Model S Sneak Peek: Alpha Drives

[howabout2]

The sound is just terrific. I hope the final product sounds that smooth and quiet.

I for one like the black. I think these are missing the accents, giving them an almost overwhelmingly black appearance. But I do hope there is a wide spectrum of colors to choose from.

One bit I noticed: in the last scene, the in-motion car has the larger more traditional Model S wheels while the two parked cars have the smaller wheels that we only started seeing with the Alphas.

 

[Norbert]

The test track only has left curves. I hope that won't show in the final product...

Not sure if its mostly the black color without accents, but in this video the design strikes me more than ever as convincingly compact and coherent.

 

[suxxer]

Looks like just one of the cars has a hood with snap closings.

 

[NigelM]

Photo of the center dash screen. Test screen or...?

 

[doug]

Photo of the center dash screen. Test screen or...?

Temporary test screen. The speedo is on that screen since that car didn't have a instruments screen yet.

Inside Model S Alpha Workshop

 

[TEG]

Video Find: Tesla Model S Alpha Triplets Play on the Track - WOT on Motor Trend

Feature Flick: Tesla Trio of Model S Alpha Testers Hit the Track - Rumor Central

 

[Kevin Harney]

There is some interesting pricing info there. Wonder if it is accurate !??! 10,000 per battery upgrade seems more than reasonable to me.....

 

[doug]

In the video I see the car's right headlight slowly flashing (not the orange turn signal, duh) It could be that the headlight is just vibrating or bouncing so it appears to flicker but if its an LED it could also be strobing out of phase with the video frame rate.

Sorry, I missed this. At 0:28 in the video, the apparent brightness of the headlight changes because its angle wrt the camera is changing due to variation in the road surface.

 

[vfx]

Sorry, I missed this. At 0:28 in the video, the apparent brightness of the headlight changes because its angle wrt the camera is changing due to variation in the road surface.

Could be. And exacerbated by it not being that "finished" and loose.

 

[AnOutsider]

There is some interesting pricing info there. Wonder if it is accurate !??! 10,000 per battery upgrade seems more than reasonable to me.....

Hasn't that been what was speculated for a while? 20k for the 300ml pack, putting it in the high 70k range

 

[Todd Burch]

Hasn't that been what was speculated for a while? 20k for the 300ml pack, putting it in the high 70k range

Not just speculated...Tesla announced $10k increases for each battery upgrade in their newsletter several months ago.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Sorry guys.... I was under the misinformation - or actually lack of paying attention knowledge on my part - that it was $20K per upgrade. Absolutely no idea WHERE I got that in my little head but alas it was stuck there Thanks for bringing me down to earth !!

 

[3lectronica]

Not just speculated...Tesla announced $10k increases for each battery upgrade in their newsletter several months ago.

"The price of the US base Model S with a 160-mile battery is $49,900 after the $7,500 federal tax credit. The 230-mile range option is expected to price at about $10,000 more and the 300-mile option at about $20,000 more than the base."

pulled from blog post by George Blankenship here A Quick Update on Model S | Blog | Tesla Motors

 

[doug]

Peculiar landmark if I zoom out a bit:

(image copyright 2011, Google)

I reported the error and Google just emailed to say they fixed it.