Tesla Model 3 revealed

[DoubleD]

Is the government not going to loose out on tax from petrol if we all buy electric cars? Would they not have to tax them in some way to recoup those losses?

[kambites]

DoubleD said:

Is the government not going to loose out on tax from petrol if we all buy electric cars? Would they not have to tax them in some way to recoup those losses?

Motorway tolls would be my guess.

[kambites]

Leithen said:

dazwalsh said:

Is the tech not there to have solar panels built into the bonnet/roof to enable self charging or is that some way off yet?

Nowhere near viable and probably never will be for a single car surface to take in enough energy from the sun.

Indeed. Say you could get two square meters of panels on the car, that'd give you about 3kwh per day in the middle of summer in the south of England. That's enough for about ten miles. In winter in the north you'd be lucky to top up 5 miles a day.

[ka90]

Wouldn't it be possible to combine the Tesla Powerwall battery to optimize home charging for users around the country? Presumably by (trickle-)charging the battery during excess power production it would be possible to then charge the car from the Powerwall and thus not put additional strain on the grid when everyone arrives home turns on everything and plugs their car in.

Once of the largest issues is the charging time and charging stations. I would assume for this to be adopted as a nation we would have to have replaceable batteries built to a international standard at charging stations. Instead of plugging them in, you just replace the whole battery unit with a charged one. Essentially bringing the petrol station into the 21st century. Battery maintenance could be built into the 'refueling cost'. This would place it in direct comparison with refueling a combustion car. It could even be made quicker and cheaper (with the added benefit of being safer).

[0000]

kambites said:

DoubleD said:

Is the government not going to loose out on tax from petrol if we all buy electric cars? Would they not have to tax them in some way to recoup those losses?

Motorway tolls would be my guess.

Just taxing electricity would presumably be the cheap, fair, proportional to usage/environment effect, etc. way of doing it.

Probably motorway tolls then.

[andrewparker]

Impasse said:

Can't see the attraction myself. It's just a very dull four door saloon car. Big whoop. But I suppose if you're in the market for a dull four door saloon car this might be no worse than others.

I think it's got huge potential to be a game changer, but they could have at least made it better looking than a 3 Series GT.

[DoubleD]

0000 said:

kambites said:

DoubleD said:

Is the government not going to loose out on tax from petrol if we all buy electric cars? Would they not have to tax them in some way to recoup those losses?

Motorway tolls would be my guess.

Just taxing electricity would presumably be the cheap, fair, proportional to usage/environment effect, etc. way of doing it.

Probably motorway tolls then.

But that would put peoples housing costs up. Non drivers would complain. I'm guessing electric "theft" would rise too.

[otolith]

DoubleD said:

0000 said:

kambites said:

DoubleD said:

Is the government not going to loose out on tax from petrol if we all buy electric cars? Would they not have to tax them in some way to recoup those losses?

Motorway tolls would be my guess.

Just taxing electricity would presumably be the cheap, fair, proportional to usage/environment effect, etc. way of doing it.

Probably motorway tolls then.

But that would put peoples housing costs up. Non drivers would complain. I'm guessing electric "theft" would rise too.

Smart metering would allow you to charge a different rate for charging cars. But then why should you, CO2 is CO2, whether you emit it by driving a car or boiling a kettle.

[bodhi]

Hmmm, still appears to use batteries, range is still fairly pathetic, interior looks horrendous and is likely to be even worse put together than the Model S (plenty of Dutch taxis are falling apart after only 2 years).

I'll stick to ICE until someone comes up with a better idea thanks - as far as I can see, EV's are in no way a better idea.

[ChasW]

Have to go with the flow here and admit that I am really paying attention to this car. I have bought into the concept of electric cars and should my travel routine stabilise further and become even more predictable it makes so much sense for us. Whilst the original Tesla is a stunning car it's too big and too expensive for me. The other brands are too quirky looking to be taken seriously IMO. This model really hits the mark though I am not a big fan of the huge screen. I just have to hope I'd get used to it.

[otolith]

Wonder how long it will be before it is electric which is the mainstream and ICE which is for beardy weirdos.

[_dobbo_]

yayitsadiesel said:

unsprung said:

In the last 24 hours, Tesla have received 115,000 reservations, globally, for the Model 3. At $1000 per reservation, that's a cool £80,000,000.

No it isn't

Well, it basically is. $1150000 = £803521.52

[Six Fiend]

yayitsadiesel said:

unsprung said:

In the last 24 hours, Tesla have received 115,000 reservations, globally, for the Model 3. At $1000 per reservation, that's a cool £80,000,000.

No it isn't

Exchange rate $0.7:£1

115,000 X £700 = £80,500,000

Am I missing something?

[HB2K]

George111 said:

Is this an elaborate April fools joke ?

You still can not refuel it at my local Sainsbury's, Tesco or even - shock horror - Waitrose !

Try a Costco. Both my locals (Hayes and Sunbury) have rows of EV charging points. I've never seen anyone using them, mind, but I guess that will change over the next 10 years or so.

[AH33]

otolith said:

Wonder how long it will be before it is electric which is the mainstream and ICE which is for beardy weirdos.

Best get a headstart on my beard then

[Falsey]

Was tempted but the prospect of putting a grand down and then having to wait for a few years didnt really excite me. Clever car though, even cleverer marketing.

[KTF]

andrewparker said:

I think it's got huge potential to be a game changer, but they could have at least made it better looking than a 3 Series GT.

It does look a bit bland but I guess that down to having a low drag for max range. The Prius is a similar shape for the same reason.

[dlockhart]

HB2K said:

Try a Costco. Both my locals (Hayes and Sunbury) have rows of EV charging points. I've never seen anyone using them, mind, but I guess that will change over the next 10 years or so.

Surbiton waitrose has ev charging - your waitrose obviously isn't middleclass enough

[deaglecat]

£1k to pre-order a model 3. Refundable (unless they go belly-up).

Anyone ?

[carl_w]

98elise said:

Do you understand the difference between energy and power? We have plently of energy capacity to charge over night.

If your lights go out when you cook or turn the shower on then you might be right.

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk suggests that the difference between peak and offpeak demand is about 10GW at the moment.