USA Today

[Zextraterrestrial]

- removed crappy link-

'Three weeks ago, he says, he told the powertrain team that he felt the acceleration from 70 mph to 90 mph was inadequate. When they protested that it couldn't be improved, Musk amped up the gentle persuasion: "Imagine," he told them, that "there was a gun to your head" and the trigger was about to be pulled. "Would you find a way to make it better?"'

hehe 70-90 is pretty good


thanks
V

 

[TEG]

Link seems incorrect. If you have trouble try this:
Elon Musk's rocket soared; how about his electric Tesla? – USATODAY.com

By the way, seems like a well researched, well written article.

*but* here are some nitpicks:

The California entrepreneur who heads companies at opposite ends of the state...

I get the point, but Palo Alto/Fremont isn't exactly far northern California, nor is El Segundo at the bottom.

For sure, the car has lots of features that break new ground in both the luxury and electric car worlds. For instance, the charging unit is built into the car, so owners don't have to have one installed in their garages (although they will want a 240-volt outlet, because the 265-mile version can take up to eight hours to recharge even on that.)...

That statement seems a bit off. EVs tend to always have some kind of charger onboard, so basically no one installs a "charger" in their garage. An EVSE (safety interconnect) device is typically installed in a garage for any pure EV with a large pack.

Some LEAF owners just use the portable EVSE in their garage and don't have anything mounted.
Some Model S owners will opt to have an HPC2 installed in their garage instead of using the portable UMC2.
(You could charge about twice as fast using the HPC2 compared to the UMC2, assuming you ordered the 2nd charger module in the car, which is automatically included in all Signature Model S.)

 

[J in MN]

EVs tend to always have some kind of charger onboard, so basically no one installs a "charger" in their garage. An EVSE (safety interconnect) device is typically installed in a garage for any pure EV with a large pack.

Agreed. And it seems Tesla is either propagating this error, or not doing anything to correct it (I've seen it in several articles now). This annoys me more than just a little, as it misinforms the public, and does not help the EV cause.

 

[vfx]

Agreed. And it seems Tesla is either propagating this error, or not doing anything to correct it (I've seen it in several articles now). This annoys me more than just a little, as it misinforms the public, and does not help the EV cause.

I also have seen several articles calling the Nissan Leaf the first modern electric car.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/power-shortage-what-is-tesla-up-against-RSt2UdJ1RSmihKw48vYbFQ.html?cmpid=yhoo

another negative twisted news reel

Roadster owners don't drive???
Not from most of what I hear

Just the ones tying to baby their cars right?

 

[Andy Spaziani]

I drive my roadster every day. It's one year old, has 12,000 miles on it and the standard charge is still between 190 and 194 miles Where is this guy getting his alleged data from?
Andy Spaziani vin 1198

 

[KBF]

Andy, you should email the "journalist" and let him know your stats. Not sure if it will help, but you never know.

 

[dmckinstry]

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/power-shortage-what-is-tesla-up-against-RSt2UdJ1RSmihKw48vYbFQ.html?cmpid=yhoo

another negative twisted news reel

Roadster owners don't drive???
Not from most of what I hear

Just the ones tying to baby their cars right?

I just viewed the link. I think he's partially right. But babying the car isn't the answer(IMHO). We don't know about the lifetime of the batteries overall. However Tesla is convinced (and I believe it) that battery longevity in terms of miles will be great. When I get my Model S, I intend to drive it as much as possible. I'm convinced I could drive up to 200kmiles in 8 years (with the 85kW-h pack, if I had the time and desire) without undue battery degradation. For me, the questions are "How much do the batteries degrade over time? Will the batteries die suddenly after 7 or 8 years? Has anyone done any long term testing on the shelf life of this chemistry?"

 

[vfx]

I just viewed the link. I think he's partially right...."

Did you read the comments?

 

[dmckinstry]

Did you read the comments?

Not yet.

I have now, and they don't really change my questions.

That of course doesn't bother me. If I use it for 8 years and need a new battery after that, it'll probably be worth it to get a new one them.

 

[favo]

The commenters are clearly better informed than the "journalists."

 

[goyogi]

"Musk got what he wanted: Acceleration in that speed band was improved 20%."

I wonder if that's going to make it to production or if that's for version 1.5

 

[adric22]

That statement seems a bit off. EVs tend to always have some kind of charger onboard, so basically no one installs a "charger" in their garage. An EVSE (safety interconnect) device is typically installed in a garage for any pure EV with a large pack.

Well, the thing is it is too difficult to explain to the general public. While I know very well what the difference is between a charger and an EVSE, when people ask me about our cars (We have a Leaf and a Volt) I call the EVSE a charger. The few times I've tried to make the distinction, people become confused and uninterested. The best comparison I can make is with laptop computers. Lots of people call the power adapter (power brick, transformer, etc.) a "charger" because in their mind it charges the laptop. However, the actual charger circuitry is inside the laptop. In the end it doesn't affect a person's ability to use the technology so I just don't get into it with people. It gets particularly confusing when you talk about public charging stations. By its very name, it sounds as if the public station is a "charger." And it gets even more confusing when you start trying to explain about the 480V DC chargers, because in this case the charger is not in the car, but rather in the charging station. It is really just too much fine detail for the average consumer to be expected to understand. It would be like expecting the average consumer to know the difference between a serpentine belt or a timing belt. 99% of drivers have no idea which does what, but it doesn't stop them from driving the car.

 

[TEG]

If more people use the correct terminology eventually it will become common knowledge and "everyone else" will get it.

Perpetuating the wrong terms does a disservice to those who are eager to learn about this stuff.

 

[Tommy]

And as more people find out that the "charger" they paid big $'s for is really just a connector there will be pressure to lower the cost of these devices. This is reason enough to use the correct terminology.

 

[jerry33]

And as more people find out that the "charger" they paid big $'s for is really just a connector there will be pressure to lower the cost of these devices. This is reason enough to use the correct terminology.

+1 Works for me.

 

[vfx]

I state that (the car) it can plug into any wall plug. If they seem taken aback (cause they are paying attention) I say "with an adapter".

This is a simple way of saying no charger needed.

 

[daniel]

I just viewed the link. I think he's partially right. But babying the car isn't the answer(IMHO). We don't know about the lifetime of the batteries overall. However Tesla is convinced (and I believe it) that battery longevity in terms of miles will be great. When I get my Model S, I intend to drive it as much as possible. I'm convinced I could drive up to 200kmiles in 8 years (with the 85kW-h pack, if I had the time and desire) without undue battery degradation. For me, the questions are "How much do the batteries degrade over time? Will the batteries die suddenly after 7 or 8 years? Has anyone done any long term testing on the shelf life of this chemistry?"

I just stumbled on this thread. Interesting that the USA Today article was pretty good overall, considering, but the comments were mostly idiotic, while the Bloomberg piece was idiotic, but the comments were pretty good (at least the few I read).

The batteries are indeed the biggest question mark. The chemistry is too new to have solid longevity data. I am optimistic, but until there is solid data, many consumers will be wary. But sudden battery death is extremely uncommon. There will be a few, because anything that can happen, will happen occasionally. But the major mode of battery failure will be a gradual decline in range until the car no longer goes far enough to meet your needs.

I drive my Roadster on a daily basis. I don't drive a lot of miles per year, and my annual nearly thousand mile summer hiking road trip up to Canada is in the Prius, so I put on only 3,600 miles in my first year. But that was ALL my driving, except for the summer trip, parking at the airport, and hauling recycling. HOWEVER, Tesla told me there are 4 other Roadsters in this area and I've never seen any of them except one on display once at the country fair. I wonder if the others drive theirs much. Some folks buy a nice car just because they want it, then take it out a few times a year. So there are both kinds.

I believe these batteries will last longer than anticipated. But nobody really knows. Three years on the road is just too short a time.