Elon almost lost everything on Tesla. He leveraged everything and was saved at the last minute by Toyota and Daimler. It was the same with Space X. They were one launch away from failure. Elon sank everything he had into both companies.
The nice thing with the Tesla is that they tend to use their batteries far less than say, a Leaf. I average about 50 miles per day of driving. If I were driving a Leaf this would be a significant percentage of the battery. The hardest thing on the batteries is charging them to 100% and draining them near 0%. With the Tesla I typically keep it between 40-70% which allows the battery to last a lot longer. My Prius kept the battery between 40-80%. The plug-in hybrids will be a lot harder on the batteries.
With today's interest rates it is very easy to make very safe investments that earn higher than the interest rate on the loan. The problem is when people overextend themselves or make risky investments that they can't afford to lose.
In my case I paid 40% up front and got a 1.99% loan from my credit union. If my investment beats 1.99% I'm ahead. I took some of that money and bought a bunch of Tesla stock at $35. I am very far ahead now while still able to handle the case if my investments head south. Other investments were made in some very safe mutual funds, which also are doing far better than 1.99%. With a diversified portfolio where you hold on to the stocks long term you will typically be ahead. The loan also helps build up your credit score, though in my case it wasn't really necessary. It all depends on how smart you are with your money. Years ago when I bought my house I poured every penny I could into paying down the principal, especially when I was paying 7.125% interest. It made a HUGE difference, allowing me to pay off my house in under 15 years. At this point, even though I'm paid an engineer's salary in Silicon Valley I have no difficulty affording my Model S. All but one of my stocks have done very well, many well over 100% of what I paid for them. I buy long term and didn't even sell in the huge crash of 2008 and I'm still well ahead.
I disagree with you. I ran the numbers. Financing a car is a great way to save money. For example, I got a loan for my Tesla Model S. With the money I did not spend up front I invested it. If I am able to beat the 1.99% interest rate I'm paying on the loan I'm ahead. It's not hard to do.
Often they make very little on the cars. Most of the money is on service and financing. Sometimes they lose money on the cars they sell. http://www.thisamericanlife.or... gives good insight as to what actually goes on with car dealerships and why they're the dirtbags they are.
It all depends on the school. My mother is a substitute teacher at a high school which doesn't take discipline very seriously. At one point she caught a kid with a paintball gun in the classroom and called it in to the office, conveniently leaving out the "paintball" part. Nothing happened for around 10 minutes until the office called back to get more information. Most kids get just a slap on the wrist if anything, so behavior at the school tends to be poor and the administration frowns on teachers who do use discipline because it inconveniences them. Back in the 1970s and 1980s it was a yearly tradition to stab a teacher every year at this school. Sadly this type of thing is coming back. Some of the lower grade schools in the city are just as bad and there are now a lot of problems with gangs.
1. While Tesla may not be able to charge in 10 minutes, they have been aggressively rolling out rapid charging with their superchargers. In their cross country trip they spent 20% of their time charging. In the next month or so they will be rolling out battery swapping between the Bay Area and LA. That takes about 90 seconds. When I drove to Reno from the Bay Area I stopped in Folsom long enough to get a burger. By the time I was done I had plenty of range to reach Reno. The hotel I stayed at had an RV park as well where I was able to plug in.
2. The charging infrastructure is filling out quickly. Regular J1772 chargers are popping up everywhere. Furthermore, the Tesla model S comes with a charging adapter allowing charging at any NEMA 14-50 50A outlet which is quite common at RV parks as well as a 110v plug (which is almost useless since 110v charges so slow).
3. The Tesla model S is priced similarly to other cars in its class. The model E is planned to be priced to cars similarly.
Generally the charging time is not an issue. It takes me 5 seconds to plug in at night and 5 seconds to unplug in the morning. Basically I have a full charge every day (or in my case about 70% since it's easier on the battery).
They're first focusing on the major transportation corridors before branching out further. By the end of next year most of the US should be covered unless you're traveling off the beaten path. With the model X going in to production next year I expect them to add more chargers in more out of the way places. Tesla is also releasing an adapter for ChaDeMo and will release an adapter for the combo plug if and when it starts to be deployed (Tesla's signalling is already compatible with the combo plug).
I agree with this if going by the people I've been interviewing. I usually give a basic C programming problem, nothing particularly hard that any college grad should have no problem doing. A majority of the people I interview fail it and very few get it completely right. We've had a lot of people who throw around buzzwords but won't go into detail (big red flag), or they have a lot of short stints at a lot of companies (another red flag). I swear that some of these people have someone else do the phone screen for them.
I've had people come in only to admit that they don't know C, and this is for a position working on stuff like bootloaders and the Linux kernel and other embedded stuff. Also, seeing certain large companies listed in their resume is another red flag. While working at a networking company none of the people I interviewed from a large networking company could describe what happens when one machine pings another machine through a router using Ethernet.
We're still looking for people since right now I'm totally overloaded with work.
Knowing programming is like knowing the alphabet. It doesn't mean you know how to put it all together and write a good book.
When I watched the Tesla assembly line in action I only saw one person working on the chassis doing some welding. Everything else was handled by robots.
A lot of people are asking for a truck and Elon has hinted that it's in the works after the Model E. Given the available torque an electric truck makes a lot of sense. I imagine Tesla would make it all wheel drive like their Model X and have storage under the hood as well. Hopefully they can get their gigafactory up and running for the model E.
I own a model S with the 85 KWh battery pack. Going 300 miles on a charge is a bit unrealistic. It's only possible if the ground is completely level and you're going 55MPh with the cruise control.
However, all you need is a 50A 240v outlet. If you're there for a few hours you'll get plenty of charge to get back home. With my 100A dedicated charger I add around 55 miles of range per hour of charging.
As more high-speed chargers show up trips like this will become easier. I think it's just a matter of time. The standard public charging stations are actually pretty slow, often adding no more than 18 miles of range per hour of charging.
As for maintenance, the yearly maintenance consisted of a wheel alignment, rotating the tires, inspection, replacing the cabin air filter, wiper blades, washing and vacuuming the car and topping off the washer fluid and applying some fixes to the early versions of the car to address wind noise and rattles (which I already had). I don't know if they flushed the coolant or not since it does have an extensive coolant loop to keep the inverter, chargers, motor and battery cool. A person at the factory said the motor is lubricated for 12 years. Even the brakes should last far longer since most braking is regenerative braking. There's no transmission, spark plugs, belts, fuel or oil filters or anything else in the drive train that needs periodic service.
My model S is configured that way. I love the one pedal driving where only heavy braking or coming to a complete stop requires the brake pedal. The response is instantaneous for acceleration. There is virtually zero lag and the acceleration is still there at high speeds as well. The torque is insane. Going up steep grades is effortless. I grew up with a stick shift but I'd put the Tesla up there as just as fun. In one of my economy cars I only used the clutch to get in and out of first gear or reverse. I'd rev match to upshift and downshift.
Tesla service will come out to your house to do the service. First of all, just because Tesla doesn't have dealerships doesn't mean they don't have service centers. They have service centers all over the world now. If one isn't convenient enough for you they will come to your location for an additional $100. Unlike the Lexus, no oil changes are needed. The only routine service that is required is tire rotation. There is a once a year/12.5K mile service that is recommended. My car always comes back washed and vacuumed as well.
When I had my service done they loaned me a top of the line model S when they had them available. If not, they pick up the tab for an Enterprise rental. My last rental, paid on their dime, was a Cadallac. At one point the service wouldn't take very long so they dropped me off at work and delivered my car to where I work several hours later. Tesla's biggest problem right now is that you have the option of keeping the loaner car and paying the difference. They're having a big problem keeping the loaners available for people.
As for the features you're asking for, many of them are coming. Hell, they're working on a self-driving version. Their first focus was getting a good car out and making sure everything worked. They have been steadily adding new features as they progress such as now offering parking sensors. Software updates also regularly add new features. They're clearly thinking about the camera support since they would love to do away with teh rear-view mirrors and replace them with cameras. This is basically an entirely new car from the ground up manufactured in their first factory. There is little in common with the Roadster.
As for build and finish quality, I have no complaints. The car is built like a tank and is extremely solid. Panels fit together quite well and the seats are comfortable.
As for the Caddy I rented, it is no way a comparison with my Tesla Model S. My model S is in a completely different league. The Caddy can't match the smoothness or acceleration and handling or how quiet my model S is, nor can it match the room and cargo capacity. The touch screen user interface is definitely better than the Caddy's.
Have you priced a new mirror on many cars? It's a hell of a lot more than $10, especially if it's motorized and has a defroster in it. The higher end ones also darken at night.
I disagree. Mirrors often have motors and defrosters in them, plus people tend to bump into them and they get broken off. A camera has no moving parts and should be far more reliable. The backup camera on my Prius never had a problem yet I've had my side view mirror hit twice (didn't break), once by a motorcyclist lane splitting and another time by a delivery truck that got too close. Cameras tend to be very reliable as are LCD displays (especially with LED backlighting).
I can see a lot of advantages to this. It may actually be cheaper than the current mechanical mirrors since the mirrors in many cars are motorized and have a built-in defroster. They tend to get broken off as well.
The only problem I have had with backup cameras is that when rain and dirt get on them they are useless, but it should be relatively easy to design the shroud around the camera lens to keep the rain and dirt off of it and to help prevent condensation without adding significant cost.
Other advantages to having the LCD are things like if you click your turn signal it could flash red to immediately notify you that it's not safe to change lanes and things like that.
In both cars I've owned with rear-view cameras the view is around 170 degrees so I can clearly see cars coming from the side as well. Hell, I see my own bumper and license plate with my current car and everything behind me unless it's under my bumper.
I can tell you that there are far more than 12-15 theoretical deaths, try well over a hundred a year. A doctor friend of mine was on the scene when a parent backed over and killed their young child. And no mirror can cover the massive blind spot in back of most vehicles below the rear window. As for LCD screens, on my car the entire instrument cluster is an LCD screen with all of the guages and information displayed clearly.
Unless you're Superman, there are massive blind spots with mirrors no matter how you aim them. You can't see down low directly behind most vehicles where a young child might be. Please tell me how you can see that three year old sitting down directly behind your car? Hell, the only way I can see my dog behind my car is via the rear-view camera.
I agree with you. Both my current and previous cars had backup cameras. A good friend of mine is a doctor who was at the scene where a parent backed over their kid who died from their injuries. Besides, it makes it easier when parallel parking since I can see my own bumper and know exactly where the front of the car behind me is.
Cameras are cheap now. Years ago cell phone cameras cost around $10 for a halfway decent one. I imagine the price has only gone down, especially when there's no autofocus, just a fixed fisheye lens. LCDs are also dirt cheap. Probably the most expensive part is the wiring going between the camera and the display. Since more and more cars are adding LCD screens anyway it just makes it all the cheaper to add.
And I'm sure they love how motorcyclists screw up and get killed as well. I'm still mad at the lane splitter who hit my mirror while I was stopped in traffic and just kept going. Also, insurance companies love it because in California it is only legal if safe to do so, so almost invariably the motorcyclist is almost always considered at fault since if the motorcyclist got into an accident lane splitting then obviously it was not safe to do so.
I bought the tire and wheel insurance when Tesla briefly offered it since the roads in the Bay Area are among the worst in the country. I opted for the low profile tires (which are now optional) compared to the standard tires.
Slashdot Mirror
Elon almost lost everything on Tesla. He leveraged everything and was saved at the last minute by Toyota and Daimler. It was the same with Space X. They were one launch away from failure. Elon sank everything he had into both companies.
The nice thing with the Tesla is that they tend to use their batteries far less than say, a Leaf. I average about 50 miles per day of driving. If I were driving a Leaf this would be a significant percentage of the battery. The hardest thing on the batteries is charging them to 100% and draining them near 0%. With the Tesla I typically keep it between 40-70% which allows the battery to last a lot longer. My Prius kept the battery between 40-80%. The plug-in hybrids will be a lot harder on the batteries.
With today's interest rates it is very easy to make very safe investments that earn higher than the interest rate on the loan. The problem is when people overextend themselves or make risky investments that they can't afford to lose.
In my case I paid 40% up front and got a 1.99% loan from my credit union. If my investment beats 1.99% I'm ahead. I took some of that money and bought a bunch of Tesla stock at $35. I am very far ahead now while still able to handle the case if my investments head south. Other investments were made in some very safe mutual funds, which also are doing far better than 1.99%. With a diversified portfolio where you hold on to the stocks long term you will typically be ahead. The loan also helps build up your credit score, though in my case it wasn't really necessary. It all depends on how smart you are with your money. Years ago when I bought my house I poured every penny I could into paying down the principal, especially when I was paying 7.125% interest. It made a HUGE difference, allowing me to pay off my house in under 15 years. At this point, even though I'm paid an engineer's salary in Silicon Valley I have no difficulty affording my Model S. All but one of my stocks have done very well, many well over 100% of what I paid for them. I buy long term and didn't even sell in the huge crash of 2008 and I'm still well ahead.
I disagree with you. I ran the numbers. Financing a car is a great way to save money. For example, I got a loan for my Tesla Model S. With the money I did not spend up front I invested it. If I am able to beat the 1.99% interest rate I'm paying on the loan I'm ahead. It's not hard to do.
Often they make very little on the cars. Most of the money is on service and financing. Sometimes they lose money on the cars they sell. http://www.thisamericanlife.or... gives good insight as to what actually goes on with car dealerships and why they're the dirtbags they are.
It all depends on the school. My mother is a substitute teacher at a high school which doesn't take discipline very seriously. At one point she caught a kid with a paintball gun in the classroom and called it in to the office, conveniently leaving out the "paintball" part. Nothing happened for around 10 minutes until the office called back to get more information. Most kids get just a slap on the wrist if anything, so behavior at the school tends to be poor and the administration frowns on teachers who do use discipline because it inconveniences them. Back in the 1970s and 1980s it was a yearly tradition to stab a teacher every year at this school. Sadly this type of thing is coming back. Some of the lower grade schools in the city are just as bad and there are now a lot of problems with gangs.
1. While Tesla may not be able to charge in 10 minutes, they have been aggressively rolling out rapid charging with their superchargers. In their cross country trip they spent 20% of their time charging. In the next month or so they will be rolling out battery swapping between the Bay Area and LA. That takes about 90 seconds. When I drove to Reno from the Bay Area I stopped in Folsom long enough to get a burger. By the time I was done I had plenty of range to reach Reno. The hotel I stayed at had an RV park as well where I was able to plug in.
2. The charging infrastructure is filling out quickly. Regular J1772 chargers are popping up everywhere. Furthermore, the Tesla model S comes with a charging adapter allowing charging at any NEMA 14-50 50A outlet which is quite common at RV parks as well as a 110v plug (which is almost useless since 110v charges so slow).
3. The Tesla model S is priced similarly to other cars in its class. The model E is planned to be priced to cars similarly.
Generally the charging time is not an issue. It takes me 5 seconds to plug in at night and 5 seconds to unplug in the morning. Basically I have a full charge every day (or in my case about 70% since it's easier on the battery).
The existing and planned supercharger stations are shown at http://www.teslamotors.com/sup...
They're first focusing on the major transportation corridors before branching out further. By the end of next year most of the US should be covered unless you're traveling off the beaten path. With the model X going in to production next year I expect them to add more chargers in more out of the way places. Tesla is also releasing an adapter for ChaDeMo and will release an adapter for the combo plug if and when it starts to be deployed (Tesla's signalling is already compatible with the combo plug).
I agree with this if going by the people I've been interviewing. I usually give a basic C programming problem, nothing particularly hard that any college grad should have no problem doing. A majority of the people I interview fail it and very few get it completely right. We've had a lot of people who throw around buzzwords but won't go into detail (big red flag), or they have a lot of short stints at a lot of companies (another red flag). I swear that some of these people have someone else do the phone screen for them.
I've had people come in only to admit that they don't know C, and this is for a position working on stuff like bootloaders and the Linux kernel and other embedded stuff. Also, seeing certain large companies listed in their resume is another red flag. While working at a networking company none of the people I interviewed from a large networking company could describe what happens when one machine pings another machine through a router using Ethernet.
We're still looking for people since right now I'm totally overloaded with work.
Knowing programming is like knowing the alphabet. It doesn't mean you know how to put it all together and write a good book.
It takes three taps to turn the feature on. By default it does not report this information.
You do know that Prop 13 also applies to commercial properties as well.
When I watched the Tesla assembly line in action I only saw one person working on the chassis doing some welding. Everything else was handled by robots.
A lot of people are asking for a truck and Elon has hinted that it's in the works after the Model E. Given the available torque an electric truck makes a lot of sense. I imagine Tesla would make it all wheel drive like their Model X and have storage under the hood as well. Hopefully they can get their gigafactory up and running for the model E.
I own a model S with the 85 KWh battery pack. Going 300 miles on a charge is a bit unrealistic. It's only possible if the ground is completely level and you're going 55MPh with the cruise control.
However, all you need is a 50A 240v outlet. If you're there for a few hours you'll get plenty of charge to get back home. With my 100A dedicated charger I add around 55 miles of range per hour of charging.
As more high-speed chargers show up trips like this will become easier. I think it's just a matter of time. The standard public charging stations are actually pretty slow, often adding no more than 18 miles of range per hour of charging.
As for maintenance, the yearly maintenance consisted of a wheel alignment, rotating the tires, inspection, replacing the cabin air filter, wiper blades, washing and vacuuming the car and topping off the washer fluid and applying some fixes to the early versions of the car to address wind noise and rattles (which I already had). I don't know if they flushed the coolant or not since it does have an extensive coolant loop to keep the inverter, chargers, motor and battery cool. A person at the factory said the motor is lubricated for 12 years. Even the brakes should last far longer since most braking is regenerative braking. There's no transmission, spark plugs, belts, fuel or oil filters or anything else in the drive train that needs periodic service.
My model S is configured that way. I love the one pedal driving where only heavy braking or coming to a complete stop requires the brake pedal. The response is instantaneous for acceleration. There is virtually zero lag and the acceleration is still there at high speeds as well. The torque is insane. Going up steep grades is effortless. I grew up with a stick shift but I'd put the Tesla up there as just as fun. In one of my economy cars I only used the clutch to get in and out of first gear or reverse. I'd rev match to upshift and downshift.
Tesla service will come out to your house to do the service. First of all, just because Tesla doesn't have dealerships doesn't mean they don't have service centers. They have service centers all over the world now. If one isn't convenient enough for you they will come to your location for an additional $100. Unlike the Lexus, no oil changes are needed. The only routine service that is required is tire rotation. There is a once a year/12.5K mile service that is recommended. My car always comes back washed and vacuumed as well.
When I had my service done they loaned me a top of the line model S when they had them available. If not, they pick up the tab for an Enterprise rental. My last rental, paid on their dime, was a Cadallac. At one point the service wouldn't take very long so they dropped me off at work and delivered my car to where I work several hours later. Tesla's biggest problem right now is that you have the option of keeping the loaner car and paying the difference. They're having a big problem keeping the loaners available for people.
As for the features you're asking for, many of them are coming. Hell, they're working on a self-driving version. Their first focus was getting a good car out and making sure everything worked. They have been steadily adding new features as they progress such as now offering parking sensors. Software updates also regularly add new features. They're clearly thinking about the camera support since they would love to do away with teh rear-view mirrors and replace them with cameras. This is basically an entirely new car from the ground up manufactured in their first factory. There is little in common with the Roadster.
As for build and finish quality, I have no complaints. The car is built like a tank and is extremely solid. Panels fit together quite well and the seats are comfortable.
As for the Caddy I rented, it is no way a comparison with my Tesla Model S. My model S is in a completely different league. The Caddy can't match the smoothness or acceleration and handling or how quiet my model S is, nor can it match the room and cargo capacity. The touch screen user interface is definitely better than the Caddy's.
Have you priced a new mirror on many cars? It's a hell of a lot more than $10, especially if it's motorized and has a defroster in it. The higher end ones also darken at night.
I disagree. Mirrors often have motors and defrosters in them, plus people tend to bump into them and they get broken off. A camera has no moving parts and should be far more reliable. The backup camera on my Prius never had a problem yet I've had my side view mirror hit twice (didn't break), once by a motorcyclist lane splitting and another time by a delivery truck that got too close. Cameras tend to be very reliable as are LCD displays (especially with LED backlighting).
I can see a lot of advantages to this. It may actually be cheaper than the current mechanical mirrors since the mirrors in many cars are motorized and have a built-in defroster. They tend to get broken off as well.
The only problem I have had with backup cameras is that when rain and dirt get on them they are useless, but it should be relatively easy to design the shroud around the camera lens to keep the rain and dirt off of it and to help prevent condensation without adding significant cost.
Other advantages to having the LCD are things like if you click your turn signal it could flash red to immediately notify you that it's not safe to change lanes and things like that.
In both cars I've owned with rear-view cameras the view is around 170 degrees so I can clearly see cars coming from the side as well. Hell, I see my own bumper and license plate with my current car and everything behind me unless it's under my bumper.
The cameras have a fisheye lens. I can see my own bumper and license plate and EVERYTHING behind me unless it is actually under my bumper.
I can tell you that there are far more than 12-15 theoretical deaths, try well over a hundred a year. A doctor friend of mine was on the scene when a parent backed over and killed their young child. And no mirror can cover the massive blind spot in back of most vehicles below the rear window. As for LCD screens, on my car the entire instrument cluster is an LCD screen with all of the guages and information displayed clearly.
Unless you're Superman, there are massive blind spots with mirrors no matter how you aim them. You can't see down low directly behind most vehicles where a young child might be. Please tell me how you can see that three year old sitting down directly behind your car? Hell, the only way I can see my dog behind my car is via the rear-view camera.
I agree with you. Both my current and previous cars had backup cameras. A good friend of mine is a doctor who was at the scene where a parent backed over their kid who died from their injuries. Besides, it makes it easier when parallel parking since I can see my own bumper and know exactly where the front of the car behind me is.
Cameras are cheap now. Years ago cell phone cameras cost around $10 for a halfway decent one. I imagine the price has only gone down, especially when there's no autofocus, just a fixed fisheye lens. LCDs are also dirt cheap. Probably the most expensive part is the wiring going between the camera and the display. Since more and more cars are adding LCD screens anyway it just makes it all the cheaper to add.
And I'm sure they love how motorcyclists screw up and get killed as well. I'm still mad at the lane splitter who hit my mirror while I was stopped in traffic and just kept going. Also, insurance companies love it because in California it is only legal if safe to do so, so almost invariably the motorcyclist is almost always considered at fault since if the motorcyclist got into an accident lane splitting then obviously it was not safe to do so.
I bought the tire and wheel insurance when Tesla briefly offered it since the roads in the Bay Area are among the worst in the country. I opted for the low profile tires (which are now optional) compared to the standard tires.