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Better title: "Over 50% of the new vehicle sales in Norway were Tesla"

Relevant chart by maker: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tm...
Telsa 50.6%
VW 9.4% ...

saloomy, are you posting at teslamotorsclub.com?
Is your Model X your only car?

Yes I insist...

Why con? I put X miles on my car, loved the experience. Love the autopilot, and love the free supercharging. It's a deal in my mind. Sorry you are so biased.

saloomy, are you posting at teslamotorsclub.com?
Is your Model X your only car?

Full Self Driving is supposably coming later this year (though I suspect more like later next year) and includes hardware changes. I read they are going to put a second forward-facing radar unit, changing the driving computer out for one with a 10X faster chip that sits behind the glove box,

Except you just suffered reading comprehension failure (according to Tesla: " All new Tesla cars have the hardware needed in the future for full self-driving in almost all circumstances.").

Ha, ha. One of Elon's PR lines was "everyone gets a P100D loaner while in service, with an option to buy it when you return". In 6 years I never once got a P100D (or top level configuration at the time). Also, in the last year or two, loaners are very hard to come by, and you can't even book an appointment with guaranteed loaner because the loaners are on first come, first serve basis, and once they run out for the day, they offer complementary Lyft ride if you live or work nearby, but no, they don't cover unlimited Lyft rides anywhere you need to go for however long the car is int he shop. The cars stuck for 2 weeks waiting for anyone to even look at them seems to be a new thing, caused by the flood of Model 3's no doubt - https://teslamotorsclub.com/tm...

We own a Tesla.

Nice WindBourne.
Is that why you have a grand total of THREE posts over at teslamotorsclub.com since you registered over there one year ago?

I lost an entire wheel at the axle because the Honda mechanic did not put back the shear pin.

What "shear pin" is that?
Wheels are not retained using a "shear pin".

Says someone who has a canned post accusing me of faking my tesla car ownership

It does look suspicious don't you think 140Mandak262Jamuna?
You're obviously a minimally educated Musk boypussy, with bullshit assertions such as Li:ion energy density doubles every 7 years Moore's law, and then suddenly became the quiet boypussy when challenged as to why a 2012 Tesla has exactly the same range as a 2019 Tesla.

And as a Musk boypussy, you spam slashdot.org with your claimed ownership of a Tesla Model 3, yet again became the quiet boypussy when challenged as to why you have ZERO posts over at the de facto owner forum M3OC.

Your fellow suddenly quiet boypussy WindBourne seems to be up to the same fake ownership of a Tesla Model S, but at least WindBourne has a grand total of THREE posts over at teslamotorsclub.com!!!
At least WindBourne is making an effort.

We own a 2013 MS 85

Come on WindBourne, you have a grand total of THREE posts at teslamotorsclub.com the de facto owner forum.
Yet you already have like 20 posts in this thread alone extolling your fake "2013 Tesla MS 85".
Just curious exactly how much is Musk paying you to suck his tiny penis?

Just the other day, I let a friend drive our Tesla MS. Now, they own a Tesla M3

Tesla can not make it them fast enough to meet the demand here, let alone in other nations.

But your "friend" received a Tesla M3 within a few days huh?
I can't get a Kia that fast, let alone a 90's era Kia like the Tesla Model 3.

Hey WindBourne, why do you only have a grand total of THREE post over at teslamotorsclub.com, when you're already at ten posts in this thread alone?
I think you are faking ownership of "our Tesla MS" my friend.

Our model s is coming up on 6 years and it has been amazing.

Hey Tommy, I notice you're not posting over at teslamotorsclub.com
If I paid $100,000k for a car, I'd be posting a lot more on the enthusiast site rather than on slashdot.org no? My $.02

In any case, the most "optimistic" comparison (from the EV point of view) it gets total fossil-to-wheels efficiency of .6*.8=48%. The most pessimistic is .37*.8=30%. The former figure is lower than total ICE efficiency, while the latter figure is comparable. The statistics from the Guardian link above (which have the ICE use 3.7 times the energy per distance traveled) seems to be close to the 20% vs 80% comparison.

You're missing electricity transmission efficiency (about 95%), battery charge efficiency (about 80%, less for quick-charges), battery discharge efficiency (can't find measurements for it since it's incorporated into the EPA kWh consumption, but usually it's about the same as charging efficiency), and electric motor efficiency (about 90%).

I did the calculations here.. Based on EPA energy consumption figures (kWh and gallons) for nearly identical vehicles (Nissan Leaf vs Versa), EVs powered with fossil fuels use slightly less energy than ICE gasoline vehicles. About 19%-25% of the energy in the fuel makes it to the wheels for EVs, vs 17%-23% ICE gasoline. Diesel ICE vehicles are slightly more efficient (25%+).

While Tesla has issues, they continually address them, and make things better. The Customer Service that we have had at Littleton (and denver's) service center has blown away what my wife got from Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Honda, and Toyota.

Which "denver" service center are you talking about?
Tesla lists that it currently has only one Colorado service center at Littleton.

You might have to increase your post count at teslamotorsclub.com from a grand total of three posts over your whole year of membership WindBourne.

I find it sad that so many Americans want him to fail for their own personal gain

I find it sad that you're faking ownership of a Tesla Model S to appear you're not just a Musk cocksucker.
If I owned a MS I'd be more active on teslamotorsclub.com than a grand total of three posts at the time of your registration one year ago.

And why are you posting at 03:16AM in the morning in your home state of Colorado?

For example, we own a model S.

Hey WindBourne, why aren't you more active at teslamotorsclub.com?
You made a grand total of three posts, all within days of you registering one year ago (whereas you already have almost ten posts here on this thread alone).
I think you're faking ownership of expensive cars for vanity reasons my friend.

in Europe

But you stated you were in Seattle Washington over at teslamotorsclib.com?
You haven't posted anything for two years though (Oct 19,2016 was your last post).

I have a shiny new Model 3.

Looking forward to reading your experience with TM3 over at model3ownersclub.com (I see you're not signed up there yet).

BTW Cyberax, how are you charging both at night?
You're not stealing electricity from your neighbor are you?

We own a 2013, and I can tell you that the current 2018 is radically different than ours

Really? In what way(s)?
BTW WindBourne, why do you have only three posts in total at teslamotorsclub.com? (all three within days one year ago when you registered at that forum).
I'm sure your fellow Tesla owners will be quite happy to engage you in your common passion for Tesla cars.

Just ask Rei! He will tell you the exact specifications

I think you will find that should be "She":
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tm...

He drive 510km at normal highway speed in Norway in the tyres/wheels that the car comes with. What do you want Rei, what specific set-up do you require for the Rei Certified Efficient Driving Range Test?

You don't have to do "Youtube drive tests" to measure efficiencies. That's what drive cycles are for. Hyundai expects Kona to receive a 250 mile rating in the US. Tesla expects Model 3 SR to receive 220 miles. LR received 310, but RWD was downrated from 334. These are the facts. I'm sorry if you don't like them.

Look at the speedometer

He specifically stated that the average was 120. Regardless of what the speedometer happened to show at some random time.

He was doing the speed limit or slightly above. Most of Europe has the same limit.

1. Nope.
2. You've been acting like that's "fast", "inefficient". When in reality it's below average.

He got 220 miles, which is the same as the similarly priced Model 3 SR gets with efficient driving.

What's your obsession with ignoring formal drivecycle measurements? Guess I have to repeat what I wrote before: "Model 3 LR starts at $44k USD. You're adding PUP and who knows what else in. The "long range" Kona starts at £34,500 in the UK (no US pricing yet). So subtracting 20% VAT and converting to USD, that's $37830. Pricewise, that's slotting in 31% of the way between SR and LR. Range-wise, that's 33% of the way between SR and the nominal LR range of 310 miles, or 26% of the way between SR and the measured LR range of 334 miles."

And your beloved Model 3 also tanks efficiency at higher speeds. That's how drag works

To be more specifically, drag works by CdA. Kona's Cd is reported as 0,29, Model 3's is 0,22. A is not 32% more in Model 3. Do the math.

And the Kona is still showing better efficiency at 120 kph in Bjorn's test.

189 Wh/km / 304Wh/mi is not better than Model 3 at 120 kph / 75mph (on aero wheels and eco tires like the Kona). Not even better than the heavier Model 3 LR, let alone Model 3 SR. 304 Wh/mi at 120kph/75mph is Model S levels of energy consumption, not Model 3.

Since you prefer ancedotes to drivecycles, here you go.

Wheels: unknown. Time of year unknown. Lifetime average: 267 Wh/mi, primarily at 79-83 mph: "Have you set a separate trip meter at 75 mph to see what your wh / mi would be?" "Yep I’ve tested that. Goes down to about 244 Wh/mi.

Wheels: unknown. January in Portland : "75 mph - 303 wh/mile"

Wheels: unknown. Time of year unknown "Similar numbers. Model 3 LR, ~600 miles, 19" wheels, Colorado. 239Wh/mile, majority at 65-75mph."

Wheels unknown: ". In summer, dry road conditions I am able to get 285 miles on a full charge driving 75-80 MPH, or 305 miles if I back it down to 65 MPH." (285 mi = 263 Wh/mi) "going 75 MPH over 200 miles, I lost around 35 miles of rated range" (275mi = 272 Wh/mi) "Long road trip on very hot days: 80 mph with A/C I lost 20% of my range. I have 18" w/Aeros on. I think that's as bad as it could ever get." (258mi = 290 Wh/mi)

Random Model 3s: "All other Wh/mi at hwy speeds (75/80/90) were much higher than in your figure. I've seen 255-300 "

These are just the first hits I get for searching "model 3 Wh/mi 75mph

With Autopilot cars, it's all in software. No hydraulic connection between the brakes and the pedal, 'puker uses an electric motor to "fake" resistance in the pedal. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tm...

You mean Karen? Karen Rei

I haven't figured out if she's an ultimate fangirl or a freelance PR person working for a Musk publicist.

Musk does in fact hire PR people to give him the promotion he needs. And they helped create the reputation of him being a "creative innovative disruptive genius" which many folks fell for.

Now Musk is a religion. All of his fanboys are just as rabid as those fanatical religious people. I'm just waiting for a Muskite - Muskim -Muskian - - whatever to strap some explosives on themselves and before blowing up Jeff Bezo's rockets scream "EeeeeeeeeLLLooooooon!!!!!"

As a general rule, Tesla owners tend to put as many or more miles on them per year as the national average.

"I wouldn't recommend an MBA. I'd say no MBA needed. An MBA is a bad idea. [...] It teaches people all sorts of wrong things. [...] They don't teach people to think in MBA schools. And the top MBA schools are the worst. Because they actually teach people that you must be special, and it causes people to close down their feedback loop and not rigorously examine when they are wrong. [...] I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one. If you look at the senior managers of my companies, you'll see very few MBAs there."

Seriously? Quoting Musk now?

I have an MBA. And I agree, it was a complete waste of time and money - I stupidly paid for it out of my own pocket. But I was taught education never goes to waste.

My concentration is in CIS and in Entrepreneurship.

I did learn some crazy ways to bootstrap a company from a serial entrepreneur that none of you heard of. I also learned how to read financial statements, economics, accounting, marketing and much more.

And I have learned more as an entrepreneur myself.

In that respect I agree with Elon. However, this worship of him is misplaced. It's a created of his PR people.

Musk and Tesla has become a religion. All facts are ignored or discounted based upon ignorance.

For example, when Tesla's cash burn is mentioned, someone always mentions that "it's because he's buying factories and building factories" or "he's building up".

Aside from the fact that it's been over 14 years, regardless of the reasons, a heavy cash burn leads to bankruptcy. And Tesla's cash burn isn't all investment: Tesla loses money on making and selling cars - period (Cite: 9/17 Cash Flow Statements - and every other since its founding - Cash Flow Statements as filed with the SEC).

Musk MUST get more money from investors to keep alive. Period.

Tesla is trading at ridiculous levels and it's obvious because his investors do not know how to read or understand financial statements.

tl:dr - Musk is now a religious figure.

P.S. I know, someone like Rei is going to argue with me by posting Cherry Picked numbers and cites of Fluff pieces.

It also lets them incorporate the solar awnings (not the majority of the power delivered, but still useful).

The solar awnings are mostly for show. If you do the math, they provide an almost insignificant amount of the electricity needed to charge the cars.

Figure 5x2.5 meter awning per car stall. By your account, there's 20 charging stalls per station. That's 20*5m*2.5m = 250 m^2 of panels. Figure they're using 160 W/m^2 commercial panels. Assume they're tilted facing south angled at the station's latitude. Multiply by the average capacity factor for the U.S. of 0.145, and a battery charging efficiency of 80%, and you get (250 m^2)*(160 W/M^2)*(0.145)*(24 hours)*(0.8) = 111.4 kWh. Or enough to give about 2.8 cars a half-charge (assuming 80 kWh batteries). Do note that the supercharger efficiency is probably even lower, as generally the faster you charge the battery the lower the efficiency (some of the energy goes into heating up the battery).

If you figure the station runs at half capacity for 12 hours out of the day at 30 min per charge, that's (0.5 capacity)*(20 stalls)*(12 hours/day)/(0.5 hours/charge) = 240 charges per day. So the solar panels provide only (2.8)/(240) = 0.0146 = 1.2% of the electricity needed to charge the cars. Even less if their electricity is going into a storage battery instead of directly to a car (that incurs another battery charging/discharging efficiency loss).

Solar's biggest drawback is that the energy is extremely diffuse. To do it right on a utility or car charging station scale, you need a big field covered with solar panels. Unless you're constrained by the available land area (which definitely isn't the case for a rest area by a highway), putting the panels on awnings above parking spaces or on top of buildings needlessly increases cost. Unless of course your primary goal is publicity - showing off the panels to people passing through.

Actually, I'm in Iceland, but not like it matters. And no, "public" does not in any way, shape, or form mean "not a parking garage". The word "public" has a very specific meaning. Just like the word private does. They're antonyms.

You cannot equip a grass verge with an electric plug

Yes you most certainly can. It's actually easier to install charging stations in grass than concrete. You run a trenching tool down the grass, lay down conduit, fill in the trench, and install the posts. And hey, if you don't want the posts for aesthetic reasons? No problem.

Look, the fact that you're arguing that something "can't be done" where there are places that it already is abundantly done should clue you in to the fact that you're wrong.

Actually, I'm in Iceland, but not like it matters. And no, "public" does not in any way, shape, or form mean "not a parking garage". The word "public" has a very specific meaning. Just like the word private does. They're antonyms.

You cannot equip a grass verge with an electric plug

Yes you most certainly can. It's actually easier to install charging stations in grass than concrete. You run a trenching tool down the grass, lay down conduit, fill in the trench, and install the posts. And hey, if you don't want the posts for aesthetic reasons? No problem.

Look, the fact that you're arguing that something "can't be done" where there are places that it already is abundantly done should clue you in to the fact that you're wrong.

There are very few pictures of the interior floating around from the Model 3 RCs driving around. It's best described as spartan, since there is nothing other than the 15" touchscreen.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tm...

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Try looking a little deeper, _every_ manufacturer has defects, all of them, period. The question isn't if there are defects, it's how does the company respond. The very few links (4) are supposed to support the claim that Musk and Tesla are crappy/bad/unethical/etc... yet, look again at those links:

Link #1: As of right now, the last post from the forum on the links "terrible build quality" is this: (1 link down, 3 to go)

Just want to update you folks on what's going on. The folks at Tesla (our regional service manager and the local sales manager) are working with me to spec out the rebuild. I had wanted to take this chance to increase the battery size to 100D and add the 3rd row child seat and informed the team of my desire a couple weeks ago. This would have been relatively simple but since the process took some time to get rolling, it now got more complicated because of all the price changes and the fact that 100D is now includes bundling of options that I didn't originally selected / wanted such as SAS and 72A charger. Based on the professionalism that I've seen from the service team so far, I still am hopeful that this will be handled in fair fashion, keeping my fingers crossed.

Link #2: "terrible reliability"

All repairs were performed under warranty and Tesla delivered the car to us the following morning.

Whaaa??? They fixed EVERYTHING FOR FREE??? Please explain to the many people with Fords, Chevys, Dodges, etc... how many times they got everything fixed properly for free and the company admitted fault. Now google Tesla's track record for fixing issues... yah, I hear crickets too.

Link #3: "a criminally negligent design"

I won’t try to assign blame or responsibility in this case, whether or not Tesla made it insufficiently clear on how to open these doors when the car has no power...

"Criminally negligent design"... really? Did they even read the article before posting this link? Also, a follow up comment is interesting as well:

It’s not uncommon for doors to be inoperable after an impact. This goes for all kinds of doors - even normal manual ones.

Why is this a story?

I don't know either...

Link #4 "they aren't even luxury cars"

Here's the relevant quote:

But Tesla says the Model S isn't a luxury car so why the comparison?

The comparison is about the Model S outselling, so is it

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Try looking a little deeper, _every_ manufacturer has defects, all of them, period. The question isn't if there are defects, it's how does the company respond. The very few links (4) are supposed to support the claim that Musk and Tesla are crappy/bad/unethical/etc... yet, look again at those links:

Link #1: As of right now, the last post from the forum on the links "terrible build quality" is this: (1 link down, 3 to go)

Just want to update you folks on what's going on. The folks at Tesla (our regional service manager and the local sales manager) are working with me to spec out the rebuild. I had wanted to take this chance to increase the battery size to 100D and add the 3rd row child seat and informed the team of my desire a couple weeks ago. This would have been relatively simple but since the process took some time to get rolling, it now got more complicated because of all the price changes and the fact that 100D is now includes bundling of options that I didn't originally selected / wanted such as SAS and 72A charger. Based on the professionalism that I've seen from the service team so far, I still am hopeful that this will be handled in fair fashion, keeping my fingers crossed.

Link #2: "terrible reliability"

All repairs were performed under warranty and Tesla delivered the car to us the following morning.

Whaaa??? They fixed EVERYTHING FOR FREE??? Please explain to the many people with Fords, Chevys, Dodges, etc... how many times they got everything fixed properly for free and the company admitted fault. Now google Tesla's track record for fixing issues... yah, I hear crickets too.

Link #3: "a criminally negligent design"

I won’t try to assign blame or responsibility in this case, whether or not Tesla made it insufficiently clear on how to open these doors when the car has no power...

"Criminally negligent design"... really? Did they even read the article before posting this link? Also, a follow up comment is interesting as well:

It’s not uncommon for doors to be inoperable after an impact. This goes for all kinds of doors - even normal manual ones.

Why is this a story?

I don't know either...

Link #4 "they aren't even luxury cars"

Here's the relevant quote:

But Tesla says the Model S isn't a luxury car so why the comparison?

The comparison is about the Model S outselling, so is it

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

It's an issue because tesla makes shit cars. If Ford, Toyota or VW delivered a car to a customer with a cracked A pillar it would be national news but it gets ignored tesla fucks up.

Wow that's brave of you to admit that you're a complete moron stupid enough to by a tesla.

The motor is lubricated for 12 years.

And will require replacement well before that.

wheel alignment

Real cars don't require an alignment every year. That more evidence or what a piece of shit teslas are.

fixes that are needed.

All attempting and failing to make up for their shit build quality.

belts adjusted

This no car that requires this. It's not ever a thing.

air filter changed

A K&N filter is life time.

emission checks

My real gas powered car doesn't need to get emission check either.

Sealed units tend to be more reliable

Statement not supported by facts.

I've had three rims destroyed

All due to the teslas massive weight.

battery can be swapped

At a massive expense.

Here is the facts I will spent less on maintenance on my real car than you will spend maintaining your piece shit tesla.

Tesla hires morons that allow a cracked a pillar to make it all the way to the customers hands.

And yet they still have massive quality control problems.

Only a complete moron would waste their money on a piece of shit tesla.

Here is an example of the their quality control.

How many billion dollars has "Thunderf00t" made with his space and car companies?

The same amount as Elon. None since both those companies lose money hand over fist.

Also real nice quality control on those cars there.

If the update text has errors in it ( i.e. frunk instead of trunk, ref: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com... ), I hope the feature itself was better QA'd.....

That's not a typo. "Frunk" is Tesla's term for the front trunk.

so it's a foot then in front and boot in back?

If the update text has errors in it ( i.e. frunk instead of trunk, ref: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com... ), I hope the feature itself was better QA'd.....

That's not a typo. "Frunk" is Tesla's term for the front trunk.

The feature is in Beta. Thats what I want: Beta software in my car. Here is a link to the release notes: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

http://mashable.com/2015/11/06...

A handful of times I instinctively grabbed the wheel or hit the brakes when a few impatient New York drivers cut me off, not really sure if the car would figure out what was happening. I'm sure the car would have, but I didn't want to be responsible for crunching up a $120,000 car I didn't own. Only once did the car ask me to retake control, ostensibly because it couldn't read the nearly nonexistent lane markings.

Cleverly, Tesla records data of every mile driven in each of its cars (even those that aren't Autopilot-equipped) to aid in situations where lane markings are faded, so Autopilot was able to handle much of the poorly marked West Side Highway, but not all of it. A warning chime accompanied by a message on the screen urged me to put my hands back on the wheel, though I was able to reset Autopilot after a few hundred yards.

---

Two kinds of "heavy" traffic. One is stop and go traffic. Autopilot is going to be fine there.

The other is 65+ mph with cars well under ideal safe driving distances with drivers cutting in and out of lanes, poorly marked freeways under construction, etc.

---

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...
Once you get the hang of where it works well and where it doesn't, it is fabulous. My daily commute is 75 miles (one way), of which only about 20 is highway. One 2-lane road it works flawlessly on, the other is a bit too twisty so I get to handle that one. Just keep your hands on the wheel and AP can't do anything you don't want it to. ...

Yah, I think the AI has a tendency to follow the lines on the right side of the car for reference, it gets confused when they either merge with another lane or exit.

---

It will get there. It's just not there quite yet.

The same way as they did in the original car?

Very likely, they go through and test all the cells before being used in this system and replace any non working cells. Also, the design of these systems generally isolates each cell within a small steel cage (and electrically) so that if one cell burns out, it doesn't burn out all the cells.

Here is a picture of a Tesla battery pack, lower down in the pictures, there is one with the top off of it, you can see the battery isolation clearly in that picture. This is done to isolate damage from a burst/burning cell:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

Aerovironment showed off a 250 kW charger some years back that's backwards compatible with CHAdeMO

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

You can see how batteries can be disconnected, people even disassembled a battery pack: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

As for "definite information" - Tesla asked people participating in the pilot program to sign NDAs.

This

and, most recently, a battery that can power a house.

That's another thing that's only been announced.

Well, technically you could buy a used Tesla battery pack and power a house with it.

I'd rather go with Nickel-Iron batteries, but that's just me.

and, most recently, a battery that can power a house.

That's another thing that's only been announced.

Well, technically you could buy a used Tesla battery pack and power a house with it.

I'd rather go with Nickel-Iron batteries, but that's just me.

But see, that's the point of Tesla. People have been clamoring for a vehicle which has those specific advantages, and they don't care about the disadvantages. There's plenty of people for whom the range is simply not an issue. If they need to go farther, they'll have their driver take them in their A8L or long S-Class, or they'll take a black car service or limo service — perhaps to an airport. I mean, we are talking about people who can afford to dash off $70k+ for a car that is not all things to all people. These people are far from broke and they can probably write all of this off, anyhow.

You should take a look at the Tesla forums. Specifically: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

Poor guy bought a BMW electric car and was informed by the dealer that he can use any charging stations he saw on his phone app. The dealer didn't educate the purchaser about charging stations appropriately and the guy didn't have a proper charging port in his garage. The guy bought the car because he listened to what the dealer said and didn't do much independent research.

Fuck dealers.

As an owner of a Model S who lives in a place that gets some good winters, the coldness isn't really a problem if you can plug your car in at some point. The car's battery has both a heating and cooling system and will regulate the temperature automatically. See this post for more information:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/25127-Must-Read-The-best-battery-management-when-cold#

Like this.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...

When you have a roof rack, you lose the ability to park in tight spaces.

You've got the same first impression I had, the promises seem too good to be true and the lack of investors is worrying. But after doing a careful background check and reading their history through I'm actually quite optimistic of their approach. There are valid reasons why investors are a bit shy of this approach. First of all Lerner is well known for going against the mainstream in astrophysics. I have to give him credit for this because at least to me it seems really worrying that according to prevalent theory 95% of our universe is made out of Dark Energy and Dark Matter - simply put stuff that we don't actually know anything about yet. As a plasma physicist he has been able to take a different perspective to astrophysics and this has lead for him to formulate his own quantitative theory based on observational evidence (this was done already in the 80's). His theory has been the only one able to successfully predict how plasma behaves in DPF devices and this is why he received initial funding by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab. Second thing that will definitely put VC's off is his refusal of selling controlling shares of the company. This is in fear of aggressive VC taking over later when the Phase I has been completed and scientific feasibility has been reached. Third thing that matters is their lack of marketing and PR skills (which you can see from miles off - just take a look at their website and presentations) and the miniature size of the experiment when compared to other approaches. There's an interesting discussion going on at tesla motors forums and it can shine some light on the investment side of things: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com...