The Tesla Thread

[Rosbif]

Can the discussion be shifted back to the car, rather than if the UK energy infrastructure can cope with it?!

I'll personally enjoy having one as a second car come 2018'ish!

I think they're going to end up doing a u-turn on the centre console screen and include a typical heads up display with the speedo etc.

I personally don't like having to look to the right to see important information, I want it just below my eyes.

This is really my only gripe with the car so far, I'm quite happy with the minimalist look and feel. Would like to see more details of course.

 

[Rosbif]

please delete, I quoted myself.

 

[pioneer2000]

I think they're going to end up doing a u-turn on the centre console screen and include a typical heads up display with the speedo etc.

I personally don't like having to look to the right to see important information, I want it just below my eyes.

This is really my only gripe with the car so far, I'm quite happy with the minimalist look and feel. Would like to see more details of course.

Yeah a HUD would definitely be beneficial.

Does anyone know when part 2 of the unveiling is happening? Would like to hear more information about the varies models and options that will be available.

 

[Burned_Alive]

I think they're going to end up doing a u-turn on the centre console screen and include a typical heads up display with the speedo etc.

I personally don't like having to look to the right to see important information, I want it just below my eyes.

This is really my only gripe with the car so far, I'm quite happy with the minimalist look and feel. Would like to see more details of course.

Musk has already said that it isnt the real interior and that it "feels like a spaceship", so wouldnt be suprised to see things like hud, etc at the part 2 unveil, whenever that is.

 

[Amp34]

The UK are never going to roll 3 phase supplies out to the majority of homes, so we will be 240v for a considerable time. 100amp feeds is pretty decent for a UK home too.

7kW chargers on 240v will need 32amps. Running two of these would need 64amps, which is going to be a push for most homes.

Its not a case of simply upgrading your line here in the UK, it would require a fundamental shift in the structure of the National Grid, which is not even on the radar. UK homes will remain 240v single phase, and likely not exceed 100amps for most homes.

Home charging is a dead end if EVs are to become anything more than a tiny niche.

Edit: Having just properly read the Tesla specs, both the 11kW and 22kW chargers require 400v 3 phase supplies. That means the fastest charger you will ever be able to put in a UK home is a 7kW one. If you have a very good mains feed you might be able to put 2 in. But that's going to be it. Currently the Tesla Dual Chargers only support the 22kW 400v feed, so you can't even plug both 7kW's into your car.

So the fastest you can charge, and will be able to charge for the foreseeable future, at home is about 22 miles range per hour of charge. If your very lucky you might be able to charge 2 cars at that speed, but anything more and your then having to divide that supply among the number of cars.

I guess we'll have to come back in 20 years time and see what the answer is. This debate is going round in circles so pointless continuing.

 

[SDK^]

^ exactly
In Skeeters world nothing changes or moves forward :/

• Bill Gates once said no one would ever need more than 128k of RAM......
• Back in the 80's some people doubted mobile phones would take off due to the investment required. Fast forward 20 years and phone companies were bidding £billions for 3G and 4G network capacity.

Its not a case of simply upgrading your line here in the UK, it would require a fundamental shift in the structure of the National Grid, which is not even on the radar.

I work for National Grid. Scenarios to develop a network for electric cars has been in development since at least 2008.

 

[Nasher]

In the end, the thing I don't like about EVs is you can't tinker with them or upgrade them etc. They are sealed units for the designed life of the vehicle :/

 

[Rilot]

In the end, the thing I don't like about EVs is you can't tinker with them or upgrade them etc. They are sealed units for the designed life of the vehicle :/

Of course you will be able to. It will mainly be all done with software, just like it is with modern ICE cars.
We over clock PCs and graphics cards so why not cars?

 

[Burned_Alive]

In the end, the thing I don't like about EVs is you can't tinker with them or upgrade them etc. They are sealed units for the designed life of the vehicle :/

To be fair, modern ICE cars are going this way to an extent.

 

[Angilion]

[..]
Added to which nobody has even come up with a suggestion for the huge number of properties with no off street parking or reserved spaces I for example simple couldn't charge a car as there is no guarantee I can park within 100 feet of my house should it even be legal/practical/sensible to trail a lead!

Which is part of the reason why I think battery swapping is a better potential solution, especially in relatively densely populated countries or areas within countries.

If the cars are designed for it and the infrastructure exists, battery swapping allows for an EV to be fully "refueled" in a couple of minutes regardless of the capacity of the battery. It's also potentially a straight swap for existing ICEV refueling (i.e. it works the same way for drivers - they go to a station to "refuel" very quickly) and potentially could be phased in (start with some battery capacity in existing petrol stations, expand it as and when required). If batteries are being recharged in a battery station rather than in a car which is useless during the recharging, the rate of charging is a far smaller issue. It would make it practical for people to switch from ICEV to EV because it wouldn't be any different for them. Better, really, because charging would be an additional option for some people.

 

[Glaucus]

Added to which nobody has even come up with a suggestion for the huge number of properties with no off street parking or reserved spaces I for example simple couldn't charge a car as there is no guarantee I can park within 100 feet of my house should it even be legal/practical/sensible to trail a lead!

Except they have, on street charging. You just won't be an early adopter. For such people you'll have to wait for infrastructure to mature. Which isn't an issue. No ones expecting the fleet to suddenly change over night.

 

[Trifid]

Which is part of the reason why I think battery swapping is a better potential solution, especially in relatively densely populated countries or areas within countries.

Swapping 500KG of batteries will not be a quick and pain free task.

 

[Kenai]

Except they have, on street charging.

And people think chavs kicking wing mirrors off is annoying, wait until they can unplug your car, cut the cable etc. as they stumble past it in the street in their drunken stupor.

 

[Glaucus]

Wow, you can say that about anything left in public. Yet it rarely happens.

 

[Kenai]

Wow, you can say that about anything left in public. Yet it rarely happens.

Well the rarity is going to depend entirely on where you live really isn't it. It's not exactly an uncommon site to walk past a car with a dangling mirror, or a bike chained up with no wheels, smashed phone boxes etc.

It's common enough I wouldn't be 100% confident that my car would be fully charged every day if I had to charge out on the street.

 

[Glaucus]

Good for you stay with ice. For most people it won't be an issue.

The phone apps can tell you if the charging stops anyway. Also some connectors can have a padlock applied if you're that scared. While in the ampere it would set the alarm off.

 

[Kenai]

Good for you stay with ice.

The phone apps can tell you if the charging stops anyway.

Just what you want at 3am.

beep beep beep your car half way down the road is unplugged

I'll be staying with ice for a while yet anyway because I actually have to use my car for journeys further than walking distance

 

[[TW]Fox]

Why don't you drive an EV Glaucus?

You've clearly got a massive thing for them and have done for ages yet you don't seem to have enough faith in them to put your money into one.

They start at under £5k on Autotrader and there are often very cheap lease deals.

 

[Glaucus]

Same reason I don't drive a personal car, I have no need for a car at this time.
Why would I spend thousands and then maintenance on something that would rarely get used.
Nothing to do with faith, if I had loads if spare cash I would get an S or a 3 in a heartbeat.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Same reason I don't drive a personal car, I have no need for a car at this time.

You are so into this stuff I figured you'd have one regardless. If I didn't need a car I'd still want one, because I'm passionate about cars. Isn't that generally what we do? Does anyone need a mountain bike?

If you don't need a car you are surely in an even better position to have one - you could even have one of those funky Renault Twizy things which are not much use as a traditional car.

Why would I spend thousands and then maintenance on something that would rarely get used.

Because you spend more time per day talking about EV's than most people spend driving cars?