38 replies to this topic

[Dupin]

After ten years of waiting, Tesla has revealed the Model 3, the vehicle that CEO Elon Musk hopes will take the electric car to the masses.

At the unveiling of the Model 3 this evening at the company's design studio in Hawthorne, California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the car will deliver at least 215 miles of range beginning at just $35,000 — that's a bold claim, and an important one for Tesla to meet. Musk is "fairly confident" that deliveries will begin by the end of 2017, and "you will not be able to buy a better car for $35,000, even with no options." And it will be one of the safest cars in the world, according to Musk.

http://www.theverge....-specs-preorder

 

This is the game changer.  Well equipped with a more than livable range and an affordable price.  Looks good, albeit a bit squished.  Over 200,000 pre-orders already.  As long as my Civic survives until they're available, very likely this is my next car.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Similar thoughts.

[RShack]

http://www.theverge....-specs-preorder

 

This is the game changer.  Well equipped with a more than livable range and an affordable price.  Looks good, albeit a bit squished.  Over 200,000 pre-orders already.  As long as my Civic survives until they're available, very likely this is my next car.

 

Too soon to tell how Tesla will do as a car company that sells lots of cars.  Maybe they'll do great, but we don't really know.

 

Regardless, there will be more cars like this one real soon. 

 

If you wanna take trips farther than its range, maybe the best architecture is a "series hybrid":  the electric motors do all the work, but you have a small combustion engine to make more electricity if/when you're on the road and need some.  The Chevy Volt is one example.  I expect we'll see similar cars with tiny turbo-diesels in them, optimized to run at exactly one speed while they charge the batteries.  These will be a lot more efficient than the current version of hybrids ("parallel hybrids") that are hauling around the weight of redundant propulsion systems.

 

I'm sure we'll end up with super-fast charging stations all over... but I wouldn't wanna be taking a trip these days to parts unknown and need to find one before my e-car stops....

[Dupin]

215 miles is a more than livable range. I could commute to work and back for a week without recharging (30 miles a day). And the charging network is more extensive than you think. Hydrogen is the real fix to 'normal' driving but we're some time from that becoming widely adopted and supported.

[RShack]

215 miles is a more than livable range. I could commute to work and back for a week without recharging (30 miles a day). And the charging network is more extensive than you think. Hydrogen is the real fix to 'normal' driving but we're some time from that becoming widely adopted and supported.

 

Hydrogen could be never... there's more complications to it than folks realized at first...

[Matt_P]

I'm sure we'll end up with super-fast charging stations all over... but I wouldn't wanna be taking a trip these days to parts unknown and need to find one before my e-car stops....

 

The other question is what happens when self-driving cars. A car like this could easily be used by a vendor (whether it's a city or a company) to drive people around a city.

[RShack]

Tesla3 vs Chevy Bolt (not Chevy Volt)

 

http://www.autonews....-autonews-daily

 

http://mashable.com/...3/#sUOV2s7eYPqk

 

Chevy Bolt: http://www.caranddri...s-and-info-news

[Dupin]

Pretty clear what the popular choice among the two will be.

[RShack]

Pretty clear what the popular choice among the two will be.

 

Depends on how you measure it... by the length of the waiting list vs. by the number of cars on the road?

 

I expect the Tesla3 will be like the iPhone of e-cars re: how and why people want it... we'll see what supply-and-demand does to the price with no dealer network to play with that... we'll also see how comfortable people are buying a very complex new-paradigm e-vehicle that has no dealer network to support it... I dunno how it will turn out... can't wait to see...

[Mark Carver]

Tesla's Model 3 now has 325K pre-orders -- and $14.5B in potential sales

 

http://www.computerw...tial-sales.html

[RShack]

The other question is what happens when self-driving cars. A car like this could easily be used by a vendor (whether it's a city or a company) to drive people around a city.

 

I'm guessing there a few years worth of legal and insurance issues to sort out...

 

Right now, they can make your new car stop before it hits whatever is directly in front of you.  It can also warn you about what's happening nearby.  But they don't have the car making any avoidance movements.   They could, but they don't.  They leave that to you.

 

Because what happens if it avoids hitting something big (like 2 big kids on bicycles darting in front of you when it's too late) but then accidentally hits something little.  Like a little kid sitting on the ground.   Then what?  

 

Since we don't want that little kid to get run over, should the auto-car that *could* have avoided the 2 big kids on bicycles not done so? Should it just do whatever braking it can do before it flattens them... *rather* than steering around them?

 

When it's a regular person driving, you can't sue about this kinda stuff.  But when a computer program is making decisions based on whatever priorities were programmed in to it, well, that's a horse of a different color...

[RShack]

And... both car companies and safety advocates are trying to slow down the rush to auto-cars... because they think this hasn't been completely thought through yet...  http://www.autonews....-autonews-daily

[RShack]

Let's say you buy a google car... let's say you have a bad driving record... let's say you let the car drive itself 90% of the time, while you control it 10% of the time...

 

Does your bad driving record impact all of your insurance bill, or just 10% of it?   If the former, why should your rates be high when google is doing 90% of the driving?  

 

Does google have to carry liability insurance because it tells the auto-car what to do when, not the driver?   If google carries insurance for that, do you have to buy that kind of insurance as well?  

 

etc., etc...

[RShack]

Bill to ban real encryption... co-sponsored by a senator from each party...

 

http://siliconangle....ong-encryption/

[RShack]

Mercedes vs Tesla  http://www.fool.com/...ptfxblnk0000004

[RShack]

Google-FCA (Fiat-Chrysler) deal to make self-driving cars is supposedly imminent...

 

http://www.computerw...g-vehicles.html

 

Fiat bought Chrysler, creating FCA.... then, the new Fiat boss did a full court press trying to arrange a merger with GM... didn't work... then he sounded out Ford about a merger... they're not interested... so, is he arranging for Google to buy FCA?  (Who knows?  Not me...)

[RShack]

Google and FCA to prototype self-driving Chrysler Pacifica... the first Google tie in with a manufacturer... announcement perhaps as soon as today...

 

http://www.autonews....-autonews-blast

[RShack]

Google and FCA to prototype self-driving Chrysler Pacifica... the first Google tie in with a manufacturer... announcement perhaps as soon as today...

 

http://www.autonews....-autonews-blast

 

There gonna put 100 of them on the road in the places google is testing their cars... the first should be ready by year's end...

 

http://www.computerw...g-minivans.html

[RShack]

Battle for spectrum dedicated to car-to-car communication...

 

http://www.autonews....-autonews-daily

[RShack]

Autonomous Chevy Bolt EV taxi's on the way...

 

http://autoweek.com/...y-near-you-year