Why I think Canadians should Configure before Q3.

[dgpcolorado]

Hi all! I’m new to the forum and just came across this thread as the exact topic I was curious about.

I was a day 1 line waiter (first 100 people) in western Canada, and received my invite to configure back in March. I have delayed in hopes of getting AWD and the white interior, but I have had some nervousness about this and this thread has me reconsidering.

MyTesla says I should expect AWD mid 2018. Does anyone know or have thoughts as to whether that will be just for the LR battery or SR as well (and whether I will actually be included in that Q3 possibility being in Canada)? I guess no news of when the white interior will arrive yet either. My wife and I have a good AWD SUV as our primary vehicle, and a 10yr old FWD car which we want to get rid of due to age and because it sucks in the snow (M3 will replace this). Any thoughts or suggestions on my best plan of attack regarding holding out for AWD/white vs configuring now? Ideally I’d like the car before this Christmas...

It’s times like this I wish I had two reservations - one to configure now and then sell once all the features I want are available to configure on car 2.

I'd be VERY surprised if AWD came out with an SR battery option. Maybe next year sometime after the SR battery is released, although perhaps not even then. Whether you can get AWD by Christmas in Canada is hard to guess.

FWIW, my RWD Model S does really well in snow with good snow tires (and is quite poor with the stock tires). Modern traction control plus good snow tires — I have Michelin X-Ice — makes RWD way more capable in snow than what it was decades ago. AWD would be even better, but RWD plus snow tires is pretty good in dealing with my long, steep curved driveway in snow and ice. I can push it through up to eight inches of snow.

Some driveway snow pictures from January 2017:

 

[Blu Angel]

JIm,
You're right!

Gigafactory only produces the Powerwalls 2, Powerpacks 2 and 21700 battery cells.

However, the Gigafactory and Tesla car plant in Hawthorne California are intricately linked.
Thus, the battery pack bottlenecks at Sparks (Giga) has directly impacted the TM3 (Tesla Model 3)
production rate in Hawthorne (vehicle automation)

The Tesla factory in Fremont was previously jointly owned by GM and Toyota know as NUMMI
( New United Motor Manufacturing Inc).
Great Tesla factory website link for anyone interested

Tesla Factory | Tesla Canada

Tesla expects that Gigafactory 1 located in Sparks, Nevada will reduce the production cost for their BEV and Powerwall and Powerpack cells by 30%. It's located approximately 259 miles or 416 km from its car production plant in Fremont, California and is approximately a 4 hour transport truck drive

Its projected capacity for 2018 is 35GWh expanding to 50 GWh of battery packs
Its ultimate goal, upon completion, is to be 150 GWh/yr of battery packs.
This will enable Tesla to produce 1,500,000 cars per annum

 

[internalaudit]

After the Ontario provincial elections next month, my household will find out whether or not to configure, at all.

Good thing AWD config may be available end of next week though I don't want to opt for the PUP, which I think is going to come with the new available dual motor config.

I'd rather use the money saved for the ESA.

 

[Mountain]

I'd be VERY surprised if AWD came out with an SR battery option. Maybe next year sometime after the SR battery is released, although perhaps not even then. Whether you can get AWD by Christmas in Canada is hard to guess.

FWIW, my RWD Model S does really well in snow with good snow tires (and is quite poor with the stock tires). Modern traction control plus good snow tires — I have Michelin X-Ice — makes RWD way more capable in snow than what it was decades ago. AWD would be even better, but RWD plus snow tires is pretty good in dealing with my long, steep curved driveway in snow and ice. I can push it through up to eight inches of snow.

Some driveway snow pictures from January 2017:

View attachment 300238

View attachment 300239

Thanks! That's one heck of a steep driveway for winter! I guess now that AWD will be configurable as of next week, I'll hold out to see what the cost is like, but nice to know the RWD has worked well for you with winter tires.

 

[Nixx]

I'd be VERY surprised if AWD came out with an SR battery option. Maybe next year sometime after the SR battery is released, although perhaps not even then

Although I do agree with you, I'd like to say that the AWD option originally said 'SR and LR available mid 2018'.

 

[Thomas Edison]

I'd be VERY surprised if AWD came out with an SR battery option. Maybe next year sometime after the SR battery is released, although perhaps not even then. Whether you can get AWD by Christmas in Canada is hard to guess.

FWIW, my RWD Model S does really well in snow with good snow tires (and is quite poor with the stock tires). Modern traction control plus good snow tires — I have Michelin X-Ice — makes RWD way more capable in snow than what it was decades ago. AWD would be even better, but RWD plus snow tires is pretty good in dealing with my long, steep curved driveway in snow and ice. I can push it through up to eight inches of snow.

Some driveway snow pictures from January 2017:

View attachment 300238

View attachment 300239

Any photos of the steep part?

 

[dgpcolorado]

Any photos of the steep part?

The second photo is looking down the steeper part but you can't really tell from the picture that it is a significant grade. It gets lots of sun and I try to shovel it first so that the snow and ice melt before I head out. Some shady spots lower down can ice up and stay that way for days or weeks. Used to be worse before I cut some trees on the south side to give the driveway more sun. Without snow tires or chains I can't get up the driveway when it is snow-packed, even after shoveling.

The main road access to my neighborhood has a hairpin curve with a 14% grade but it is plowed and sanded well by the county, so it isn't usually a problem. My driveway isn't that steep.

Edit: I just measured the section in the picture and it is an 8% grade. Doesn't sound like much but when you can't build up speed, due to the slick curve before, it becomes difficult.

 

[Thomas Edison]

The second photo is looking down the steeper part but you can't really tell from the picture that it is a significant grade. It gets lots of sun and I try to shovel it first so that the snow and ice melt before I head out. Some shady spots lower down can ice up and stay that way for days or weeks. Used to be worse before I cut some trees on the south side to give the driveway more sun. Without snow tires or chains I can't get up the driveway when it is snow-packed, even after shoveling.

The main road access to my neighborhood has a hairpin curve with a 14% grade but it is plowed and sanded well by the county, so it isn't usually a problem. My driveway isn't that steep.

The 1 mile of road right before my driveway starts is all 12-14% grade with 8 or 9 hairpin turns on a ravine with only 1/4th having a guardrail. We get 1-3 snow events a year that average 4-8 inches and they usually won't plow it for 3 days (if at all). When the snow comes we have almost no traffic, maybe 5-10 vehicles travel on it before I would have to. Nothing like Canada or the north east USA. But I don't like to miss work and feel that AWD would pay itself off just from my "needed" snow day use.