I forgot to add a hugely annoying presentation!
Not a fan of this guy but I must agree with the tesla specific issues he has.
I also agree with him on the cybertruck:
(4 votes)
tesla review by scotty
I forgot to add a hugely annoying presentation!
Not a fan of this guy but I must agree with the tesla specific issues he has.
I also agree with him on the cybertruck:
Comments
(Site Administrator)
Gotta love Scotty for telling it like it is. And for those of us blessed with 4 seasons..
(Old Spike)
I've heard mixed things on Tesla's in the cold; a lot of the news is cherry picked. Yes they use more battery while driving as they don't have excess heat from the motor.
Tesla's have this nice feature where it pre-heats the battery when navigating to a super-charger which allows very high charge rates. I've used it on trips through cold areas and charged 80% in about 20 minutes. Same as summer temps. Enough time to take a leak and get a snack.
One problem that has come up is if the super chargers are busy. When it's colder, more people are charging more frequently which could increase demand at chargers. Not an issue if one charges at home or on a road trip with low use super chargers but for busy metropolitan areas where people do not have access to home chargers (some apartments) it can be a pain. Also, as a lot of people charge locally, they may not be pre-heating (takes 30-45mins while driving), so then their charge time would be slower adding to the delays. The solution is not hard to solve, just install more chargers but in the moment, I've heard of some folks waiting.
As for keeping warm, they can pump out heat for days if one is just sitting there. I recall a seeing a video of a guy stuck in a snowstorm on a shutdown highway (Virgina maybe?) a couple years ago. Said it was great, just sat in warmth and watched Netflix for 18 hours. 8)
Besides all that, Tesla's are the #1 selling car in Norway for years now, so it's not like they're useless in the cold. But yes, I expect one needs to refill/charge more frequently vs an ICE.
(Old Spike)
Correct, Most people that got stuck should have read the instruction manual and pre-heated the battery, then the car would charge. It is a setting that has to be enabled manually.
I also often wondered how the rumour came about that you freeze to death in anelectric car, heating the inside of a small space like this will need no more than 0,5kW for easy calculation let's use 1kW to include for battery heating and other losses, so even if you have only 10kW of capacity left you will be warm for 10hrs.......
As most people will still suffer range anxiety I think it is more likely that most electric vehicles carry more "load" on average than a petrol car in the first place.
(Site Administrator)
All I've got is some anecdotal evidence from Tesla drivers here in Montreal when they drove up from downtown to the suburbs in Montreal traffic the last time we had a deep-freeze -18C (-26C with the 'wind chill') last year. Cars apparently went from 80%=>35% during the 45-60mins drive, stuck in rush hour traffic for the most part. Plenty of white knuckles and grim faces as people reconsidered their purchases that day.
(Old Spike)
Probably because they did not condition the battery. Alsoi tesla has a reputation for exaggerating the remaining charge at start of journey.
(Site Administrator)
Both are accurate statements. But you're particularly into tech and would know these things daftcunt. Meanwhile it sounds like the rest of the folks buying these should go through a 6hr training course before leaving the car lot. The old adage will hold. The more you put things together the easier they break apart. We'll be seeing soon enough if real world conditions allow for a 10yr battery lifespan.
(Old Spike)
Technophobes and people that don't read manuals shouldn't buy new technology and then complain that they did not get what they wanted out of a product because they did "not know", it just makes them look stupid ("Hey buddy, you could have avoided that by pressing a button or using the app, doh!").
Battery life is one of my main concerns with electric cars, however in a few years this will go away when other alternatives and aftermarket suppliers come more and more into play. Here one one hand the tesla battery system would be at an advantage as you can change individual cells, however they are not keen on the right to repair and limit charging speeds if they find out the car has been repaired by 3rd parties.
Another concern with all modern cars is all the electronics in them, which will not be offered as spares indefinitely so with cars older than 10-15 years there will be a repair struggle anyway.
Lastly my recommendation would be not to buy an electric car ATM if you can't fit a reasonable charging station AT HOME.
(Site Administrator)
I'm sure Elon's business model also includes absolute noobs, teens and tweens being gifted the car by a well-meaning parent (mommy/daddy or sugar-daddy). Their not knowing how to treat the thing no doubt results in some costly repairs early on that also add to the company's bottom line, and certainly just adds to the sense of novelty.
Anybody else getting nostalgic for when you could add pepper to your coolant to get a good seal on a leaky radiator?...good times.
(cool)
Imagine walking into the pub at 7:00 pm and this guy is already drunk.
(Old Spike)
The model 3 review was pretty fair.
Cybertruk one was interesting. It's still very early but will be interesting to hear about repair timing+costs.
No idea what will happen with Europe, seems suprising they designed a vehicle that is not allowed to be sold there. But maybe it is too big for the roads anyways, not like there is lots of F150s sold there.
(Old Spike)
You nailed it, there is no market for them in Europe. Even smaller trucks like Navara, Hilux or Ranger are not very common.
(Site Administrator)
meh, it's a simple matter of battery heating, something tesla didn't think about. i'm not sure about the current cars but the original roadster had a battery cooling system. keep the batteries at 20c and they're sweet. simply put, divert some power into a heating system governed by temp sensors and you'll lose less power. point is the same cooling system can be adapted to also heat with minor alterations and it will cost less energy. this is considering also insulating the battery compartment but if the cells need to be cooled you'll need a decent water cooled system to compensate if the cells get too warm.
it's a trade off. and btw this isn't a new problem, it happens with lead acid cells as well. having said that nicads seem to be more resilient but that's kinda old tech and to be honest about as fucking useful as lead acid these days.
look, there's better battery tech within a few years reach (but there always is) however, we have to understand considering the internal combustion engine stagnating battery tech for over 100 years this is relatively new territory.
(Old Spike)
Tesla has a pre heater for the battery, it just needs to be switched on by the user. And people don't read instructions now, do they.....
(Site Administrator)
in that case it should be automatic.
(Old Spike)
It's automatic if you are navigating to a supercharger but if you are leaving in the morning from home you need to schedule a departure time or manually enable defrosting.
(Site Administrator)
Schedule. Yeash. So much for the 'freedom' of the open road.
(Old Spike)
What is the problem with that? Some time before you want to leave you press a button on the app so you are good to go when you finished breakfast. You also have to make time for clearing icy windshields on ICE cars.
(Site Administrator)
But what happens when the wife lets you 'fire off a round' on a weekday morning as a special treat and breakfast consists of a couple dates, a spoonful of yogurt at the kitchen sink and a coffee on the go. Do these things even have room for beverage cup holders ?... I can't remember cause I bonked my head on the low door frame getting in and getting out that one time.
Also, global warming is great. I've had to de-ice my windshield only once this year.