Mary Barra, what is going through your mind right now?

[McRat]

...

* Well, except for V8 gearhead performance car nuts. Those guys believe the exact opposite. They believe that the lower the MPG, the better. ...​

Not all. Chevy certainly does not believe that.

Their 460 HP V8 car gets 29 mpg highway today.

Due to changes in SAE specifications, this is roughly 550 HP worth of 1968 Horsepower, or 20% different. It's still a pushrod small block V8 with 2 valves per cylinder. Amazing from an engineering perspective.

 

[Drivin]

And if you wonder if that's really true, there's a forum member here on TMC that would say YES!
Tesla dismantles Roadster for owner’s repair just before warranty expires

Wrong example

We are talking about a car being taken apart and put back together during the $600 maintenance visit

There is nothing unusual about a warrantee repair needing that. Doing that for a yearly visit to look for rust and other issues while also refilling the wiper fluid is different.

 

[bonnie]

Wrong example

We are talking about a car being taken apart and put back together during the $600 maintenance visit

There is nothing unusual about a warrantee repair needing that. Doing that for a yearly visit to look for rust and other issues while also refilling the wiper fluid is different.

Read the article again. The warranty repair occurred only because the Tesla tech took the car apart during an annual service check & then saw the hairline crack.

 

[Drivin]

Read the article again. The warranty repair occurred only because the Tesla tech took the car apart during an annual service check & then saw the hairline crack.

Nowhere did they say that they took the car apart.

DId you link to the wrong article or do you automatically equate going above and beyond as "taking a car apart" and stating that as a fact?

 

[bonnie]

Nowhere did they say that they took the car apart.

DId you link to the wrong article or do you automatically equate going above and beyond as "taking a car apart" and stating that as a fact?

Oh stop. If you're looking for a fight, you're in the wrong place.

 

[Drivin]

Oh stop. If you're looking for a fight, you're in the wrong place.

Say what?

Just looking for the truth, not lies or hype. If you don't like that and feel that is a fight, I can't help you.

 

[bonnie]

Someone needs to switch to decaf.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Nowhere did they say that they took the car apart.

DId you link to the wrong article or do you automatically equate going above and beyond as "taking a car apart" and stating that as a fact?

The article has a quote from the owner:
"My Roadster's within a few hundred miles of going out of warranty, so I took it in for its 36K maintainence. Since the warranty was almost done, my local Ranger decided to go above and beyond and look for any possible problems with the car. In addition to more normal things, he found a tiny crack in a weld in the subframe.
He told me that if the crack got bigger and the weld broke that the car would start making a clicking noise. While he could have done nothing or just redone the weld, Tesla's policy is to replace stuff if its at all wrong. So, he decided to replace the entire subframe assembly. This requires removing the entire back half of the car."

 

[bonnie]

The article has a quote from the owner:
"My Roadster's within a few hundred miles of going out of warranty, so I took it in for its 36K maintainence. Since the warranty was almost done, my local Ranger decided to go above and beyond and look for any possible problems with the car. In addition to more normal things, he found a tiny crack in a weld in the subframe.
He told me that if the crack got bigger and the weld broke that the car would start making a clicking noise. While he could have done nothing or just redone the weld, Tesla's policy is to replace stuff if its at all wrong. So, he decided to replace the entire subframe assembly. This requires removing the entire back half of the car."

Oh thanks. I thought he was joking, which is why I rated his post 'funny'. He was serious?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Make up your mind would you? There is a difference between pre-delivery inspection, regular scheduled maintenance, and warranty service. Maybe you should stop guzzling the HaterAde and try a nice, calming Brandy instead...?

An owner that was concerned about the cost of scheduled maintenance hounded his local Service Center until they finally gave him a detailed report of exactly what is done for his money. He was eventually satisfied with their complete reply, which he referred to as follows:

jordanrichard replied on May 21, 2014 that, "To summarize, they essentially take the car apart and inspect all the nuts bolts and replace if any corrosion is spotted."​

I looked up jordanrichard for more details and if it is heresay (just the rep saying things), but here is his later comment, clarifying that he did see it happening:
"I too was in the "$600!!!,you have go to be kidding me" camp.
One time I was at the service center, I saw a car on the lift with it's wheels off bumper covers off, and the frunk liner out of the car. I asked what happened to that car. Their response was that the car was in for its annual service. They literally take the car apart, inspect it, repair/replace anything out of spec, and put the car back together. Here in the Northeast, what they look for with regard to the bumpers is any signs of corrosion on the bolts that hold the steel bumpers to the aluminum supports. If any is found, they replace the bolts. What other company goes to such lengths....?"
$600 Annual Service Charge Seems unfair | Tesla Motors

 

[int32_t]

.
Can I start a campaign to use mRph or Rmph for the concept of adding eletricity to a car battery to enable it to drive more miles. Let's not actively try to increase confusion of people new to elecrtric cars (presumably some of the 400,000 reservation).

Thank you kindly.

It's not all that confusing, is it? As Tesla puts it, so many hundreds of kilometres of range added per hour of charge, or charging at so many hundreds of kilometres per hour. A newbie just has to stop and think for 20 seconds like I did when I first heard the term -- it's pretty much self-explanatory given appropriate context.

 

[Topher]

It's not all that confusing, is it? As Tesla puts it, so many hundreds of kilometres of range added per hour of charge, or charging at so many hundreds of kilometres per hour. A newbie just has to stop and think for 20 seconds like I did when I first heard the term -- it's pretty much self-explanatory given appropriate context.

I do unit conversions and such every day as part of my job. From this I have learned: 1) Units are very important and almost no one understands them. 2) If there is room for confusion, it will occur. 3) Context will disappear, don't depend on it.

Thank you kindly.

 

[int32_t]

I do unit conversions and such every day as part of my job. From this I have learned: 1) Units are very important and almost no one understands them. 2) If there is room for confusion, it will occur. 3) Context will disappear, don't depend on it.

Honestly, without context units are without hope regardless of how well the acronym is engineered. I think that, as long as the units are consistent vehicle-to-vehicle, most people would be capable of saying, "Oh, this one charges faster than that one," without fully comprehending the units themselves (and hopefully without worrying about it too much).

Regarding #1, I agree -- next to nobody understands, for example, the difference between units power and units energy even though it's vital.

So nobody need admit they didn't know, here it is:
Power - the flow of electricity (e.g. kW), so a 60W light bulb consumes 60W of electricity. This is measured instantaneously.
Energy - a quantity of energy (e.g. kWh), so a 60W light bulb on for one hour consumes a total of 60Wh of electricity.

Why it's important: your microwave, while one of the most power-hungry appliances in your home, consumes relatively little energy because it is never on for more than a handful of minutes at a time. Most likely your lights consume more energy than the microwave unless you have LED bulbs. A solar-electric engineer straightened me out on the difference between power and energy a few years ago and I find the distinction helpful now that I understand it.

 

[McRat]

OK, Mary and her pet project, she is wearing high heels, the car is shod with 25.5" dia tires:

 

[3PHASE]

Back to her quotes...

"How long will I have to wait for this Bolt to charge?" "It is fast charging right now, isn't it? On one of our many supported DC fast chargers?"

 

[McRat]

... nevermind

 

[Jeff N]

OK, Mary and her pet project, she is wearing high heels, the car is shod with 25.5" dia tires:

She ought to be wearing a racing suit to match that paint job.

 

[voip-ninja]

The Bolt is shaping up to be a great car. I know two people who own Volts and, while not my cup o' tea, they are quite taken with them and they can run the cars electric only for 90% of their driving.

Additionally the Bolt will almost definitely be shipping on time and in very large quantities. People who want one won't have to put down a deposit, wait 3 years and then pay a non-negotiable price for it.

 

[bonnie]

The Bolt is shaping up to be a great car. I know two people who own Volts and, while not my cup o' tea, they are quite taken with them and they can run the cars electric only for 90% of their driving.

Additionally the Bolt will almost definitely be shipping on time and in very large quantities. People who want one won't have to put down a deposit, wait 3 years and then pay a non-negotiable price for it.

I hope so. We don't need an EV failure at this point in evolution. But it appears you've fallen for the dealership mantra that they make prices more competitive. The reality is yes, you can negotiate price with a dealership. But they're not going to lose money. They're trying to maximize their profits, based on how well you negotiate. And remember, you're negotiating best price between different dealerships, many of which are owned by the same umbrella company. It gives the illusion of competitive pricing.

Newt Gingrich wrote a great article about how much more you pay using the dealership model. Christie and Tesla In it, he quotes a GS study that found, on average, the price of a car is 10% higher just to cover all the dealership costs like advertising, etc.

When the 3 is ready, people can cross shop. Good for everyone.

 

[Topher]

Honestly, without context units are without hope regardless of how well the acronym is engineered. I think that, as long as the units are consistent vehicle-to-vehicle, most people would be capable of saying, "Oh, this one charges faster than that one,"

Well, I for one still intend to talk about MPH when talking about my Tesla. I also intend to talk about how many miles I am adding to the battery wen charging. I will not be using MPH for that as well, hopefully more people will follow my example.

Regarding #1, I agree -- next to nobody understands, for example, the difference between units power and units energy even though it's vital.

Yes we get that a lot on this forum. I try to fix it, but...

(Ok one more try for others who might be reading
kW = kiloWatts = power. Charging or driving your car adds or uses energy at a RATE. So much per hour. Power describes something about a process, something with a verb.
kWh = kiloWatt-hours = kiloWatts * hours = energy. It is an AMOUNT of energy. Your battery contains so many kWh of energy, a drive takes so many kWh of battery capacity. Energy describes something about a condition, something about a noun.

Thank you kindly.