Tesla Model 3 revealed

Author
Discussion

Mr Will

13,719 posts

206 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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George111 said:
HB2K said:
Mr Will said:
HB2K said:
Chap I briefly knew at work had an IT company that did this - never actually made a net profit but expanded pretty quickly and then sold out to Microsoft, netting a cool £25m in the process. That's not really Mr Musk's game though - at some point he's going to have to actually start making some money. Early days, though.
I remember reading that his long-term game plan is to make money selling the batteries to other car manufacturers. The cars are a means to bring EVs in to the mass market and force the hand of established manufacturers. Once the big names have make the switch, he can rake in the money providing all the batteries they will need without having to compete with them directly. It's same reason he has "open sourced" all of Tesla's patents - he actively wants other companies using his technology.
Now that is smart. It explains the massive investment in battery manufacture. He's not a fool, is he?
Not a fool but a gambler ! Why would BMW/VAG/Mercedes want to buy his batteries ? By the time EVs are popular enough for VAG to be selling an EV in place of the Golf, they will be buying vast amounts from China. What's the incentive to buy Musk batteries, apart from the comical name ?
This is why: https://www.teslamotors.com/en_GB/gigafactory

When By 2020 it should be producing more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013. They are aiming to cut the cost-per-cell by 30%. Yes, I'm sure others will try to compete but Tesla has a substantial head start.

V8LM

5,174 posts

209 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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0000 said:
Is it? Wouldn't they have to give Paypal a percentage then?
Oh probably yes. Just thought it a little ironic.

The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

117 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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Fittster said:
Are Telsa actually making a profit?
No.

kambites

67,575 posts

221 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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The Mad Monk said:
Fittster said:
Are Telsa actually making a profit?
No.
Indeed, they're pouring an enormous amount of money into production facilities at the moment.

briSk

14,291 posts

226 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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love the idea.
just hope they take the same care to make it a decent car to drive as they apparently have the S.

arch stant0n

82 posts

105 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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When they're working autodrive and summon would make a major difference to recharging.
No reason they can't build out-of-town automated supercharger points near power substations.

Car needs power and you can't charge it at home?
Off it toddles in the middle of the night to recharge, parks itself back at home an hour later.

In fact summon removes the need to park near where you live at all, other than reassurance.

AndrewSV

118 posts

149 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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Mr GrimNasty said:
feef said:
Tesla also have their domestic battery power supply system, and I could envisage those being deployed into the workings of the superchargers so the load of charging a vehicle is evened out over the day.

That would help the power infrastructure cope with the load of multiple vehicles charging at once with an increased in number of charging stations
They've already discontinued the higher capacity 'powerwall'. And the other will follow soon, it makes no environmental or economic sense whatsoever.

At least when the Model 3 fails to shift the required units we'll finally see the end of this pointless subsidy-addicted company, and hopefully people will realise how stupid the idea of mass use of electric cars is.

~2% of UK primary power came from renewables (inc. hydro) last year, and for at least the next 4/5 years the UK grid will be on a knife-edge each winter. That 2% is already costing every household ~£300 on their bills and more through general taxation etc.

Renewables/electric cars are incapable of replacing hydrocarbon fuels at scale.
Subsidy addicted company!? Ha. The US taxpayer subsidised the fossil fuel industry by around $190 billion in 2014 I believe, Tesla received $4B and is paying it back.

Renewables/electric cars are incapable of replacing hydrocarbon fuels at scale *when you don't subsidise the fossil fuel industry and let it die it's inevitable death

David87

6,658 posts

212 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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Innowaybored said:
Is anyone else waiting longer than 2 hours for the confirmation email? I have placed my deposit at a pop up store but still not got the email.

They reort that have "sold" 35 in the last 24 hours. Not bad for a guy standing next to a model S in a shopping centre in solihull !
I paid the deposit online this morning and I think it said you'd get a confirmation email within 24 hours. Not had anything yet.

garreth64

663 posts

221 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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Innowaybored said:
Is anyone else waiting longer than 2 hours for the confirmation email? I have placed my deposit at a pop up store but still not got the email.

They reort that have "sold" 35 in the last 24 hours. Not bad for a guy standing next to a model S in a shopping centre in solihull !
I did the same at Solihull first thing this morning and no email yet, though I can see the money is pending on my card.

I think it can take 24 hours or so and guessing they are busy today.

Talking to the guy at the store, they have taken quite a fe deposits at the Gadget Show at the NEC as well, so maybe that includes the 35.

V8LM

5,174 posts

209 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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Of course, they haven't 'sold' any, or taken any orders. The £1k gets your subsequent order, if you wish to, in the line.

garreth64

663 posts

221 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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V8LM said:
Noticeable that they ask for a card and no PayPal option.
American Company and wouldn't take American Express either, so I didn't get my 1% cash back :-(

Russ T Bolt

1,689 posts

283 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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HB2K said:
Surely, as others have said, most people will recharge at home, won't they. How many people regularly do over 200 miles in one go? And for those living in flats on-road or in-carpark charging points will be installed, as they already have been in some places.
Guy I work with bought a Model S a few months ago. Lives on the outskirts of London, regularly goes to Snowdonia climbing and went to Italy in it a few weeks ago. So far he hasn't charged it at home, but he said you do need to plan, which he enjoys anyway.

He took a couple of us out in it and it really is very very quick, I was mightily impressed, especially the self park feature. We drove along a row of cars, it identified a space and parked perfectly.

danrst171

103 posts

100 months

Friday 1st April 2016
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There is huge scope for infrastructure development to accommodate EV's. For example, there is nothing to stop smart motorways being used to their full potential by introducing wireless charging to increase range on motorway driving. Charging points can pop up all over the place.

Perhaps, assuming when the Model 3 UK prices are announced they are affordable, the government will start to invest in this sort of infrastructure given the huge uptake (would be interested to see how many deposits are from the UK).

unsprung

5,467 posts

124 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
garreth64 said:
V8LM said:
Noticeable that they ask for a card and no PayPal option.
American Company and wouldn't take American Express either, so I didn't get my 1% cash back :-(
Visa and Mastercard will be the preferred cards for both buyers and the retailer (in this case, Tesla Motors). At least in the car's domestic market. The benefits available and cash-back schemes offered to US holders of Visa / Mastercard will be more widespread.

Conversely, American Express is smaller (albeit with an upmarket demographic). They're also having a difficult time of it at the moment. I wouldn't say that American Express are "on the ropes," but other credit and payments brands has been more innovative and more commercially successful of late.

I refer to individual cardholders / shoppers -- and not necessarily to enterprise accounts.


Zoon

6,706 posts

121 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
arch stant0n said:
When they're working autodrive and summon would make a major difference to recharging.
No reason they can't build out-of-town automated supercharger points near power substations.

Car needs power and you can't charge it at home?
Off it toddles in the middle of the night to recharge, parks itself back at home an hour later.

In fact summon removes the need to park near where you live at all, other than reassurance.
Out of interest how would the car plug the cable in?

feef

5,206 posts

183 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
Zoon said:
arch stant0n said:
When they're working autodrive and summon would make a major difference to recharging.
No reason they can't build out-of-town automated supercharger points near power substations.

Car needs power and you can't charge it at home?
Off it toddles in the middle of the night to recharge, parks itself back at home an hour later.

In fact summon removes the need to park near where you live at all, other than reassurance.
Out of interest how would the car plug the cable in?
The snakebot

https://www.rt.com/news/311836-tesla-snake-robot-c...

biggles330d

1,542 posts

150 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
Have a 330d, love it. Fast, economical, comfortable.
Bought an i3 instead of replacing the 330d with a newer one, love it. Since early December the 330d has been out exactly 3 times. Every other trip (every day) has been more than possible in the non-Rex i3. Charging at home is the same as charging your mobile phone, leave every day with a full charge. If you go too far, finding a charger isn't hard and its mostly just to top up enough to get you back, not spend hours fully charging from empty.
The i3 for most 'normal' driving is quicker than the 330d, instant acceleration is addictive.

When the i3 lease is up in 18 months, almost certainly a Tesla 3 and keep the 330d for continent crossing trips to France. I still think the only properly sensible replacement for it will be a new Alpina D3 touring!

Brilad

594 posts

189 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
this is a game changer

Jazzer77

1,533 posts

194 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
Brilad said:
this is a game changer
Agreed, just paid my deposit.
Spent some time in a Leaf but the range was too short. The 200+ mile range will be just the ticket.





JetskiJezz

662 posts

136 months

Friday 1st April 2016
quotequote all
biggles330d said:
Have a 330d, love it. Fast, economical, comfortable.
Bought an i3 instead of replacing the 330d with a newer one, love it. Since early December the 330d has been out exactly 3 times. Every other trip (every day) has been more than possible in the non-Rex i3. Charging at home is the same as charging your mobile phone, leave every day with a full charge. If you go too far, finding a charger isn't hard and its mostly just to top up enough to get you back, not spend hours fully charging from empty.
The i3 for most 'normal' driving is quicker than the 330d, instant acceleration is addictive.

When the i3 lease is up in 18 months, almost certainly a Tesla 3 and keep the 330d for continent crossing trips to France. I still think the only properly sensible replacement for it will be a new Alpina D3 touring!
I'm in exactly the same position.
My wife was running a 2010 X5, we were offered a cheap lease deal on an i3 in December, it was cheaper than the fuel on the X5 alone. The i3 was delivered in the middle of December, we kept the X 5 4 longer journeys and cramming more people in, but it's been used 3 times since Christmas.
She absolutely loves the i3 for everyday running around, I think this new model 3 Tesla really is going to be a game changer as long as the range is something close to the suggested 200 + miles.