Tesla Model 3 is crushing competition

[Joshan]

No, but I've never sat at a gas station for hours waiting for the tank to fill up. I don't have issues with the inconvenience of charging on road trips, but I know a lot of people who would. I wouldn't even want to go on a road trip without taking my Tesla.

I havce never sat at SC for more than 40 mins, which is perfect as I needed to stretch, get some food and use the bathroom. It weas perfect! Not sure how you are sitting there for hours...

I have actually waited 20 mins plus at Costco for Gas also many times! Those lines are like 8 cars deep.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

I havce never sat at SC for more than 40 mins, which is perfect as I needed to stretch, get some food and use the bathroom. It weas perfect! Not sure how you are sitting there for hours...

I have actually waited 20 mins plus at Costco for Gas also many times! Those lines are like 8 cars deep.

Hours was referring to slow charging at places other than Superchargers. I love Supercharger stops. Usually the car is charged up before I'm ready to leave.

I did Costco gas once, and only because there was no line. I also would never stop at a regular gas station unless there was an open pump.

 

[SammichLover]

Hours was referring to slow charging at places other than Superchargers. I love Supercharger stops.

Because sleeping isn't a thing for you? I "sit around" with my car charging all the time, only I nearly never am waiting on it.

 

[PStewart]

5-10 years behind what? Batteries are still expensive as crap and Tesla doesn't make batteries, Panisonic does, so you'd have to say LG or BMZ or Prime earth are 5-10 years behind, but they aren't because they produce successful batteries for EVs already.

The motors? they're typical 3 phase induction or PM type motors. All these companies have hybrids or electric cars already and understand how to build or source electric motors. So what are they 5-10 years behind on, software?

Tesla Motor Mouths

“It’s quite interesting to people who are trying to figure out how to figure out to build an electric vehicle,” Munro says. “Because quite frankly, they’re not that easy to build and there’s a vast amount of difference between a Tesla motor—their PM [Permanent Magnet] motor is the most advanced motor we’ve seen, period--all the way to a lot of old-fashioned technology that really doesn’t do much for the driver as far as excitement is concerned.”

The BMW motor is the heaviest and most expensive, and it has the least amount of power.

“So, go figure,” says Munro. “It’s a very inefficient motor. It’s not designed for … I don’t know what it’s designed for, really.”

Telsa’s invertor/convertor—the device that takes the battery power, and supplies that power to the electric motor—is very advanced.

“It’s also inexpensive and it’s a very efficient design with the best circuitboard system I think I’ve ever seen with anybody, including other industries,” says Munro. “It comes in at about $800, whereas the BMW was $1,100 and the Chevy Bolt was about $753.”

Telsa’s the only automaker that uses silicon carbide on the integrated circuit (power supply) invertors.

“It creates a lot less heat and is a lot faster than the Chevy and BMW,” says Ellis. “Silicon carbide is the latest and greatest and Tesla so far is the only vehicle out there with it.”

Overall, Tesla’s motor is considerably smaller and more high-tech than the others.

“It looks like the other guys just went around and glued together whatever they could find off the shelf,” says Munro. “While everything on Tesla is ‘Where’d that come from? It’s very, very efficient engineering. Everywhere except for the body, which is not so good.’”

 

[Swampgator]

Tesla Motor Mouths

“It’s quite interesting to people who are trying to figure out how to figure out to build an electric vehicle,” Munro says. “Because quite frankly, they’re not that easy to build and there’s a vast amount of difference between a Tesla motor—their PM [Permanent Magnet] motor is the most advanced motor we’ve seen, period--all the way to a lot of old-fashioned technology that really doesn’t do much for the driver as far as excitement is concerned.”

The BMW motor is the heaviest and most expensive, and it has the least amount of power.

“So, go figure,” says Munro. “It’s a very inefficient motor. It’s not designed for … I don’t know what it’s designed for, really.”

Telsa’s invertor/convertor—the device that takes the battery power, and supplies that power to the electric motor—is very advanced.

“It’s also inexpensive and it’s a very efficient design with the best circuitboard system I think I’ve ever seen with anybody, including other industries,” says Munro. “It comes in at about $800, whereas the BMW was $1,100 and the Chevy Bolt was about $753.”

Telsa’s the only automaker that uses silicon carbide on the integrated circuit (power supply) invertors.

“It creates a lot less heat and is a lot faster than the Chevy and BMW,” says Ellis. “Silicon carbide is the latest and greatest and Tesla so far is the only vehicle out there with it.”

Overall, Tesla’s motor is considerably smaller and more high-tech than the others.

“It looks like the other guys just went around and glued together whatever they could find off the shelf,” says Munro. “While everything on Tesla is ‘Where’d that come from? It’s very, very efficient engineering. Everywhere except for the body, which is not so good.’”

This was my favorite part regarding the Bolt:

It’s just a cheap little car with a battery and an electric motor,” says Munro. “One thing you can count on, GM will be able to make a cheap car. GM has always done the same stuff. Their [engineering department will] design some kind of a vehicle, and then somebody in accounting will say, ‘you’ve got to make it cheap.’ But it won’t fast and it won’t go far.”

 

[SammichLover]

"....Their [engineering department will] design some kind of a vehicle, and then somebody in accounting will say, ‘you’ve got to make it cheap.’ But it won’t fast and it won’t go far.”

The funny thing is the Bolt is quicker than the quasi-luxury compact sedan I traded in for it. Which really drives home the BEV advantage there. Also its range is comparable to the SR mixed town/highway, and probably a little better than the SR+ in town only.

It is definitely "cheap car esthetics and experience" though, the heated steering wheel and the electronic rear view mirrors aside. It could be even quicker if they didn't have a design so prone to spinning out under hard acceleration. Not to be confused with "crappy cheap" as the Bolts have shown themselves very dependable, especially for the first couple years of an entirely new model.

 

[afadeev]

Lets just all postulate that scavenging RV parks and trucks stops to beg/borrow/steel some 240V plug access pretty much is the anti-thesis of a joyful, pleasant vacation time.
At least not for the 99% of the EV owners.

But aren't we ... the 1%?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Yes, of course attitude it important.

I'm not sure where you are going with that 1% reference, and if you are counting from the top of the bottom?


You couldn't pay me enough money to vacation at a truck stop.
Not judging those for whom it's a "thing", though.

This was my favorite part regarding the Bolt:
It’s just a cheap little car with a battery and an electric motor,” says Munro. “One thing you can count on, GM will be able to make a cheap car. GM has always done the same stuff. Their [engineering department will] design some kind of a vehicle, and then somebody in accounting will say, ‘you’ve got to make it cheap.’ But it won’t fast and it won’t go far.”

GM == cheap cars, engineered to meet a randomly chosen price point.

Even a couple of decent cars they accidentally manage to produce (Z06, ZR1, V-series) suffer from crappy interior materials and minimally spec-ed cooling systems.

Someone should write a case study on reasons behind GM's unabated historical market share collapse.
Just sad:

Oh wait, they did, a 98 of them:
General Motors - Search - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

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[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Because sleeping isn't a thing for you? I "sit around" with my car charging all the time, only I nearly never am waiting on it.

Are you guys punking me?

 

[mspohr]

Are you guys punking me?

Yes.

 

[daver3]

I don't know about "shade" per se but it was something that missed the mark in that the magnitude of the drop in car/sedan sales overall is only about a 1/3 as big as the drop in both BMW & Prius sales.

BMW 3-Series in particular has been slumping for a while, maybe because of impending Model 3 or maybe not, but it has now fell off the cliff. Very hard to plausibly argue that the Model 3 isn't a big factor, if not the outright majority of cause, in that. Tesla marketing wise and design wise teed up the Model 3 straight at the 3-series, and in so many, many ways bests it.

I have had my model 3 for 6 months and absolutely love it, I almost try to think of places to go just so I can drive it. The biggest drawback for me has been the highway charging. My normal driving is all in town, but we had to drive from Austin, TX to Springfield Mo twice this spring and the charging added quite a bit to the trip. My daughter drove her car with 4 kids and got there 1.5 hrs before we did. One of the problems was that in Okla City the charger was 15 minutes off the highway so wasted 30 min there and because there weren't more chargers I had to stop more often than otherwise required. In my mind that is the biggest obstacle, but the new charger will charge twice as fast and they claim they are adding more all the time. That will take away the only negative for me. I also just scheduled my first service because there is condensation in the taillight and they scheduled mobile, so they will show up at my house.

 

[SammichLover]

My normal driving is all in town, but we had to drive from Austin, TX to Springfield Mo twice this spring and the charging added quite a bit to the trip. My daughter drove her car with 4 kids and got there 1.5 hrs before we did.

My experience is more-so quality of trip. How I feel at the end.

One of the problems was that in Okla City the charger was 15 minutes off the highway so wasted 30 min there and because there weren't more chargers I had to stop more often than otherwise required.

I'm a bit surprised it sent you to that, and I would have overrode it I think. What model do you have? <edit>Given age you mention I'd guess an LR, I don't think the LEMR is that old yet, and AWD doesn't cost you that much range.

It is less than 190 miles Ardmore to Catoosa, if you go via Ada-Seminole. Even via Interstate it is only 211mi. Unless you were out of step, like it had you stop in Denton or something and it decided to jump Ardmore. You do need to watch for that, still. Nav will get you there but manual optimizing can still buy you a lot at times.

Yeah, if it works out you have to make a serious detour that can be an issue. That's why, ironically, the longer the trip the better it'll work out as such disappears into the overall average.

 

[mspohr]

My experience is more-so quality of trip. How I feel at the end.

I find long distance travel with Supercharger stops very relaxing.
We recently drove across Nevada in a day (Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake). Stopped four times for charging (three short and one long for lunch). Arrived relaxed after 10 hours. Stopping and getting out of the car every few hours is a great way to travel.

 

[mspohr]

Two interesting stories in the news today:
Read Tesla CEO Elon Musk's email to employees where he says the company made an average of 900 Model 3s per day this week
As of yesterday we had over 50,000 net new orders for this quarter. Based on current trends, we have a good chance of exceeding the record 90,700 deliveries of Q4 last year and making this the highest deliveries/sales quarter in Tesla history!

https://jalopnik.com/automakers-cut-38-000-jobs-in-the-last-six-months-and-m-1834973409
“The industry is right now staring down the barrel of what we think is going to be a significant downturn,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said at a forum in Detroit on Tuesday