Tesla Model 3 revealed

[George111]

RobGT81 said:

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 !

Why would you need to recharge if it's your local supermarket? The range isn't 2 miles.

OK, I still can't recharge it where I work and if I live in an apartment in London I still can't recharge it at home. So it's still a dead duck with an even further reduced range from the previous Tesla cars. Surely with reduced performance you'd expect increased range . . . ?

Until you can recharge these cars at a couple of places in every town/village they're not going to catch on.

[OwenK]

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 !

I can't refuel my petrol car on my driveway while I'm asleep at night though.

[AH33]

These are for cities, right?

Everyone in a city lives in a flat. This thing would be perfect for my commute, but where to charge it overnight?

This is one of the biggest issues that will need to be addressed to encourage take up.

[98elise]

RobGT81 said:

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 !

Why would you need to recharge if it's your local supermarket? The range isn't 2 miles.

Agreed. It doesn't bother me that I can't charge my phone at the local supermarket, so why do I want to charge my car there. Much like my phone I'll charge it at home or work when its sat still for 8 hours.

If I could fuel my current car on my drive then I would.

[kambites]

AH33 said:

These are for cities, right?

I'd say they're primarily for suburbia.

[Zoon]

AH33 said:

These are for cities, right?

Everyone in a city lives in a flat.

Who said they were for cities?
Last time I checked everyone in London didn't live in a flat.

[0000]

Probably for anyone with a regular commute.

[HB2K]

I don't think charging points are going to be an issue. Just thinking of places I travel to, there are 3 right outside my office in central London, another set near an old flat of mine in Wandsworth and a bagful at Oxford services on the M40. There will no doubt be a significant investment in the next few years, much as cycle docking stations have proliferated across London for the Boris Bike.

I did wonder about the 200 mile range - that chap who does Youtube vids of acceleration in one of the bigger models appears to show that the range can drop very quickly if you drive enthusiastically.

[98elise]

George111 said:

RobGT81 said:

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 !

Why would you need to recharge if it's your local supermarket? The range isn't 2 miles.

OK, I still can't recharge it where I work and if I live in an apartment in London I still can't recharge it at home. So it's still a dead duck with an even further reduced range from the previous Tesla cars. Surely with reduced performance you'd expect increased range . . . ?

Until you can recharge these cars at a couple of places in every town/village they're not going to catch on.

Dead duck? They have taken over 115,000 orders so far

Range is pretty much the same regardles of perfromance (in like for like driving) as EV's don't suffer the same losses as an ICE. To put it simply moving a car at say 60mph needs the same energy regardless of the available performance., but a higher perfromance ICE engine will bleeds more power just to keep it running.

Edited by 98elise on Friday 1st April 09:39

[Krikkit]

HB2K said:

I did wonder about the 200 mile range - that chap who does Youtube vids of acceleration in one of the bigger models appears to show that the range can drop very quickly if you drive enthusiastically.

Much like a powerful turbocharged car then - spank it everywhere and you'll seriously dent your range, treat it gently and economy improves massively. Energy usage is proportional to the performance you expect from both cars, just different sources.

[kambites]

HB2K said:

I did wonder about the 200 mile range - that chap who does Youtube vids of acceleration in one of the bigger models appears to show that the range can drop very quickly if you drive enthusiastically.

I'd imagine the drop in economy (and hence range) is similar to an ICE car in that regard. If you get 50mpg out of an ICE powered car when pootling along the motorway you expect to get, what, 30mpg when having fun? I'd imagine the proportional drop in range of an EV will be fairly similar so a 200 mile range would become 120.

It's a big saloon car though, I don't think people are going to buy it to drive it like a sports car.

Edited by kambites on Friday 1st April 09:44

[OwenK]

Does make you feel like a bit of a prat tha you're paying hundreds a month on fuel just to drive to work.

I wonder what the residuals and therefore the leasing costs will be like? In the US they don't tend to do it the same way as us so it's less of an issue.

[MrJuice]

Tesla, at present at least, gets free parking and charging at Westfield. You wouldn't want to go out of your way for that but there is a waitrose there, cinemas, restaurants etc etc. So if it fits around your routine...win!

[kambites]

OwenK said:

I wonder what the residuals and therefore the leasing costs will be like? In the US they don't tend to do it the same way as us so it's less of an issue.

That, of course, is the big question. I suspect Tesla will be offering guaranteed buy-back values for private customers to prop up public confidence until EVs are more accepted.

[MKnight702]

thatsprettyshady said:

If they get even within 5k of the £25k price

LOL April fool

[Impasse]

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.

[HB2K]

kambites said:

HB2K said:

I did wonder about the 200 mile range - that chap who does Youtube vids of acceleration in one of the bigger models appears to show that the range can drop very quickly if you drive enthusiastically.

I'd imagine the drop in economy (and hence range) is similar to an ICE car in that regard. If you get 50mpg out of an ICE powered car when pootling along the motorway you expect to get, what, 30mpg when having fun? I'd imagine the proportional drop in range of an EV will be fairly similar so a 200 mile range would become 120.

It's a big saloon car though, I don't think people are going to buy it to drive it like a sports car.

Edited by kambites on Friday 1st April 09:44

Yes, that makes sense. I wondered if it would be an equivalent sort of loss. My next question is whether there is enough lithium in the world for everyone to get one of these?! I know they are constructing a massive factory to make the batteries but lithium isn't found everywhere.

[kambites]

HB2K said:

Yes, that makes sense. I wondered if it would be an equivalent sort of loss. My next question is whether there is enough lithium in the world for everyone to get one of these?! I know they are constructing a massive factory to make the batteries but lithium isn't found everywhere.

Lithium is the 25th most common element in the earth's crust. The question isn't whether there's enough, it's how much it costs to extract (both financially and environmentally).

[Ozzie Osmond]

• To which people are these cars most suitable? City dwellers.

• Which people are least likely to be able to charge the car at home, parked on the street? City dwellers.

• How many petrol pumps are there at a typical petrol station for a 5 minute fill-up? Six

• How many electric parking points would be needed for equivalent 30 minute charging? Thirty-six [!!]

The electric market will become self-limiting for these reasons. The lack of lithium and lack of electricity capacity as well. So there's plenty of life in the small petrol engine yet.

[kambites]

Ozzie Osmond said:

* To which people are these cars most suitable? City dwellers.

Why do you say that?

I agree that EVs are self-limiting but that limit is probably currently at least 20% of the total car market and will rise as infrastructure inproves. I can easily see half of new cars having no internal combustion engine in fifteen years' time. Of course whether that happens will depend more on politics than any sort of engineering concerns.

Edited by kambites on Friday 1st April 10:03