppliers who tended to truck and motorcycle markets with customarily smaller volumes were very expensive. Custom LED lights at that time were out of their reach.

In general, I think few people on this forum appreciate what heavy lifting Tesla had to do to break out to the point where world-class auto suppliers would actually take them seriously . . .

 

[thegruf]

LEDs are great until one device fails, then they look stupid and cost a fortune to replace as no manufacturer ever gives a stuff about repair/component replacement, it's the whole unit or else

Like everyone else absolutely I prefer them but there is something to be said for the $1 filament lamp or the $10 Xenon.

 

[SuperOmega]

LED lights are now a no-brainer

Solid-state headlights (LED or laser) will be standard on almost all newly introduced cars by 2018, and will be on the Model 3 for energy efficiency, if nothing else. The reason is rapidly falling costs. I started looking at LED lights for vehicle programs I was leading in 2007 -- there was about a 4x to 6x cost penalty at the time when compared to incandescent, and that was for small volume lights. If also took 5 LED lighting engines (multiple LEDs, typically 5, mounted on a substrate) per light to max out the FMVSS lighting standard. Technology improvements mean that you can do it today with just 2 engines, and there are some companies out there (Soraa) who could do it with just two LEDs. The costs have fallen to about a 1.5x to 2x penalty, and are still dropping.

As to why the Model S doesn't have them, that's easy. Costs, and when the Model S was being designed, Tesla had no leverage with suppliers whatsoever. Delphi and Osram, two of the leaders in LED lights, almost certainly wouldn't have bothered with them, and the smaller suppliers who tended to truck and motorcycle markets with customarily smaller volumes were very expensive. Custom LED lights at that time were out of their reach.

In general, I think few people on this forum appreciate what heavy lifting Tesla had to do to break out to the point where world-class auto suppliers would actually take them seriously . . .

Groovy. Very Groovy. It's been a little bit over a year since this post. Any new news on this front?

 

[Firewired]

Yes. The Model S now comes with LED headlights.

 

[jkk_]

No headlight washers though

So much slush etc during spring and fall that they would be quite useful.

 

[JeffK]

No headlight washers though

So much slush etc during spring and fall that they would be quite useful.

It's still nice having a car where I don't need as much elbow grease and have to keep changing the headlight fluid all the time...

 

[Warrentt]

I'm pretty sure the Model 3 have the LED DRL. I would hope the Model 3 does have LED low beam at least. The cost is minimal now for Tesla to put that as a standard feature.

 

[Jayc]

I'm quite certain DRLs and low beam will be LED on model 3. High beam LED would be good but I'm okay without as it gets little use - at least in my case.