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Tesla Unveils the Model X
An anonymous reader writes with news that Tesla has officially unveiled its Model X SUV. It's their third vehicle, after the Roadster and Model S. Its 90kWh battery provides 250 miles of range, and the vehicle can go from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. According to Reuters, the high-end versions of the Model X will cost between $132,000 and $144,000, while the base model's pricing is not yet known. The vehicle's doors open upward, and it can have seating for either six or seven passengers, depending on layout. The back row of seats can fold down when not in use. The Model X has automatic emergency braking, a 5,000 pound towing capacity, and a so-called "bioweapon defense mode" for its air circulation system that keeps positive pressure within the cabin.
on their Civics.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Selling cars that cost as much as a small house is all well and good if your target market is 1%ers and boomers, but if you want to sell to the mass market you need something that's priced for a generation that will probably never be able to afford to own a home.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
One of the things I found very interesting about the video release is the idea that they put sensors in the falcon wing doors that would alter the rate and angle the two pivot points used to open the doors. I had wondered how they were going to prevent what would have probably ended up being expensive damage if the available opening space around the car was either too low or too close. You have to hand it to Tesla, they really do think about how things should work before they rush in and execute. If they put the same kind of design effort into the Model C, they are going to knock it out of the park.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
"Tesla says that the car features 'a medical grade HEPA filter strips outside air of pollen, bacteria, viruses and pollution before circulating it into the cabin.'"
I'm guessing they don't just use that filter all the time because they don't want to wear out a (presumably) much more expensive filter?
And silly name aside, i could actually see using this feature to defend against the relatively benign bio attacks of skunks and that portion of I-5 in central California right next to all the cattle lots.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
What if the bioweapon is released from within the vehicle... from say, a butt? Is there a defense mode for that that any other vehicle wouldn't already have?
Well I see at least 10+ new Range Rovers on the street every day not including tons of Cayennes and Escalade's. The way I see it is you sell to the rich first and those who need their peer status upgraded. Then it trickles down to produce cheaper models.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I'd rather have a car that goes from 0 to 60 in 6.4 seconds and goes 500 miles. 250 miles just doesn't cut in some parts of the US (out West).
They're planning on selling a $35K model in around 2-3 years, after their battery factory opens.
Meanwhile, there's no shortage of demand for the existing models.
Selling cars that cost as much as a small house is all well and good if your target market is 1%ers and boomers, but if you want to sell to the mass market you need something that's priced for a generation that will probably never be able to afford to own a home.
Tesla will eventually design and price vehicles for everyday people but this follows their strategy of appealing to the 1%ers first to get the products off the ground and to pay for R&D. It's why the first car they produced was a sports car.
Plus, range, especially for an SUV, is really important for most families. Yes, some are used as daily drivers but most families also use them for long trips (Range is 250 miles, ~4 hours highway travel). I would also argue that range would be decrease if you are towing (i.e. boat, camper, etc.). Because of this, it makes sense for them to focus on the luxury market until range is a bit better.
I remember seeing my first flat screen TV in a high end electronics showroom back in 1997. I don't remember the exact size or price, but it was at least 50" and over $20k. I thought it was ridiculous that someone would pay that much for a TV and that I'd never be able to afford one. Walmart has a 50" LED TV that's probably has better technical specs in every way for $300 on their website.
New technology is always expensive for the early adopters. But after that new technology is a generation or two old, newer revised generations is often drastically cheaper.
Tesla has never made a secret that their approach was to sell the high margin luxury vehicles first, where the margins are. The next model they introduce is going to be priced at $35K, which is solidly in the 4-door family sedan price range (Accord, Camry) and the low end of small upscale sedan territory (3-series).
The overpressure would have to be greater that the water pressure at the depth you were driving at. I doubt it would be high enough to even marginally submerge the whole car, to be honest, with the roof just below the surface, the pressure at floor-pan level would probably be enough to overcome the cabin overpressure. Actually the overpressure would have to be greater that the water pressure at any potential point of ingress, which could be significantly higher that the static water pressure due to the motion of the car through the water.
Wait...you were actually just joking weren't you?
The term generally is halo car. In the past this has meant a car that was expensive when the company had inexpensive vehicles too, as the expensive one attracted attention and people would buy the cars they could actually afford.
I think they're trying to drive demand and pay for the development costs first, then once they've gotten manufacturing capacity and the technology developed, then they can afford to produce less expensive cars. Perhaps they're right, all other upstart electric car companies have failed when trying the bottom-up approach, maybe the top-down method will work better.
The other aspect to consider is the projected lifespan of these vehicles. I admit I don't know what it actually is, but if they're following a model like the Toyota Landcruiser, which for the bulk of its models was intended to have a 25 year lifespan even when used for its intended rough purpose. If the Teslas are intended to have similar lifespans but as road-going vehicles will see many more miles driven than an off-road Landcruiser, then the price for the vehicles might be as ridiculous as it seems at first.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I, who makes probably 4 times what they make, drives a completely stock Prius and saves every dollar from the gas I don't buy and wheels and tires I don't buy
Maybe but they probably actually enjoy driving their car. If you drive a Prius it's clear you don't care about enjoying the ride.
Back when "The Millionaire Next Door" was written, the author included data from a survey that said the most common car driven by millionaires at that time was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I think the next most common was a Ford F-150.
But there are a lot of misconceptions about millionaires (people with a net worth of > $1 million). Most are self-made, most are entrepreneurs, most are worth in the single digit millions, etc.
But the overall theme was, these aren't the people you see out there flaunting wealth. Those people are usually not worth anything. People who are really building wealth are not the conspicuous consumers.
Selling cars that cost as much as a small house
They're a California company. Try finding a house for $132K just about *anywhere* in California, let alone greater LA or SF. Heck, finding a house in many parts of Silicon Valley for $1.32 million is tough.
Why is this a story on slashdot anyway? Jalopnik, sure.... but this isn't news for nerds, and not really even news that matters. It's just a new model press release.
Seriously no one cares. How come you're not bitching about farmers driving 100K F450's ?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Positive cabin pressure. So you can drive it under water right?
Well, one time. Sure.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
$35,000 Tesla Model III coming in 2017
Since they've seemed to slip all of their shcedules by 1-2 years, I'm guessing 2019.
This blog post discusses Tesla's top-down strategy where they use luxury cars to fund development of mass-market cars.
He effected a bored affect.
They just can't win with you guys. Here is a US carmaker, hiring US manufacturing workers, and hiring US factory builders, and US factory worker insurance agents, and US building maintenance workers and US building construction workers... And US robot installers, and US salespeople and US car insurance people and US SuperCharger construction workers and US auto engineers and US marketing workers and on and on.
All these non-rich, non-douche workers are taking piles of money away from the "douche"-class. Exactly what will it take to make you happy? You should wish the cars were selling out at 10X the price, to take 10X as much of the cash away from the evil "douche"-class buyers.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
Lucky you, they sell that solution. Wire up as many PowerWalls as you need for 90kWh of adult toy enjoyment.
http://www.teslamotors.com/pow...
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
Why is this a story on slashdot anyway? Jalopnik, sure.... but this isn't news for nerds, and not really even news that matters. It's just a new model press release.
Speaking as a nerd I find it fascinating. Please remember that nerds aren't just computer programmers. Some of us are interested in technology that doesn't have a keyboard and mouse. Furthermore it DOES matter. Tesla is having some fascinating effects on the car industry and they are proving that all electric vehicles are a viable commercial technology. In case you hadn't noticed a lot of people here on slashdot are very interested in what Tesla is doing.
Where do you live where construction materials and labor add up to $350 per square foot for a shop? Nice homes in California can be built for $150 per square foot or less. I may be willing to drive a truck of materials there and build it for less.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Such over-design tends to spectacularly and expensively fail as cars get older or get into accidents.
Not really a relevant concern when you are talking about a $100K+ vehicle. A bit of exuberant design is expected to justify the price tag. I'm guessing you aren't really into the luxury car market much.
With multiple hinges, sensors, control units that all could potentially fail, you will end up with a used car without functioning doors. Who wants that? On other hand, simple hinge just keep working.
Yes but simple isn't necessarily interesting. Nobody buys a supercar because they want simple basic transportation. They want a bit of panache, otherwise there is no point.
So you think, "I will lease for 4 years, and will never see these problems". Well, resale value is affected by reliability, and as a result costs of these failures will be baked into your lease costs.
Buying a car like this is not a decision driven by expected resale value. You buy a car like this because you have the disposable income and you want to own one.
Telsa has been occupying the high end market segment, not the mainstream, think of them as a competitor to Porsche and Mercedes, not Ford. This can be seen in the reactionary vehicles being developed at these companies as they've lost market share to Tesla. What Tesla is going to do with the Model 3 is attempt to move from the high end to main stream. This would be like Porsche attempting to make a mainstream $30k vehicle that anyone could buy.
Time will tell if they succeed, personally I wouldn't bet against them.
They've been planning on selling a cheaper model in 2-3 years for 2-3 years.
The doors use less lateral room than a traditional door. In other words, there can be situations where you can exit via the rear door but not the front door due to being parked so close to the adjacent car.
If you cannot afford to own your own home, then chances are you are STILL not going to be able to afford even their $35K base model when it releases in a year or two.
Sure, $35K might seem "average" these days for new car pricing, but only to those who somehow enjoy a $500/month car payment, or enjoy being (fl)leased by other creative loans.
Depends on where you live. There are a few cities in the US where you could have $35K available to pay cash for the car, but $35K isn't enough for a down payment on a house.
" where do you put the luggage?"
Under the hood in the front, because there is no engine there,
Selling cars that cost as much as a small house is all well and good if your target market is 1%ers and boomers, but if you want to sell to the mass market you need something that's priced for a generation that will probably never be able to afford to own a home.
The base model will be less. And they are working on a $35000 model that will compete with BMW 3 series cars. This car is meant to compete in the market that buys Porsche Cayenne's and the like. The top turbo model of the Cayenne goes for over $130000. The base model of the Model X will likely go for $60000 or so.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
Well, it's definitely the best choice if you're into fatties. Dat torque.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
They also have agreements to supply electric powertrain components to other manufacturers. Don't know if that's actually been realized anywhere yet, but Tesla technology could very well wind up in cheaper vehicles not manufactured by Tesla.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
A 90 kWh battery that's small and light enough to put in a car is the new technology. Sorry if they're not reinventing the wheel enough to impress you.
Is that with one person in the car driving normally?
What about when you have 6 people in it towing a boat/quads/whatever and fully loaded with luggage? I'm betting it's a little less then 250 miles...
Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com
Selling cars that cost as much as a small house is all well and good if your target market is 1%ers and boomers, but if you want to sell to the mass market you need something that's priced for a generation that will probably never be able to afford to own a home.
Tesla's business model is explicitly to use the experience and funds generated by high end models to create less expensive models. Elon musk has repeated this over and over. Here is a blog post from 2006. Why is this so hard for people to understand? Where else is Tesla suppose to get the money and experience to create the car? Tesla is using the money of 1%ers (as you say) to fund development of cars for the 50%ers and people bitch about it like it's a bad thing.
So what's the gripe? They aren't proceeding fast enough? They are proceeding as fast as they can. They want to sell a shit ton of cars, do you think they are sandbagging? I get so sick of the "cut off your nose to spite your face" envy and jealousy.
If you think it's easy to make an inexpensive but compelling electric car from scratch, then start a freaking car company and do it. Or join GM, Ford, or some other company and help them to it.
Some privacy policy Slashdot.
A lot of people here on slashdot are interested in sex, too. That doesn't mean this is the place to discuss it.
It's been discussed plenty here on slashdot. Your userid is low enough you ought to know that. And just because you don't care about a particular topic doesn't mean others aren't interested. I could not care less about vintage video games or bitcoin but it clearly fascinates some folks here. Tesla automobiles are clearly a technology that is of interest to nerds and its pretty easy to argue that it matters.
Whenever you see absurd prices, you must remember some have absurd amounts of money. There are people today who could light a $100 bill on fire and every ten seconds use it to light the next one, all day, all year (about $300 million) and still have more money in the bank next year. And there's people living on less money in a year than I spent on the graphic cards in my gaming rig. The world's wealth is extremely unevenly distributed.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
The definition of "new technology" is "combination of existing technologies to create a new product". Why is this so hard for slashdotters to understand?
Electric cars existed before Tesla. A mass-market electric car that is faster than most gas cars and which travels 200+ miles/charge did NOT exist before Tesla--therefore it is new technology.
And thus he is saving even more money, probably more than he saves driving the Prius.
I can see the fnords!
I hate to break the bad news: but skis are rather *long* pieces of sport equipment.
You can't store skis in any trunk.
You either need a ski rack on the roof (as most other cars have options for, including the Model S telsa, and including all the cars I've ever driven).
Or you need a rack on the back of the car (as some people do with bikes, and as the few illustration I've seen of Model X tend to show).
But if you want to put skis *inside* any car, you need to lay flat some seats, at which point you lose the possibility of bringing more people together.
(You'll be only 3 persons: 1 driver and 2 passengers, and the rest of the space occupied by the skiing equipment.
Have been doing that personally for years).
Would be easier if all the passengers are only interested in bringing snowboard (shorter) and/or snowshoes/ice skates/snow blades/big foots/etc. (definitely shorter). But I'm a ski person.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
What about when you have 6 people in it towing a boat/quads/whatever and fully loaded with luggage?
Now there's a funny thing with electrical vehicle and towing:
- electric motors are relatively simple and not the most expensive part in a vehicle (I mean when compared to a fossil fuel engine). There's nothing preventing you in putting more into anything. That's why recent Model S, and the Model X (and countless of small half-DIY things-on-wheel on youtube) are dual-drive.
Gives you twice the power, with not much extra cost.
- batteries are expensive, and a bit heavy, but once you already have the technology nothing forbids you to install more of it (beside the cost).
Put these two together and you find something very interesting : it's not completely impossible to add power to the tow.
- put an extra motor on the tow's wheel axis (dead simple, not that expensive)
- add a small battery (that's going to be expensive... unless the battery is modular and is your house's powerwall the rest of the time).
Now you're able to tow more without losing that much mileage.
The same would be an engineering nightmare with thermal drives, but electric drive brings it into the realm of possibilities.
In fact, that's exactly what European high speed trains are doing (random example: latest German ICE trains, Swiss ICN, etc.)
They don't have a locomotive/motor coaches.
Instead electric motors are incorporated into all the carriages. (adding extra electric motors is cheap).
The results is enormously powerful trains that can go very fast or climb steep.
Maybe, over the next decade, as prices for battery (and electric drive technology in general) get progressively lower, we'll be able to see mobile home that don't lower the mileage of the SUV they're attached too, because they have their own drive and electricity storage.
(At a very expensive price first, but the electric SUVs like Model X aren't really targeting the average person's budget anyway).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
F-150's not a good comparison. There are a wide range of configurations. You can get a new F-150 for sub $25k or you can spec them out up into the $60k+ range.
For many of them, the F150 is just as likely to be a tool as it is a means of personal transportation. It's not unheard of for a family farmer to have $1MM worth of land, property, and equipment....
Lots of homes at that price point in San Bernardino, Barstow, Palmdale, and other places East of LA... Same in Eastern Ventura County in Santa Paula. Or central Ventura County in places like Ojai and Oxnard and even Ventura (the city). All within about an hour drive of Los Angeles.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The Rav 4 has ~6" of ground clearance. The Outback and Forrester have ~9" of ground clearance. The Model X has adjustable ground clearance that goes up to 9".
The Model X is larger in volume than your BMW X5. It's ~5" longer, ~6" wider, and ~5" shorter.
Don't be a douche and leave the snow on the roof. When you drive it just blows onto the car behind you. It's polite to sweep it off before you leave.