New cheap Tesela

[Kevin]

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/other/tesla-is-getting-1800-model-3-reservations-per-day/ar-AApjXtM

Wow! Look at this a Tesela for less than 35,000. The "Model 3."

The last thread about electric cars touched on this. But it seems electric cars are here to stay. I see more and more Tesela autos every day. I know my driving habits would match the needs of an electric car. We would need s charger in the garage I suppose.

 

[Dan in MI]

No so fast. Good article on why it may not quite be as advertised.

http://www.autoextremist.com/

also, this -- from Automotive daily news


Tesla losses swell to $336 million in Q2
Tesla reported a net loss of $336 million for the second quarter, increasing its red ink by 15 percent from the same period in 2016.

 

[Captain America]

According to the Tesla calculator I would spend about $45 a month less to charge a Model 3(during off peak hours of course) than my Jeep costs me in fuel. The Model 3 is a basic car with no AWD and a 220 mile range for $7000 more than my Jeep which, when you do the math, means I would have to drive the Tesla for 155 months to break even, providing the battery in the Tesla works like a new battery for those 12+ years and the dealer would throw in a charger and home installation for free.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Actually, I would love to have a Tesla 3, . . . . . . . . . . once it has been in
production for a year or two, AND they work out the bugs in their software
and hardware and battery and you can go to the dealer to buy one.

Think back to when Ruger put out the SR1911. How long did it take to get
the bugs out of an established design, from a company that has been
producing pistols for decades. :roll:

 

[blume357]

What many of us gas hounds have a problem realizing is it's not about the dollars but about new and improved and trying to do what one person can to improve the future. I do agree with waiting to get the bugs out.

in reading the comments in the 2nd link... it seems they are not quite as cheap as promoted.... more like 60K when all is said and done.

 

[Bull Barrel]

Perfect car for a 1k mile trip.
How long would it take?

 

[Mobuck]

No market for the POS where I live.

 

[Kevin]

No, they aren't for everywhere, that's true. In Dallas, I see one or two different Tesela automobiles almost daily. We live 13 miles from downtown, and it's only a 20 minute trip. This sort of commute would be ideal for such a car.

But Pat's right. Those darn bugs. My dad and I joke around that up in space, circling Mars is a lander and it's screen is blinking, "press OK to initiate landing sequence." Perhaps someday we will find out.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

According to the Tesla calculator I would spend about $45 a month less to charge a Model 3(during off peak hours of course) than my Jeep costs me in fuel. The Model 3 is a basic car with no AWD and a 220 mile range for $7000 more than my Jeep which, when you do the math, means I would have to drive the Tesla for 155 months to break even, providing the battery in the Tesla works like a new battery for those 12+ years and the dealer would throw in a charger and home installation for free.

If you are comparing cost only over their lifetime, Gasoline and Hybrids and Electric cars are all very close, which didn't used to be the case, but if you consider cost to operate or pollution expelled, the electrics win.

Many Hybrids will give your Jeep a run for the money.
https://evobsession.com/plug-hybrid-electric-cars-for-sale-2017-usa-plug-hybrid-electric-cars-list/

 

[Big Old Boy]

I almost bought a hybrid Lincoln last year until the dealership told me the cost to replace the battery and how often it may need replacement that changed my mind in a hurry.

 

[Captain America]

If you are comparing cost only over their lifetime, Gasoline and Hybrids and Electric cars are all very close, which didn't used to be the case, but if you consider cost to operate or pollution expelled, the electrics win.

If I buy a plug in vehicle the huge "carbon footprint" of manufacturing the battery pack plus the fact the car will run on coal in my neck of the woods means a plug in car is far more destructive to the environment than an efficient gasoline powered car. Hybrids have their place, plug in cars may have a place too in the future but right now. Tesla's biggest problem is their unsustainable business model, you would think they're gonna have to come close to breaking even someday to continue as a business...

 

[Bull Barrel]

And we know which greenhouse gas electric motors create.

If a hybrid is better than pure electric due to the gas engine then pure gas must be best, right?

 

[Jimbo357mag]

If I buy a plug in vehicle the huge "carbon footprint" of manufacturing the battery pack plus the fact the car will run on coal in my neck of the woods means a plug in car is far more destructive to the environment than an efficient gasoline powered car.

Not True. This study takes into consideration battery manufacture and everything else. It says Electrics and Hybrids for the most part are better for the environment. ...besides you don't have to waste time at gas stations anymore and the pollution is not concentrated where the most cars are, like downtown or the expressway.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/517146/are-electric-vehicles-better-for-the-environment-than-gas-powered-ones/

 

[Bull Barrel]

You dont have to waste time at a gas station...how many hours does it take to charge an electric car?
And what powers the non electric engine in a hybrid?

 

[blume357]

Seems obvious to me that one day we or our ancestors will be traveling via electric and not by gas..... the one fact is that in two hundred years folks will be looking back and shaking their heads at how we lived and traveled.

 

[pete44ru]

Tesla's biggest problem is their unsustainable business model, you would think they're gonna have to come close to breaking even someday to continue as a business...

Yep - There's no point in buying a defunct specialty, if parts/repair won't be available in the future, when they'll be sorely needed.


.

 

[Kevin]

I actually look at that chart and think Tesla probably has a few really good accountants.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I only know of one guy who has a Tesla. Used to see him just about every day trying to talk up someone at a local coffee shop about how great a car it is. One could eavesdrop his conversations from across the room even with a 50% hearing loss, so the story of driving from down here to Grant's Pass, OR caught my ear one day. A buddy does that trip a couple of times a year, and he says it can be done in a little over 12 hours, though 14 makes a much more relaxed trip. MapQuest backs up the 12 hr figure, then says it's 788 miles. That means an overall average 65 mph plus, which means there's a lot of running WELL over the speed limit involved in order to simply make up for gas stops and other slowdowns. Tesla guy was claiming he made it in 17. I kinda think they're both being rather optimistic with their numbers. Even if the Tesla could be charged in an hour, he's got a minimum 5 hours involved just charging.

That kind of trip would become "unfun" for me about the second time I had to stop for a recharge. 15 minutes for gas is fine. A minimum hour, at the 1/2 tank mark, would have me convinced this isn't the best of ideas. At least not for now.

As for all the studies showing "Mine's cleaner than yours!" figures, I saw one done on the Prius only a few years into its current life when it was still pretty much the lone alternative to gasoline/diesel, and it was determined to be far "dirtier" than even a big V-8 SUV, when one considered the total "cradle to grave" cost in pollution to manufacture, run and retire the vehicles. Simply moving the pollution source from Point A to Point B isn't the answer.

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

Seems obvious to me that one day we or our ancestors will be traveling via electric and not by gas..... the one fact is that in two hundred years folks will be looking back and shaking their heads at how we lived and traveled.

The electric car went the way of the DODO bird many years ago; FORD drove into the grave.

SAY doesn't Musk collect some BIG government subsidies too?

 

[GunnyGene]

One Mo Time. Batteries suck. I'll abandon fossil fuel when somebody invents Mr. Fusion. Mother nature spend a few hundred million years turning sunlight into oil and coal for us. I ain't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. :mrgreen:

 

[exavid]

I might be interested if they ever come out with something worthwhile using fuel cells. Then you could have the best of both worlds. But I need a car for around town and three or four 1000 mile trips each year. Electric isn't going to do that. I also live in a climate that can be pretty cold in winter and 110F in summer. Batteries don't like that either. Also I won't buy electric because of that $7500 of my dollars the government spends to get people to buy things like a Prius or Tesla.

 

[powder smoke]

Like my chevy's thank you very much. ps

 

[Bull Barrel]

63k Mod 3 orders have been cancelled.