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Why do cars even do ota updates? The risk of something going wrong doesn't seem worth it? Rather have a super stable version applied when it's in for service.
When are you going fully electric?
- Thread starter Ricochet J
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Soldato
Fundamentally less hassle for the customer and less cost associated. Interesting the recent Taycan updates were not OTA.
Loads of reasons, updated maps is a good one. Updated features and functions, JLR had a big wave of SOTA to give the cars Apple Carplay. Sometimes its tweaks to battery charging profiles, or even more usable battery window. Refinement of chassis control systems, stereo camera software for better lane monitoring or traffic sign recognition. Mine had one that now puts auto brake hold toggle on the first page of settings rather than hidden away. etc etc etc
Well you don’t need to take your Tesla in for a service so I’m not sure when you’d get an update on them. Most over EVs don’t really need ‘regular’ servicing but legacy manufacturers still mandate it because ‘reasons’ (aka keeping dealers happy because of ongoing revenue).
The reason *some* manufacturers are having issues is because they don’t have the experience doing it and their systems aren’t integrated because they outsource almost everything bar the chassis.
There's a bit of a "Catch 22" here. The industry is pretty insistent that it is keeping up with demand (broadly speaking), because a large percentage of chargers have very low utilisation. They're literally sat unused for 22+ hours per day, 7 days per week. And the industry also sees reliability as being fine; downtime percentage is quite low even on Electric Highway.
Yet public perception is the opposite, largely because turning up to a charger and finding it broken, or finding a queue, just isn't good enough. Seems inevitable that this will be the future: GRIDSERVE | Home
Soldato
It was all badged as Volvo Assist, the Volvo was a hire car with Enterprise. I'd expect its scalable
What are peoples thoughts on the actual ability for electric cars to tow a caravan?
In the grand scheme of things the market is small.
I have also seen that Alko are developing a electric motor assisted chassis and wonder if this is the way to get around the 100ish mile range when towing.
Reason I ask is we are waiting on an ID3 which is likely to take over as the family car day to day.
The Superb whilst great and in 'Superb' condition is getting a little long in tooth at 6 years and 83k miles.
I've been eyeing up a 6GT 3.0d X Drive but on the other hand jusy wonder if I should just hold off and wait to see what happens in the market of electric.
On paper an electric vehicle is the perfect tow car but from next year I want to be touring in Europe and they just currently don't cut it.
I'm not an avid follower and wonder if anyone has any insight on what to expect in the next few years in relation to electric motoring.
In the grand scheme of things the market is small.
I have also seen that Alko are developing a electric motor assisted chassis and wonder if this is the way to get around the 100ish mile range when towing.
Reason I ask is we are waiting on an ID3 which is likely to take over as the family car day to day.
The Superb whilst great and in 'Superb' condition is getting a little long in tooth at 6 years and 83k miles.
I've been eyeing up a 6GT 3.0d X Drive but on the other hand jusy wonder if I should just hold off and wait to see what happens in the market of electric.
On paper an electric vehicle is the perfect tow car but from next year I want to be touring in Europe and they just currently don't cut it.
I'm not an avid follower and wonder if anyone has any insight on what to expect in the next few years in relation to electric motoring.
I believe it has been mandated (longer term) by the EU , like the drowsiness detection, alcohol interlock, and preservation of crash telematics
e:
local has a towbar on his model S, for, a horsebox,
- don't know if the horse is now traumatized.
Most customers don't have any issues with the OTA updates, it's only a very small percentage that do. Polestar actually allow owners to update through a Volvo dealer if they prefer.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. The issue isn’t the infrastructure, it’s how it’s distributed currently.
The issue generally is that there are so many single 50kw chargers distributed all over the place. That makes relying on one inherently risky. If you pull up to a 50kw charger and it’s the only one and someone just started a charge. Your going to be there for awhile.
However if you pull up at Rugby services in your Tesla and all the chargers are in use, the chances are someone will be moving off in under 5 mins because you have 20 to choose from.
There are very few ‘not spots’ now, those just need to be filled. After that, all the existing locations just need to be built out with more chargers.
At the moment there are very few viable tow cars, I’d hold off as the Suberb isn’t that old.
Once you get your ID.3 you’ll probably find you’ll use it over the Superb for day to day driving because how cheap it is to actually drive.
Soldato
You’ve hit the nail on the head. Single charger locations are useless and this is the bulk of the infrastructure. I’ve had problems with - car parks being closed, cars blocking the space, an EV just beating me there and wanting to charge to 100% and increasingly (I’m looking at you, BP Pulse) they’re just broken or offline. They also tend be slow, 50kw doesn’t cut it now. You generally can’t trust them, so always need to have a backup plan. It’s a huge pain driving 5mins off a motorway to find a charger broken, it isn’t just the charging time you’re wasting.
The hubs are far better, less likely to be blocked or broken, but they’re few and far between for the time being. I trust these enough to roll up with 2% remaining and make the most of the faster charging curve at the bottom of the battery.
Ionity are good, but too expensive and it costs more than a petrol car. InstaVolt have some good locations now, interesting to see what gridserve will do. But for the moment the majority of chargers are single locations and I won’t use those anymore. A charger might be free 90% of the week but it might have a three car queue at 5pm on a Friday.
Soldato
yeah as a potential EV owner it just makes it harder than it needs to be to plan a trip which involves using single chargers. When i buy one i really want peice of mind that i can charge when i get to the location and i'm someone who is very pro EV i just don't have the money for one yet! I can see it being a huge hurdle for many people, again this is where Tesla shines right now and probably for quite a while yet. I know i'd be willing to pay a quite hefty premium to buy into their ecosystem rather than rely on the mess that is the rest of the charge network.
I'm sure it is but I wouldn't get too used to someone turning up at your door within 40 minutes for an OTA update not working once they are pushing out cars at mainstream margins. There just won't be enough meat on the markup to still turn a profit with that level of dedication to customer service.
Is it still the plan for Tesla to open their network up (for the right price of course) to other manufacturers? On the one hand, great for Tesla that they have a massive supercharger network but on the other, if every manufacturer went that route your average motorway services would have 200 chargers all branded up under their own marque. It would have been a nightmare!
When I start thinking about the frequency of how often you'd actually need to charge on a trip (ie. not very often) and how much of a burden it currently is (looking at it from a work context here) and the NIO power swap concept all of a sudden starts to seem like the best option!
I think this is very dependant on location. We've had a couple of JLR cars and obviously used Assistance a few times - each time they were there within 45-50 mins and a courtesy car came within an hour.
Fair enough, I'm probably thinking too run of the mill in my assumptions. I've never had a 'premium' brand car so I'm probably making wrong assumptions about what is and isn't achievable within the realms of reasonable cost to them.
They tend to use existing services to scale - I think JLR use the AA or RAC and then a car hire company for the courtesy cars.
I saw a caravan site test the other day where they tested several ev cars and several different sized caravans and weights. The larger caravans basically cut range in half.
I wouldnt hold my breath on them opening up their network.
1. Its a USP which encourages people to buy a Tesla
2. He told his shareholders this year he expects/predicts 1 in every 2 cars sold in the western world to be a tesla by 2030. He will need all his charging network for his own cars.
Thats mental. The model s only has a 910Kg towing weight. Most horse trailers weight 750kg minimum (ours weighs 1010Kgs). Legally I doubt he can do anything but tow an empty trailer
EDIT Looks like the Merc EQC and the Audi Etron as the other 2 cars on Top Gear
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Soldato
You are confused/misinformed the Model 3 has 910Kg, the Model S isn't rated at all, and the Model X is 2,250Kg. No idea what Jpaul is on about.