$35,000 Tesla Model III Is Coming In 2017

[drnickriviera]

They are not really a direct comparison. The Prius is has much less performance, but doesnt have the range limitations of the Tesla.
I have to admit though, that until I looked at the prices of other EVs I thought the Tesla was overpriced. But compared to the Leaf, Bolt, etc., I have to say they are not that bad.

Edit: All the EVs are "overpriced" to me. Meaning, I would not pay 30k plus for a car with the limited range of an EV. I will definitely consider a hybrid if I ever purchase another vehicle though. (retired now, and have a 1.5 y.o. Impreza, so it could well be my last auto purchase).

What price were you comparing? MSRP? Chevy is smoking crack with the Bolt MSRP, but you'd be an idiot to pay that price. Here is where my brother got his bolt Bolt Prices and got it cheaper than the current listed prices. So you are talking $40k for the TM3 standard + vs $25 -$30k for Bolt. That's a good chunk of change, but different class of vehicles.

 

[JEDI]

The Prime should either move to a more electric focused model (~100mile electric range) or gotten rid of leave the premium stuff (and leave it for the Camry hybrid or Lexus).
I would like if they'd make a solar roof standard as well (not so much for extending range but rather for keeping the 12V charged and climate management - the solar roof option on the previous Prius gave the option of remote start to cool the car down a few minutes before you got in, or for running a fan to bring in external air).
I think they've been testing a Prius with a lot more solar panels (roof, hood, maybe sides as well, and possibly part of the hatch).

yeah, im surprised the batteries only last 25miles???
i guess because they made the car bigger?

i would have imagined them releasing an extended range Prius instead:
smaller car, 75-100 mile electric range, a solar roof, and a gas engine.
the lighter car helps with both range and acceleration under gas engine.

a true hybrid.

 

[Brainonska511]

yeah, im surprised the batteries only last 25miles???
i guess because they made the car bigger?

i would have imagined them releasing an extended range Prius instead:
smaller car, 75-100 mile electric range, a solar roof, and a gas engine.
the lighter car helps with both range and acceleration under gas engine.

a true hybrid.

Considering that most vehicles trips are only a few miles, the 25 mile limitation doesn't seem that bad. I wish PHEVs got a little bit more on battery alone, but it's all a step in the right direction. Plus, it could get the people worried about all electric range to at least buy into a more efficient vehicle.

 

[jlee]

$2k price drop on the Model 3. Performance is now $54,990, long range is $46,990, and SR+ is $37,990.

 

[ondma]

Considering that most vehicles trips are only a few miles, the 25 mile limitation doesn't seem that bad. I wish PHEVs got a little bit more on battery alone, but it's all a step in the right direction. Plus, it could get the people worried about all electric range to at least buy into a more efficient vehicle.

I could live with the 25 mile electric range. Would get most people back and forth to work on electric, and then recharge overnight. But you would always have the gas backup for longer trips. More important I think is having a smooth experience when switching over to gas from electric or when the gas engine has to kick in for more power.

 

[Aikouka]

As I've mentioned before, I've been strongly considering selling my Model 3, but I didn't know what I'd get in its place. I've been looking around a bit, and I don't think the replacement vehicle task has really gotten any easier. I was mostly looking at AWD vehicles as having driven RWD, FWD, and AWD cars, I prefer the AWD traction in the rain. I've been slowly coming to a realization that... and this may sound like a cop-out, but there really isn't a good car to replace it with.

I was trying to keep a relatively low amount of "mechanical complexity", which meant I wanted to avoid turbocharged cars with intercoolers, oil coolers, and all that jazz. The first car that I considered was a Subaru Legacy 3.6R. It's not exactly a stunner of a car, but its on-paper specifications looked pretty good... until I read a review that noted just how horridly slow the car is. Apparently, it takes over seven seconds to go from 0-60. I'm fine with high 5's or maybe low 6's, but low 7's? Eek.

One advantage that the Subaru did have that a lot of other cars did not was the ability to have an aftermarket radio added and still retain a significant number of stock features. There were a number of vehicles that I considered that Crutchfield recommended not replacing the stock radio. This was a huge point of contention as I wanted to go with a larger screen (you can get up to a floating 10" screen) and Apple CarPlay.

I guess the hard part is that an EV has sort of spoiled me with having a (somewhat) efficient car yet having a good amount of power available. In an ICE-powered vehicle, if you want 5 seconds or less, you're normally going to get a large engine (at least six cylinders) that will likely have some form of forced induction. However, the Tesla vehicles don't really have this problem. It's like if driving slowly in a V8 made it have the efficiency of an I4, but I could hammer it and get the V8 power if I wanted it (and of course, pay the price in efficiency).

Although, during this weekend, I was reminded of how much Tesla's choices have pushed me down this path. I was taking a fairly short drive (~35 miles each way) to pick up a purchase, and for the most part, things were going well. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the highway, so I could just go and even use TACC without much encumbrance. However, when I was a few minutes out from my destination, the car just slowed down rapidly without any warning. I know that TACC turned off, but I'm not sure if that sudden reduction in speed was just regenerative braking or some automatic emergency braking applied. The problem is that there was nothing in front of me, and due to that, I was not prepared for having my neck snapped forward. Suffice it to say, I was having neck pains for the rest of the day from the whiplash.

Going back to Subaru, my mom's Subaru Outback has a button to turn off traffic assist for the cruise control. Why can't Tesla just be sensible about this and make a similar option? Although, since I mentioned efficiency a few times, it's worthwhile to keep in mind how off the numbers can be. I used about 90 miles of range for my 60-70 mile trip, which may not be entirely surprising given my speeds were between 60-70 MPH almost the whole time. Given that people were talking about the 25 mile range on the new Prius, I wanted to note how that's likely under specific conditions (i.e. speed).

 

[rstrohkirch]

Chevy Bolt? It's fairly fast, low mechanical complexity, doesn't have the intrusive nannys and you're not jumping ship to an ICE.

 

[herm0016]

I could live with the 25 mile electric range. Would get most people back and forth to work on electric, and then recharge overnight. But you would always have the gas backup for longer trips. More important I think is having a smooth experience when switching over to gas from electric or when the gas engine has to kick in for more power.

Oh damn. You just thought of the volt. Its a truly great car. We have a 2013. 40 to 50 on battery, gas the remainder.

 

[JEDI]

Oh damn. You just thought of the volt. Its a truly great car. We have a 2013. 40 to 50 on battery, gas the remainder.

wonder why the new Prius didnt at least match the battery range of a 7yr old Chevy Volt?

 

[jlee]

Chevy Bolt? It's fairly fast, low mechanical complexity, doesn't have the intrusive nannys and you're not jumping ship to an ICE.

If you don't need fast charging infrastructure, the Bolt is great. That said though, it'd be really unpleasant to go from a Model 3 to a Bolt. The 3 is just better in just about every way except storage (you can fit a lot in the Bolt's hatch).

 

[ponyo]

If you don't need fast charging infrastructure, the Bolt is great. That said though, it'd be really unpleasant to go from a Model 3 to a Bolt. The 3 is just better in just about every way except storage (you can fit a lot in the Bolt's hatch).

What kind of Model 3 do you have? With the price drop, Model 3 is more attractive than Model Y IMO. I have to keep fighting the urge to order.

 

[jlee]

What kind of Model 3 do you have? With the price drop, Model 3 is more attractive than Model Y IMO. I have to keep fighting the urge to order.

I have a LR. I didn't do the Performance because at the time it wasn't eligible for NJ's $5k rebate/incentive.

 

[ponyo]

I have a LR. I didn't do the Performance because at the time it wasn't eligible for NJ's $5k rebate/incentive.

Lucky you! That $5k NJ rebate is super sweet! Can you buy another vehicle and get another $5k rebate? Or is it limit 1 rebate per person?

 

[JEDI]

I have a LR. I didn't do the Performance because at the time it wasn't eligible for NJ's $5k rebate/incentive.

wait.. i thought nj didnt allow direct orders from car manufacturers, thus why elon musk was mad at the nj gov?

 

[Muadib]

wait.. i thought nj didnt allow direct orders from car manufacturers, thus why elon musk was mad at the nj gov?

They have dealers kind of.

 

[jlee]

wait.. i thought nj didnt allow direct orders from car manufacturers, thus why elon musk was mad at the nj gov?

There are many Tesla locations here - I imagine it's legal somehow, though I am not familiar with any details.

Lucky you! That $5k NJ rebate is super sweet! Can you buy another vehicle and get another $5k rebate? Or is it limit 1 rebate per person?

I don't actually know yet...I am hoping I can buy another one and get a Cybertruck with it, but we'll see.

 

[Aikouka]

I ran into an awkward software issue this morning with the car, and I'm curious if anyone else has seen something like this. Essentially, whenever I place a call with my paired phone (iPhone 11 Pro Max), the phone will denote that the audio is being directed to the car; however, I don't hear anything. In the past, I've found that I could fix the problem by using my phone to switch the audio back to the phone and then back to the car. This morning, I tried hitting the End Call button on the car, which caused a rather awkward result... the entire audio sub-system stopped working. This included the audio that I was playing via USB (it started skipping through songs and eventually stopped with a "Loading Error") and even the turn signal clicking noises. Fortunately, fixing that problem didn't require any sort of reboot (i.e. the double scroll wheel press), but I just had to make a call and perform the workaround noted above. Once I did that, everything worked fine again including music.

I don't know if this is a car problem, or if my phone isn't handling the Bluetooth connection properly. However, I do use wireless headphones often without any issues.

 

[Kaido]

I ran into an awkward software issue this morning with the car, and I'm curious if anyone else has seen something like this. Essentially, whenever I place a call with my paired phone (iPhone 11 Pro Max), the phone will denote that the audio is being directed to the car; however, I don't hear anything. In the past, I've found that I could fix the problem by using my phone to switch the audio back to the phone and then back to the car. This morning, I tried hitting the End Call button on the car, which caused a rather awkward result... the entire audio sub-system stopped working. This included the audio that I was playing via USB (it started skipping through songs and eventually stopped with a "Loading Error") and even the turn signal clicking noises. Fortunately, fixing that problem didn't require any sort of reboot (i.e. the double scroll wheel press), but I just had to make a call and perform the workaround noted above. Once I did that, everything worked fine again including music.

I don't know if this is a car problem, or if my phone isn't handling the Bluetooth connection properly. However, I do use wireless headphones often without any issues.

Your car is starting to sound more & more like my old lemon of a Jeep man...

 

[ondma]

nvm

 

[jlee]

Lucky you! That $5k NJ rebate is super sweet! Can you buy another vehicle and get another $5k rebate? Or is it limit 1 rebate per person?

Details are out now -- maximum four per person, but you have to keep each car for 36 months. I may get a CT in 3 years

 

[JEDI]

Tesla's new Model S can get 400 miles on a charge. Here's why that may not matter

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

www.cnn.com

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

And for those car shoppers that still aren't comfortable, even with a driving range of more than 200 miles, the jump to 400 isn't going to help, said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds.com.
"That difference between 100 to 200 is great, but 300 to 400 maybe is less impactful," she said.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Tesla's new Model S can get 400 miles on a charge. Here's why that may not matter

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

www.cnn.com

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

And for those car shoppers that still aren't comfortable, even with a driving range of more than 200 miles, the jump to 400 isn't going to help, said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds.com.
"That difference between 100 to 200 is great, but 300 to 400 maybe is less impactful," she said.

Definitely agreed that 300 - 400 isn't going to be as great, but I will say that since the 3 and S don't have heat pumps, the extra mileage is a good comfort just for extra heat room. In the core part of winter I lose roughly 30% of my range.

 

[Kaido]

Tesla's new Model S can get 400 miles on a charge. Here's why that may not matter

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

www.cnn.com

Tesla announced late Monday that its new Model S Long Range Plus sedan became the first electric car to be certified by the EPA to drive more than 400 miles on a single charge.

And for those car shoppers that still aren't comfortable, even with a driving range of more than 200 miles, the jump to 400 isn't going to help, said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds.com.
"That difference between 100 to 200 is great, but 300 to 400 maybe is less impactful," she said.

I would agree with that. 300 seems like a pretty solid number, combined with heat, A/C, and highway-speed losses. Although I've read that people are only getting like 50% of the advertised range, even on a Tesla, with normal driving with the HVAC on, so 150 miles is probably a more real-world usable number after losses. And towing totally kills that number haha.

This is one of the reasons I'm really excited about the Cybertruck. 500 miles sounds amazing! And even cut in half, you're still going to get 250 usable miles, which at 70mph on the highway is 3.5 hours of driving per charge. I do roughly 2 hours a day on my normal (non-COVID) commute, so that would be a pretty comfortable figure for me personally. Pump those puppies out, Elon!!

 

[ponyo]

I think 400 is important number. You need electric cars with 400, 500, and 600 mile ranges since there are ICE vehicles with those ranges. If you want to convince everyone to switch, you have to give them reasons to switch. Range is important for lot of people.

 

[Kaido]

I think 400 is important number. You need electric cars with 400, 500, and 600 mile ranges since there are ICE vehicles with those ranges. If you want to convince everyone to switch, you have to give them reasons to switch. Range is important for lot of people.

It's the combination of efficiency loss & quick fuel-ups. My ICE vehicle only has a 250-mile range, which is lame, but I can also fill up in exactly 2 minutes & 30 seconds (timed it!). Car batteries are really tricky because running the heater kills them, running the A/C kills them, driving above 50mph or whatever kills them, and so on. It takes a few hours to fill up at home, or can be done faster with a supercharger, but in my case, I don't live close by a supercharger, so I'd have to go out of my way to fill up quickly.

But, in reality, most people don't drive hours & hours & hours a day, so it's mostly a non-issue. Right now, it makes a lot of sense for most families to have an electric "town" car & then an ICE "trip" car. My buddy just went that route - they have a Model 3 & a Forester, so most of their driving is electric, but for off-road adventures & long trips where they don't want to plan out charging stops along the way, they just take the ICE ride.

imo 600 miles will be extremely compelling for most consumers, especially as the long-term maintenance costs & numbers come out:

So you think electric vehicles cost more? A 10-year comparison shows they’re actually cheaper

According to estimates, EV owners can expect to spend a third less on maintenance over the life of their vehicles compared to gas-powered cars. Add in fuel savings and the differences in costs between the two can be stark

www.thestar.com