$35,000 Tesla Model III Is Coming In 2017

[Ichinisan]

Excuse me. I need to unload my wheelchair.

 

[Muadib]

I'd imagine it will have it. Definitely pre-ordered one...if it has a million-mile battery, that's hard to say no to! Plus it's a $100 deposit, which is vastly different than the $2,500 deposit they want for a Model Y.

Downside is I currently rent & have no garage & no charger access. So the Cybertruck requires me to move as a prerequisite LOL.

Thanks for the info! That's crazy that you have to move to get the truck, but at least you have some time.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for the info! That's crazy that you have to move to get the truck, but at least you have some time.

I mean, it's 2 years away from production, and I don't plan on buying one of the initial rush-jobs that they're going to pump out to meet the deadline...I'll probably wait 6 to 12 months after that, to let them get all the kinks out, so it's really more like 3 years away for me. I'll have my Ecoboost Mustang paid off by then, and if the Cybertruck becomes my main car, half the cost will be covered by what I pay in gas today with my work commute (which is sometimes 2+ hours a day, depending on where the customer site is). The 500-mile battery is really what sold me on the Cybertruck, especially if it gets that million-mile-battery technology. Also, it would be awesome to move into a place with enough room to put solar panels & drive around for free, haha!

 

[ponyo]

I don't plan to park Cybertruck in my garage. It's going to sit in my driveway. I've parked my Tundra truck outside for 18 years and Cybertruck is going to get the same treatment. I'll probably install outside charger in the driveway. But Musk said the Cybertruck might get solar panels on its tonneau cover so you might get around 10 miles a day charging through solar. If so, regular 120 V house outlet combined with solar charge might be enough charge for most people.

 

[Kaido]

I don't plan to park Cybertruck in my garage. It's going to sit in my driveway. I've parked my Tundra truck outside for 18 years and Cybertruck is going to get the same treatment. I'll probably install outside charger in the driveway. But Musk said the Cybertruck might get solar panels on its tonneau cover so you might get around 10 miles a day charging through solar. If so, regular 120 V house outlet combined with solar charge might be enough charge for most people.

Yeah, that would be pretty cool...and it's not like you have to worry about tree falling on it because it's bulletproof LOL

 

[zinfamous]

Tesla will be releasing holiday software update which includes some games and FSD sneak preview. You do need HW3 for FSD preview.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1207865226604863488

https://twitter.com/x/status/1208468535292203008

games? do people need to be playing games on their giant computer screens while driving?

wtf

 

[KentState]

I'd imagine it will have it. Definitely pre-ordered one...if it has a million-mile battery, that's hard to say no to! Plus it's a $100 deposit, which is vastly different than the $2,500 deposit they want for a Model Y.

Downside is I currently rent & have no garage & no charger access. So the Cybertruck requires me to move as a prerequisite LOL.

Do you have free charging stations in your area? We have a lot around where I live and are rarely ever used. My plan is to maximize the use of those if possible.

 

[ponyo]

games? do people need to be playing games on their giant computer screens while driving?

wtf

It's not for driving. It's for whenever you're parked. If you're parked at Supercharger for 20-30 minutes, you could use the games to entertain yourself while your car charges. Or watch Netflix on the screen. Or if you're car camping in your Tesla. And when and if Tesla solves FSD and we get full self driving, you can play games, watch movies, or read news while the car is driving.

The screen is very important. Tesla is computer on wheels. Once Tesla reaches like million cars on the road, I suspect Musk will add Tesla app store and allow outside developers to make apps for Tesla cars. This is just the beginning.

 

[ponyo]

Do you have free charging stations in your area? We have a lot around where I live and are rarely ever used. My plan is to maximize the use of those if possible.

My plan is to eventually add Tesla Solarglass roof and Powerwalls to my home. I'll probably do that in the next couple of years. Maybe around the time I get the Cybertruck.

 

[Kaido]

games? do people need to be playing games on their giant computer screens while driving?

wtf

Right now, the games only work when you're parked (except for Careoke), which is useful for passing time while charging. Bonus, you can plug in Xbox controllers to play! They have Cuphead, Beach Buggy, etc.

I'd imagine they won't approve gaming while driving until they get hands-free FSD enabled, and also not until the regulatory stuff catches up, because afaik it's illegal for a driver to have a video access while driving.

 

[Kaido]

Do you have free charging stations in your area? We have a lot around where I live and are rarely ever used. My plan is to maximize the use of those if possible.

Yes & no:

1. The nearest Supercharger from where I currently live is 25 minutes away, which is nearly an hour-long round-trip (plus charging time), without taking traffic into account.

2. There is a public normal EV charger in my town, but it is pay-for (and slow). Also, I'm not aware of any chargers that are free, outside of dealerships (not sure if a Nissan dealership would let me charge a Tesla LOL). Most of them are ChargePoint chargers or similar, which have fees associated with charging at them.

3. I drive all over my state for my job, so where I'm at kind of varies on a week to week basis. I do have a couple customers with charging spots installed at their location, but that's like two out of several dozen, so I can't really rely on that, which is why I need to move so that I can get a charger at home, haha! That's why the 500-mile battery is so appealing...that's basically a full day's worth of highway driving (500 miles @ 70mph = ~7 hours on the road), which means (1) I could drive to multiple locations during the day without having to charge up, (2) I could get stuck in traffic (sometimes happens for 2+ hours on the way home) & not worry about draining the battery, and (3) I can run all of the services (music, A/C, heat, etc.) & not worry about killing the battery.

So there are a lot of benefits for me with the Cybertruck:

1. 500-mile battery means zero range anxiety for my daily commute.

2. Self-driving would be hugely beneficial, especially in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I just sat in 90 minute's worth of traffic on the way home the other day. Not the most fun with a stick-shift lol.

3. The bed is huge & has a retractable metal cover, so I could easily build out an 80/20 slide-out bed storage system with padding for throwing in servers, computers, and other equipment to haul around. I sometimes have to get creative with my coupe (which fortunately has a surprisingly large trunk!) & sometimes I have to make multiple trips to ferry parts between my house & the facilities they're going to.

4. If it has the million-mile batteries, then I can run this puppy basically forever, haha! Even though the initial cost would be high (for the sake of discussion, $39k base model with zero taxes & 0% financing over 5 years = $650/mo, and that's for the no-frills version with a smaller battery etc.), you'll be saving money long-term on fuel costs (my Mustang takes $50 to fill up from empty - I use premium because it's a turbo) & also on maintenance costs. There's a recent article that calculated that the Cybertruck is almost $20k cheaper to own & operate over a 5-year time span than a Ford F-150. If the vehicle can really last a super-long time, then the financial argument starts to make sense from a long-term cost-savings perspective as you go out 5, 10, 15, and 20 years into the future.

5. No problems in bad weather. Right now, my vehicle gets stuck in heavy snow because it's low to the ground. I can drive it in the snow just fine (TC + ESC do amazing things these days), but the thickness of the snow means I simply get stuck. The Cybertruck has up to 16" of ground clearance, so I could probably roll over a downed tree if I needed to, lol.

The storage looks phenomenal as well:

1. Frunk (front trunk)

2. Front-row seats (center console or bench-style)

3. Rear seats (3 seats)

4. Panel storage compartments (see the image on the top right below)

5. Bed

6. In-bed storage locker





So overall, it seems like a really good fit for me. Still think it's incredibly ugly, but I've grown to love it, in an adorkable sort of way

 

[Kaido]

My plan is to eventually add Tesla Solarglass roof and Powerwalls to my home. I'll probably do that in the next couple of years. Maybe around the time I get the Cybertruck.

I'm trying to decide if I want to wait for Tesla's solar roof files, or just find a rural place with enough land to do a solar farm. Costco has a 5,830-watt solar panel kit for $10k:

https://www.costco.com/grape-solar-5830-watt-grid-tied-solar-kit.product.100242525.html

My buddy got quoted like $80,000 for a similar setup not too many years ago...the economics are starting to become a lot more compelling as time goes on, especially if you can roll the cost of say a 10,000 kWh system into your monthly mortgage payment! Plus you wouldn't have to worry about not driving your car if the grid power were to go out, haha!

I just picked up a small CNC machine, so I plan on spending the next year learning the basics of woodworking, CNC operation, CAD software, and cabinet-making, and then seeing if I still want to either build it myself, pay someone to build my house, or just buy a house turn-key & ready to go. I figure I have about 3 years before the Cybertruck comes out & is production-glitch-free (panel gaps, teething issues, etc.), so I've got plenty of time to tinker with things & figure them out, haha!

 

[Kaido]

It's not for driving. It's for whenever you're parked. If you're parked at Supercharger for 20-30 minutes, you could use the games to entertain yourself while your car charges. Or watch Netflix on the screen. Or if you're car camping in your Tesla. And when and if Tesla solves FSD and we get full self driving, you can play games, watch movies, or read news while the car is driving.

The screen is very important. Tesla is computer on wheels. Once Tesla reaches like million cars on the road, I suspect Musk will add Tesla app store and allow outside developers to make apps for Tesla cars. This is just the beginning.

On the tangent of camping, a FSD electric RV would be absolutely incredible. Go to sleep at night, wake up at Disneyland! Hahaha. I'd imagine they could easily get 1,000+ of range out of a full RV platform too, so you could (in theory) only have to charge up a couple times if you want to make a cross-country trip. Plus it'd be an amazing vehicle to have as your "home" for retirement...huge solar array on the roof, quiet operation, A/C & heat at night, etc. I have some friends with RV's & I sure wouldn't want the maintenance costs or engine/drivetrain/etc. problems that they have with them...having a fully-electric platform would greatly reduce the ownership headaches involved with having one in your life!

 

[Kaido]

I don't plan to park Cybertruck in my garage. It's going to sit in my driveway. I've parked my Tundra truck outside for 18 years and Cybertruck is going to get the same treatment. I'll probably install outside charger in the driveway. But Musk said the Cybertruck might get solar panels on its tonneau cover so you might get around 10 miles a day charging through solar. If so, regular 120 V house outlet combined with solar charge might be enough charge for most people.

That's another reason why I'm interested in building...the truck looks HUGE & it will probably be a tight fit in most garages! Building would allow me to do fun stuff like build a larger garage, have solar panels & batteries baked into the design, etc. There's a popular garage design locally where they put the garage exit door in the middle between the two garage doors, which allows you to swing the doors open & get in & out more easily than right up next to each other, so that would be a pretty nice idea to go with. Plus not having to scrape snow off the cars would be glorious!

My wife is thinking about getting a Cybertruck as well. She was looking at trading in our Forester for a Model 3 in a couple years (we were planning on keeping the Forester to 300k miles, but hey, electric + FSD makes for a compelling argument!), but she does photography & has a bunch of equipment & the truck might be a better fit for her...monster range, no weather limitations like deep snow, tons of storage space, etc. Plus she pays for her own car, so I wouldn't be on the hook for two Cybertrucks, which would be the equivalent of a mortage, lol.

Very curious to see how Tesla implements the solar panels. I've read about Tesla cars having the battery die while parked for long periods of time, like at the airport while you're traveling, so if you could side-step that issue by parking in a cheap outdoor lot (and no worries about damage, thanks to the metal body!), that would circumvent the whole issue of discharging!

 

[ponyo]

On the tangent of camping, a FSD electric RV would be absolutely incredible. Go to sleep at night, wake up at Disneyland! Hahaha. I'd imagine they could easily get 1,000+ of range out of a full RV platform too, so you could (in theory) only have to charge up a couple times if you want to make a cross-country trip. Plus it'd be an amazing vehicle to have as your "home" for retirement...huge solar array on the roof, quiet operation, A/C & heat at night, etc. I have some friends with RV's & I sure wouldn't want the maintenance costs or engine/drivetrain/etc. problems that they have with them...having a fully-electric platform would greatly reduce the ownership headaches involved with having one in your life!

I agree FSD electric RV would be like dream come true. Tesla could take the Semi platform and make the RV. Or third party could use the Semi and convert it to RV. I suspect Tesla will use the Cybertruck platform and also build delivery vans. And if the Cybertruck catches on, we could get entire lineup of Cyber vehicles like small Cybercar. Imagine like $20,000 super tough Cyber passenger car the size of something like Toyota Corolla or smaller. That could be interesting as would be smaller Cybertruck that's size of Toyota 4Runner. Tesla is on something big with the Cybertruck and it could become the iconic vehicle of our generation. We're living in exciting time.

 

[Muadib]

I mean, it's 2 years away from production, and I don't plan on buying one of the initial rush-jobs that they're going to pump out to meet the deadline...I'll probably wait 6 to 12 months after that, to let them get all the kinks out, so it's really more like 3 years away for me. I'll have my Ecoboost Mustang paid off by then, and if the Cybertruck becomes my main car, half the cost will be covered by what I pay in gas today with my work commute (which is sometimes 2+ hours a day, depending on where the customer site is). The 500-mile battery is really what sold me on the Cybertruck, especially if it gets that million-mile-battery technology. Also, it would be awesome to move into a place with enough room to put solar panels & drive around for free, haha!

I decided to put the order in! The 500 mile range is what did it for me too. Yeah, it's ugly as sin, but I'll get over it. I didn't go for the Full-Self Driving tech, but now I'm thinking I made a mistake. $7000 might seem like a bargain in two years.
EDIT: I was able to add FSD to my order.

 

[ponyo]

I decided to put the order in! The 500 mile range is what did it for me too. Yeah, it's ugly as sin, but I'll get over it. I didn't go for the Full-Self Driving tech, but now I'm thinking I made a mistake. $7000 might seem like a bargain in two years.

I would edit that order to include the $7,000 FSD option. You can always remove the option later when time comes to configure and purchase your Cybertruck. Adding it now locks in the $7k price. But if you don't lock it in now and at later date decide you want FSD, you'll have to pay whatever price Tesla is charging for FSD at that time. And Musk said the price of FSD will continue to increase in the future as more features are added and FSD improves. So it's no brainer and foolish not to add it now even if you don't think you'll purchase FSD.

Do you mind posting here or PM me the first 6 digits of your Cybertruck order number? I'm curious how many preorders Tesla has now. I'm about 40k in line.

 

[Muadib]

I would edit that order to include the $7,000 FSD option. You can always remove the option later when time comes to configure and purchase your Cybertruck. Adding it now locks in the $7k price. But if you don't lock it in now and at later date decide you want FSD, you'll have to pay whatever price Tesla is charging for FSD at that time. And Musk said the price of FSD will continue to increase in the future as more features are added and FSD improves. So it's no brainer and foolish not to add it now even if you don't think you'll purchase FSD.

Do you mind posting here or PM me the first 6 digits of your Cybertruck order number? I'm curious how many preorders Tesla has now. I'm about 40k in line.

I'm number 113195, and you were right. I added FSD. Now I need to find a way to wait for it. 2021 seems like an eternity.

 

[ponyo]

I'm number 113195, and you were right. I added FSD. Now I need to find a way to wait for it. 2021 seems like an eternity.

Thanks! Based on your and my order number, Tesla now has around 415,000 orders for the Cybertruck. I figured it was over 400k and your order number confirmed it. Last update we got from Elon was on November 26th when he said Tesla had 250k orders for the Cybertruck. So another 165k orders in one month.

 

[Muadib]

Thanks! Based on your and my order number, Tesla now has around 415,000 orders for the Cybertruck. I figured it was over 400k and your order number confirmed it. Last update we got from Elon was on November 26th when he said Tesla had 250k orders for the Cybertruck. So another 165k orders in one month.

That's huge, but how do you know?

 

[ponyo]

That's huge, but how do you know?

Because I read and follow discussions over at Tesla Motor Club.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thr...he-2019-investors-roundtable.139047/page-5870

They figured out how many orders based on people's order numbers and Elon's order tweet timestamp. I'm about 40k in line and you're 415k in line.

The exact info on how they figured it out is in pages back but I don't feel like searching. But trust me, it's correct.

 

[Muadib]

Because I read and follow discussions over at Tesla Motor Club.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thr...he-2019-investors-roundtable.139047/page-5870

They figured out how many orders based on people's order numbers and Elon's order tweet timestamp. I'm about 40k in line and you're 415k in line.

The exact info on how they figured it out is in pages back but I don't feel like searching. But trust me, it's correct.

I'll take your word for it. I will join the forum though. Misery loves company.

 

[ponyo]

I'll take your word for it. I will join the forum though. Misery loves company.

I'm just lurker there and haven't joined yet. But I read and keep up with that thread everyday. They know stuff about Tesla there. Far better than any analysts. I really need to join.

 

[Kaido]

This Twitter thread is getting a lot of discussion:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1209336445820973056

To take a non-editorial look at this:

1. They've had the car for a year & something broke, which required a tow
2. The culprit was a loose cable
3. Tesla fixed it & returned the car within a few days

I mean, the timing belt on my last car snapped as I was going over a bridge...I was able to coast all the way down, because it happened right at the peak, and roll onto an exit (thankfully). I just got a new Mustang last year & the entire clutch blew up with less than 12k miles on it due to a defective part, which is pretty ridiculous (covered under warranty, fortunately). Say what you want about Ford's quality, but for a car that's been in production for the past 55 years, that was a pretty silly thing to break on me less than a year into ownership. So to go an entire year with a Tesla, with what sounds like zero problems, and only have one problem that was addressed & fixed within a few day's time doesn't sound all that bad.

And yes, it's annoying to get stranded for a couple hours, and it's also annoying not to have a loaner car available from Tesla, but virtually the exact same thing happened to one of my buddies who recently had to get his Tesla towed (also due to a bad wiring harness, oddly enough) & they simply hooked him up with a normal ICE rental car for the week. So in this case, there was a problem, it was resolved in what sounds like a timely manner, and yet the sky is falling due to an over-reaction, which I don't think is a realistic expectation of how operating any car should be. Cars are mechanical things & fall apart all the time...it took Ford nearly a month to get the parts in & do a warranty replacement on my entire clutch system, and then they broke another piece while installing it, which took another couple of weeks to get in.

Life happens. I don't think Tesla's the bad guy here.

 

[drnickriviera]

Me no gusta. A single loose cable prevents any of the doors from opening?