Electric Vehicles: Tesla specific talk, current firmware, purchasing, modifications

Eric

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That is fair, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with that response from the audience here. 500 miles, fully loaded is a big deal for electrification of trucking. I guess folks here will be happy when it is Mercedes (or Volvo) doing it (assuming they don't have a 500 mile electric Semi truck in the wings).
Two takeaways here, first it that their owner is a maniac but his cars still stand on their own. It's just hard to champion anything he's doing right now because he's lost so much credibility in the real world. At the same time we've learned why the cars come off the line with so many flaws and that quality control isn't the employees fault, it's the owner.

The other is this semi, while 500 miles is great, how do they go about charging and/or battery replacement. If the market is short-haul only then I see the appeal but those who go the distance can get up to 1500 per fill and asking them to change that dynamic to stop and charge every 500 miles seems like it would be a challenge.
 

quagmire

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Some nice new features in the holiday update. :) And yay cards return!

 

Eric

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Some nice new features in the holiday update. :) And yay cards return!

Particularly interested in the myQ garage connect. Not sure when this is going to be released though, I'm currently still on 2022.44.2 and it's not updating.
 

Eric

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Just wanted to follow up that the myQ garage connect is also charging a subscription fee for $45 a year, yes really. The other option is the Tesla HomeLink for $350. All of this ridiculous pricing to simply replace a remote that will do it already.

Some other decent updates in this version at no additional cost though, looking forward to trying out the auto blinkers.
 

Eric

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I don't care who you are that's funny right there, had my wife asking WTF that sound was. :ROFLMAO:

 

diamond.g

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Can’t you do it via your key fob?

We had an auto close on walk away, vent (open and close) option from the app. The fob doesn’t have that functionality (I have one of them as well).
Due to this finger pinching issue Tesla will be removing the feature from NA Teslas. Which tracks with my experience with other EU cars that come stateside. They tend to have that feature coded out (I know my VW did) but can be added back if you have the right tools.
 

quagmire

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And just like that, inflation is over…..

The price hikes that Musk cited inflation for the cause are pretty much gone overnight. Prices are back down to 2020-early 2021 levels.
 

diamond.g

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And just like that, inflation is over…..

The price hikes that Musk cited inflation for the cause are pretty much gone overnight. Prices are back down to 2020-early 2021 levels.
It isn't the first time prices have swung wildly.
 

Eric

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Tesla trying to beat the cheat-devices with a poorly coded addition, causing several legitimate drivers points on FSD. Happened to me as well, even though I haven't used my cheat device in months but I'm not using their ridiculous AP system.

 

diamond.g

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Tesla trying to beat the cheat-devices with a poorly coded addition, causing several legitimate drivers points on FSD. Happened to me as well, even though I haven't used my cheat device in months but I'm not using their ridiculous AP system.


Would you rather Tesla not bother trying to detect defeat devices?
 

Eric

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Would you rather Tesla not bother trying to detect defeat devices?
I would rather see them make what they currently have work, he's been promising it since 2015 and it's still way under delivered, riddled with bugs, and bogged down with regulation and lawsuits due to its failures. Now they're dinging people who don't even have these devices, try reading the actual post I shared.
 

Cmaier

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I would rather see them make what they currently have work, he's been promising it since 2015 and it's still way under delivered, riddled with bugs, and bogged down with regulation and lawsuits due to its failures. Now they're dinging people who don't even have these devices, try reading the actual post I shared.

Hey, FSD only costs $15,000. What’d you expect? That it would work?
 

Eric

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Hey, FSD only costs $15,000. What’d you expect? That it would work?
Works as well as their anti defeat device, which is costing drivers who paid for FSD to get strikes and they're not trying to cheat anything. Musk doesn't give a shit about quality control or user satisfaction, he just rolls this stuff out while it's buggy, he always has. More...


 

diamond.g

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I would rather see them make what they currently have work, he's been promising it since 2015 and it's still way under delivered, riddled with bugs, and bogged down with regulation and lawsuits due to its failures. Now they're dinging people who don't even have these devices, try reading the actual post I shared.
I mean it does work, or at least what I have been using for the past year (and a few months) has been working. Now it isn’t perfect, and maybe they could be faulted for that, but it does work.

Yeah Tesla is for sure scrambling because (at least in the states) regulators had taken a hands off approach to automated driving and now they are not. So they are making changes to try to keep them (regulators) happy.
 

Eric

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They said they heard a couple of pops and barely made it out of the care before it was engulfed in flames. My biggest concern is leaving mine in the garage, probably a good idea to get a smoke detector out there just to be on the safe side.


Video: Sacramento County siblings narrowly escape explosion after Tesla catches fire​

The family told KCRA 3 they are still waiting to hear back from Tesla about what might have caused the fire

 

Cmaier

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So now Tesla is cancelling all orders for right-hand drive cars:


What was more interesting to me was this bit:

As we've noted several times in the past, demand for the Models S and X is evaporating as the models are extremely long in the tooth and have been eclipsed by new models from startups like Rivian and Lucid as well as established OEMs like Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi.​
In 2022 Tesla built 71,777 Models S and X but was only able to sell 66,705. That trend looks to be exacerbated this year; in Q1 2023 it built 19,437 Models S and X, yet almost half of these remain unsold.​

As someone who is about to replace a 2013 Model S, the issues seem pretty clear to me:

  1. Musk revulsion. A large part of the potential audience for $100,000+ electric cars are the sorts of people who would be embarrassed to associate themselves with Musk. It’s certainly a huge factor in my case, but I’m hearing it all the time from people who own Model S or Model X and are planning on switching. Every car at my kid’s school drop off is a Tesla, and as these things are replaced, the parents I talk to tell me they are looking into Rivians, Lucids, BMWs, etc., because of politics.
  2. Musk has terrible taste. The recent revamp of the S and X focussed on “looking cool” at the expense of things potential customers care about. A yoke steering wheel? Lack of a shifter? Who wants these things? If you are paying $120k for an SUV, you want it to be comfortable and functional.
  3. Tesla service and quality is incongruous with Tesla prices. For what they charge for those two models, customers expect not to have to put up with hassles. Body panel gaps, sound leakage, loose axel bolts, etc. are not what you expect at delivery. And, in my experience, service is not at all comparable to what you get at BMW or Porsche. Every time I take the car in, service is worse. They make it as difficult as possible to just speak to someone on the phone, the app makes it difficult to communicate details of your problem and doesn’t even have a way to communicate certain problems. You often get a $25 uber credit instead of a loaner. They don’t clean the cars before returning them. In my case they twice tried to return the car to me after they caused new problems - most recently the car wouldn’t even turn on but they told me it was done and I could come collect it from their parking lot.
    And service is no longer personal. When I first bought the car, they asked me my name and phone number whenever I talked to them, and they could pull up my record and we went from there. Now they don’t even want to talk to you unless you know the VIN, the mileage, your car’s nickname, etc. Is there really some big security problem with allowing someone to ask a question about a weird dashboard light without proving they are the car’s owner by playing 20 questions?
  4. CarPlay and infotainment. At the time I bought my tesla, Musk was talking about app stores and later on he even entertained carplay. Instead, after all this time, we are still locked into a system that is clunky. I don’t want to pay $100k and not have the ability to use all the audio sources and information sources I can use on my phone when I‘m travelling by foot. Bluetooth is clunky, requiring extra steps, and doesn’t integrate well with in car controls in many cases. It also doesn’t solve the information (non audio app) issue.
  5. Better competition. I just test drove a BMW iX. It blew the Model S away in every way I cared about, and costs about the same. It has a fantastic infotainment system, complete with HUD. Performance was comparable (0-60 in 3-5 second range depending on model.). Four wheel steering for $110k. Automatic driving features that are much less modal than Tesla’s, so they feel more helpful and less intrusive. Luxurious and comfortable interior. CarPlay and android auto. Sunroof that turns opaque at the touch of a button. Lots of interior storage and cup holders. And BMW service is predictable and reliable - there are even independent service places around here. Then you have cars like the Lucids which kill Tesla on range. Polestar, etc. If you like Model S for its speed, then you have Porsche which gives you that, plus it can handle much better (and it’s a Porsche!) If you don’t need quite as much range, Mercedes and Audi also have some nice choices now.
  6. If the stuff above doesn‘t bother you, you can buy a model 3 or a Y and get more or less the same care for a lot less money. The differences between the 3/Y and S/X, for many potential buyers, don’t justify the price jump. Before the 3/Y got so cheap, this was less of an issue.
  7. They steer you toward 3’s/Y’s. Last time I was in service, more than one service guy tried to convince me to switch to the cheaper models. They said the S/X have a lot of technical issues, are hard to work on, etc.
 
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