Tesla - would you?

OrbitalDawn

OrbitalDawn

Ulysses Everett McGill
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If I could afford it I would absolutely!

They are also adding the possibily of swapping the entire battery pack:

[video=youtube;H5V0vL3nnHY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY[/video]
 
Same as posters above,the cars and concept excite me but they are priced quite high for what you get,kinda dismisses the whole economical car thing.

They need to make a "cheap run around" vehicle that people can use as a daily drive to work and back.

I'm hoping the costs can come down or battery tech can improve in the next few years.
 
falcon786 said:
Same as posters above,the cars and concept excite me but they are priced quite high for what you get,kinda dismisses the whole economical car thing.

They need to make a "cheap run around" vehicle that people can use as a daily drive to work and back.

I'm hoping the costs can come down or battery tech can improve in the next few years.
Click to expand...

Well, interestingly the companies that tried making cheaper, lower end electric car all failed on those models while this more expensive one has been a massive success.
 
Definitely would get one if it was available and reasonably(ish) priced.
 
I would.

I think if they managed to get a car sub 300k to SA then I would go for it.

Sure the supercar is awesome and I would get that if I had the money but a more realistic thing would be to have a family car/runaround.
 
As a toy/hobby? Probably
As a car for normal, practical use? Nope. Electric cars are not the future, much like solar power. Bring on Hydrogen or Hybrids and nuclear power stations.
 
Was just in Portland and there were EV charging stations everywhere, in Washington Square Mall there was even a Tesla store where the manager gave me the low down the one day, its a very impressive car, they had one complete version, then another without the body just showing the chassis, engine, and various systems like the air conditioning compressor, power breaking and steering and impressively a cooling and heating system for the batteries.

If I could afford it I would most definitely buy it, if I wanted to go out of town I'd rent an SUV

20140415_145821.jpg
 
I test drove one. While it certainly isn't a bad car, I really didn't like the feel of driving it. I suspect that has to do with linear acceleration or something in an electric engine.
That being said, I'm still quite interested in the Tesla Model X when it comes out
 
falcon786 said:
They need to make a "cheap run around" vehicle that people can use as a daily drive to work and back. I'm hoping the costs can come down or battery tech can improve in the next few years.
Click to expand...

+1
I'd consider it if there was a mass produced EV priced at around R300K and the battery packs only need to be replaced every 10 years at a cost of R75K.

R200K oil burner vs R300K EV:
Finance R200K oil burner = R263 156 (prime over 72 months).
Finance R300K EV = R394 733 (prime over 72 months).
Difference = R131 577.
R2500 per month for petrol or R0 per month for electricity to charge the EV (using solar PV).

Break even point = 4.39 years.
Total cost over 20 years assuming no maintenance of oil burner and two battery pack replacements for EV:
EV = R544 733
Oil burner = R863 156
Savings using EV = R318 423

The EV would be very favourable and Tesla are planning to reduce the price of Lithium-Ion batteries by as much as 30% via their "Gigafactory" http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/gigafactory
Tesla are also aiming to introduce a cheaper EV for 40000 USD.
If they get it right and assuming the motor industry does not block them via litigation this could be the break through we need to get rid of our reliance on fossil fuels for private transport.
 
Absolutely, if we can have charge stations rolled out here it will on my list of cars for sure.
 
JStrike said:
I test drove one. While it certainly isn't a bad car, I really didn't like the feel of driving it. I suspect that has to do with linear acceleration or something in an electric engine.
That being said, I'm still quite interested in the Tesla Model X when it comes out
Click to expand...

Linear acceleration is awesome! I wouldn't mind at all.
No gear changes, no noisy/vibrating engine, maximum torque through the entire rev range ... what's not to like about it?
 
Paul_S said:
Linear acceleration is awesome! I wouldn't mind at all.
No gear changes, no noisy/vibrating engine, maximum torque through the entire rev range ... what's not to like about it?
Click to expand...

It just doesn't feel "good". It's probably a very subjective thing though.
It also couldn't get decent traction on the snow, which I suspect is once again due to the electrical engine and how it feeds it to the wheels
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Well, interestingly the companies that tried making cheaper, lower end electric car all failed on those models while this more expensive one has been a massive success.
Click to expand...

I suspect its because of the high cost of the technology right now,as time goes on maybe 5-10 years time the tech will have developed enough to be mass produced relatively cheaply for "run around" type vehicles.

The tech in the smaller electric cars can leave you frustrated at times since you have to make too many concessions which take away from the convenience we are used to.The greatest concession in cheap electric cars is range per charge at normal speeds.
 
JStrike said:
It just doesn't feel "good". It's probably a very subjective thing though.
Click to expand...

I felt the same when I first drove a mutitronic car from AUDI which a friend bought but I got used to it when I drove it more often.Eventually I found it to be a better drive since it keeps you in the power band almost always.

It also couldn't get decent traction on the snow, which I suspect is once again due to the electrical engine and how it feeds it to the wheels
Click to expand...
The beauty of electric motors is this was probably just a software issue,if they make a decent algorithm for traction in snow it could easily make any driver a good snow driver.These things can be changed with electric motors simply using voltage control (Variac type system?) so probably just the model you drove didn't do it too well.
 
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falcon786 said:
I suspect its because of the high cost of the technology right now,as time goes on maybe 5-10 years time the tech will have developed enough to be mass produced relatively cheaply for "run around" type vehicles.

The tech in the smaller electric cars can leave you frustrated at times since you have to make too many concessions which take away from the convenience we are used to.The greatest concession in cheap electric cars is range per charge at normal speeds.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it would also help if they stopped making them ugly as sin (Prius/Leaf etc.). The Tesla is gorgeous.
 
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