Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot
The battery swap demonstration was a proof of concept. It won't be rolled out nationwide for at least a decade if at all. The supercharger network isn't even close to complete yet and Tesla doesn't have the free capital to go down another infrastructure rabbit hole on top of gearing up for 2-3 new models and a Model S update/replacement in the next 5-7 years.
It's nowhere near the performance machine it's held out to be by Tesla. It can do amazing things once or twice but heat soaks quickly. It can generate great grip thank to a low CG but doesn't transition well due to relatively narrow front tires and huge weight. It falls on its face past about 90mph compared to anything with a decent amount of power, look at how long it takes to get from 80 to 100mph. M3 takes 3 seconds to get from 80 to 100 mph, Model S takes 4.6, and it's a full 5 seconds slower from 100mph to 120mph. At those speeds I can spot the Model S a full second to downshift (it doesn't take that long) and still pass it before I even need 4th gear in an M3. A 335 is similarly much quicker at higher speeds. So this whole "faster than an M5" schtick is complete BS on close inspection. Tesla was notably silent on the laptime when it took its cars to COTA for a press day. But that's the racetrack, and we live in reality...
Model S is an amazing car, and I want one. In the real world of cut and thrust 0-70mph traffic, it's a devastatingly quick car, and immensely practical in terms of people carrying and cargo capacity for its size. The "green" aspect of it is really a sideshow IMO, compared to those great attributes, and is really only interesting to me because it made the rest possible thanks to the packaging advantages of an electric drivetrain. On balance it's not much better than driving a 740i in terms of life cycle CO2e emissions, especially if you live on a coal fired power grid.
I'm really interested to see if they adapt Model X's powertrain to Model S to allow an AWD option. If they tuned it right that'd be a 3.5 second 0-60 car and reach a much wider audience. It'd probably be near the quickest stock car on the planet at high altitude, where the air being thinner just means the electric car has less to push against while the gas motored cars are sucking wind
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Interesting post.
Let me elaborate on battery charging:
- Battery swap stations are production-ready and will be rolled out this year.
- Tesla has recently raised capital, around $800 million. So yeah they have the money. Just this month they opened THREE new superchargers:
http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
"Coverage
Today – 12 stations
Summer 2013 – 27 stations
Fall 2013 – Most metropolitan areas
Winter 2013 – Coast-to-coast travel
2014 – 80% of the US population and parts of Canada
2015 – 98% of the US population and parts of Canada"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot
On balance it's not much better than driving a 740i in terms of life cycle CO2e emissions, especially if you live on a coal fired power grid.
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Could you elaborate on this? It's not the first time I read something like this on this thread, I'd like to know more.
I agree high speeds (>80~90mph) are not electric car's main strength, but as you say we live in the real world where we seldom use these.