Tesla Says Model 3 Had 'Biggest One-Week Launch of Any Product Ever' (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Tesla announced Thursday that it has received 325,000 preorders for its recently unveiled Model 3. If it sells every car that's been reserved, the company says it will earn enough revenue to make this the "biggest one-week launch of any product ever." A few days ago, the electric car company was saying it had received twice the number of preorders it originally expected to get. Now it's quickly approaching three times that number, which raises questions about the company's ability to meet its increasingly complex production goals. If it can, it stands to make a boatload of money. Tesla says the number of preorders it has received so far corresponds to $14 billion in implied future sales.
Sounds like the reality distortion field is strong with this one.
I mean, 8 years and your battery is almost a brick right?
No. It will have reduced capacity, but it will still be functional. The quoted estimate is around a 30% reduction in capacity after 8 years.
If the reduced capacity is great enough to be covered by the warranty, then Tesla will replace the battery for you. If not, you will have the option of either using the battery as-is, or purchasing a better replacement yourself (which will probably be expensive, but less expensive in 8 years than it is now since battery prices keep decreasing).
A gas car you can keep going for 15 to 20 years.
Modulo maintenance, gas, and the various parts you will have to repair or replace, or course.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
At a high level, the battery is damaged just a little bit each time it's charged. The amount of damage caused during charging is based on the temperature and how full the battery is. This means the longevity of a lithium ion battery is basically a function of how many times they are charged, the temperature, and if you charge it to 100% or only to 70%.
In the real world, with the Model S, people are reporting under a 20% degradation after 100k miles. It should last somewhere between 300k-500k before it's half dead.
As I understand it, as the battery capacity decreased, there should be a plan would be to install a new fresh battery pack, with the old one reused in a role for stationary storage, before finally being recycled.
I keep fairly detailed records of the maintenance cost of my cars. My 2000 Toyota 4Runner, purchased in 2003, has cost me $13,479 in maintenance. I've put 140,000 miles on it. My 2007 Honda Accord has cost me $5174 with 95,000 miles put on it. This is excluding the purchase price and gas.
Purchase plus maintenance plus gas on the Accord comes out to about $0.37/mile. The 4Runner is $0.43/mile.
In theory the EV won't require nearly as much in maintenance cost and would save in gas so even if I had to buy a new battery for $8,000 every 8 years it would probably make sense.