The Tesla Thread

As Fox so well points out, for a LOT of people, would be a really great solution as many persons only potter about locally.

I know that BMW and Ford are both looking at "personal mobility" as a potential solution. That might include say the option to use an electric car for the 50 weeks of the year that you don't need to have a car to get to Kamchatka, then drive down to a local "hub" and swap it for a diesel car for the 2 weeks that you fancy going touring to Italy and back. Given sufficient resources, get to Milan, stop in their local hub and get another small leccy car for the local roads.
Why force a car to do multiple roles if it's possible to create a scenario where you can use the "optimum" car for the circumstances?
 
Living in the south I have a good infrastructure around London for charging and a model S was a serious contender before I bought a house.

Now with the model 3 due to come out and to rival the 3 series, why wouldn't I get one? Currently have a 3 series and love it and have driven every model s so far so model 3 is a definite for me, even if it costs £35,000.

Andy
 
I'm almost a year into having my Zoe which is our second car. The first car is an e53 X5.

*I much prefer driving the Zoe for the power delivery and the lack of engine noise.

*Charging doesn't bother me - I never charge away from home and charge every night whether it needs it or not - using the Economy 7 tariff.

*Winter temperatures are a range killer. More so than anything else like air con, heating, radio or lights.

*Day to day the Zoe is used over the X5 whenever possible but the limited range is a ball ache. We regularly go to the isle of wight (5-6 times a year) which is 200 miles. I would happily take my Zoe if I only had to factor in one charging stop. With the Zoe's range it would take 3 and you'd have to be confident that there were spaces and the chargers were working.

The negative things above are all likely to be fixed or mitigated by the Model 3 and the Bolt EV. Unfortunately the Bolt EV is unlikely to come to the UK so that leaves the model 3 as the sole contender for a 200 mile range electric family car. The only other one that comes close is the 30KWh leaf which can be had on cheap PCP deals.

I just hope it doesn't have those silly gullwing doors though!
 
monkey_boy said:
If that's what's important to you then fair play, but the the vast majority the improved drive and the 2p per mile fuel cost is an added bonus while it lasts.
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Ok, how about a 30 mile range in 2 minutes, at my house, which I rent, so my charger is a wall socket, as will most peoples be?
 
billysielu said:
I'm hoping my next car is an EV, just not sure which one yet.
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If you're buying before the model 3 is out then look at the Leaf and the Zoe. They are the best of the bunch for full EVs (as opposed to a range extender like the e-tron).

http://dsg-renault.co.uk/model.php?type=cars&model=zoe
£180 per month for 7.5k miles per year or £200 for 10k miles

Leafs are about £40 more.

i3 is way more expensive, ugly as all holy hell and only 4 seats.

The other pure EVs are crap imo.
 
Skeeter said:
Ok, how about a 30 mile range in 2 minutes, at my house, which I rent, so my charger is a wall socket, as will most peoples be?
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its about how much you do in a day, because as long as it does a full charge while you're asleep then idgaf. Charging on a 3-pin lead would be painful though. Off-street parking is a must and the chargers are normally free or subsidised by the manufacturers.
 
monkey_boy said:
If you're buying before the model 3 is out then look at the Leaf and the Zoe. They are the best of the bunch for full EVs (as opposed to a range extender like the e-tron).

http://dsg-renault.co.uk/model.php?type=cars&model=zoe
£180 per month for 7.5k miles per year or £200 for 10k miles

Leafs are about £40 more.

i3 is way more expensive, ugly as all holy hell and only 4 seats.

The other pure EVs are crap imo.
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ta, I'm keeping an eye out for Gen2 Leafs ending their PCP deals. I've spent an unhealthy amount of time researching EVs, so I know what's what :)
 
monkey_boy said:
its about how much you do in a day, because as long as it does a full charge while you're asleep then idgaf. Charging on a 3-pin lead would be painful though. Off-street parking is a must and the chargers are normally free or subsidised by the manufacturers.
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Except its doubtful you could get a charger installed in a lot of places. You need to own an off street parking spot that can be connected to your house and if you rent its probably a no no.

And if you forget to charge over night or something happens that stops it? Well your buggered.

I am 100% behind electric motors to power cars. They are far better than ICE's. Storing the electricity on board in a battery however, is never going to be a proper solution. The charge speed, the energy density of batteries, the weight, the availability of chargers, they are all issues that apply to batteries, not electric cars.

Unfortunately there isn't a viable alternative either yet :(
 
I tried to make a case for a P90D after a friend bought one a few months ago. Fastest thing I've been in - only car that is faster than a superbike.

Unfortunately for me it just wasn't practical. As someone else mentioned, winter temps kill the range quite a bit (something I found in the owners forums) meaning that even shortish trips like the weekend away in the Lake District we just had at 200 miles over 4 days would require advance planning, hiring a car or getting stressed about range.

The technology is getting there though. I could certainly see us replacing the Fiat 500 with an electric car next time around, and I'd love an electric motorbike for commuting!
 
[TW]Fox;28035455 said:
So just rent a car.

Electric car arguments always got he same way, no matter how good they get there is always a bunch of people saying 'YEA BUT I CANT DRIVE TO VLADIVOSTOCK ON A SINGLE CHARGE'.

Your transport mix doesn't always have to consist of only a single car solution, you know.

The majority of motorists do not make regular 260+ mile drives in one day. Some do, of course, but most do not.
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I really like the idea of a fully electric vehicle. Money no object I'd be tempted by the model X. Only problem is for a lot of my needs I would need a petrol powered vehicle that could carry a few extra refuels of fuel... :p

So money no object I'd have a Model X for round town and a large 4x4 pickup for weekend work, which out here would probably mean a 5.xL V8. Doing my bit for the environment! :p That, tbh is probably what a lot of Tesla owners in N America actually have. Not quite the need in the UK though!

Alternatively a decent hybrid engine in a pickup. Can be plugged in and charged but also run on liquid fuel for those times you're miles from the nearest power source. Unfortunately no one has done that so far. :(
Mr_Sukebe said:
As Fox so well points out, for a LOT of people, would be a really great solution as many persons only potter about locally.

I know that BMW and Ford are both looking at "personal mobility" as a potential solution. That might include say the option to use an electric car for the 50 weeks of the year that you don't need to have a car to get to Kamchatka, then drive down to a local "hub" and swap it for a diesel car for the 2 weeks that you fancy going touring to Italy and back. Given sufficient resources, get to Milan, stop in their local hub and get another small leccy car for the local roads.
Why force a car to do multiple roles if it's possible to create a scenario where you can use the "optimum" car for the circumstances?
Click to expand...

Or the other alternative, considering most families have two cars. Do something like above (or at least not so extreme). Get a small electric car for your main car and then a IC car as your second car which can be use for those long trips, and for when both of you are using the car. as you say, it's just those occasional trips that are currently the problem.

There will always be a need for IC cars, not for most people most of the time, but for some people, some of the time. Whether the IC is just a small part of a hybrid car for when electricity isn't close, or hydrogen fuel, so spare fuel can be carried.
 
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I'm just hoping that they give plenty of information during the unveiling:

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I know sometimes they can be a bit sparse with the details at these events. Really am considering it at the moment though.
 
I've seen a couple different P85 model Tesla's in Dorchester recently, both look nice one is metallic red the other is white.

Would much prefer one over the I8 I've seen.
 
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