Tesla!!!1 (Was: Tesla Sales banned in NJ.)

I was googling on Thursday looking for the bad news about Tesla's market demand falling through. It was buried under stories about Tesla owners autopiloting their way into the back of parked trucks and stuff.

At least their poor corporate news isn't making it very far into the mainstream coverage. ;)

Because I'm studying and going into automotive consumer protection law I listen to some podcasts in that area. Apparently it's somewhat different trying to meet the requirements for a Lemon Law claim with a Tesla due to the difficulty of making repeat trips to the dealer for service; often there isn't one nearby and people won't always return their car to get things fixed. Also, their service model is different, a car comes in and they diagnose it then they request parts from a central repository. Because Lemon Law's often require the car be fixed X amount of times OR remain at the dealer for XX days a Tesla will get to Lemon Law qualification faster than a regular car because of how much it sits at the dealer. Attorney's like Tesla because it's easier to sue a company that both manufactures and services the car. In a typical Lemon Law case when the manufacturer loses the case they turn around and make a cross-claim against the dealer and bill them for not fixing it. No such issue with Tesla.

Tesla in general over engineered their cars, hence they take too long to make and cost more per vehicle which eat into their profit. Their tech is definitely class leading, including their batteries and insane drivetrains. Structural integrity is also stronger than cars in similar class... not to mention fancy door handles or complex gull-wing doors. Model 3 isn’t as complicated but still over engineered. Take battery size for example, you can pay less for a ‘smaller’ battery with less range, but your car will only be software limited. The car physically has the bigger battery onboard. That’s additional cost Tesla will never get back!

Regarding reliability, there are always issues, but most Tesla owners love their cars enough to overlook them. I think the hardest thing to overlook is fit and finish. Most paid nearly $100k for the car, but you’ll have to learn to accept misaligned body panels, carpets and upholstery.

Tesla cars are superior in design and engineering, but Elon could’ve save himself from a lot of trouble by just partnering with an experienced automaker when it comes to mass production.

I do believe long term reliability of its power train should be good though. There are only news of autopilot screw ups or mysterious fires or fires in violent crashes..., but haven’t heard of any older Tesla’s just end up with batteries or motors just stop working.

Btw, I do have a colleague who leased a model X and lemoned it. Main issue was that he has to fix the AC multiple times that he finally wanted out of the lease. But now he’s driving a model 3.

California Governor Signs Order Banning Sales of New Gasoline Cars by 2035
Outright ban? Um, no thanks.
Currently takes me less than 2 minutes at add over 300 miles of range to my ICE car.
Won't really affect me because I've always had fully depreciated used cars, but how are the street parking folks (San Francisco,...) going to react? Even if every gas station turns into a charging station it'll take 5-20x longer to fuel up.

Don't worry, it's all part of their independence movement. I expect other former Republics to unveil their own plans after the fall of the Cheeto Curtain.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by balki

California Governor Signs Order Banning Sales of New Gasoline Cars by 2035
Outright ban? Um, no thanks.
Currently takes me less than 2 minutes at add over 300 miles of range to my ICE car.
Won't really affect me because I've always had fully depreciated used cars, but how are the street parking folks (San Francisco,...) going to react? Even if every gas station turns into a charging station it'll take 5-20x longer to fuel up.

---

If it's only for commutes and local errands, charging time isn't really an issue because that can be done over night at your garage. So you actually save more time because you'll never have to visit the gas station again!

Unless you live in apartment or can only park on the street overnite..., that can be a problem for EVs I suppose. Hopefully you could charge at work? Also for cross country travel, surely super chargers still can't beat a regular pump.

Anyway, at least for me, charge time was not an issue. However, to have a complete ban of new ICE cars is just insane. It's probably better for the environment to phase out older vehicles..., plus, surely there will always be anti-EV people around too... There's really no need to make this so political... also, can we even get thru 2020? Why not focus on solving our near term problems 1st rather than worrying about 2035?

Agreed. I'm was about to turn this political, but stumbled upon the Plaid (0-60 in 2sec, sub-10sec 1/4mi, hypercar lap times for $142k):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBjp91zqnn8

That must be the new ridiculous mode? 0-60 under 2s? Why? Just because it can? :p

Anyway, I think there's no question Elon's companies build amazing products that blow their competitions away!

Government should perhaps encourage more manufacturers to do better rather than just ban their ICE cars...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crazed_Insanity

Unless you live in apartment or can only park on the street overnite..., that can be a problem for EVs I suppose. Hopefully you could charge at work? Also for cross country travel, surely super chargers still can't beat a regular pump.

---

This is my big problem when “window shopping” EVs, not having a charger at my apartment makes it basically impossible for me to have one as a daily driver.

My Honda Clarity EV could only go 89 miles per charge so I pretty much need to charge it daily with my 60 mile daily commute.

However, if you have a Tesla and don't have a long commute, you don't really need to charge daily. Just need to get to a supercharger every few days or perhaps charge it at work or malls during errands? They have chargers at more and more places now. Some are even free!

Anyway, CA is really perfect for EVs. Most still have their own garages for easy charging and the weather is ideal too. If things get too hot or cold, EV range and the life of the batteries themselves could be severely shortened. Teslas probably have temp management for their batteries, but that still takes energy out of the batteries...

EV definitely has its advantages and also lots of shortcomings. Unless we know all the issues will be resolved, it's kinda dumb to ban ICE cars.

I've returned my leased Honda Clarity EV and not looking into getting another EV primarily because I no longer have any commutes to worry about. Along with our solar, we really saved a lot of gas(money) with my long commutes... However, at this point, I have no desire to get another EV to just have it sit in my garage...

Review: 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E | Hagerty Media

https://www.hagerty.com/media/new-ca...ustang-mach-e/