Assuming they don’t go bust in delivering the Model X. But yeah, I’m seriously considering it myself, depending on what actually gets revealed in a week.
Tesla X. Pretty sharp. But really, they call it an SUV?
“Model X has ample seating for seven adults and all of their gear”
Sure - Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Dopey, Sleepy and Grumpy
It’s a small hatchback with gull wing doors.
Firstly, the 20 minutes figure is for super-recharging to half capacity. And Tesla’s website is kind of ambiguous by claiming “as little as” 20 minutes which gives me pause. I would expect more than 20 minutes to be the norm and 20 minutes to be the quickest time possible under ideal conditions.
Secondly, Your math assumes that charging stations are as convenient and numerous as gas stations.
Not to be snarky, but count how many gas stations you’ll drive by when deviating from your route to get to a supercharger station. I bet it averages out to 4 or 5. This time for deviation wasn’t factored into your math.
Spiderman put it best when he listed some of the potential issues with charging in rural areas and situations unfamiliar with electric car charging (i.e. little rural hotels and remote cottages).
On my road trips, Murphy is my co-pilot. The hotel I stay at would balk at providing electrical service, I would only have a few hours of down time anyways, and the nearest supercharger would be in the next area code. The road trip would be dominated by the need to stay close to charging stations and plan the route around them. Yuck.
I don’t see any of this changing with the current price of oil.
It’s nearly 2 feet longer and 2 feet wider than a Honda CRV.
AFAIK, there aren’t any charging estimates yet for the Model 3. The available numbers are for the Model S, which presumably has substantially more battery capacity.
Store, not dealership. It now looks as though they will take reservations as soon as the stores open. There was some talk about delaying taking reservations until 1 PM on the East Coast, but it now looks like they will keep separate queues for each of the time zones.
Some of the following may be TL DR if you are not interested, but a couple of responses to some of the questions raised above:
According to a Model 3 reservation agreement posted off a Florida Tesla store address:
- The Reservation Payment is refundable at any time (with giving up your reservation).
- At the point where the “production for your reservation nears”, Tesla contacts you, you will choose your options, sign a Purchase Agreement, and make whatever down payments are required. You have the option to take your Reservation Payment and apply it to the order payment.
The following is based on https://www.irs.gov/irb/2009-48_IRB/ar09.html.
The up to $7500 Federal tax credit does not end when the 200,000th Tesla is sold. The wording on the IRS site is that the “credit phases out for a manufacturer’s vehicles over the one year period beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which at least 200,00 qualifying vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer have been sold for use in the United States.” The phase out mentioned above is defined that the cars “are eligible for 50 percent of the credit in the first two quarters of the phase out period and 25 percent of the credit if acquired in the third or fourth quarter of the phase-out period.”
So if I read that right (and please let me know if you think I’m not correct) I think it would work this way:
If Tesla hits the 200,000 mark in the 4th quarter of 2017, then anyone who gets the title to their Tesla by March 31st of 2018 gets the full credit, anyone who gets it between April 1 2018 and September 30th 2018 gets 50%, and October 1 2018 to March 31st 2019 gets 25%.
I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.
It’s also available with a second charging circuit (for more money, of course). I wouldn’t expect a $35k Model 3 to have one of those.
Sorry, one more thing. My ICE car’s highway range is approximately 400 miles with a healthy reserve in addition. Dr. Strangelove’s predictions assume that I’m charging as often as I’m filling. I would expect to be charging twice as often, maybe more depending on the range received by a half-charge. My apologies if another poster has already addressed this.
I couldn’t find any specs on the site. Still, that’s tiny for 7 people and their gear.
I think by the time the Tesla is on the market, the nearest competitor will be the Chevy Bolt.
Anyway, Hmm, it needs to come with a really good warranty and access to the supercharging system for me to consider it. (Not free charging, necessarily, but I have to be able to charge somewhat quickly on a road trip.) And I need to like it in the test drive.
Both it and the Bolt seem to be coming to market about when I will probably want to replace my slightly buggy C-max.
Seriously? :dubious:
What is your baseline, the Chevy Suburban? A Hummer H3? An Oshkosh LVSR?
Seriously. I can’t in anyway imagine that the gear/luggage for 7 would fit in the small area behind the third row seats. While I now do see that the front trunk can hold two golf bags. That’s still not much.
Add a couple of rocket boxes on the roof… opps can’t do that with those doors…
I’m really not dissing the car. Just being realistic. Full size SUV’s have nothing for space when you crowd 7 people into them. I very much doubt that the Tesla is a Dr Who Tardis.
When an EV gets a 500 mile range on a 5 minute charge I might get interested.
People seem to be assuming they’re going to be able to hit up a supercharging station for a free charge on a regular basis. Has Tesla changed its practice of placing the superchargers 100 miles outside of town, or do all these people just happen to live 100 miles outside of town? If it’s the latter, do you know if you’re near a station?
So the owner doesn’t get every charge for free forever.
Poor, abused owner if she doesn’t have a WalGreens near her (mine has a charging station in the parking lot), she’ll be force to Gasp! Horrors! recharge at home and pay the exorbitant price of how much?
I think it works out to less than a gallon of gas.
Question: Which will rise in price more rapidly: Gasoline of Electricity?
Superchargers aren’t meant to be free electricity for life. They’re meant to be no-hassle charging stations for longer trips. They’ve had some problems with a few people doing all of their charging at them; although they’re probably within their rights, Tesla will want to do something to prevent excessive local charging. Most charging should happen at home.
Yes, they are. Tesla promotes them as such to potential buyers. I know because I got the pitch when I test drove a Model S.
Naw, I want access to the superchargers when I take a road trip. I’m even happy to pay some reasonable fee for the electrons. I assume that I will mostly charge in my garage, at home. But I want to be able to take the car on longer trips, which means topping off the battery fairly quickly at places other than my garage.
There is a conveniently placed super charging station along one of my common routes. I should check a couple more common trips I take before actually doing anything drastic like buying a Tesla. 
You’ll have to be more specific than that. From the Tesla front page:
*Superchargers are free connectors that charge Model S in minutes instead of hours. Stations are strategically placed to minimize stops during long distance travel and are conveniently located near restaurants, shopping centers, and WiFi hot spots. *
I’ve also test driven a Tesla as well and it was clear that the usage model is intended to be that you charge at home most of the time, and use Superchargers on long trips.
Again, people using Superchargers all the time are probably within their rights. Tesla probably assumed that owners would value their own time more than that (forgetting that people will drive miles out of the way to “save” $0.05/g on gas). I’m fairly sure that with the Model 3, they’ll restructure the agreement to exclude excessive local charging. Probably nothing they can do about existing owners.
From 1885 to about 1920, there was debate as to the best fuel for these new-fangled horseless carriages.
The Stanley Steamer used coal, wood - anything you can burn - because that is exactly what they did. Miniature steam locomotives.
The Baker Electric used - take a guess
That idiot Ford specified Gasoline! in 1909! Where the Hell are you going to get Gasoline!
The market answered the question when Ford priced the Model T at a point where just about everybody could buy one.
(does this sound familiar?)
Objecting to EV because there are not enough refueling businesses is a really short-sighted position.
The general aviation fleet uses Leaded gasoline. 100 octane leaded gas.
The market for this stuff is now tiny.
Question for the search freaks:
Are there now more retail dispensers of leaded gas (avgas) or of car charging stations?
Small airports typically have a single truck for all customers.
It is not an exact apples-to-apples: the avgas seller typically has an account for each plane residing in the airport - the ones outside are often “topped off” at the fuel truck’s convenience. Nobody has to wait unless the truck is busy (10-30 minutes) and somebody lands and wants fuel immediately (cross-country trip).