Tesla Motors

Off Topic
341

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]Aggv wrote:

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Model X SUV sometime this year

…

Other semi-related news, Elon Musk’s supersonic train has been approved for intial construction of a 5-mile test track in Central California beginning in 2016. The train will travel up to 800mph, going from LA to San Fran in 35 minutes. It will run on solar power.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/quay-valley-solar-powered-self-sustaining-hyperloop-connected-city-future-1489641[/quote]

Would LOVE an all electric suv with crazy low range, and independently controlled 4 wheel drive. Make it look like a range rover classic then.

I doubt the peoples republic of california will allow a supersonic train in their state, or really any state for that matter.
[/quote]

The train’s top speed is 760 miles per hour, 8 MPH shy of the speed of sound at sea level.
[/quote]

Which if you think about it is still pretty incredible. It means that you could fire a rifle chambered in .300 Whisper coaxially to the train on a straightaway at just under top speed, and the people inside could actually observe the bullet in flight, racing them, until the train overtook the bullet, because the bullet would gradually lose velocity while the velocity of the train would remain constant.

Now there’s a train that lives up to the moniker “bullet train”.[/quote]

That’s so cool.

342

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:

[quote]Aggv wrote:
I havent kept up with this thread, or really what’s going on with Tesla; however i am genuinely interested in electric cars.

Do they have an affordable option?

what’s the cheapest option for getting an electric car? (that looks like a normal car)
[/quote]

Tesla doesn’t have an affordable option yet; it’s some years down the road.

The best deal I saw last summer was a Nissan Leaf electric lease for $199/mo. At the time, gas was $4.25. Even with gas at $3.00, if your current car gets 20mpg and you travel 1,300 miles a month, you can essentially lease a new Leaf for what you used to pay for gas a month. That’s a pretty attractive deal.[/quote]

I think the Leaf is very under appreciated. So what if it’s not the greatest looking car in the world. Is it fair to expect more from an ultra economy car? For the reasons Pangy mentioned above, if I still lived in LA and was still commuting 300 miles a week a Leaf would be a god send.

A friend of mine, btw, sold his SER, his Porsche, his Datson 240 and his Miata. The only car now sitting in his custom garage he built for all his cars is his Leaf. He might also keep his piece of shit utility truck in there.

343

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Great analysis, OE. I was wondering when you might get back in.

The neckline at $180 goes back to May of last year. I see that level around $120 you’re looking at, but an old time chartist would say that piercing this neckline would send us $100 lower. The neckline to the head was $100 ($180 to $280). And sure enough, look at the way the volume spiked in May of 2013 around $80.

I do like your idea of buying against the resistance at $120 and would continue to watch both price and volume.[/quote]

I like technicals for basic market psychology and to get a hint at what insiders know. I find the technicals that tip off what the insiders know to be very short term in nature. One month notice or so. So, my three year analysis above is very vulnerable to developments, good or bad, with the company. If demand changes for their product, there is significant news about the Giga Factory or the stock market/economy in general takes a dive, my technical analysis goes out the window.

Doc, I know valuation is really high, but I feel like if the price drops below 120, or, god forbid 100, it would mean disaster for the company. It would indicate big problems with the giga-factory or a huge drop in demand. Would you agree?

344

I had a ride in a 2013 Tesla yesterday. I stopped at my buddy’s repair shop, the car was in for a flat that he fixed. The owner took us for a 1/2 mile run. This was a RWD model, he’s trading it in for a new AWD model.

Surprisingly silent running and acceleration/ de-acceleration is quick. The owner said if you let off the “gas” totally, it slows real quick. Overall, a very nicely finished car inside & out.

345

Actually, now that I think about it, any drop off in demand would probably be disastrous. Not just “huge” drop off. I think electric cars are the future and that trend can’t be stopped but the fad-ish nature of what is currently IN or OUT of fashion at any given time could wreak havoc on whether or not Tesla is the one to lead the market.

346

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:
I had a ride in a 2013 Tesla yesterday. I stopped at my buddy’s repair shop, the car was in for a flat that he fixed. The owner took us for a 1/2 mile run. This was a RWD model, he’s trading it in for a new AWD model.

Surprisingly silent running and acceleration/ de-acceleration is quick. The owner said if you let off the “gas” totally, it slows real quick. Overall, a very nicely finished car inside & out. [/quote]

I’ve heard that with a little effort you could drive a Tesla and never even use the brakes.

347

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:
I had a ride in a 2013 Tesla yesterday. I stopped at my buddy’s repair shop, the car was in for a flat that he fixed. The owner took us for a 1/2 mile run. This was a RWD model, he’s trading it in for a new AWD model.

Surprisingly silent running and acceleration/ de-acceleration is quick. The owner said if you let off the “gas” totally, it slows real quick. Overall, a very nicely finished car inside & out. [/quote]

I’ve heard that with a little effort you could drive a Tesla and never even use the brakes.[/quote]

I have asked a few different Tesla sales people about the maintenance on the Tesla, and the #1 most common mentioned were the tires.

But due to the regenerative braking, the sales people gave me answers between 100k-150k miles as to how often you would need to change the brakes.

Tesla has begun testing software for the Model S that will let it drive itself from San Francisco to Seattle, almost entirely hands freeâ?¦and thatâ??s just the beginning.

http://gas2.org/2015/03/20/tesla-testing-autopilot-between-san-francisco-and-seattle/

348

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:
I had a ride in a 2013 Tesla yesterday. I stopped at my buddy’s repair shop, the car was in for a flat that he fixed. The owner took us for a 1/2 mile run. This was a RWD model, he’s trading it in for a new AWD model.

Surprisingly silent running and acceleration/ de-acceleration is quick. The owner said if you let off the “gas” totally, it slows real quick. Overall, a very nicely finished car inside & out. [/quote]

I’ve heard that with a little effort you could drive a Tesla and never even use the brakes.[/quote]

This is what the owner said as well. Off the “gas” it slows very quickly. I was in too much awe of the quiet ride to really notice what was going on.

349

1963×1936 263 KB

It appears the Tesla home battery pack has been spied and will be announced on April 30.

Price and terms

How much will Tesla charge for its system? Here, we have a possible clue. We can see how much SolarCity charged for the prototypes! As it is, CleanTechnica actually has data on this:

He could (hypothetically) get a 10-kWh Tesla battery (to power the refrigerator, lights, etc. in a power outage) under a 10-year lease for a $1500 upfront cost + $15/month. That amounts to $3300 over 10 years.

So there you have it. There was a 10-year leasing plan costing $1,500 upfront + $15/month. This roughly translates to $3,000 on a cash basis using a 3.5% discount rate. Therefore, my best guess would be a $3,000 price (along with a repeat of the 10-year leasing plan).

It might also be somewhat above that if Tesla wants to make any money, of course. I say this because at $250 per kWh of capacity, the battery module alone would eat up 83.3% of the sales price, before any other costs (tooling, R&D, etc).

So $3,000 is the base case, with a price between $3,000 and $5,000 or so being possible.

350

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
It appears the Tesla home battery pack has been spied and will be announced on April 30.

Price and terms

How much will Tesla charge for its system? Here, we have a possible clue. We can see how much SolarCity charged for the prototypes! As it is, CleanTechnica actually has data on this:

He could (hypothetically) get a 10-kWh Tesla battery (to power the refrigerator, lights, etc. in a power outage) under a 10-year lease for a $1500 upfront cost + $15/month. That amounts to $3300 over 10 years.

So there you have it. There was a 10-year leasing plan costing $1,500 upfront + $15/month. This roughly translates to $3,000 on a cash basis using a 3.5% discount rate. Therefore, my best guess would be a $3,000 price (along with a repeat of the 10-year leasing plan).

It might also be somewhat above that if Tesla wants to make any money, of course. I say this because at $250 per kWh of capacity, the battery module alone would eat up 83.3% of the sales price, before any other costs (tooling, R&D, etc).

So $3,000 is the base case, with a price between $3,000 and $5,000 or so being possible.

That seems too cheap to me. If correct, and they are that cheap, in a few years when the cost of solar panels have reached afordability, getting a combo of solar panels and a Tesla battery will be an awesome option for the middle class.

Just think, an average joe could have an affordable electric vehicle like a Leaf powered primary by the sun while also supplying much of his home energy needs by the sun.

My understanding is, if you take away all subsidies and tax incentives so its an even playing field, solar energy is about the same cost as fossil fuels for producing electricity. Solar currently provides about .3% of the electricity in the nation. With the cost of solar panels dropping fast, that .3 number is going to be rising quick.

351

I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries.

352

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries. [/quote]

I don’t know about that tower business but it is physically possible to lay down some kind of grid in the highway that would radiantly (maybe the wrong word) charge cars on the fly.

353

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries. [/quote]

I don’t know about that tower business but it is physically possible to lay down some kind of grid in the highway that would radiantly (maybe the wrong word) charge cars on the fly.[/quote]

Yes, and that idea (that electricity can be broadcast, received and used) was dreamed up by none other than the namesake of the company, Nikola Tesla. So it seems a natural next step.

354

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries. [/quote]

I don’t know about that tower business but it is physically possible to lay down some kind of grid in the highway that would radiantly (maybe the wrong word) charge cars on the fly.[/quote]

Yes, and that idea (that electricity can be broadcast, received and used) was dreamed up by none other than the namesake of the company, Nikola Tesla. So it seems a natural next step.

No that’s what fanboys say about Tesla. The reality is Tesla never experimented with or wrote about anything resembling wireless charging at a distance. That’s a modern development attributed to tesla as an ex post-facto deification of him. Also the bullshit about him being ripped off by Edison/Westinghouse is cute as well. Steve jobs didn’t invent or design a single thing at Apple but somehow people don’t demonize him for “ripping off” his engineers and designers.

355

[quote]TooHuman wrote:

No that’s what fanboys say about Tesla. The reality is Tesla never experimented with or wrote about anything resembling wireless charging at a distance.[/quote]

Evidence supporting your claim, please.

Evidence supporting your claim, please.

Nobody mentioned Edison or Westinghouse in this thread, but evidence supporting your claim, please.

Completely irrelevant to this topic, but what the hell. Evidence supporting your claim, please.

356

I think the only thing limiting this guy is his imagination, his Hyperloop would cost a small fraction of what the stupid high speed rail would cost (which isn’t even high speed as it blends into the slow speed Amtrak system.). It would be faster than a plane and run on solar power.

357

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries. [/quote]

I don’t know about that tower business but it is physically possible to lay down some kind of grid in the highway that would radiantly (maybe the wrong word) charge cars on the fly.[/quote]

Yes, and that idea (that electricity can be broadcast, received and used) was dreamed up by none other than the namesake of the company, Nikola Tesla. So it seems a natural next step.

I don’t see it being very feasible to transmit a large amount of power over the air. Mutual inductance between towers or between a tower and load would be very weak, so it seems it would be a very poor way to power anything larger than small electronics.

358

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
I can imagine Elon Musk being just crazy and philanthropic enough to create a network of solar arrays wired to Wardenclyffe towers along the nation’s highways, which would broadcast electrical power on the fly to his Tesla cars, essentially obviating the need to recharge the batteries. [/quote]

I don’t know about that tower business but it is physically possible to lay down some kind of grid in the highway that would radiantly (maybe the wrong word) charge cars on the fly.[/quote]

This is a significantly more realistic way to power EV’s than by air. I can see this being the way our infrastructure is built in the future.

359

Tesla introduces new $75k model, the Model S 70d.

The “D” stands for dual motor, which will come standard. The car has all-wheel-drive, 514 horsepower and a 0-60 acceleration time of 5.2 seconds. It will also have a 70 KW-Hour battery and a 240 mile driving range.

360

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]TooHuman wrote:

No that’s what fanboys say about Tesla. The reality is Tesla never experimented with or wrote about anything resembling wireless charging at a distance.[/quote]

Evidence supporting your claim, please.

Evidence supporting your claim, please.

Nobody mentioned Edison or Westinghouse in this thread, but evidence supporting your claim, please.

Completely irrelevant to this topic, but what the hell. Evidence supporting your claim, please.[/quote]

You ask for evidence to support a claim, which implies (to me at least) that such evidence can be had. So…how about some evidence for your claim that a claim which purports to argue the non-existence of something can actually be backed up with evidence? How does one prove that something does not exist?