Opportunity Console - New Photos, Poll

[bonnie]

Mod Note: Discussions regarding physical buttons have been moved to Physical buttons in Model S

Thanks, AO!

 

[brianman]

dead space

That's a bit strong. I'd call it "opportunity space" if I worked for George.

 

[jeffhre]

I had to laugh when somebody (I believe over on the TM forum) was complaining about the quality of the Tesla merchandise sold in their stores (coffee mugs, drink tumblers, etc.). It was actually a serious rant and condemnation of Tesla. If that's what we are down to, then Tesla should have little to worry about!

Funny, I know this stuff is really really important. But I think I read somewhere that Tesla also sells cars. Different drive train or something. OK my apologies, carry on with the important stuff now.

 

[MikeK]

Yup, and cars serve a purpose. To get you from point A to point B comfortably and safely, with all your stuff. Included in "comfort" is that you have easy access to the things you need on your journey. For example, a beverage, the coins for the toll road, your driving glasses or sunglasses, etc.

As somebody who has had a car burglarized, I can tell you that it's no fun at all dealing with the insurance company, the glass company, and so forth, so concealed storage is definitely more than a "nice to have".

I think this thread is great, and since we know Tesla is working on the problem, I hope that they are studiously mining this thread for ideas!

 

[brianman]

The best part of what you are doing is the sharing of the journey, which TM isn't interested in so much.

The post linking to this thread is just one of many pieces of evidence proving that that assessment of TM is unfair.

 

[Larry Chanin]

The best part of what you are doing is the sharing of the journey, which TM isn't interested in so much.

Hi Rob,

To be fair it was Tesla that asked Michael to initiate this thread soliciting our input.

Larry

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

My only fear with all the (valid) concerns that we have all raised thus far - regarding storage, cupholders, etc. not counting stuff like ACC and such that are purportedly in the works - is forcing "feature creep" onto Tesla!

I've experienced this over and over in the software world where major projects are delayed because someone (with some pull and enough of a voice) sneaks in a 'got-to-have-it' feature request at the last minute. The work done at the last minute is usually sub-par and involves compromises (in terms of quality control, stability, etc.).

I'd rather Tesla ship the car in the form that it is in (which they've worked on for the past 3 years and have setup the factory and processes for) and take their time with all these new additions rather than rush into not-fully-thought-out solutions at this stage of the game. Retrofits and next model year revisions are par for the course in my opinion. We as early adopters should be okay with that?!

 

[JohnEC]

My only fear with all the (valid) concerns that we have all raised thus far - regarding storage, cupholders, etc. not counting stuff like ACC and such that are purportedly in the works - is forcing "feature creep" onto Tesla!

gg,

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Larry Chanin]

My only fear with all the (valid) concerns that we have all raised thus far - regarding storage, cupholders, etc. not counting stuff like ACC and such that are purportedly in the works - is forcing "feature creep" onto Tesla!

I've experienced this over and over in the software world where major projects are delayed because someone (with some pull and enough of a voice) sneaks in a 'got-to-have-it' feature request at the last minute. The work done at the last minute is usually sub-par and involves compromises (in terms of quality control, stability, etc.).

I'd rather Tesla ship the car in the form that it is in (which they've worked on for the past 3 years and have setup the factory and processes for) and take their time with all these new additions rather than rush into not-fully-thought-out solutions at this stage of the game. Retrofits and next model year revisions are par for the course in my opinion. We as early adopters should be okay with that?!

You have a valid concern, but in this case it is somewhat unfounded since Tesla is already releasing their Signature series into production early without succumbing to undue feature creep. They were wise to do this and pursue the "Opportunity Console(s)" as a field retrofit to avoid impacting the production schedule. It remains to be seen how well they will treat their Signature early adopters with regard to the costs, if any, for these retrofits. I suspect that when they are perfected they will be offered as relatively low cost options to the General Production reservation holders and retrofitting will not be an issue.

Larry

 

[roblab]

Hi Rob,

To be fair it was Tesla that asked Michael to initiate this thread soliciting our input.

Larry

You are so right, but, to be fair, you haven't seen any drawings or pre production consoles until AFTER they were in the cars, not advertised, happen to show up in pictures, get discussed here, modified verbally and by sketch. Tesla is not quite as open as this group is, although Tesla is transparent compared to traditional car companies. I think Tesla is wonderful and doing it right, but I haven't seen any ideas that Tesla has come up with other than the consoles that appeared in pictures at the test drives. And I betcha we will have input, choice, variety, quality and function.

I never heard anyone complain of the consoles that I see in other vehicles. You just buy the car. Tesla is more than that, besides doing miracles in starting up a Rocket, a Factory, a totally new kind of Car, a Solar Industry, etc. I don't see how they do it!

 

[Larry Chanin]

You are so right, but, to be fair, you haven't seen any drawings or pre production consoles until AFTER they were in the cars, not advertised, happen to show up in pictures, get discussed here, modified verbally and by sketch. Tesla is not quite as open as this group is, although Tesla is transparent compared to traditional car companies. I think Tesla is wonderful and doing it right, but I haven't seen any ideas that Tesla has come up with other than the consoles that appeared in pictures at the test drives. And I betcha we will have input, choice, variety, quality and function.

I never heard anyone complain of the consoles that I see in other vehicles. You just buy the car. Tesla is more than that, besides doing miracles in starting up a Rocket, a Factory, a totally new kind of Car, a Solar Industry, etc. I don't see how they do it!

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the more balanced response. The journey as you put it is just starting. Have a little patience. Tesla will come through and share more details with us.

Larry

 

[AndyM]

I'm certain that Elon's personal experience will count heavily, too.

 

[NigelM]

Ladies Request

My wife points out that car forum users tend to be overwhelmingly male. The survey shows she's right (she's always right, but that's another story....) and she hopes that Tesla is also taking this into account. As a woman she has far more bits and pieces to stow...tissues, shopping lists, pen, mints, hand sanitizer, hairbrush, aspirin, sunscreen, purse etc.

Tesla, please remember to ask some ladies for their opinions.

 

[dsm363]

I believe women are in charge of over half of car purchases anyway so that'd be smart. Also, weren't EVs preferred by women the first time around in the early 1900s?

 

[SUN-day Driver]

As a woman she has far more bits and pieces to stow...tissues, shopping lists, pen, mints, hand sanitizer, hairbrush, aspirin, sunscreen, purse etc.

As a man, I have all those same things except the purse. And because I don't have the purse, a place in the car to put all those things is even more important!

 

[strider]

As a man, I have all those same things except the purse. And because I don't have the purse, a place in the car to put all those things is even more important!

This will be my wife's car and she categorically loves the fully open console and doesn't want anything to crowd it. All her bits and pieces are in her purse and it fits perfectly in the open space there (having tons of storage bins seems to be the requests of all the males here). She loves that she doesn't have to leave her purse behind her seat or in the passenger footwell where she can't get to it or have it crowding passenger's feet. So I would argue that leaving it alone IS listening to women's views

 

[doug]

It's nice to have options.

 

[westerndh]

she categorically loves the fully open console and doesn't want anything to crowd it. All her bits and pieces are in her purse and it fits perfectly in the open space there (having tons of storage bins seems to be the requests of all the males here). She loves that she doesn't have to leave her purse behind her seat or in the passenger footwell where she can't get to it or have it crowding passenger's feet. So I would argue that leaving it alone IS listening to women's views

+1 Definitely think this is a great conversation point in the retail stores as well, where I believe Women will be the significant decision makers.

 

[inkynote]

she categorically loves the fully open console and doesn't want anything to crowd it. She loves that she doesn't have to leave her purse behind her seat or in the passenger footwell where she can't get to it or have it crowding passenger's feet.

I'm stoked to have a place to put my bag, too. Full disclosure: am a woman. The open console area is great. It was a totally novel experience to have a real place for my bag during my test drive on Sunday. In addition, I'd like to see a door on that little cubby below the screen, roll-up or hinged, and a station for mobile phones or iPods. I find the cup holder feature in Console 2 and the phone slot in Console 3 difficult to understand visually from the photos at the beginning of the thread. It looks like the phone slot takes up more of the center space. The cup holders look shallow (probably just camera distortion) and I can't tell if they'd hold my regular old chipped ceramic mug with handle. The phone slot looks like it takes up a lot of the center space. I'd like to see the phone slot moved to the space use for the cup holder in Console 2. I do want a cup holder but I think the ones in front of the armrest will do.

I'm not sure what to choose in the poll. I think that 1,2 and 3 need not be mutually exclusive!

 

[Larry Chanin]

Attached is a zoom of a portion of prototype console 1.

Can anyone tell me what the object is between the 12v outlet and the USB port?

Thanks.

Larry