Crown

By far easier to electrify a country with a population less than that of several U.S. cities.   

Years ago, wasn't large scale ICE adoption also "infrastructure dependent" ??   Petrol Station infrastructure buildout back then seemed to move much faster than the EV infrastructure today.

No, not the same extent because a distribution system already existed to distribute kerosene and other products of distillation to industry and homes plus liquids offer greater flexibility and quicker levels of distribution. Let’s not forget that at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the primary means of powering automobiles was electric, followed by steam, and finally hydrocarbon-based fuels. This didn’t shift significantly until the Model T and the electric starter.  Then the transition point rapidly shifted to gasoline automobiles. 

CGX car nut:

Firstly, to address Christian’s comment above, where did I infer that Volkswagen and Dieselgate was defect in design?  I referenced Dieselgate as an example of the costs involved when recalls involve millions of units of product.  It can easily take a company to financial ruination. 

This is what YOU wrote : This lack of testing on the high volume models, gigacasting for example, can have a catastrophic impact on the company if a serious defect emerges.  Think Volkswagen Group and dieselgate or Takata and airbags. 

My English can't be that bad that I misunderstood this?! 

Yes, you are right...such a scandal can ruin a company.

--

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)

RC:

CGX car nut:

Firstly, to address Christian’s comment above, where did I infer that Volkswagen and Dieselgate was defect in design?  I referenced Dieselgate as an example of the costs involved when recalls involve millions of units of product.  It can easily take a company to financial ruination. 

This is what YOU wrote : This lack of testing on the high volume models, gigacasting for example, can have a catastrophic impact on the company if a serious defect emerges.  Think Volkswagen Group and dieselgate or Takata and airbags. 

My English can't be that bad that I misunderstood this?! 

Yes, you are right...such a scandal can ruin a company.

--

 

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)

 

Volkswagen and Dieselgate was not a failure of testing but an intentional effort to game the then regulatory testing protocol. Takata and the airbag situation was not a failure, unless one considers not applying a failsafe approach-of design but one of manufacture with a change in the specification of the initiator materials to lower price. Think Boeing and the recent B737-9 Max incident with the door.  It was not a failure of testing or a design deficiency but one of manufacturing or maintenance.  What happens in product development is not what always happens on the production floor as many companies create organizational silos that impair cross-division communications.  

GT-Boy:

Years ago, wasn't large scale ICE adoption also "infrastructure dependent" ??   Petrol Station infrastructure buildout back then seemed to move much faster than the EV infrastructure today.

Petro stations are much easier to build out. One just need a building lot, permits and approvals, and boom, done. petro delivery is super easy and very scalable, everything is just a tanker truck away. Need more gas, ask for an extra tanker, done. 

EV infrastructures is quite a bit more complicated than that unfortunately. Yes the charger itself is easy to install, but the backbone, aka the electricity distribution network isn't. Those chargers draw quite an amount of power, so more than likely the local transformers aren't up to par, perhaps the wiring also. Then the same steps repeat up the chain to the power station. Some got spare capacity, some don't, and if the later, then a new more powerful power station is needed. 

That's just for public charging.

Private home charging is another can of worms. People who lives in apartments likely don't have their own power socket in their stall, same with people that only rely on street parking. For those WITH sockets, the building's wiring may or may not be scaled up enough to support everyone charging at once, aka, when they come back from work.

Single family detached homes are a little bit better, as they can always wire in their own socket. But their main panel may not be able to support the big draw of a EV charger, that means upgrading the main panel. the drop line from the utility company also may not be enough to support extra power draw, especially in older homes. That means a second line in, or replacing the old drop. 

from there, it follows the same path as the public charger scenario, the local transformer may not be strong enough, etc.

--

Early motorists used pharmacies and hardware stores as stations before the dedicated filling station came into existence.  Bertha Benz on her historic for car trip stopped into a pharmacy for benzine for the trip back home. 

Whoopsy:

GT-Boy:

Years ago, wasn't large scale ICE adoption also "infrastructure dependent" ??   Petrol Station infrastructure buildout back then seemed to move much faster than the EV infrastructure today.

 

Petro stations are much easier to build out. One just need a building lot, permits and approvals, and boom, done. petro delivery is super easy and very scalable, everything is just a tanker truck away. Need more gas, ask for an extra tanker, done. 

EV infrastructures is quite a bit more complicated than that unfortunately. Yes the charger itself is easy to install, but the backbone, aka the electricity distribution network isn't. Those chargers draw quite an amount of power, so more than likely the local transformers aren't up to par, perhaps the wiring also. Then the same steps repeat up the chain to the power station. Some got spare capacity, some don't, and if the later, then a new more powerful power station is needed. 

That's just for public charging.

Private home charging is another can of worms. People who lives in apartments likely don't have their own power socket in their stall, same with people that only rely on street parking. For those WITH sockets, the building's wiring may or may not be scaled up enough to support everyone charging at once, aka, when they come back from work.

Single family detached homes are a little bit better, as they can always wire in their own socket. But their main panel may not be able to support the big draw of a EV charger, that means upgrading the main panel. the drop line from the utility company also may not be enough to support extra power draw, especially in older homes. That means a second line in, or replacing the old drop. 

from there, it follows the same path as the public charger scenario, the local transformer may not be strong enough, etc.

 

--completely agree that public chargers are really just for long road trips. Most apartment parking and street parking is not going to handle too many EVs very easily. For any homeowner using off hour charging the same circuit as the stove (50amp rarely used at night) or clothes dryer (30 amp) should suffice; but boy do I know the bit about upgrading the incoming line. Already had a 200amp panel installed, but still 100amp breaker and incoming line. Just the upgrade from the existing panel back up the line was $7,000 and not even car related.

 

 

 

 

CGX car nut:

RC:

CGX car nut:

Firstly, to address Christian’s comment above, where did I infer that Volkswagen and Dieselgate was defect in design?  I referenced Dieselgate as an example of the costs involved when recalls involve millions of units of product.  It can easily take a company to financial ruination. 

This is what YOU wrote : This lack of testing on the high volume models, gigacasting for example, can have a catastrophic impact on the company if a serious defect emerges.  Think Volkswagen Group and dieselgate or Takata and airbags. 

My English can't be that bad that I misunderstood this?! 

Yes, you are right...such a scandal can ruin a company.

--

 

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)

 

Volkswagen and Dieselgate was not a failure of testing but an intentional effort to game the then regulatory testing protocol. Takata and the airbag situation was not a failure, unless one considers not applying a failsafe approach-of design but one of manufacture with a change in the specification of the initiator materials to lower price. Think Boeing and the recent B737-9 Max incident with the door.  It was not a failure of testing or a design deficiency but one of manufacturing or maintenance.  What happens in product development is not what always happens on the production floor as many companies create organizational silos that impair cross-division communications.

I call it a lack of integrity, and they paid dearly for it.

If I don't fly, I drive my .:RS :)

“Morgan Stanley cuts Tesla's price target, warns this could be the year Tesla loses money”

(6 March 2024)

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas is the latest analyst to raise some concerns with TesIa. In a note to clients, Jonas wondered, “Could Tesla lose money (sometime) this year?”

…  …

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-cuts-teslas-price-target-warns-this-could-be-the-year-tesla-loses-money-204805161.html

The engineers were desperate to meet the budget limitations. One "genius" came up with the software idea and the leadership approved it. Just dumb.

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)

A 3rd party charger maker tested the Cybertruck on the 800V capability. Oh boy, it ain't pretty.

It 'can' take advantage of the higher voltage and current, peaked at 814V and 462A for 327kW, but that only lasted a tiny short while, the electronics quickly overheats and the software QUICKLY ramp down the charging rate to protect the truck. One gets maybe 4 minutes of actual fast charging. And basically under 120KW from 20% onwards. 

Which year the Tesla engineers think it is right now? 2010? That's abysmal charging rate. 

OTA will fix it lol

Won't stop Elon from twisting facts and say the Cybertruck can charge up 15% in 5 mins. Which is true for the first 15%. Which equates to 50 miles of range per Tesla's range rating.

There is a reason why Tesla people wanted to talk about charging rate as range per time unit of charge, instead of the normal energy per time unit of charge. The distance part can be made up with unrealistic range rating, but energy content is a concrete scientific number that cannot be fudged. A 10% charge could means X number of miles for me and Y number of miles for you and Z number of miles for another person. Very unreliable metric. 

As for OTA update, Tesla can relax the safety temperature to maintain the higher current for slightly longer, but it still will get cut. This is a hardware issue, or more fittingly, design and engineering issue, they just didn't factor in adequate cooling. 

I actually feel bad for the engineers. I’m sure they know it’s crap, but I suspect they’re given multiple constraints to deal with. I don’t think Elon is the type of guy that encourages free thinking, he seems like a micromanaging control freak.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law died in drowning incident involving a Tesla Model X while she was attempting a three-point turn and inadvertently selected reverse instead of forward.  Recall that updated Models X and S removed the physical gear shift selector, replacing it with a virtual one displayed on the central touchscreen. Also recall the default mode is for the vehicle to automatically select the direction of travel. Is this another incident involving confusing human factors and touchscreens?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13176301/Mitch-McConnells-billionaire-shipping-mogul-sister-law-drowned-fatal-mistake-Tesla-Angela-Chao-desperate-phone-call-help-night-partying-girlfriends-sprawling-Texas-ranch.html

That is actually a wild story!

The Sheriff continues with a criminal investigation so the charges would be against Tesla for myriad issues starting with the initial confusion over drive modes followed by virtually unbreakable windows and roof combined with a lack of physical door handles both internal and external.  This an example of why the traditional automakers didn’t innovate in the Tesla mold for decades.  I recall when the German automakers used to advertise exposed door handles as a safety feature but they too have resorted to overly complicated flat handles.  

I really don't see the point of an electronic door handle/lock/whatever. For cars with those electronic buttons, they still have to have a physical handle anyways, so what's the point? Other than extra weight for nothing. 

A physical lock can still be operated after getting wet, an electronic one will be useless once it's been shorted out. 

Another pointless thing like touch screen that I would love to be banned from cars. 

In reply and this is what happens when people do not read and LEARN the owner’s manual. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/11/texas-man-dog-die-trapped-corvette/71053474/ However, if I recall many new cars no longer have a physical manual available. 

Try to remember this when panicking. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modelx/en_us/GUID-AAD769C7-88A3-4695-987E-0E00025F64E0.html#:~:text=To%20open%20a%20front%20door,front%20of%20the%20window%20switches.

Is anyone surprised that Musk behaves this way? I think the decade long lies about FSD, product releases, etc were ample warning…

Cybertruck initial tear down by Caresoft Global. This company is superior to Munro. https://youtu.be/khPMITqp91I?si=88RJNOgbUNycZ4cV

Posting a very positive story about Elon Musk.  While not directly Tesla related it is informative. 
 

Glorious News!

You did it! We all did it! 

Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill has made the goal of $300K raised to keep her from bankruptcy and homelessness. A push from Brownstone friends raised $182K in one week and then the case grabbed the attention of Elon Musk. The legal team from X called her and gave her the good news that they would take care of the rest, cover her other legal bills, and take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary. 

There has been so much suffering and sadness that this beautiful news comes as a source of happiness and hope. Yes, millions of others still suffer and freedom itself is in grave danger. But this case shows what happens when people of goodwill come together to stand up for truth, with brave conviction and a determination not to let evil win. 

Dr. Gill has been there from the beginning, pleading for the rights of her patients against overweening power from government, tech, and media. She paid a very heavy price for her opposition to lockdowns and mask and vaccine mandates. She and her family attended the first Brownstone annual event in 2021 and we’ve been close colleagues ever since. 

In this case, too, Elon Musk played the role of the angel of mercy. He took over Twitter to protect free speech against what was a government push to nationalize and shut down the entire Internet. He has been a champion of ideals ever since, making their plans impossible, while opening up the files that prove the existence of a vast censorship conspiracy. 

Occasions like this cause us to reflect on the reality of our times. The emergency is ongoing. None of us can on our own fix everything. We know that. And yet there are ways in which we can make a difference, one life at a time. 

We had hoped to offer Dr. Gill a fellowship to bridge her out of her difficulties but we needed to wait for this disaster to pass. But now that this is done, we would so much like to bring her into the fold with a fellowship to provide her support and community in these times. 

Reuters reporting Tesla has canceled its low cost car program because of lessening demand for EVs in the States and too much low cost competition in China. Musk, unfortunately, gave the CCP a royalty-free tech transfer license to the Chinese automakers when he opened the Shanghai plant. https://www.motor1.com/news/715139/tesla-canceled-entry-level-cars/

"Tesla laying off more than 10% of staff globally as sales fall"

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-lay-off-more-than-10-its-staff-electrek-reports-2024-04-15/

Ordered my next model 3 performance the day it went on sale. 
 Current one running like new with 74k miles. In four years working from home. 
Been using the free fsd trial since 4-1 and have been very impressed by it. It goes around town quicker than I would in some cases. It is amazing but many of you refuse to even try it. TDS and EDS are closely related. 
So far I have experienced nothing but eye opening pure joy owing my Tesla. Fastest and most incredible car I have ever owned. Everyone else is Ten years behind. 
So sorry that some can’t stop hating.

Hi Leawood,

Thanks for sharing your ownership experience! 

How's your beautiful Porsche 997 Turbo with those stunning wheels? 

PS: Rennteam legend "Futch" has acquired a low mileage Porsche 997 Turbo manual... 

Cheers!