EV general discussion

Some serious performance on the Plaid and Plaid+ versions, 0-60 in less than 1.9 seconds and 200mph :eek:

Not for very long. On the M3 Performance although the car is capable of doing 160mph at that speed it’s doing kW/mi instead of mi/kW so they don’t go very fast for very long. I planned a route where I crossed the German border on the unrestricted A3 at Wesel with a full battery and the car predicted I couldn’t make it to my flat in Münster without recharging if I drove it flat out. And that’s only about 60 miles.

Similarly, frequent hard 0-60 runs will see the car returning well under 2mi/kW.

But it’s the range that really makes me want one. Well over 500 miles with extreme rapid charging capability. It is perfectly realistic to cross Europe in a Plaid.
 
Isn’t it the case that as a general rule it’s ‘quicker’ as in it takes less time to drive with a higher average speed and recharge more (taking advantage of peek recharge speeds) than it is to drive slowly.

Even on most unrestricted roads, you’ll not really be able to drive pedal to the metal except in the dead of night because of other traffic.

That said the refresh does look good and it’s long overdue, not that I can afford one :p.
 
Isn’t it the case that as a general rule it’s ‘quicker’ as in it takes less time to drive with a higher average speed and recharge more (taking advantage of peek recharge speeds) than it is to drive slowly.

Even on most unrestricted roads, you’ll not really be able to drive pedal to the metal except in the dead of night because of other traffic.

That said the refresh does look good and it’s long overdue, not that I can afford one :p.

It is true that faster = less distance in all cars but it seems to be best in diesels and worst in electrics in my experience.

You are also correct about the state of traffic congestion on German Autobahnen - listening to the radio you'd think Stau was the most popular word in Germany. BUT! At 4am on a Sunday morning you can really let rip for quite long distances. The HGVs are off the roads and it's hammer time. The A2 and A3 near Bottrop were originally laid as runways for aircraft in the event the Russians bombed the airfields so they have 3-5km long sections that are fairly level and arrow straight. It's why so many German tuners are based in that area. It's ideal for doing your timed runs for your TUeV certification.

And I can't afford one either but the leasing company will buy one on my behalf and let the company pay them a bit each month while I have it. :)
 
Isn’t it the case that as a general rule it’s ‘quicker’ as in it takes less time to drive with a higher average speed and recharge more (taking advantage of peek recharge speeds) than it is to drive slowly.
Yep - Journey time is reduced when you drive faster and do more charging stops up to 80% and repeat :) [compared to less charging stops up to 100%]
 
You are also correct about the state of traffic congestion on German Autobahnen - listening to the radio you'd think Stau was the most popular word in Germany. BUT! At 4am on a Sunday morning you can really let rip for quite long distances.

It's also quite region specific. The West has considerably worse traffic congestion than the East in my experience.
 
It's also quite region specific. The West has considerably worse traffic congestion than the East in my experience.

Yes. I would agree. The sections of Autobahn heading south from Berlin in the direction of Chemnitz and Dresden can be joyously clear and the surface is still very smooth and relatively free from ruts.
 
Probably easier to get out and use the Self-Driving Capability via the app :p
Its probably better now but I witnessed the painfully slow creeping on a Model S into a tight space in our works car park while the owner stood there, phone in hand. He was very smug until I pointed out that while that was fine, when the cars either side try to get in he's likely to get a bullseye on each door we then got the process in reverse :p
 
Humh - even from an insurance perspective, if because you have a wide car, you have parked & obstructed someone getting in/out of their car, would it go 50:50.

when do they grit autobahns ? if you are there testing at 4am sunday that could be a bad day, didn't tesla improve their paint process.
 
Humh - even from an insurance perspective, if because you have a wide car, you have parked & obstructed someone getting in/out of their car, would it go 50:50.

No, but why would you park in a way that obstructed another vehicle? That’s just asking for problems and is one of the reasons why people who have none fault claims insurance also goes up e.g. the claim would have been prevented if you parked properly.

Fairly sure deliberately damaging another car because it was obstructing you would be classed as criminal damage unless it was reasonable (e.g. an emergency).
 
Yes. I would agree. The sections of Autobahn heading south from Berlin in the direction of Chemnitz and Dresden can be joyously clear and the surface is still very smooth and relatively free from ruts.

Yup the West/ North and around Munich has a lot more traffic. Still de-restricted sections, but honestly it's sometimes just damn dangerous with the amount of traffic. Add in some rain with poor drainage on a lot of autobahns and it's sketchy.

Out West we're quite luckly. You can drive all the way from central Germany (Kassel) on to Leipzig and on to Dresden on a two lane Autobahn (mostly de-restricted). It's almost deserted in the evening, just some trucks. Some cool tunnels and higher elevation parts but it's good fun gunning it for a few hundred km and makes the journey a bit quicker.

There is the Porsche and BMW factory in Leipzig and they are starting to produce a lot of electric cars. And of course soon to be Tesla up the road in Berlin. But's it's not as affulent here as in the West/South or Berlin so you don't see many electric cars here yet. Also infrastructure, a lot of German cities are incredibly tightly packed flats (hardly any suburbs), so who knows how they will get on street charging sorted out.
 
Yup the West/ North and around Munich has a lot more traffic. Still de-restricted sections, but honestly it's sometimes just damn dangerous with the amount of traffic. Add in some rain with poor drainage on a lot of autobahns and it's sketchy.

Out West we're quite luckly. You can drive all the way from central Germany (Kassel) on to Leipzig and on to Dresden on a two lane Autobahn (mostly de-restricted). It's almost deserted in the evening, just some trucks. Some cool tunnels and higher elevation parts but it's good fun gunning it for a few hundred km and makes the journey a bit quicker.

There is the Porsche and BMW factory in Leipzig and they are starting to produce a lot of electric cars. And of course soon to be Tesla up the road in Berlin. But's it's not as affulent here as in the West/South or Berlin so you don't see many electric cars here yet. Also infrastructure, a lot of German cities are incredibly tightly packed flats (hardly any suburbs), so who knows how they will get on street charging sorted out.

I know that area pretty well having worked at Heidemark in Muetzschen. I used to run around in a RHD Audi TT and in those days the farmers quite often had horse-drawn carts and they did a double take at the TT and then again when they realised there was no-one in the "driver's seat". Good times!
 
when do they grit autobahns ? if you are there testing at 4am Sunday that could be a bad day, didn't tesla improve their paint process.

From memory they don't grit a lot. They get the snow-ploughs out early and everyone has winter tyres (a legal requirement since 2010). If you drive on the roads the roads warm up and the snow clears. They also sometimes use liquid de-icer on the roads. Austrian wine some folks call it.

And realistically you wouldn't be be doing Vmax runs on a snowy day anyway.
 
The revised Tesla Model S and X interior looks clean. Not sure about the Knight Rider style steering wheel though. No stalks either.

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Looks like change for the sake of it to me.

I know F1 cars have that sort of steering wheel, but those are designed to be driven on a track and not for comfort.

The lack of a physical drive/reverse stalk or selector because it "guesses" what you want to do, is madness.
 
Looks like change for the sake of it to me.

I know F1 cars have that sort of steering wheel, but those are designed to be driven on a track and not for comfort.

The lack of a physical drive/reverse stalk or selector because it "guesses" what you want to do, is madness.

I have to say when I first saw the pictures I just sat staring at the screen with my mouth open mentally screaming WTF?

But after the sales people called to ask if I want to continue with my Plaid (Plus) order (more money!) or take a current model from stock (less money!) and it was explained that a conventional round steering wheel would be a no-cost retrofit if I didn’t like the yoke and the clarification that the forward/reverse selector will be on the centre screen in a big graphic when the car is in neutral I was a lot happier.

As I understand it, the car will ‘energise’ when you sit in it with your phone and when you put your foot on the brake it will wait then select the most logical direction of travel based on the sensors IF YOU SET THAT IN THE MENU. Otherwise, it just displays forwards and backwards buttons on the centre screen. So it’s mad, but in a controllable way.
 
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