I paid an electrician to install mine, though in my case I had a 100A circuit run and my main panel replaced and a new meter installed. He ran alucore for the long run with special termination lugs to splice to 2 gauge copper in the garage.
The Tesla charging cord that comes with the car comes with a NEMA 14-50 adapter so the car can charge at most RV hookups. The neutral line is not hooked up so it just uses 240v/40A. It will only draw 80% of the rated current since continuous usage is supposed to be limited to 80% of capacity in the US.
Yes. I was amazed at how fast this came out. I was notified that the OTA update was downloaded within a couple of days of the incident that sparked this. I have had a number of OTA updates, many of which added new features and fixed bugs.
You're confusing antibacterial soaps with hand sanitizers. The articles I have read say the hand sanitizers do what they say because they are alcohol based. The soaps are not and typically cause more harm than good, especially since the chemicals tend to end up in the general environment.
The vaccines are better. The problem with Chicken Pox is that it never really fully dies. It just goes dormant in the nerves. At some point it can come back in the form of shingles in adults. The vaccine is not a live virus that can replicate in people, so it doesn't infect them.
There was no vaccine for me either. Had it been available I would gladly have had it. In my case I got hit quite bad with it since I was a teenager at the time, so yes, it was two weeks of hell and in no way a vacation.
Lithium batteries are not considered hazardous waste. The batteries are Lithium Aluminum Cobalt oxide, so there's really nothing very toxic in them. While the smoke is probably not a good thing to breathe, the batteries themselves are not particularly toxic. Lithium batteries can be safely disposed of in municipal waste. Anyway, there are already plans on recycling the batteries and its not like they suddenly die. They slowly lose capacity over time and Tesla plans to use the older batteries for grid storage. The chances of them burning is still fairly low and it's not like they spontaneously combust, only after a significant impact that penetrates the 1/4" thick metal plate under the car.
Nope. Broder knew the distance he had to travel and decided not to wait long enough for the car to get enough charge. The car clearly told him it did not have enough range before he started. It's like knowing your car gets 30 miles per gallon, filling an empty car with 2 gallons of gas and complaining when the car dies after 80 miles when you know that the destination is 100 miles away. Broder was just an idiot.
Most people I know make sure they have more than enough fuel to get to their destination, especially when the weather is going to be cold.
There are multiple computers. The spedometer is an nVidia Tegra 2 and the main touchscreen is an nVidia Tegra 3. Talking with other engineers with experience with the Tegra 3 it sounds like there have been a lot of power management software issues with the Tegra 3 processor. There are a number of other subsystems that likely can't be shut down entirely for things like the keyless entry, 3G connection (for remote access for things like the climate control, unlocking, etc.), battery temperature management, etc. A modern car has dozens of separate computer systems, not all of which can just shut off.
In this case it looks like the main culprit is the 12v battery. Tesla's 12v battery supplier substituted the batteries they were supposed to use to batteries from a Chinese company who then subcontracted it to a Vietnamese company. I got one of the bad batteries and Tesla replaced it since it is a warrantied item. In my case, Tesla called me to tell me that my battery was failing and took care of it.
As a Tesla owner I have zero complaints about their service or their warranty coverage. They go out of their way to try and inconvenience the owners as little as possible. With their maintenance contract they normally charge $100 per remote visit but for warranty stuff they wave it.
I was also surprised at how little they charge for parts. I had to replace a couple of parts due to non-warranty reasons (i.e. my screwup) and the replacement part price is a fraction of what Toyota would charge for the Prius. I managed to break one of the roof clips on my car requiring the entire roof panel next to the panoramic roof needing to be replaced. It was $100 for the panel and $175 labor to replace it. If this had been any other luxury car it would have easily cost several times this. Elon stated that their goal is to not make a profit on service and maintenance. This is the exact opposite of my experience I had dealing with Toyota and my Prius.
I also looked into replacing the driver's side seat belt receptacle due to having spilled something sticky down it (a friend had a can explode in the car). Anyway, I was quoted $109 to replace it, including labor. If my car had been a Mercedes according to a mechanic friend of mine who is quite familiar with the brand it likely would have cost $900.
This is due to a problem with the battery manufacturer. The "well known" battery manufacturer subcontracted the batteries out to a Chinese company that subcontracted them out to a Vietnamese company. The resulting batteries Tesla got were crap and have a very high failure rate. I ended up with one of those batteries and Tesla had to replace it a few months ago when my car was less than 6 months old. The batteries Tesla had contracted were supposed to be much higher quality than what they ended up with. Surprisingly, as far as I can tell, they did not use an AGM battery.
Some cars draw quite a bit more than the old cars. For example, my Prius would drain the battery within a week due to the keyless entry system. When I had my Prius sitting for any length of time I hooked it up to a Battery Minder. My Tesla has a lot more going on than my Prius did. For example, it still periodically uses its 3G connection while sleeping in addition to the remote keyless entry. While I can disable the remote access, I find it useful for things like warming my car up before leaving work and things like that. Additionally, it has to do a lot more monitoring for the main battery than a typical car, potentially having to cool it if it gets too hot or warm it if it gets too cold.
I had chicken pox as a kid and got it pretty bad. I just hope I don't end up with shingles which is quite miserable for those I know who suffer from it. Anyone who thinks two weeks of hell and a high probability of getting shingles is better than a couple quick jabs is an idiot.
I haven't noticed the vampire battery drain but then again I always keep my car plugged in at night. I also had to get my 12v battery replaced some months back. The 12v battery manufacturer outsourced the batteries to a Chinese company that outsourced them to a Vietnamese company causing a bunch of cars to get crappy 12v batteries that tended to fail fairly rapidly. I found out about it when I went to install a software upgrade and the car complained that the 12v battery was going bad. It sounds like the cars were wasting a lot of energy trying to keep these crappy batteries charged up. Like the author, I was contacted by Tesla about getting the battery replaced. In my case though I had taken my car in for service a couple of days earlier to fix some minor rattles and they replaced the battery then.
The 12v battery is not easy to replace as far as I can tell. It's in the back under the frunk next to the firewall but underneath a lot of heavy reinforcing. It looks like the only way to replace it is to remove the plastic frunk lining. One advantage of its location is that it is very well protected in the case of an accident.
On a standard 110V outlet no car will draw more than 12A. Car charging is limited to 80% of the outlet's rated current. For example, my Tesla is capable of drawing up to 80A for charging. With a 50A plug it limits itself to 40A. With a 30A plug it limits itself to 24A, and a 15A plug it limits itself to 12A. No car will draw over that unless the owner did something to jury-rig their car charger. According to code you are not allowed to draw more than 80% of the rated current continuously.
In my case at home I installed an 80A charger which required a dedicated 100A circuit.
Most NEMA 5-15 outlets are on 20A circuits. Long-term (over 3 hours) loads on a circuit are supposed to be limited to 80% of capacity so even a 15A circuit should be able to handle a steady 12A (80%) just fine. That's why most 110v devices usually limit themselves to 12A.
I'm saying that the time needed to charge, generally 30 minutes for 80%, is not a big deal and that it is not the same as filling up a car at a gas station. Also, usually one doesn't have to wait for charging because every morning you basically have a full tank. Unless you're regularly driving over 250+ miles at a time the whole charging time is not an issue at all.
It takes me less than 10 seconds when I get home at night to plug in the car and about 5 seconds in the morning to unplug it in the comfort of my garage. It takes a lot less time than the weekly fill-ups of my ICE car. The charging time becomes completely irrelevant because I'm sleeping or otherwise not driving anyway. I don't have to stand out in the rain to fill up my car. I don't have to fish out my credit card, enter my zip code, etc.
The times I do have to charge, the experience is typically far more pleasant than filling up at a gas station. The locations are typically at malls or other places where there's restaurants and other amenities close by so I have many options available during the time it takes to charge. Hell, I could surf the internet using the car's built-in 17" screen if I want. Soon even the charging time will be irelivant once the battery swapping option becomes available if I want to pay for the service, and battery swapping takes a lot less time than filling up a gas tank without ever having to set foot outside of the car.
The whole it takes forever to charge really is a non-issue.
Now with other cars like the Nissan Leaf it is a more serious issue because the range of the car sucks so you're doing it much more frequently.
Ford fires happen during normal operation of a brand new 2013 vehicle.
Tesla fires happen after a severe impact able to punch a hole through a 1/4" plate and not all punctures have resulted in fires after warning the driver and giving plenty of time to pull over and escape the vehicle with the passenger compartment completely intact.
There have likely been a lot more fires to the Ford Escapes though they are likely due to other causes not deemed to be design defects.
I think if you look at what Space X has done it is fairly revolutionary, such as the rocket hovering and landing vertically. As for the model S, it has zero in common with the Lotus. Even the Roadster only shares around 12% of its parts with the Lotus and the chassis was heavily modified. Later Lotus adopted many of the changes that Tesla had made.
As for a longer fill-up, every morning I get up to a full tank. I don't have to stand outside filling my car up. For most of my driving I spend less time filling up than I did with my Prius, and for the times it takes longer, well, I just spend the money I would spend on gas on a really nice meal while charging with the money I would have spent on gas. I often find myself staying even longer talking with other owners. Unlike a gas station, I find that the social dynamics are far different. It's like a bunch of Ford Mustang owners hanging out or pick your vehicle. There's also really no way to compare the smooth instant near-silent torque and acceleration as well.
"Musk said he put everything he had left into the company, even borrowing money from friends. Tesla went on to close the investment round on the last hour of the last possible day. If the fundraise hadn’t come through, the company would have gone bankrupt a few days later."
All I have to do is open the hood and I'd be arrested for the "frunk" storage area. Some people look at me strange when I open the hood to put in groceries and whatnot rather than the rear trunk. It's easier for me to take the groceries out of the front in my garage.
The last software update (5.8) has improved things. From what I understand, power management with the Tegra 3 processor which is what the touch screen uses is rather broken. I talked with at least one developer who said that his company abandoned the Tegra 3 due to nVidia's horrible software management, providing non-working build environments and whatnot and that they don't give a changelog or seem to do any sort of version control.
Slashdot Mirror
I paid an electrician to install mine, though in my case I had a 100A circuit run and my main panel replaced and a new meter installed. He ran alucore for the long run with special termination lugs to splice to 2 gauge copper in the garage.
The Tesla charging cord that comes with the car comes with a NEMA 14-50 adapter so the car can charge at most RV hookups. The neutral line is not hooked up so it just uses 240v/40A. It will only draw 80% of the rated current since continuous usage is supposed to be limited to 80% of capacity in the US.
Yes. I was amazed at how fast this came out. I was notified that the OTA update was downloaded within a couple of days of the incident that sparked this. I have had a number of OTA updates, many of which added new features and fixed bugs.
You're confusing antibacterial soaps with hand sanitizers. The articles I have read say the hand sanitizers do what they say because they are alcohol based. The soaps are not and typically cause more harm than good, especially since the chemicals tend to end up in the general environment.
The vaccines are better. The problem with Chicken Pox is that it never really fully dies. It just goes dormant in the nerves. At some point it can come back in the form of shingles in adults. The vaccine is not a live virus that can replicate in people, so it doesn't infect them.
There was no vaccine for me either. Had it been available I would gladly have had it. In my case I got hit quite bad with it since I was a teenager at the time, so yes, it was two weeks of hell and in no way a vacation.
Lithium batteries are not considered hazardous waste. The batteries are Lithium Aluminum Cobalt oxide, so there's really nothing very toxic in them. While the smoke is probably not a good thing to breathe, the batteries themselves are not particularly toxic. Lithium batteries can be safely disposed of in municipal waste. Anyway, there are already plans on recycling the batteries and its not like they suddenly die. They slowly lose capacity over time and Tesla plans to use the older batteries for grid storage. The chances of them burning is still fairly low and it's not like they spontaneously combust, only after a significant impact that penetrates the 1/4" thick metal plate under the car.
Whenever Tesla services a car they typically always install the latest patch level of the software even if it's only a minor update.
Nope. Broder knew the distance he had to travel and decided not to wait long enough for the car to get enough charge. The car clearly told him it did not have enough range before he started. It's like knowing your car gets 30 miles per gallon, filling an empty car with 2 gallons of gas and complaining when the car dies after 80 miles when you know that the destination is 100 miles away. Broder was just an idiot.
Most people I know make sure they have more than enough fuel to get to their destination, especially when the weather is going to be cold.
There are multiple computers. The spedometer is an nVidia Tegra 2 and the main touchscreen is an nVidia Tegra 3. Talking with other engineers with experience with the Tegra 3 it sounds like there have been a lot of power management software issues with the Tegra 3 processor. There are a number of other subsystems that likely can't be shut down entirely for things like the keyless entry, 3G connection (for remote access for things like the climate control, unlocking, etc.), battery temperature management, etc. A modern car has dozens of separate computer systems, not all of which can just shut off.
In this case it looks like the main culprit is the 12v battery. Tesla's 12v battery supplier substituted the batteries they were supposed to use to batteries from a Chinese company who then subcontracted it to a Vietnamese company. I got one of the bad batteries and Tesla replaced it since it is a warrantied item. In my case, Tesla called me to tell me that my battery was failing and took care of it.
As a Tesla owner I have zero complaints about their service or their warranty coverage. They go out of their way to try and inconvenience the owners as little as possible. With their maintenance contract they normally charge $100 per remote visit but for warranty stuff they wave it.
I was also surprised at how little they charge for parts. I had to replace a couple of parts due to non-warranty reasons (i.e. my screwup) and the replacement part price is a fraction of what Toyota would charge for the Prius. I managed to break one of the roof clips on my car requiring the entire roof panel next to the panoramic roof needing to be replaced. It was $100 for the panel and $175 labor to replace it. If this had been any other luxury car it would have easily cost several times this. Elon stated that their goal is to not make a profit on service and maintenance. This is the exact opposite of my experience I had dealing with Toyota and my Prius.
I also looked into replacing the driver's side seat belt receptacle due to having spilled something sticky down it (a friend had a can explode in the car). Anyway, I was quoted $109 to replace it, including labor. If my car had been a Mercedes according to a mechanic friend of mine who is quite familiar with the brand it likely would have cost $900.
This is due to a problem with the battery manufacturer. The "well known" battery manufacturer subcontracted the batteries out to a Chinese company that subcontracted them out to a Vietnamese company. The resulting batteries Tesla got were crap and have a very high failure rate. I ended up with one of those batteries and Tesla had to replace it a few months ago when my car was less than 6 months old. The batteries Tesla had contracted were supposed to be much higher quality than what they ended up with. Surprisingly, as far as I can tell, they did not use an AGM battery.
Some cars draw quite a bit more than the old cars. For example, my Prius would drain the battery within a week due to the keyless entry system. When I had my Prius sitting for any length of time I hooked it up to a Battery Minder. My Tesla has a lot more going on than my Prius did. For example, it still periodically uses its 3G connection while sleeping in addition to the remote keyless entry. While I can disable the remote access, I find it useful for things like warming my car up before leaving work and things like that. Additionally, it has to do a lot more monitoring for the main battery than a typical car, potentially having to cool it if it gets too hot or warm it if it gets too cold.
I had chicken pox as a kid and got it pretty bad. I just hope I don't end up with shingles which is quite miserable for those I know who suffer from it. Anyone who thinks two weeks of hell and a high probability of getting shingles is better than a couple quick jabs is an idiot.
I haven't noticed the vampire battery drain but then again I always keep my car plugged in at night. I also had to get my 12v battery replaced some months back. The 12v battery manufacturer outsourced the batteries to a Chinese company that outsourced them to a Vietnamese company causing a bunch of cars to get crappy 12v batteries that tended to fail fairly rapidly. I found out about it when I went to install a software upgrade and the car complained that the 12v battery was going bad. It sounds like the cars were wasting a lot of energy trying to keep these crappy batteries charged up. Like the author, I was contacted by Tesla about getting the battery replaced. In my case though I had taken my car in for service a couple of days earlier to fix some minor rattles and they replaced the battery then.
The 12v battery is not easy to replace as far as I can tell. It's in the back under the frunk next to the firewall but underneath a lot of heavy reinforcing. It looks like the only way to replace it is to remove the plastic frunk lining. One advantage of its location is that it is very well protected in the case of an accident.
On a standard 110V outlet no car will draw more than 12A. Car charging is limited to 80% of the outlet's rated current. For example, my Tesla is capable of drawing up to 80A for charging. With a 50A plug it limits itself to 40A. With a 30A plug it limits itself to 24A, and a 15A plug it limits itself to 12A. No car will draw over that unless the owner did something to jury-rig their car charger. According to code you are not allowed to draw more than 80% of the rated current continuously.
In my case at home I installed an 80A charger which required a dedicated 100A circuit.
Most electric dryers are limited to 24A or less since appliances typically are limited to 80% what the circuit is rated at.
Most NEMA 5-15 outlets are on 20A circuits. Long-term (over 3 hours) loads on a circuit are supposed to be limited to 80% of capacity so even a 15A circuit should be able to handle a steady 12A (80%) just fine. That's why most 110v devices usually limit themselves to 12A.
I'm saying that the time needed to charge, generally 30 minutes for 80%, is not a big deal and that it is not the same as filling up a car at a gas station. Also, usually one doesn't have to wait for charging because every morning you basically have a full tank. Unless you're regularly driving over 250+ miles at a time the whole charging time is not an issue at all.
It takes me less than 10 seconds when I get home at night to plug in the car and about 5 seconds in the morning to unplug it in the comfort of my garage. It takes a lot less time than the weekly fill-ups of my ICE car. The charging time becomes completely irrelevant because I'm sleeping or otherwise not driving anyway. I don't have to stand out in the rain to fill up my car. I don't have to fish out my credit card, enter my zip code, etc.
The times I do have to charge, the experience is typically far more pleasant than filling up at a gas station. The locations are typically at malls or other places where there's restaurants and other amenities close by so I have many options available during the time it takes to charge. Hell, I could surf the internet using the car's built-in 17" screen if I want. Soon even the charging time will be irelivant once the battery swapping option becomes available if I want to pay for the service, and battery swapping takes a lot less time than filling up a gas tank without ever having to set foot outside of the car.
The whole it takes forever to charge really is a non-issue.
Now with other cars like the Nissan Leaf it is a more serious issue because the range of the car sucks so you're doing it much more frequently.
Ford fires happen during normal operation of a brand new 2013 vehicle.
Tesla fires happen after a severe impact able to punch a hole through a 1/4" plate and not all punctures have resulted in fires after warning the driver and giving plenty of time to pull over and escape the vehicle with the passenger compartment completely intact.
There have likely been a lot more fires to the Ford Escapes though they are likely due to other causes not deemed to be design defects.
I think if you look at what Space X has done it is fairly revolutionary, such as the rocket hovering and landing vertically. As for the model S, it has zero in common with the Lotus. Even the Roadster only shares around 12% of its parts with the Lotus and the chassis was heavily modified. Later Lotus adopted many of the changes that Tesla had made.
As for a longer fill-up, every morning I get up to a full tank. I don't have to stand outside filling my car up. For most of my driving I spend less time filling up than I did with my Prius, and for the times it takes longer, well, I just spend the money I would spend on gas on a really nice meal while charging with the money I would have spent on gas. I often find myself staying even longer talking with other owners. Unlike a gas station, I find that the social dynamics are far different. It's like a bunch of Ford Mustang owners hanging out or pick your vehicle. There's also really no way to compare the smooth instant near-silent torque and acceleration as well.
Actually at one point he did:
"Musk said he put everything he had left into the company, even borrowing money from friends. Tesla went on to close the investment round on the last hour of the last possible day. If the fundraise hadn’t come through, the company would have gone bankrupt a few days later."
http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2013/10/31/elon-musk-failure-fear/
A quick google search of turns up plenty of fires caused by road debris, some of which is much more minor than what the Teslas hit.
Car hits trash and catches on fire: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25850334
Patrol car bursts into flames after hitting road debris: http://seguingazette.com/news/article_b24f9222-b0fb-11e1-bdef-0019bb2963f4.html
Car catches fire after running over mattress: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30315-2004Sep17.html
Car leaking gasoline catches fire likely due to road debris: http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/bakersfield-woman-helps-another-escape-vehicle-fire-on-coffee-road
Or it could be worse.
Metal road debris impales car, barely misses driver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJUWXRWK4xs
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/09/14/unknown_to_driver_her_suv_is_impaled_on_metal_bar.html
All I have to do is open the hood and I'd be arrested for the "frunk" storage area. Some people look at me strange when I open the hood to put in groceries and whatnot rather than the rear trunk. It's easier for me to take the groceries out of the front in my garage.
The last software update (5.8) has improved things. From what I understand, power management with the Tegra 3 processor which is what the touch screen uses is rather broken. I talked with at least one developer who said that his company abandoned the Tegra 3 due to nVidia's horrible software management, providing non-working build environments and whatnot and that they don't give a changelog or seem to do any sort of version control.