Pacific Northwest Owners (Seattle, Portland, or towns/cities in the region)

[jebinc]

Washington has a population of 7.7 million and Seattle city itself is around 750K. Democrats outside of Seattle are more moderate in general.

I also believe that lumping what Donald Trump did with any other politician playing business as usual is very dangerous. It normalizes the behaviors of a want to be dictator. Biden is doing what most politicians in American history have done: try to pay back the constituencies that put them in office/contributed to their campaigns. What Trump did and tried to do was much more sinister and dangerous for everyone.

I'm not saying that the former is great, it's one of the things that happens in a democratic republic I don't really like very much, but it doesn't break the democracy itself. The US has survived 240 years of these behaviors.

The latter is what a dictator does, they break the norms that hold the democracy together and bend them to their will to get rich or advance their egos at everyone's expense. That usually ruins a country. The most extreme example is Germany in the 1930s and 40s, but many countries are still recovering from dictators run out decades ago.

Dictatorships that are dangerous tend to get isolated by the international community. North Korea is the most extreme example today, but Russia has been under many international sanctions for a while now because of things Putin and his oligarchs have done. Over the last decade or so Russia's GDP has sunk below Italy's. A dictatorship with the world's largest military would likely get a very strong response from the rest of the world.

Because Biden is an old school politician, he will likely bow to pressure if enough people write the White House asking why Tesla wasn't included in his American car expo. But if Tesla supporters just complain on social media about it, it will happen the next time there is an American car expo too.

So goes Seattle/King County, so goes the state….

 

[acarney]

I was going to say… look at the maps and Seattle and surrounding areas are always blue and that takes the state with it.

Kinda would be curious to see the state go red once at this point just sort of as a “flip the table over” type of thing, lol

Also, the no EVs in carpool lanes has just always been stupid. Give as many perks to EV ownership as you can… and carpool lane is basically a freebie at the state level!

 

[PLUS EV]

Kinda would be curious to see the state go red once at this point just sort of as a “flip the table over” type of thing, lol

Also, the no EVs in carpool lanes has just always been stupid. Give as many perks to EV ownership as you can… and carpool lane is basically a freebie at the state level!

I'm sure the Republicans will get right on it once they take power in Olympia

 

[wdolson]

I was going to say… look at the maps and Seattle and surrounding areas are always blue and that takes the state with it.

Kinda would be curious to see the state go red once at this point just sort of as a “flip the table over” type of thing, lol

Also, the no EVs in carpool lanes has just always been stupid. Give as many perks to EV ownership as you can… and carpool lane is basically a freebie at the state level!

But even the surrounding areas aren't as liberal as the core of Seattle. Portland has a very similar dynamic. Clark Co, WA has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 2008 (though only by a very narrow margin in 2016) but it is much more conservative than Portland.

All but three of Washington's congressional delegation is in the Puget Sound area. Pramila Jayapal is outspoken and very far left, but the rest of the Washington Democrats in Congress are more moderate. Most are back benchers who are unknown on the national stage.

I lived in King County for 14 years before moving down here. I was in Kent on the East Hill. I was involved in a social organization that covered all of Western Washington. We called those from the core of Seattle the "Empire Seattle" people. They thought the world revolved around them and their world was significantly left of the members from the suburbs. Politically the area I lived was moderately conservative at the time, though the district is now held by a Democrat. It's probably one of the suburb areas that has shifted more to the left due to the craziness on the right over the last few election cycles.

Pramila Jayapal makes a lot of noise and enjoys extremely high approval ratings in her district, but she would probably lose in the primary if she ran for statewide office. The Democratic party has two major factions, the extreme left and the moderates who are center left. The extreme left faction is very loud, but I think the moderates are more numerous.

 

[whitex]

Because Biden is an old school politician, he will likely bow to pressure if enough people write the White House asking why Tesla wasn't included in his American car expo. But if Tesla supporters just complain on social media about it, it will happen the next time there is an American car expo too.

Bow how exactly, build a time machine and invite Tesla to the event in the past?

 

[wdolson]

Bow how exactly, build a time machine and invite Tesla to the event in the past?

What's done is done, but if they plan to have something like this yearly, it would be a good idea to invite Tesla next time.

 

[kpedraja]

The event was for carmakers making the transition from ICE vehicles to BEVs. Tesla never made ICE vehicles. It would have made no sense to invite them. This is a non-story.

 

[whitex]

The event was for carmakers making the transition from ICE vehicles to BEVs. Tesla never made ICE vehicles. It would have made no sense to invite them. This is a non-story.

Pretty clever politically - "we want to incentivize manufacturers to transition to EV" sounds like an idea you can get voters behind. So if the new EV incentives will apply only to cars from manufacturers making a transition, that will also be a non-story, right?

 

[Kels]

Hello PNW people! We have the 2021 Model Y on order - Extended range AWD. I'm worried that the stock Continental ProContact RX tires won't work in the snow and ice that forms on the road up to our house. Has anyone found All Season tires that are more aggressive or should we resign ourselves to buying a separate set of Snow tires?

 

[PNWLeccy]

Hello PNW people! We have the 2021 Model Y on order - Extended range AWD. I'm worried that the stock Continental ProContact RX tires won't work in the snow and ice that forms on the road up to our house. Has anyone found All Season tires that are more aggressive or should we resign ourselves to buying a separate set of Snow tires?

I’m in the same situation and will almost definitely replace the oem Contis with the quatrac pros which are an all weather tire that is snow-rated. I’ll try to sell the set of stock tires but not sure how much I should expect to get for them.

 

[Kels]

I looked at the value of new and even slightly used Contis and it ranged from $1,600 to about $1,200. Lots of interest in buying just one for a spare. Thanks for the tip on Quatrac Pros - I'll read up on them.

 

[wdolson]

Hello PNW people! We have the 2021 Model Y on order - Extended range AWD. I'm worried that the stock Continental ProContact RX tires won't work in the snow and ice that forms on the road up to our house. Has anyone found All Season tires that are more aggressive or should we resign ourselves to buying a separate set of Snow tires?

We had a heavy snow here in the Portland the first year I had my Model S. It came with Goodyear all weather tires that were not that great. Without chains, on the hills around here the car handled amazingly well. It felt like I was driving on a dirt road. One spot that gets severely icy at the top of our hill caused the back wheels to slip a tiny bit, but it was vastly less than any other car I've driven through that area including my partner's Subaru with chains on. My partner grudgingly admitted my Model S was better in snow than her Subaru. A major admission from her.

Tesla's are heavier because of the batteries, the weight distribution is right in the middle and the center of gravity is very low. It makes them amazingly sure footed in snow and ice, even with standard tires.

 

[acarney]

I looked at the value of new and even slightly used Contis and it ranged from $1,600 to about $1,200. Lots of interest in buying just one for a spare. Thanks for the tip on Quatrac Pros - I'll read up on them.

Considering a brand new set is ~$1,125 from TireRack… I doubt many people are buying used sets at $1,200 or more. I would think $800 would be a fair deal and maybe $1,000 max.

I suspect $1200 to $1600 is a full set of Gemini wheels (wheels, TPMS, and tires).

 

[PNWLeccy]

Considering a brand new set is ~$1,125 from TireRack… I doubt many people are buying used sets at $1,200 or more. I would think $800 would be a fair deal and maybe $1,000 max.

I suspect $1200 to $1600 is a full set of Gemini wheels (wheels, TPMS, and tires).

Yea, I’d likely keep the wheels and TPMS and just sell the tires. I would love to get even $800 for them but have no idea what the market is for them, even though I plan to take them off right away and they would have no wear on them.

 

[acarney]

Yea, I’d likely keep the wheels and TPMS and just sell the tires. I would love to get even $800 for them but have no idea what the market is for them, even though I plan to take them off right away and they would have no wear on them.

I mean $800 would be almost 30% savings… the problem is you’ll do better when people are needing to replace a full set and with the current age of the Model Y, that still probably isn’t terribly common.

 

[Kels]

Considering a brand new set is ~$1,125 from TireRack… I doubt many people are buying used sets at $1,200 or more. I would think $800 would be a fair deal and maybe $1,000 max.

I suspect $1200 to $1600 is a full set of Gemini wheels (wheels, TPMS, and tires).

Yes, Gemini wheels etc. included.

 

[Kels]

We had a heavy snow here in the Portland the first year I had my Model S. It came with Goodyear all weather tires that were not that great. Without chains, on the hills around here the car handled amazingly well. It felt like I was driving on a dirt road. One spot that gets severely icy at the top of our hill caused the back wheels to slip a tiny bit, but it was vastly less than any other car I've driven through that area including my partner's Subaru with chains on. My partner grudgingly admitted my Model S was better in snow than her Subaru. A major admission from her.

Tesla's are heavier because of the batteries, the weight distribution is right in the middle and the center of gravity is very low. It makes them amazingly sure footed in snow and ice, even with standard tires.

Thanks for the feedback! I've got exactly the same situation.

 

[kpedraja]

Pretty clever politically - "we want to incentivize manufacturers to transition to EV" sounds like an idea you can get voters behind. So if the new EV incentives will apply only to cars from manufacturers making a transition, that will also be a non-story, right?

Not really sure what your point is. AFAIK, the tax credits for EVs they're talking about will extend to all manufacturers, and may even restore the full credit for companies that have sold more than the initial threshold of 300K vehicles (e.g. Tesla). The event was just that, an event. It's not a policy statement. Trying to make it into some kind of statement about how the administration views Tesla is just pointless pot stirring.

 

[whitex]

Not really sure what your point is. AFAIK, the tax credits for EVs they're talking about will extend to all manufacturers, and may even restore the full credit for companies that have sold more than the initial threshold of 300K vehicles (e.g. Tesla). The event was just that, an event. It's not a policy statement. Trying to make it into some kind of statement about how the administration views Tesla is just pointless pot stirring.

The latest democratic senate passed resolution is to limit the EV incentives to cars under $40K MSRP (which might include Model 3 SR without ANY options if destination and doc fees are excluded) and people making less than $100K a year (most people buying Teslas have >$100K annual family income). The Biden administration also insists on limiting the incentives to manufactures who have a unionized workforce (guess what, Tesla does not). Biden went out of his way to photograph himself in a Lordstown truck. Biden administration did not invite Tesla to an even with all American EV companies event. EV incentives may likely apply to everyone but Tesla. If the rules for getting invited and to receive incentives are picked such that only a single US company is excluded, guess what, that is a statement how the administration sees Tesla. I guess I should give them credit, they could have added a restriction for any company whose name contains a word which starts with T, ends with A, and contains exactly 5 letters.

Btw, I think the biggest problem with the government cannot agree on what they are trying to achieve with incentives. If the goal of the incentives is to get more EV's on the streets, then who cares if it's a billionaire buying a thousand of them, or what brand they are from, it's a thousand more EV's on the road. Perhaps the goal is to get more inexpensive EV's on the road, sure, then limit the car price to which it applies, maybe even give higher incentives to lower priced cars, but again, it should have nothing to do with the buyer income. Note however that limiting the qualifying price of the car also potentially limits the innovation in EV's as it will cause many manufacturers to just focus on price reductions, rather than increasing battery capacities, etc. Bottom line, state your goal clearly, and measure your progress against that goal. If the EV incentive is meant to get more EVs on the road, don't muddy the waters by attaching riders that it should also solve homelessness, or help some minority groups. Create separate programs for that. Unless of course the goal is in fact to not be able to measure/achieve success of government incentives, than by all means, add "solve world hunger" and "achieve world piece" in the EV incentive goals too.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Our Model Y delivery is scheduled in December. Hope they figure out an amended EV tax credit in time. Our MINI Countryman just keeps getting smaller.