Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk

[JT2002TJ]

Wasn't the original Tesla roadster a Lotus Elise refit ?

Anyways, I have a lot of respect for Tesla engineers and their overall innovation regarding building processes and product lifecycle design and that extended to Musk. Being in somewhat of a similar situation professionaly (although a few billions in equity and defense contracts short) I can only recognize the drive and dedication the dude brings. I just can't see myself associating myself with anything smelling Musky at the moment. I have no amity for the post-snl Elon , recent "fanbase" or newly beholden business alignments post twitter acquisition.

Anyways, as for the range I would only require it to go lakeside and may-be to the opera, trivial transportation (moreso given European cityscales).

The original roadster was a proof of concept. Although technically it was their first, it wasn’t really their design (lotus shell, other companies batteries).

The S/X/3/Y were all truly Tesla designs and were designed around the batteries. The 3/Y were designed to be as cost effective and efficient and mass producible as possible.

 

[Flowstates]

The S/X/3/Y were all truly Tesla designs and were designed around the batteries. The 3/Y were designed to be as cost effective and efficient and mass producible as possible.

True, impressive processes, although the glued body design does mean worse repair/serviceability.

They have quite the moat when it comes to sheer manufacturing capacity and cost per unit.

 

[culo77]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

 

[danny_w]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

I never had rain sensing wipers before getting my wife’s Lincoln but now I’m sold on them. My new Mazda also has them. Yes sometimes they can go too fast but it is better than having to manually control them IMHO.

 

[Flowstates]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

I would expect that more specialist sensing would yield better results at detecting occurences. But with the current manufacturing costs squish going on and the general lesser complexity of EV's, offloading this kind of sensing to secondary (not purpose built) systems able to extrapolate though software may be of interest to them. Price paid as a somewhat less reliable system.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

With my 2008 A4 it used an actual sensor. Most people didn’t realize that on the wiper stalk there was a sensitivity adjustment. Once adjusted it worked perfectly.

With my TM3 and TMY it uses one or more of the 3 cameras located in front of the rear view mirror (they look out the windshield, there actually are 3 camera there). Depending on what OS your car is on they work differently. My TM3 and TMY are on different OS’ right now. Both work flawlessly.

But I will admit that when I first for my TM3 back in January whatever OS it was on at the time, the wipers would come on for no reason. This was fixed with one of the many many OS updates I’ve had since.

The beauty of Tesla is, they keep addressing issues and add features with OS updates. The cars features evolve.

An example is, the OS on my TMY (Ahead by OS but behind by FSD beta) finally has auto headlights on with wipers on. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but there are times it is bright enough out during rain that the lights don’t come on with the OS on the TM3’s OS.

 

[4sallypat]

.....
The S/X/3/Y were all truly Tesla designs and were designed around the batteries. The 3/Y were designed to be as cost effective and efficient and mass producible as possible.

Have you heard the X and S pricing has dropped again ?

Price dropped 7 times in the past 9 months - that's crazy how low the prices are now.

The base X now qualifies for the first time under IRC 30D ($7500 tax credit) for SUV EV.

X price dropped to $10 under the maximum MSRP.
And free color choices without a surcharge to boot!

Don't know if the reason Elon dropped it to make the tax credit max MSRP ??

 

[Howlinmoon]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

I bought a Chevy Trailblazer in 2007 and it came with autosensing wipers.
They worked very well - I'd turn them "on" (auto) and then never touch that button again - unless I was going through a car wash.
Our Model Y's (2023) wipers are working much better in auto-mode now than they were when we bought the car in February - thanks to firmware updates.

We bought the Y in spite of Musk.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

Worked fine on my Golf. Work fine on my BMW i3. There is a button to adjust the sensitivity.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Nice easy trip to the Lakes. Stopped twice so I had 71% for the way back. Stopped once on the way back. Didn’t queue or have any dramas. All very easy.
Total cost for the trip was around £40. So not bad for 400 miles. Less than fuel at £1.59 a litre.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Have you heard the X and S pricing has dropped again ?

Price dropped 7 times in the past 9 months - that's crazy how low the prices are now.

The base X now qualifies for the first time under IRC 30D ($7500 tax credit) for SUV EV.

X price dropped to $10 under the maximum MSRP.
And free color choices without a surcharge to boot!

Don't know if the reason Elon dropped it to make the tax credit max MSRP ??

View attachment 2254122

They are indeed incredible value for money now. I was yesterday speccing up some alternatives from Audi (SQ8) and Mercedes (EQS) and damn sure I know the Model X isn't at the same luxury level, but come one it is also in a totally different very cheap price class even for the plaid version. And performance to go with it.

But the best value of money, and dare I say it even looks nice now is the new 2023 Model 3. It is an absolute bargain compared to competition and a brand new one can be delivered in just two months. Not available in the UK/US though for some odd reason...

I'm no big fan, but at these prices for what it offers it is hard to resist...

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

They do work, but may need some adjustment for sensitivity. Are they perfect all the time, nope definitely not, but still so much better than not having auto wipers.

I would not buy a car without them, just like I wouldn't buy a car without auto matrix fancy headlights.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Have you heard the X and S pricing has dropped again ?

Price dropped 7 times in the past 9 months - that's crazy how low the prices are now.

The base X now qualifies for the first time under IRC 30D ($7500 tax credit) for SUV EV.

X price dropped to $10 under the maximum MSRP.
And free color choices without a surcharge to boot!

Don't know if the reason Elon dropped it to make the tax credit max MSRP ??

View attachment 2254122

Yes. I think it is to make them eligible for the tax credit, and to increase sales. With the new TM3 I believe there are major production cost savings (removal of fog light, single tail light) where they can offset price reductions on the S/X.

They are setting themselves up to expand at a faster and cheaper rate.

With features that were S/X only making their way to the new TM3, the next S/X is going to have to bring some significant upgrades.

 

[jz0309]

Have you heard the X and S pricing has dropped again ?

Price dropped 7 times in the past 9 months - that's crazy how low the prices are now.

The base X now qualifies for the first time under IRC 30D ($7500 tax credit) for SUV EV.

X price dropped to $10 under the maximum MSRP.
And free color choices without a surcharge to boot!

Don't know if the reason Elon dropped it to make the tax credit max MSRP ??

View attachment 2254122

they need to move these, haven't been selling ...

 

[jz0309]

Has auto wipers on any car actually worked correctly for anyone? I know for me they either are going to fast or don't come on. Seems like automakers are trying to get to cute and are just finding ways to make thing more annoying.

for me, they work as advertised but not to my liking, for me, they come on too easily and then go fast too fast ...

 

[culo77]

Work fine on my BMW i3. There is a button to adjust the sensitivity.

What the heck am I doing wrong on mine? I have it a the lowest sensitivity, and it either comes on too fast or not fast enough. tried the middle and highest sensitive and still annoying. On heavy or medium rain it works well but light rain its infuriating.

That has been the case for me for all my cars that had it, Mazda, Jaguar, Caddilac, Hyundai.

 

[JT2002TJ]

What the heck am I doing wrong on mine? I have it a the lowest sensitivity, and it either comes on too fast or not fast enough. tried the middle and highest sensitive and still annoying. On heavy or medium rain it works well but light rain its infuriating.

That has been the case for me for all my cars that had it, Mazda, Jaguar, Caddilac, Hyundai.

3 things:

• How often to do you degrease your windshield (wash and remove road grime)?
• How often do you change your wipers?
• Do you use RainX (either directly or via washer fluid) and what does your vehicle manufacture recommend?

Effectiveness of wipers, and how sensors interpret heaviness of rain are highly dependent on both of these. I change wipers 1-2 times per year, and clean the windshield weekly. This was the case with every vehicle I've had auto wipers with. With my B7 A4, you couldn't get wipers locally (except the dealer), so I always had 2 sets in my garage, every time I used one, I ordered another on amazon.

I have 2 sets for each my TM3 and TMY in the garage (they are cheap at Tesla), that I picked up at my local service center for the times I need to change them right away.

Some vehicles recommend avoiding the use of RainX as it messes with the sensor. In addition to not using RainX because of the wiper sensors, I don't use it after hearing about it affecting the washer fluid level sensors on some vehicles.

Also, sometimes wiper sensors can be bad. Especially if you had your windshield replaced and didn't go with the OEM windshield supplier. The sensors used on these can be cheap replacements instead of OEM quality.

 

[jz0309]

smart move (again) by Tesla, more chargers to hotels (Hilton).
Hate 'em as much as you want, they are ahead of the competition.

Tesla secures deal to deploy 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors at Hilton hotels

Tesla has secured a deal to deploy up to 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors, the automaker’s clever new charging station, at...

electrek.co

 

[cyb3rdud3]

smart move (again) by Tesla, more chargers to hotels (Hilton).
Hate 'em as much as you want, they are ahead of the competition.

Tesla secures deal to deploy 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors at Hilton hotels

Tesla has secured a deal to deploy up to 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors, the automaker’s clever new charging station, at...

electrek.co

They've been doing that for years. They are an energy company that isn't into oil and oil exploration first, and car manufacturer second. These are level 2 (AC) chargers with universal connectors, makes perfect sense to have those at hotels as that is the perfect destination for ahem destination chargers. We do use hotels a lot like that. Porsche in Europe also has a sizeable installation at the better hotels here in Europe, as does Tesla, BP, Shell, etc.

PS. Got to love the editor of electrek where they state with Hiton around the world, but actually this is only USA, Canada and Mexico

 

[Apple fanboy]

smart move (again) by Tesla, more chargers to hotels (Hilton).
Hate 'em as much as you want, they are ahead of the competition.

Tesla secures deal to deploy 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors at Hilton hotels

Tesla has secured a deal to deploy up to 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors, the automaker’s clever new charging station, at...

electrek.co

I always chose my hotels that provide chargers. Quite a few do if you look out for them. Not Tesla of course, but anything that makes EV ownership even easier is fine by me.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I always chose my hotels that provide chargers. Quite a few do if you look out for them. Not Tesla of course, but anything that makes EV ownership even easier is fine by me.

Same here, a fair few of them on the European continent still provide free charging, which is nice. Generally, the higher end, small, luxury boutique hotels. In all my years, I've never come across a hotel that has a free vending petrol station.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I always chose my hotels that provide chargers. Quite a few do if you look out for them. Not Tesla of course, but anything that makes EV ownership even easier is fine by me.

I’ll be the same now as a matter of need. Looking at hotels in Birmingham at the moment and shocked how few have EV charging and suggest you use public car parks, annoying. We also use AirBnB to filter by accommodation with chargers. The one we stayed in last week had it free, but I’d imagine those days will be numbered pretty soon.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I’ll be the same now as a matter of need. Looking at hotels in Birmingham at the moment and shocked how few have EV charging and suggest you use public car parks, annoying. We also use AirBnB to filter by accommodation with chargers. The one we stayed in last week had it free, but I’d imagine those days will be numbered pretty soon.

AirBNB’s? I take my granny charger and an extension cable with me!
There is a massive charging place near the NEC. A few hotels around there, with good transportation.
At least you won’t have to pay the Birmingham ULEZ or whatever they call it!

 

[Michael Scrip]

smart move (again) by Tesla, more chargers to hotels (Hilton).

Hate 'em as much as you want, they are ahead of the competition.

Tesla secures deal to deploy 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors at Hilton hotels

Tesla has secured a deal to deploy up to 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors, the automaker’s clever new charging station, at...

electrek.co

Even gas stations are getting in on the action.

They realize that you still need snacks and drinks while you're charging!

Sheetz Sees the Future of EV Charging

The Mid-Atlantic c-store chain has been installing EV chargers over the past decade and is “future-proofing” its stores.

www.convenience.org

 

[Apple fanboy]

Even gas stations are getting in on the action.

You still need snacks and drinks when you're charging.

Sheetz Sees the Future of EV Charging

The Mid-Atlantic c-store chain has been installing EV chargers over the past decade and is “future-proofing” its stores.

www.convenience.org

Probably more so. I expect many petrol stations to convert to EV charging stations with a coffee shop and EV charging stations.
I imagine it will be quite tricky to find petrol stations in a few years 😀