The Automobile 2.0: Chevrolet Bolt EV vs Nissan LEAF vs Tesla Model 3 Long Range

[Big Earl]

I hear great things about USAA but for those who can't join, the entry requirements are a bit steep

I've been very happy with them.

I just checked to see if they had pricing on the Model 3 yet, and they do. $82/month additional at my current coverage limits.

 

[voip-ninja]

I hear great things about USAA but for those who can't join, the entry requirements are a bit steep

I am too old to join the military.

 

[ohmman]

I am too old to join the military.

In that case shouldn’t you be something like the RS-232-ninja?

 

[voip-ninja]

In that case shouldn’t you be something like the RS-232-ninja?

Touché

I did get my start with 1FB and BRI stuff along with Fortran and old school C.

 

[run-the-joules]

I am too old to join the military.

Irrespective of age, I'm wayyyyy too selfish, and my idea of camping is when room service stops at midnight so the whole "sleeping outside" thing wouldn't really fly with me

 

[Big Earl]

I am too old to join the military.

• Active, retired and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military.
• Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS).
• Adult children whose eligible parents have or had a USAA auto or property insurance product.*
• Widows and widowers of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy.

If you fit any of those, you can get it. I'm #3.

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

What you are posting does not jive with reality. Elon Musk has said that Tesla have no plans to build affordable EVs.

It comes down to your definition of affordable, but the low end of the sedan market is $20,000 products and Tesla have zero interest in entering that market even though companies like Nissan and Ford have expressed interest in doing so.

Okay, I think you've got me. I do remember reading a quote from Musk when he was asked why he wasn't building something like a Honda Accord competitor and he indicated that Tesla was not interested in building slow or boring cars and had no plans to enter that kind of market.

I do see from this 2016 article that Musk insisted in Norway that Tesla's next car after the 3 was going to be a much more affordable car, but we now know that won't be coming soon as the next car they are working on getting released in the 2020 timeframe is the very expensive new generation Roadster.

Elon Musk says Tesla’s next car will be even cheaper than the Model 3

You were saying?

The only Elon quote involving a Honda Accord I can find is a reference to Boeing.

Book review: Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk biography portrays a driven but tough tech innovator

SpaceX’s mission was to serve as “the Southwest Airlines of space”, drastically reducing the cost of space travel by building low-cost rockets. Engineers and machinists were to work together at SpaceX’s Los Angeles headquarters, and cost-saving would be the order of the day. If a part was too expensive, Musk would ask his engineers to design their own replacement.

The decline of the space programme had left American corporations thoroughly uncompetitive with their Russian counterparts. Bigger corporations like Boeing, fat on government contracts, had lost sight of the cost-saving possibilities: “They were building a Ferrari for every launch, when it was possible that a Honda Accord might do the trick.”

 

[Jeff N]

I'd say Tesla is doing quite well in serving rural areas away from Interstates; it was a factor in my decision to purchase my car.

That’s definitely true. Tesla’s Supercharger map is much better filled-in for non-interstate highways than Electrify America will be at for several years.

EA is basically starting 5 years later but planning installations at about the same scale and pace in absolute terms (not necessarily relative to projected cars on the road).

This means it may be 2023 (5 years...) until EA’s map looks like Tesla’s at the end of 2017 in terms of comprehensive location coverage. Of course, other players may join in a significant way if they see large battery EV sales take off as projected.

For CCS (or CHAdeMO) drivers outside of a few very rural states, however, there will be a huge improvement in long-distance driving utility during the next 3 years just like there was for Tesls drivers between late 2012 and the end of 2015.