Is this the long awaited Tesla Model 3 Performance?
Tesla Model 3 Performance?
O.K., I’m not really sure it’s been long awaited or even if there is a need for a “Performance” Model 3.
Who really needs a car that can go really fast and get there really quickly when the top speed on most U.S. Highways is 75 MPH and the speed on most surface streets is 30 MPH?
Well, no one actually, but what does need have to do with why many people buy the cars they do? What many car people seem to have in common is the need for speed. Going fast and getting there quickly.
I’ve loved speed since I was a little kid. I used to race my little Honda XR75 most every day during the summer before I outgrew it.
Later after I got my drivers license I learned about understeer firsthand causing my fathers fairly new Mazda RX3 trying to go around a corner but instead it hit the curb in front of me with the front wheels turned damaging the front suspension. Sorry, I meant totaling the car but fortunately no one was hurt. My racing career for the next few years was limited to doing donuts in snow covered parking lots after that.
One thing that is lacking for most people and especially teenagers is professional instruction on how to drive not only a “Performance” car but cars in general. Taking drivers ed in high school if they still offer that never taught anyone how to drive a car this fast. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. It might not be ludicrous but it sure as hell is insane. If you wonder why Tesla’s are crashing, this is why. Stupid people with a moderate amount of money now have access to super car performance. Yesterday you could buy a Tesla S with insane performance for about $65k used or $85k new but it is a very heavy car that the smart people only tested out the performance on drag strips or highway entrance lanes. A few morons tried it in school zones and most probably got away with it. When you’re doing 105 mph it doesn’t take much to screw up, big time. I was probably only going 35 when I took that corner in my fathers Mazda.
I digress, sorry. Back to is the car worth so much? I was invited to configure my Tesla and here is what I came up with.
Performance
Dual motor all wheel drive $64,000
Performance Upgrade $ 5,000
Midnight Silver Metallic $ 1,000
Premium White Interior $ 1,500
Enhanced Autopilot $ 5,000
Delivery and Doc Fee $ 1,000
Sales Tax 8% $ 6,120
Tax Rebate ($ 7,500)
Total Cost $75,120
That is some major coin for something that if you value your Drivers License, Freedom, and the lives of others to pay for a car that can only be properly experienced on a track.
So that brings up some more major questions.
How long will the battery last going around a track?
How long will it sustain peek performance without overheating?
How well do the upgraded brakes perform?
Will there be Superchargers at Race Tracks?
Will the car be a worthy track car for the price?
Will it out perform a BMW M3?
When will Elon let me drive the car around a race track?
I know there will be people with more money than brains who buy this car and have never taken a High Performance Driving class in their lives. There will also be people who take the awesome power they are given and abuse it on the street. I’m amazed with all the Tesla’s out there already that more people haven’t been creamed in intersections or crosswalks with people testing out the acceleration when the light turns green. Maybe they are still texting away or reading their email?
At $76K I’m not rich enough to take the risk to see just how awesome this car can be. In the mean time I will continue to pay about $1k every once in a while to attend High Performance driving schools where I can flog a BMW or Dodge SRT for a day or two on a track in a safe environment. If you lose your license what good is a $75k Super Car?
If my readers would like to help see if the Tesla 3 Performance is a BMW killer you can help sponsor me here. The first place it going is the track.
As many of you have a read my blog in the past know I’m a big fan of Tesla and Elon Musk.
Many of you may have read that Tesla is on track now to build 5,000 Model 3’s a week or more.
You also know that the Tesla game plan was to work their way down to building a car for the common man. Well, sorry, in my estimation they are no where near that goal, yet.
Apparently Tesla has invited all 500,000 or so people who put down a $1000 deposit to order their car. Remember when they said they would fill orders from the first to last but west coast to east coast? And we all know that right now that even if you don’t configure a single upgrade the car is going to cost $50k before sales tax and tax breaks. For me that would be $46,500 after the sales tax and $7.5k tax rebate.
In reality though once I choose a paint color other than black ($1k), the wheels that aren’t ugly($1.5k), the dual motor option ($4k) and the $5k advanced cruise control (auto-pilot) I’m at $60k is serious coin. O.K. so is $46,000.
This is not a Model S. Which configured about the same way would only be $20k more. Yet a far more useful car. A car that can fit the family for a long cross country trip. A car that gets free supercharging (with referral code). If you can afford $60k why not $80k?
And all this for a car brand that is about as reliable as Cell Phone service was in it’s infancy.
What’s it like to be turning left across traffic and have the the power steering stop working? Ask Marques Brownlee.
What’s it like to be driving along and have your screen go blank? Ask Ben Sullins.
Ben and his wife talk about why you really want this version because it’s the best battery for the buck and how having the most battery you can buy to get the best useful range possible only to say just a few minutes later how it would be great if the car could comfortably fit their family and gear for longer trips.
Like most people I want a Tesla because it doesn’t use gas, oil, spark plugs and mufflers. It eliminates the complexity of an internal combustion engine. The brakes last longer because of regenerative braking. But most of all the promise of autonomous driving.
Yes, I want a Tesla because of the advanced driving aids and potential of autonomous driving. But it’s still not that advanced. Adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist isn’t really that advanced by todays standards. Tesla is in the same stage the iPhone was at the beginning when people thought they could use it as a phone. I have no doubt they will get there, one day. Today they are counting on the threshold of pain theory.
Could I change my mind. Maybe if I get inside one and take it for a few test drives. After all, that’s how I ended up married. Also not a financially rational decision. I haven’t been attached to a single car as long as I’ve been attached to my wife though.
Are there other cars worth looking at. More functional, almost as pretty but not quite the trophy wife the Tesla 3 is?
If you’ve read my previous posts you know I’m not a fan of the Bolt. And probably never will be. I don’t fit in it and they will never overcome that obstacle. I’m still a big fan of the Ford Focus EV but Ford isn’t so that could be a problem in the future. I am intrigued by the new Nissan Leaf. A car possibly taking a second look at now that Tesla hasn’t yet met its promise of a $35k car without rebates. When it does and it’s not as stripped as a VW Golf EV S Model whose SEL Model I actually like they might have something.
I hope Elon sells his 400,000 or so reservations the higher priced models. Because that’s what it’s going to take to get to the $35k car. If 300,000 people are waiting for the cheaper car like me, I’m not to sure he will get there. But if a rocket can take off and land safely he might just pull it off.
I’m telling rooting for you Elon. Hopefully you don’t end up like Nicola did.
I’ve been writing a lot about Tesla lately. It’s not just because I drove one. I’m trying to find a reason to buy one. The cheapest new Tesla S you can build is $76k before sales taxes or tax incentives. So that’s still about $76k all said and done.
Now add the options on my list, Premium Upgrade, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self Driving adds another $12k. And what’s a luxury car without leather and a sunroof. Add another $6k to the price tag. All in for $88k or lease for $1200 a month for a 1000 mile a month limit. That’s a $1.20 a mile before insurance, washes, electricity, tires. And don’t forget repairs or parking lot dings. Maybe Tesla needs to invent a force field so you don’t stress at the grocery store.
You could take an Uber everywhere for less. And Uber includes a driver. Actually Uber is so cheap in most places that I’m not sure there is a reason to own a car anymore. Once you add up all your expenses to operate a car I seriously doubt Uber drivers are making the minimum wage for servers let alone $10 an hour.
Speaking of Uber. If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.
If you are like me and have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.
I have to confess. Just like most people logic is the last thing I think of when I test drive or shop for a car. We buy cars using our emotion. If not we would all be driving the modern equivalent of the Amish horse and buggy. So let me tell you about my emotional experience at the Tesla Store. Notice I didn’t say dealer.
If you are like most people you hate going to the car dealer to buy a car. Buying a car is more like the death of a thousand cuts. The sales person, the sales manager, the back and forth and psychological games they play. And just when you think it’s over the guy doing the paperwork is another gauntlet of horrors before you can get out the door. And like Richard Gere in First Knight, no matter how hard you train or prepare you might feel like you won in that final moment but in the end you lost. The dealer always wins.
Unlike the car dealer the Tesla Store is completely different. Like the Apple Store it is best to make an appointment online to be sure they have a “co-pilot” who can take you out for a drive. They don’t have tens of people sitting around waiting to make a commission like a car dealership.
The day prior to your scheduled appointment a person will call and ask you if you have any questions they can answer or if you have a trade in. I’m not sure how the trade would work as I didn’t have one nor did I plan on walking out with a new car on my test drive. If you have done that please leave a comment below on how that worked.
Probably, like most Tesla buyers I already know quite a bit about the car and the company. Did I say they aren’t trying to sell you a car. Just kidding. They are just doing it in a subtle non threatening way. His/her real job is to ask you questions, so when you get in the store they are’t wasting time playing the get to know you bonding game.
What I didn’t know is that most Tesla buyers have never spent more than $40k on a car before. Most people aren’t buying this car for status or to show the neighbors how rich they are or want you to think they are. Many just want a Tesla. It’s just that cool, technology wise. It’s not plush or refined by any stretch. It’s more IKEA than Ethan Allen. It’s the symbolic equal of getting a tattoo for many. They don’t care what you think. They just have to have it. Although I doubt there are college students going without Mac n Cheese so they can afford one.
On to the Test Drive.
I grab my lab rat, sorry. My 13 year old, 6 foot 2 inch son. We jump in my plebeian Mazda 6. Not really. It’s a really nice $24k car with plenty of neat safety options, just not the really cool ones Tesla has, and drive the 15 minutes to the really nice Tesla Showroom/Delivery/Service Center in Tempe, A.Z.
We find a place to park, not an easy task, with very few open tiny spaces (by design) and go inside. We are greeted by a young man (definitely not your average car salesman) who checks us in and tells us our co-pilot is getting our car ready.
Out walks Emily. Also not your average car sales person. She could just as easily have been a lawyer or a barista at Starbucks or young dudes sister. She was far to good looking to be his girlfriend. She introduces herself and we proceed outside to our ride de jour.
Less than 4 days later as I write this I can’t tell you what color the car was or what color interior it had. Only that the headliner was drab and it had no grab handles over the doors. The red P90D in the showroom was far more memorable.
As we approach the car and she opens the driver door and says “hey you, get in to my car”. And I say, “who me”? Just kidding Billy Ocean fans. She does open the door and ask me to get into the car and set the seat and mirrors.
Being it’s in a narrow space and I’m not a tiny guy I ask her if we can see it drive itself out of the space. Summon Mode. With a touch of the cute car shaped key fob it pulls itself out of the space. There is also an app for that.
We all pile into the car. Emily on the passenger side front seat and my son in back in the seat behind me. If a taller than 6 footer can sit comfortably behind another 6 footer then the leg room is adequate or better. Also the back seat headroom of most cars is not designed for people over 6 feet tall. They just figure the kids are going in back. Before I forget. The car turns itself on as you approach. It even extends to hidden door handles for you.
Now to be fair I have already driven a Tesla S P90D before. It belongs to a friend. But, I only did the usual 0 – 60 crazy type driving in an industrial area on a weekend where it was deserted. We didn’t drive on the highway or in city traffic. That’s what this test drive was all about. Using the autopilot function in traffic on the highway and in the city.
So out we go from the parking lot and down the 2 blocks to get on to the expressway. It’s about 1PM on a weekday. A good amount of traffic but not rush hour. Maybe we were cruising along at 55 – 65. On goes the autopilot. The car does a really good job of holding the center lane and keeping a safe distance from the car ahead of you.
It’s blind spot monitoring is a bit odd if you are used to most other cars. It does not have an indicator on the side mirrors or give you an audible warning if you put on your turn signal.
The small OLED screen in front of you has a little sonar type indication if there is a car next to you. You can also see cars sneaking up on you on the big center display with the rear camera on.
If you put on the turn signal with autopilot and there is a car in the blind spot, or to your side it will not go. But if the area doesn’t clear in a set amount of time it will just cancel the lane change. It won’t change lanes when it’s clear. It requires that you pay attention and don’t put the lane change indicator on till you have determined that the area is clear. Then it will make the change for you. It also requires that once you change lanes you turn off the blinker. It will also only change one lane per indication. If you need to cross three lanes of traffic to exit an expressway it won’t do that in one blinker command. Still it is by far the best adaptive cruise control that I have ever used. No hands and no feet required. Well, actually you do get asked to place your hands on the wheel every so often. Probably to make sure you’re not sleeping.
Next off the expressway and into city traffic. Here the lane holding ability is not that great. It needs a supply of unending lane lines to know where it is. Curbs on the right or left and it can’t stay centered. Another place even if you are in a center lane where you have lines on either side is crossing an intersection. No lines on either side there. In these places you will need to steer the car yourself. But it does go from zero to the speed limit and back again very well. And if you you have a car in front of you it will play follow the leader for speed and distance. Including coming to a full stop and starting back up when the car in front starts moving.
If you are the first car at an intersection it won’t stop for a red light or go on a green light. Maybe one day but not yet. I wonder if when that happens it will know to move out of the way of an emergency vehicle? Elon?
This is where I noticed that the car didn’t have grab handles over the doors. Really Elon. That’s as bad as having left out the reading lights in earlier versions. Maybe in the next version instead of worrying about bioweapon level air handling or fancy doors you can add them. Cup holders? It now has cupholders. Weird ones. It might require some sit time in one trying to see if I like them or not.
Now it’s time to get back on the highway. We need a entrance ramp to test out that Tesla acceleration. We did use the software hack to dumb the acceleration rate down from the P90D to that of the base Model 75, as I said earlier I have already done the 0 to 60 in 3 seconds thing. It’s not required by a normal, sane person who uses logic to buy a car. To spend an extra $10-15k for something you will barely ever use or piss most everyone else off on the road when you do. The Spock in me says no. Even though Kirk always got the women. Actually most women aren’t turned on by guys in cool cars. Men are. Just ask Doug Demuro.
I can say that 0 to 65 in the Base Model 75 is plenty of speed getting on the expressway or having to pass most any common car.
The Tesla also drives very nicely. It handles as well or better than my Mazda 6 or a BMW and drives nothing like my Prius V. The Prius V has about as much soul a a washing machine. The Tesla is quiet. You can have a conversation and never have to raise your voice. I have no doubt the Tesla will save the lives of many pedestrians from their texting, talking, twittering, web surfing drivers. It might also save the lives of Tesla drivers from texting, talking, twittering, web surfing drivers that aren’t driving a Tesla.
It’s now time to exit the expressway and back to the showroom. The transition for autopilot to human and back is pretty unobtrusive. My son has enjoyed the half hour or so ride in the back seat spending part of his time texting, taking pictures and filming some of the drive.
We enter the parking lot where the spaces are tight and the lanes are narrow. And earlier I did say this is by design. It’s to show off another Tesla technology. Self parking. You pull just past the space where you want to park, very close to the side of the car. You put the car in reverse and tap the touch screen and the car will park itself. Magic. Only one problem. Again my fat ass doesn’t want to shimmy out the door between two parked cars. Easily solved. Pull forward and get out. Rub the key fob in just the right way and presto change-o, the car parks itself. Walk away and it shuts itself off and locks the doors. Did I say there is an app for that? It will even pre-heat or pre-cool the car before you get there.
Back inside Emily asks if I were to buy the car today what would i like in my perfect Tesla? We then go to the computer and see if there is anything currently in stock. And just like any other car dealer she is more than helpful showing me what they have and should I plan on buying, today would be a good day. Or if not today before the end of the month as there are certain specials and incentives ending shortly.
The big difference is they don’t hold you or your keys hostage. And I don’t think they offered me a bottle of water 20 different times. And she offered to email me if a car like the one that I really want happens to be built or shows up in the system for sale. I doubt it will as most of the demo cars they build are near the upper end of the price scale. They are also the ones with the bigger incentives off list price.
Also I wonder if paying $100k for a car that spartan compared to a Porsche Panamera E-hybrid, within a few thousand dollars is a better emotional decision. The Porsche is like having First Class seats in the cockpit of a Boeing 757 with the performance to match. The Tesla is like sitting in the cockpit of a Airbus 320. Including all the auto safety features and whiz bang electronics. Did I mention I fly an Airbus for a living?
After driving the Tesla we proceeded directly to the Chevrolet Dealer to look at a Bolt. To read that review Click Here.
I would definitely wait for a Tesla 3 before I bought a Bolt
And after that we went over to the Porsche dealer to look at a Panamera. That review has yet to be written.
My son, like most people who bought an EV this year are squarely in the Tesla camp. So far this year, the Tesla S has outsold the Panamera E almost 1000 to 1. Maybe that is why Porsche and almost every other luxury car maker is coming out with an electric car.
I am now going to list the pros of buying a Tesla.
Cutting edge technology that is updated often by incremental software advances without having to buy the newest model.
Contemporary styling.
Kids dig them. They aren’t hung up on horsepower and the growl of a gasoline engine. They don’t like the smell of napalm in the morning or fuel in the cabin.
Cons:
Cost. There are a lot of other things you can do with $1200 dollars a month for 3 years or more. Get 15 one hour massages a month. Buy a timeshare in Hawaii and spend a week a month there.
You could also buy a LG OLED Big Screen TV and watch a lot of youporn for just 3 months payments.
Now that will let me add one more pro I did not think of before. The Tesla comes standard with 3G LTE and that huge touchscreen in the center. You could watch youporn while letting the car drive you around during your commute everyday. Yes, it will allow the driver full access to anything while it’s driving.
So the next time you see a Red Tesla S driving in the HOV lane on I-10 in Phoenix with limo tint, now you know what the driver is doing inside. No wonder why the Tesla is such a popular car. We all know the internet was invented so people could get free porn. Now we know why the Tesla was invented. So we could watch porn on a big screen while driving to work. I finally found the only reason you can use to really justify spending six figures on a car. Porn.
If you have ever driven an electric car you know that from 0-30 most if not all are faster that the average American car.
The average sedan or SUV takes about 6 – 8 seconds to go from 0 to 60 from a dead stop, like at a traffic light. But most people don’t accelerate from 0 to 60 from a red light. Most go from 0 to 30 or maybe 45 in the city, where you are likely to encounter pedestrians and vehicles blowing thru the red light because it was yellow and they thought they could make it. Look both ways and count to 2 before going thru.
The only time you go from 0 to 60 is maybe getting on an expressway entrance. Most expressway ramps, today, are designed so even a cheap 4 cylinder car can reach 60 by the time you have to merge on the highway. That’s why the performance given is 0 to 60. Back in the day you wanted to know you could get up to speed getting on the freeway without getting killed.
What 0 to 60 has become today is how cool or bad ass your car is. The faster the time the more street cred your car has. It’s the standard for penis measuring in the auto world. But here the smaller the number the better.
And Tesla actually has one of the lowest 0 to 60 numbers for the lowest price. The P100D with ludicrous mode can go from 0-60 in 2.28 seconds and you can buy it for the low price of about $150k nicely optioned.
The next closest car that can do that is the Porsche 918 Spyder at about $850k
But here is the problem. The Tesla travels at 76.2 feet per second at that rate of acceleration. And unlike a gas powered engine it does it instantly, the second you floor the pedal. The average human reaction time to visual stimulus is .25 of a second. This car can travel 19 feet before anyone would even notice it moved.
So lets take an all to common scenario today. You have a kid texting on his iPhone while walking towards a street. You have another kid driving a Tesla who thinks it’s really cool to hit the gas (yeah, I know it’s not gas) and get to speed as fast as he can. Do you see where I’m going here?
How about another scenario. You are driving along at 40 MPH while the speed is 45 MPH. You want to change lanes. So you signal and look right to see if it’s safe. Well the Tesla to the right and two car lengths behind can’t see your turn signal, but sees an opportunity to get past you and the slower car ahead. He floors it and wham, right into you he goes.
All this because the Tesla has super powers that gas engine cars don’t have. They make their fastest acceleration on the beginning side of 0 to 60. Gas cars, even the fastest ones don’t hit their highest foot per second speed in a linear rate as they accelerate like a Tesla.
Even a Nissan Leaf goes from 0 to 30 much faster than it goes from 30 to 60. But the odds are someone who drives a Leaf isn’t measuring their Penis, if they have one.
So is the Tesla S the most dangerous car in the world? No, that was pretty much click bait. Just like any other car, it’s only as dangerous as the person behind the wheel. The problem with any car that has super powers, be it the Tesla, Ferrari, Corvette or even Chevette, if you drive like a moron you can do a lot of damage.
The one thing the Tesla has that most other cars don’t, even your standard Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang is the Tesla has Automatic Emergency Braking. The odds are pretty good that the Tesla will actually stop you from killing yourself or someone else if you choose to do something stupid.
And best of all, you don’t have to buy the top of the line Tesla to get really great acceleration. The base Tesla does 0 to 60 in 6 seconds. While a BMW 3 series might do 0 to 60 in about 5 to 6 seconds it doesn’t go 0 to 30 as fast. That’s really where the fun is in city driving.
The Tesla 3 is supposed to do 0 to 60 in 6 seconds and for $35k. The best reason to buy the more expensive Tesla is to get the bigger battery and more range.
Something you might not know about the Tesla. Most of the cars they have to test drive are not the lowest or slowest 0 to 60 model. But, they have a hack where you can limit the performance. Well, why would you do that? Because you don’t want, your kid, neighbor or friend to rip around town in your $100k baby.
If you really want to get that felling of speed from your high performance car with out getting a ticket or getting charged with reckless driving, felony speeding or manslaughter do what most normal responsible drivers do. Go to the track on Track Day or the Drag Strip on Friday night when they let the average person take their cars to the limit. It’s a lot cheaper than a lawyer and doing jail time.
Just like most smart people by now have figured out that’s it’s cheaper to Uber than drink and drive, it’s far cheaper to take your car to the track than drive like your average teenager with a fast car.
Speaking of Uber.
If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.
If you are like me have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.
And if you still drive a car that has a Internal Combustion Engine make it more environmentally friendly by using Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants. For more information go to www.BDPSYN.com
Thanks for reading. Leave you comments below and make sure you share and like this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
There are still a lot of people that are afraid to buy an all electric car. It’s hard to blame them as most people think they need far more range than they actually do.
Sixty-one percent of drivers never drive more than 50 miles one way ever. Twenty-one percent never drive more than 200 miles one way. (https://ark-invest.com/research/electric-vehicles).
“About 8% of workers in the USA have commutes of an hour or longer, and nearly 600,000 full-time workers endure “megacommutes” of at least an hour-and-a-half and 50 miles, according to new U.S. Census data on commuting.
The national average, one-way daily commute is 25.5 minutes, and 4.3% of the nation’s workers work from home. The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey for 2011.” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/05/americans-commutes-not-getting-longer/1963409/)
If the average commute is 26 minutes and the average speed in 60 MPH then the average one way commute is 26 miles or less. And it’s probably a lot less as many people spend much of their commutes in rush hour traffic. The real average commute is probably 20 miles or less.
Other than having a fantasy in their mind about, how could you possibly live with a car that has less than a 200 mile range and that you can’t drive cross country, most people would be fine with a car with an 80-120 miles of range. That is until the rise of plugin hybrids.
All the car magazines and shows encourage this fantasy as well. Well, as long as people think they need to drive 200 miles a day then let’s give them 200 miles, or better yet, 400 miles on a tank of gas with 15-20 miles of plug in charge range. That way they can drive 95% of the time using battery power and maybe 5% of the time on gas power. And that one or two weekends a year where they actually make that 200 mile spur of the moment trip (sarcasm) they don’t have to go rent a car for the trip.
And that’s where the Plugin Hybrid is a boon. 99% of the folks who buy them will spend most of the time on battery power. And it doesn’t hurt that they will spend 100% of it in the HOV lane. Especially is cities like Phoenix where you can’t pay to use it.
They can also plug in to a 110 outlet and be fully charged by the end of a ball game. No need for expensive installs of 220 dedicated chargers. 3 hours and your good to go.
So why are they a bane?
They take much of the limited public chargers. Pure BEV’s can’t charge when they really need it. When I first bought my Ford Focus EV 2 years ago the plugin hybrid was a unicorn.
I could go to work where there were 6 spots with Level 2 chargers and you might find 2 or 3 cars there. A couple Leafs and maybe a Tesla very now and then. Now 2 years later and you will rarely find one open space. And most if not all of the spaces have Volts, maybe a CMAX or two and maybe a Fusion. And the biggest problem is that almost half the cars are there for 3-4 days as a majority are pilots or Flight Attendants. That’s a lot of wasted charge potential. A level 2 charger can charge a Volt 3-5 hours from empty. What are the odds it’s empty when it gets there? Many of the other hybrids that only have a 15 mile range will charge ion half that time. They need charge cords that plug in on the lights in the parking lot. Not level 2 chargers.
Another place I go often, although not more than 2-3 times a month is 40 miles one way. It’s the Hockey Stadium. There are 2 free chargers there. Once again you’ll usually find the hybrids plugged in there as most of the BEV’s can’t take a chance that they don’t get to plug in. I sure as heck can’t. 80 highway miles in a Focus or even a Leaf isn’t going to happen even if you get to start out with a full charge.
If you drive a pure BEV that’s not a Tesla you probably have less than 80 miles of range. And while this is generally enough to get home and back from work, it’s not always enough to get home and back and then run a few errands on top of it.
If you drive a plugin because you want to clean up the environment and want others to do the same you are going to need to stop using public chargers. Just because you can or want as much free electricity as you can mooch. I’m sure that dollar a day your getting is going to make or break you.
Instead if you to get more people to follow your example you are going to need to be good stewards and let the folks who actually made the ultimate sacrifice and didn’t buy an insurance engine use those level 2 chargers.
Until more pure BEVs are sold no one is going to put large amounts of chargers out there. Not everyone out there has the vision of Elon Musk. Even GM says that they are all in on BEV’s but don’t think they need to build a charger infrastructure. And since their only BEV’s are either hybrids or have a 200 mile range why should they?
The Volt is outselling the Tesla S. And the Bolt isn’t that far behind. Pretty soon if you own a BEV with less than 200 miles of range you better hope you don’t need to charge on the road or at work.
Even Tesla’s dirty secret is that many of their chargers are ICED out a lot of the time.
The good news is there should lots of really cheap BEV’s hitting the used market here in the next year or two.
If you are like me have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.
If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.
And if you still drive a car that has a Internal Combustion Engine make it more environmentally friendly by using Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants. For more information go to www.BDPSYN.com
Thanks for reading. Leave you comments below and make sure you share and like this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
When you read all the reviews about the Chevrolet Bolt it sounds like nothing we’ve ever seen before. An engineering marvel of the 21st century.
The Chevy Bolt is all of the following:
2017 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR, 2017 NORTH AMERICAN CAR OF THE YEAR,
2017 GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR®, AWARDED BY GREEN CAR JOURNAL
But probably best of all as far as I am concerned it is,
2017 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK WHEN EQUIPPED WITH OPTIONAL DRIVER CONFIDENCE II PACKAGE.
Add to that it gets an EPA estimated 238 miles of range on a full charge. Only the Tesla gets as much or more. And the base price of the cheapest Tesla S is almost twice as much as a Chevrolet Bolt.
But it’s not really some engineering marvel or some great design.
As for the design it’s a lot like the Honda Fit. The battery technology is not very special either. It’s just a bigger battery pack (60 kWh) than has been put in any car that size to date.
There are also plenty of cars on the market with backup cameras, parking sensors and traffic alerts and adaptive cruise control. Today you can order them on many cars midrange trim packages.
So why don’t I love the Bolt. Like almost everyone else who finds the marriage of automotive technology and electricity a compelling proposition? I love that cars are electrifying. I also love that they have cameras, cross traffic alert and a myriad of other features designed to make driving safer. These are now a must on any future vehicle I buy. As is keyless entry and starting. Try doing a car that needs a key to start after doing one that doesn’t.
On the Chevy Bolt you can get all the latest safety and convenience options for a price. You just can’t get comfortable if you are slightly wider than your average 30 year old.
And just like the Tesla there is a trade off between battery technology and fit and finish. You can buy a Porsche Panamera for the same price as a Tesla. The Panamera is far nicer inside and out.
Even at the Premier trim level the Bolt seats are small. The cabin trim is basic as well. But you do get a cheap leather instead of just plastic. I’d feel far more comfortable if they chose to use IKEA to design the interior, sort of like the BMW i3.
The Bolt is a very small car. They say it feels much bigger than it really is. It doesn’t, it looks much bigger than it really is. That’s a big difference. What they really mean is that there is a fair amount of legroom for the back seat compared to your average compact car. That is true. Since the roof doesn’t slope and there is little cargo space unless the seats are folded down it does have more room than the Focus but no more than a Honda Fit. I’d probably buy the Honda Fit.
Like the Chevy Volt, I don’t need to drive this car to know I don’t like it. All I had to do is sit in it. The difference is, in the Volt I like sitting in the drivers seat. If you are a driver it is comfortable. If you ever have to be a back seat passenger and you are over 5′ 6″ you’re probably not going to like it, at all, not even for a 10 minutes drive to get lunch. My 13 year old son was 5′ 6″ last year when I wrote about the Volt 2.0, today he is 6′ 1″ (1 inch taller than I am) and he didn’t like sitting in the back seat of the Volt, back then leg room was an issue. Today he would have the same issue I did as well. You needed to put your head back in the window so the headliner didn’t hit your head.
In the Bolt both of us can sit comfortably, in the back seat. He can sit comfortably in the front seat. His 32″ waist fits fine. My 40″ waist not so much. When I first get in the car and sit down about 2 inches of my butt is hanging off the seat. Then I have to slide right till my right hip hits the side of the seat. The front seat hip room is 2. 3 inches less than the Ford Focus Electric. If you fit in a Honda Fit you will be ok with that as front hip room is almost identical.
For $15k more than the Honda it would have been nice if they had just made the car just a couple of inches wider and a couple of inches longer. Would that have added that much more if anything to the price?
They should have made the car more the size of the Mercedes B250e and less like the Honda Fit or Nissan Leaf.
The Mercedes B250e is by far the nicest Compact BEV I have driven. It’s only drawbacks are the range and it’s only sold in Compliance States.
So should you buy a Chevrolet Bolt? If you want to pay about $44k (before tax incentives with the highest trim and almost every option) for a $20k economy car that has a (according to GM) $8.7k battery pack. No, not if that is the true cost of the battery. That means you are paying a lot for an economy car. Even after the government picks up another $7.5k.
That’s probably why a lot of people are waiting for the Tesla 3 or buying hybrids like the Hyundai Sonata. O.K., they aren’t buying hybrids, or sedans for that matter. Gas is so cheap that people are once again going down that road to getting stuck with a vehicle that in the future is going to cost them a lot for gas.
The only thing less smart is paying $20k more up front for an electric car that fits in the back of most of the SUV’s or Pickup Trucks out there.
So my recommendation is to take a pass, even though there needs to be people buying these things so that automakers not only continue to build BEV’s but also improve BEVs.
Buying this car for me would be like buying a pair of shoes that is a half size to small. They may not bother you that much at first but give it a few minutes.
Maybe the GM/Lyft partnership will buy lots of them. Although I doubt that’s going to work well. Right now when you call Uber or Lyft you usually get a pretty nice car. Some of the time you get picked up in a compact car. At least right now the odds are I will get picked up in a bigger car. Add lots of Bolts to Lyft and Uber will be my first choice. Actually that’s not fair, I have never used Lyft. I always use Uber.
If you are like me have never used Lyft. Use the code DOGFOOD and get up to $20 off your first ride.
If you have never used Uber. Use the code Z4JRI for $20 off your first ride.
And if you still drive a car that has a Internal Combustion Engine make it more environmentally friendly by using Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants. For more information go to www.BDPSYN.com
Thanks for reading. Leave you comments below and make sure you share and like this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
Back in Junior High I was a bit of an Alex Keaton (Michael J. Fox) from Family Ties. I wrote a report on how to invest in stock and why Tyco Labs was the place to invest. They had this great technology called a photovoltaic cell. Solar Energy was an idea whose time had finally arrived.
We had just been held hostage by OPEC and people had to wait in lines to buy gas, at was then, record prices of over a dollar a gallon.
Jimmy Carter had put solar panels on the White House to set an example of how we could start on our way to energy independence.
Then Ronald Reagan got elected. There was no way that in his America we were going to conserve. We drive big cars, heat and cool our houses to whatever extreme we want. We are a big and powerful nation and can afford to waste as much as we want. And for the next 30 plus years that’s exactly what we did. Only communists suffer shortages.
Bush gave tax breaks to people who bought Hummers. And lots of people did. You still see a few of them around today. But they don’t make them anymore. They went by the wayside when many American Automakers went bankrupt.
American Automakers also gave up a lot of marketshare to Japanese automakers in the 80’s. Because like most commodities that don’t have competition the price of gas just kept going up. And that drove people to buy the smaller, better built more fuel efficient imports.
But for those who study history we can often find examples of history repeating itself.
So lets go back just a few years. After a major recession the US elected one of those un-American leaders. The kind that doesn’t believe in American Supremacy and actually promoted the notion that once again Americans should conserve energy, invest in alternative energy and have a lofty goal of getting 1 million electric cars on the road in just a few years.
But the first order of business was bailing out American Automakers. Something Reagan did with Chrysler back in the 1980’s now had to be done again 30 years later. Because we forgot that gas can get pretty expensive and building lots of big cars that get crappy gas milage hurts the economy when gas hit’s $3 a gallon. And when the only cars on your lot don’t sell anymore bankruptcy is a given.
Well, the economy recovered because we have cheap gas once again. Or at least we perceive it as cheap because once you hit $3 a gallon $2 looks really cheap. Almost as cheap as $1 where gas hit at the height of the recession. I’ll bet if gas hits $3 now people will still perceive it as being pretty cheap.
So now after 8 years of that commie socialist we have once again elected a President who acknowledges the Supremacy of the United States of America.
His first order of business is to incentivize 19th century technology. Make coal great again. His second order of business was to make sure we can burn lots of fossil fuel. Keep it cheap so people can burn lots of it. There can’t be an iceberg hiding below the surface using that strategy. No,literally. All the icebergs are melting. Deny that this strategy has environmental consequences at all costs. Science is suspect. What do scientists know anyway.
And worst of all spreading the myth that restrictions on environmental pollution makes us uncompetitive in the world.
Trump is Reagan revisited. And I don’t mean that in a positive way.
This time the world is no longer looking for Americans to lead the way. We are way behind the power curve on implementing alternative energy.
Unlike the United States or China most of Europe and the UK does not have vast areas of unpopulated land mass. Most of France, Italy, Germany and the U.K. have lots of people in very small areas. Their pollution problems are like ours of California prior to Nixon and The EPA or those pesky California Emission Standards.
Other countries are actually investing in technology to get off of fossil fuels. German automakers that were first pushed by Tesla and further pushed by their own greed and cheating emission rules with their diesel cars are now going all out on developing Electric Vehicles. Add that to their growing supply of solar power and other countries are leading the way into the 21st Century. Not the U.S.A.
What are American Automakers doing? Building as many SUV’s and Pickup Trucks they can churn out. And that is pretty much a sign that although many Americans feel that the economy still sucks that it really doesn’t. Poor people don’t buy $70k Automobiles, or do they? Well poor people don’t, but having a $1k a month payment and another $150 or more a month going to Mobil or BP can sure as heck make you feel like your broke. Especially if you have 2 of these in your driveway. Let gas hit $3 or $4 a gallon again and it won’t take long before another recession hits.
Another fallacy is that regulations make products cost more. Well let’s go back to the 1980’s. Factories used to just dispose of certain waste from production, much of it in small particles like the sawdust from mills.
Well there was this company called Torrit Donaldson. You might know who they are. They make filters for your car among other things.
They would also design collection systems that collect sawdust among other things. Now instead of these particulates being dumped in the air and garbage they make particle board and other products from them.
Both the mill and the filter maker, make money. Long term results are better. That’s how jobs and new technologies get created. Not by doubling down on burning toxins. Too bad Wall Street doesn’t care beyond the next quarter
So is their a silver lining in this Trump cloud?
Well just like the 1980’s businesses will continue to look for ways to make more money and people will continue to ask for innovation.
Tesla proved that you can make a compelling Electric Car. Germany and the U.K. have proven that solar and wind are competitive with nuclear and coal when you factor in the external costs that we in the U.S. don’t account for.
The only real question is will politics get in the way of the U.S.A. becoming a leader or will be relegated to the position of follower?
Will American Car Makers once again, for the third time misjudge where the market is headed. Maybe that’s why Tesla has a higher market cap than Ford or G.M.
One that it really doesn’t deserve as Tesla makes less cars in a year than the other automakers make in a week.
If only there was a military reason to develop alternative energy. When the Russians were beating us in space we moved heaven and earth to get their first.
And much of the technology that got us into space is driving most of the technology we have today. It’s not like we hadn’t given the Germans the lead in technology before. It took a World War to give us the drive to outsmart them as well.
I doubt beating ISIS will require a new modern energy that was easy to deploy almost anywhere.
Actually now that I think about it. What if we dropped a few solar panels connected to a battery that could power a radio or two and maybe some type of modern convenience that we could broadcast the truth to every village or town where the electricity infrastructure has been bombed out?
The big debate going on lately is should Tesla have told investors Tesla might be subject to a lawsuit from the death of a driver while driving a Tesla X using the “Autopilot” function.
If you read this reddit thread started by the author of the controversial Fortune article you would think that it does. But if you read down the author talks about how he owns a Prius V with adaptive cruise control (ADC). He loves it and would gladly buy a self driving car. Well, the Tesla is not a self driving car. I seriously doubt that Toyota is telling shareholders anytime a Prius with ADC has an accident. And having a Prius V with ADC my self,f if anyone actually believes that you can let the car always keep a safe distance, you learn very quickly, just like the folks driving Tesla’s you can’t.
First of all “autopilot” on Tesla cars is no more than a really great adaptive cruise control with lane keeping ability. They do a far far better job than my Prius does at not hitting cars ahead of you and can actually bring the car to a full stop unlike the Prius. But neither one will keep you safe. You still have to pay attention. If not, at best you’ll wreck a car or two. At worst you’ll kill someone.
Of the 20k plus miles I have put on the Prius, many using cruise control the car has accelerated towards stopped cars or failed to slow down before I thought it would be prudent to intervene many, many times. So many in fact that I only use it on the highway or city streets with light traffic.
Today I was in a situation where a driver decided he was in the wrong lane abruptly pulled out in front of me. He was slowed on the beginning of an exit ramp doing about 35 MPH. I was on the highway doing 65. He cut out in front of me causing me (not the car) to slam on the brakes nearly avoiding his back bumper.
He politely waved sorry to me with cellphone in hand. Maybe he had to go left instead of right to get Pokemon. All I could think is what an asshole and I was glad that the truck behind me was keeping a safe distance. Something that most people don’t do as the Prius will keep about 6 car lengths from the car ahead of you at highway speeds.
Now up until this point I have put autopilot in quotes. That sort of implies that autopilot as Tesla bills it is not really an autopilot. The problem here is most people don’t really understand what an autopilot is. I do. I use one every day I get in an Airbus 320 and fly across the country. My day job is as a pilot for a major airline. I am a Captain with Type Ratings in both Airbus and Boeing airplanes. Specifically the A320 and Boeing 737 families.
The Tesla is not a self driving car and airplanes do not fly themselves. Autopilots are used to reduce workloads. They do not allow you the luxury of not paying attention.
There are several levels of automation in an airplane just like in a car. In their simplest form they might just hold the airplanes heading and altitude. This is what’s known as a two axis autopilot. That’s what we had on the 737. The A320 has a three axis autopilot. That adds Yaw control. This function moves the rudder. Those are the basics.
Now lets add on the Flight Management and Guidance Computer (FMGC). This does much more. This is the system that allows you to program in a course and follow it. This interfaces with the autopilot. Think of it as adding GPS to lane keeping or steering.
We haven’t even gotten to the cruise control system or what’s known as auto throttle or auto thrust. . This function allows you the set a fixed (not distance from a plane in front of you) speed and keep it.
All these things combined are what most people think of as autopilot. Yet as a pilot we don’t really need any of these things to fly airplanes. They just make it a heck of a lot easier or safer.
But there are several things that all of these tools cant’t do. They won’t keep you from hitting a mountain, flying off the end of the runway, hitting another airplane in mid-flight or flying through a thunderstorm. All of those things require somethings that computers, at least today, can’t do, Make complex decisions that require human intervention.
There are warning system on airplanes that let the pilots know if they are about to hit a mountain or another airplane. There is weather radar. But none of these interact with the auto flight systems. So when you hear people say that modern airplanes pretty much fly themselves, they don’t. They still need pilots. At least two of them. If one dies or becomes incapacitated they aren’t going to drop in another pilot or a passenger isn’t going to land the plane. For that would require a lot more knowledge than you can learn in a couple of hours.
I’m not sure if you will see an airplane without pilots or a self driving car first but don’t make the mistake of thinking an “autopilot” will allow the operator to totally give up control of the vehicle.
You don’t want your pilot to be asleep at the wheel and you don’t want your driver to be asleep at the wheel either. That’s another reason there are two pilots on commercial airliners. It’s always ones job to FLY THE AIRPLANE. Autopilot on or not.
But I will tell you one thing. An airplane in flight is far more forgiving if the pilots are not paying attention than a driver on a road.
In cruise (at altitude) the closest airplane is going to be at least 5 miles away and 1000 feet above or below you. On the road you have cars within a few feet of each other going 70 MPH. In most big jets you have at least 2 pilots at the controls most of the time.
In an airplane I will get about 20-30 seconds to react if someone comes closer than they should. In a car you might have a few seconds if you’re lucky. Today if I hadn’t reacted immediately, I would have been in that guys back seat. I didn’t even hear the collision warning indicator go off. It felt like the car was never going to stop or slow down quick enough to not hit him. Braking distance in a Prius isn’t all that great.
Back to the Tesla accident. Maybe since the same guy who died had previously made a video of the car saving him he got far to comfortable with the technology. Maybe it works so well that people think it can do far more than it can.
Autopilot isn’t set it and forget it. And if you remember that you will be safer than any other driver on the road who doesn’t understand what autopilot can and can’t do.
Tesla’s stock might have taken a hit but their bottom line won’t. At least not because of this.
I’m all for more safety features in cars. I love backup cameras and sensors. I love blind spot warnings and many things available in the newest cars. I think all cars should have them. But none of these things should let the driver think they don’t have the responsibility to look.
Tesla may not have invented any of these things but they are making people aware of them and other manufactures have taken notice. Let’s not let this accident or any other accident hamper the advance of safety because some people are too complacent to use them properly.
These things will save lives. Look at how few planes crash now days.
In my last post I asked if Detroit should be worried about Tesla and the Tesla 3. I said that it would mostly effect the Germans and the BMW 3 series in particular.
Since I wrote that I have personally met 2 people that have put their money down to reserve a spot for a Tesla 3.
Oddly they are very much like me. They are not luxury car buyers. They don’t spend big bucks on status. They are Toyota and Honda buyers. They drive cars till they fall apart.
What else they have in common is they make 6 figure incomes. They would strongly fit in the category of the millionaire next door. They don’t show wealth, they have it.
Another thing they have in common is they embrace technology. They are the customers that Apple loves.
These are the same people that bought the second generation iPhone and iPad. The one that had shown some usefulness although not as much as today.
Why is this important? Quite frankly, the car doesn’t have to be perfect. The biggest complaint about the iPhone is that as a phone it sucks. Reliability is actually not all that great. Mostly because the network carriers that place the calls but there are bug fixes and software updates all the time.
Well, just like we have learned to tolerate less than perfect reliability from our phones we will allow the same annoyances from our cars. That is if the car is “special”. And the Tesla if anything is special.
Just look at Consumer Reports. In their initial tests the car broke the 100 point barrier. Yet when looking at long term reliability they can no longer recommend the car. Seriously?
You can’t really expect Tesla to compete with a Honda Civic or Toyota Camry. They are basically reliable transportation, but not much fun to drive. They are not as dull as driving a Prius or Yaris but there is no joy in flooring the accelerator on an entry ramp and reaching 60 MPH in 8-10 seconds.
The Tesla can have a few bugs and even need a trip or two to the Tesla version of the Genius Bar every now and then and people will still love it. As Consumer Reports bares out with there less than stellar reliability rating after the initial wow of 100 plus.
As long as the car performs the cool things fairly well people will tolerate a few bugs.
Driving an EV that can do 0-30 faster than almost any ICE car is pretty cool but having an EV that can do 0-60 in six seconds will make that trip to work just that much more fun. Then when you get on the highway having the car do most of the driving for you, how great is that.
Tesla is attacking 3 markets here, Luxury German small sedans, Japanese midsize sedans and Apple. Yes, Apple. This is where all your customers who buy the next upgrade are about to spend their dollars very soon. If Apple wants people to buy their watch they might want to start working on apps that interface with Tesla right away.
I predict that Tesla will follow the trajectory of Apple all the way to where Apple is today.
Apple like Microsoft will write software that runs in most brands of car. Tesla will produce the cars and the software that people who just want a solution that works, most of the time.
I used to build my own computers and spend hours experimenting with the latest modems and graphics cards. Then about 2006 I gave all that up and since I went Mac I never looked back.
My next car will probably be a Bolt or eGolf. My next car after that. A Tesla S when the price hits around $40k, maybe a second generation 3 when it hits $35k with all the bells and whistles.
Just this last year I stopped doing most of my own car repairs. With any luck brakes will be off my list of repairs as well.
I am looking forward to the day that auto mechanics wear lab coats and not overalls.
Coming form a guy who sells Synthetic Motor Oils that says a lot! Amsoil, the next best thing to being oil free.
It’s been a little over a month since the Tesla 3 was unveiled and I haven’t posted anything about it till today. Odd for a blog about electric vehicles. After all, Tesla is the EV by which all other EV’s are measured.
Well, for one thing the Tesla 3 is little more than a prototype, just like the Chevy Bolt. Neither car is in production or it’s final form. All we have seen of both is a body and and some basic interior shots. Neither of these cars floats my boat, yet.
But what I find interesting about both these cars is, that while neither is in production both are setting standards for what an EV has to be to appeal to a mass market. Or at least what people think they need to be able to appeal to a mass market.
Let’s look at the supposed needs to make this car appeal to more than just a few early adopters who run out and buy the latest product Apple has to offer.
A car with a range of 200 miles. Why 200 miles. Because that’s about the average range of a gas powered vehicle. The reality though is people don’t drive 200 miles a day. They drive 200 miles between fill ups. That could be 6 hours or 6 days. For most people that’s once or twice a week. Not daily.
Right now most EV’s have a range of 70 miles. 95% of the time that’s really enough. Most people with EV’s plug in every night. Ask your average EV’r and they will tell you they love never having to stop for gas and that the 70 miles they get is more than they need most of the time. While they have a second vehicle in the family the EV gets driven the most and the second car rarely gets used. The person who drives the least drives the ICE car. Maybe once a month it goes for that drive to the long weekend vacation. Maybe.
Currently there are several EV’s like the Ford Focus, Kia Soul and VW eGolf that can do this no problem and for less than $35k. And that brings us to the next holy grail number.
Priced less than $35k. Really, that’s the number that it takes to get people to run out in masse and buy an EV? I think not. That might kill sales of the BMW 3 Series or other German Cars in it’s class but it’s not going to kill sales of the average family sedan.
The average midsize sedan sells more cars in 2 months than BMW sells 3’s in a year. And they sell on average for a lot less than $35k. The top end is $35k. Not everyone buys the most expensive trim level. Most don’t.
The Tesla 3 and the Bolt and all the rest of the EV’s out there with the only exceptions being the Tesla S and X are all compact cars. Tesla 3 will most likely have an edge here as the 3 is on a compact frame but since it was built from the ground up as an EV it will make far better use of the space available.
And now lets talk about the real elephant in the room. Tesla can’t use sales of their big SUV’s and Pick Up Trucks to subsidize the sales of the 3. They will be selling a lot of CAFE credits to the other automakers but they can’t charge $80k for an Escalade and sell a Volt for $10k less than it costs to build. And since we know that very few 3’s are going to roll of the assembly line with zero options just like very few BMW’s roll of the assembly line with zero options just like a BMW 3 the average price of a Tesla 3 will likely top $50k.
Who want’s to drive a compact car cross country? Not me. I really don’t think that many people drive their Tesla’s across the country now. A few just to prove they could and get their video on youtube but really? The Tesla 3 and the rest of the EV’s out there are only going more than 100 miles in day when the person moves from one city to another. Or like my Ford Focus that needed to get from L.A. to Phoenix because it was cheaper and readily available in California.
There is another problem that all automakers are going to have with their EV’s. I don’t care if it’s Tesla, Honda, Nissan or Apple. Not everyone like the way a car looks. To me the Leaf isn’t cute or futuristic, it’s plain ugly. I like the Mazda 6 but I don’t like the way the Mazda 3 looks. Or should I say the Tesla 3 since the same guy designed the Mazda and the Tesla.
I do like the way the Ford Focus and the VW eGolf look. I’ll wait till they have t drop their price to sell their compliance cars that starting next year will get about 110 miles of range. More than enough for 99.9% of what I need.
Will they have autopilot? Probably not. If I want all the killer new tech I might just have to wait and see if Chevy really produces the Bolt in a configuration they have said they will launch with Lyft, the other car service. Maybe the Bolt will save Lyft, or the Lyft will produce a bigger market for the Bolt. I’m not sure how that will work or who it will help.
What I do know for sure is that EV’s are here to stay this time around. Tesla has forced Detroit to take them seriously this time around. People want cars that run on electricity and they want cars that can pretty much drive themselves while we text and read email or Facebook.
While Tesla has close to 400k people on an interest list that have ponied up $1k a piece for the privilege of standing in line hoping to get one they have lit a fire under GM and probably BMW and Mercedes to get their own versions out ASAP.
I have not put $1k on the line to hold my place. I’m counting on one of the other companies to get out there and compete against Tesla that has a dealer network and service centers near my house to get the job done first.
I’m actually betting Audi or VW might beat them to the punch.
I’m not counting Tesla out though. Tesla is going to sell a lot of cars. They are going to be the Apple of the auto industry. They are going to produce a specialty product that lots of people want and can be special for quite a while. They are going to disrupt the usual way of doing business selling cars over the next 20 years. Apple might even catch up to them or buy them one day.
But right now my purchase dollars are not with Tesla. But it took me till 2006 to dump my Windows computers. Now I’m all Apple. Maybe by 2026 I’ll be all in on Tesla. Just not today.
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