I don’t own a Tesla so have no substantive complaints, but have seen a handful out and about in Brooklyn. To me the weirdest thing is the area-that-would-be-grille on the front. They left the spot blank and kinda scooped/flat. It just looks like a grille that someone forgot to take the shrink-wrap off of. My comment card would be “be more creative with that spot”
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Ugh. We put down a deposit on a Bolt and have been waiting over a month an a half now. Dealership is having major issues getting transport. We have a VIN and everything- so it’s built.
Maybe some of those truckers who were transporting Teslas can now do other cars?
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If I was a Ford or GM and an opportunity arrived to purchase tesla, the charger network and drivetrain (which has been proven to be transplantable into a non-tesla chassis) would certainly be the bulk of the value, IMAO.
ALso, few people seem to remember that GM had an EV back in the 90’s under their Saturn brand: the EV1. Sadly, GM killed it off as leases on them expired, and they destroyed all the power trains and chassis that were made, along with probably most of the tech driving it. Shame, as it was definitely a unique vehicle.
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Well, when ya let yer fascist freak flag fly, loudly and evidently proudly, don’t be surprised when normal folks tell ya to f!ck right off. And Rs aren’t going to buy your eco wagon. Dumbass. Alienating 60-70% of the country sure is a super genius move, eh Elmo? Enjoy your tweedles!
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The scoop does make it awkward to mount the license plate. The missus drove hers for a couple of years without a front plate. She finally got ticketed a few weeks ago so I had to mount the plate. Pain in the ass.
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Which is what’s burning down right now. The labor relations, the threats to outsource, Musk’s reputation. Along with much more present things like the terrible build quality and looming crisis over “self driving”. How much cache will Tesla have at that point? It’s going to end up like MG, which is a badge placed on some budget Chinese market cars.
It just seems like the big things here are mainly infrastructural. the Big automakers have tech in spades, like I said almost everything Tesla does on the EV front originates in other automakers. Those companies didn’t stop working on this, they just didn’t prioritize it to the same extent (and Tesla spent a lot of time prioritizing it before it was practical).
All of these companies have at least multiple generations of fully developed and tested concepts and prototypes. Chevy and Nissan both have multiple generations of shipped production EVs, as do others. Volvo spun off their entire performance division as a separate EV specialized subsidiary. Practically everyone else has at least a base line in hybrids, if not plug in hybrids.
What’s lacking is infrastructure to ship it at scale. Factories and tooling. Battery supply. Repair systems.
Tesla is basically made of that stuff. Cause it’s the only thing they do.
They produced a second generation until 2003, so they kept it around for 13 years. And they were one of the first major automakers to launch a more modern plug in hybrid and EV in the 10s. So I doubt they dumped most of the tech behind it.
Interestingly GM execs have said if they’d launched the plug in hybrid version of the EV1 one they’d developed we’d have had electric cars 10 years earlier
Ford had an all electric version of the Ranger at the time. For the same reasons. Those were also lease only, but only offered to fleet customers. Apparently both companies went that route because of the crap battery tech available at the time.
And they killed the product the same time GM did, apparently for the same reasons. Lack of interest meant it didn’t make up enough of the cars they were putting out to keep up with the California rules it was created for. They likewise started launching more modern EVs around a decade later.
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In early 2021 The Tesla Y was competing with the Ford MachE and other “crossover” style EV manufactures for sales. In early in 2021, Tesla was selling the Model Y Long Range for $50k by year end it was $59k. In 2022 the price went up by another 8K to $67k. Tesla no longer qualify for the $7.5k EV tax break so those are “real prices”.
Ford could not make the MachE’s fast enough what with a new manufacturing line and supply chain issues. People still brought Tesla’s because they could actually supply them in a reasonable time frame. Basically Tesla put the price up while they could to maximize their profit. Even with inflation I think there is room to drop the price quite a bit.
This is going to be independent of their share price which has been overvalued compared to other auto manufacturing companies.
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The best thing about a Tesla is access to the Tesla network of chargers.
Here in the UK we’ve got about 1,000,000,000 separate charger networks. They all use the same set of plugs, so you can always find one compatible with your car’s socket but the chances are it will be operated by a different company. often quite local. For instance if I drive down to Dorset, 130 miles, suddenly all the chargers are operated by MerSea, a Norwegian company. I need like 8 different cards or apps to go on long distance journeys. The Tesla network, by comparison, is everywhere, and Tesla drivers can access the other networks too.
There was a rumour some months ago that Tesla were going to open their network for everyone’s use, but I don’t think it ever came about.
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In the US the Tesla chargers have a proprietary plug that nobody else can use. Teslas do come with an adapter that is compatible with most but not all regular chargers.
For the other chargers even those aren’t fully compatible. Or some dickhead parks their truck to deliberately block access to the charger. And there is the mess of having chargers owned by different networks so you have to do your research before going on a trip, rather than what you see in the UK I guess. We almost got stranded in Oklahoma over the summer because the only EV network in the state wasn’t working for a day.
When I take my truck to any gas station I never have to worry about the gas pump being compatible.
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… paradoxically, the whole “dealership” system was set up by a generation of reformers who thought they were protecting us from “vertical monopolies”
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Assuming it’s a CCS connector, the charger is always compatible just like the gas pump. The problem seems to be all the unique payment and authorization networks.
I’ve seen more and more gas stations in recent years offering their own apps for payment instead of just the card readers. Usually with some perk, but also they’ll want to debit a bank account instead of charge a card. I haven’t used them for that reason, so I don’t know if they have similar reliability issues seen with charger companies.
The card readers at pumps/chargers seems to be one of the weakest parts and prone to breaking. A big advantage gas stations have is multiple pumps and staff. If a reader breaks, someone knows immediately and they get it fixed quickly. The charger networks seem to suffer from an operations problem where there’s no staff and the companies don’t expect to ever need anyone to check on them.
I still don’t understand why most gas stations aren’t installing a couple of DCFC stations (at least ones with a convenience store). The stations are already in places people go. They have staff, operations, and the convenience store makes more money. They already have power at the site too. They would be in a much better operations scenario to support them, as an incremental “pump” instead of an entire new site. Set them up to encourage 30 minute or less charging.
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No there’s a definite fit issue with some chargers. The Tesla adapter fits the L1772 (upper part) but the CSS1 connectors have a tang that causes interference.The adapter that comes standard with Tesla fits some and not others and you dont know for sure until you are standing at the charger (unless you can determine in advance what company manages the charger).
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Is that a CCS or an adapter problem?
Does that only apply to using the Tesla CCS adapter then when charging a Tesla? I’ve never heard of other cars with native CCS having issues. (Which would give me a whole new set of things to worry about.)
Obviously, the Tesla vs “Not Tesla” also restricts using the Tesla Supercharger network at all.
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Take your pick. The adapter provided by Tesla doesn’t fit all chargers. It means that there is definitely a difference in the charger plugs and you don’t know until youre at the charger. Thats all I’m saying.
Tesla are making a new adapter at some point.
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Then there’s those of us who bought a vehicle with a Type 2 charging port in good faith that it’d be supported.
I figure we’re some years from a backwards-compatible charger popping up with maybe a few adapter cables so otherwise competent cars don’t become e-waste.
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You’ve got me thinking of that episode of Black Mirror now.
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Our car is leased, or I would be doing my darndest to persuade DH that we need that.
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We were looking at a trip around the American Southwest, and thinking of renting a Tesla to do it, but until the chargers are as ubiquitous as Wal*Mart, a longer trip is unfeasible.
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There are quite a few chargers out that way, and destination chargers too. But there are vast areas without either option.
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