Featured Model 3 has 310 mile range

yes, this is an issue as well.

 

my new vizio tv came without a manual, or a tuner. (both a first for me) i had to go on line to figure out the set up. the tuner will be aftermarket, but i was made aware of that when purchasing on the website.

 

The simultaneous two tire failures are rare these days. In 59 years of driving I've only seen one and it was mine in the early 60s when I didn't pay attention to tire pressure and had two rears delaminate from heat (4 people going home for Thanksgiving on the interstate). Fortunately one was only partial and I was at the Acron interchange (remember back when such things as tires were made there?). Wallet lighter I was on my way in 30 minutes. I've seen the same cause take out as many as 5 cars in 10 minutes when cars followed the tracks in the snow and all ruptured a sidewall when the first car's snow track led off the road. My wife called me. The 4 others parked within sight had no clue how to change a tire. OTOH, I made my kids change a tire before they drove by them self for the first time.

Recall the old days when you rotated 5 tires in a pattern and not 4.

As for spare parts, I did actually use an old windshield wiper I had thrown in the trunk recently when the replacement (from a Toyota dealer) proved not to be flexible enough to flip over when reversing direction. Remnants of a hurricane. But most modern cars are so complex and fail so infrequently that when they do most recent folks wouldn't have a clue or the tools even if they had the spare parts. Of course that is equally true of some dealer mechanics. I asked my mechanic today if the pLock function was inside the transmission or an old style parking brake and he did not have a clue. If the computer doesn't tell him what to do, he is helpless. Fortunately it did fail in front of him so I have some hope after 3 days.

 

The Prius does not have a transmission. The plock is the parking pawl in the transaxle.

 

"AAA found that 28% of the 2017 model year vehicles sold don't have spares, down from 36% from the 2015 model year vehicles sold."
- from the link

So the number of cars sold without a spare has decreased. Since this is a rate of cars sold, it is the numbers of people choosing to get a car without a spare. Take the Prius. The Two, Three, and Three Touring all come with a spare tire. If having a spare was important, Toyota gave you options for getting a Prius with one from the factory.

This models without a spare list is out of date, but most of the cars on it have the spare tire as an option.
https://publicaffairsresources.aaa.biz/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Vehicles-Sold-Without-a-Spare-Tire.pdf

If you feel the manufacturers are dooming us to no spares, vote with your wallet, and only buy cars that have them.

Which also extends to tire.

Aside from the tire blow out in the early '80s, and the handful flats I have dealt with were from punctures that a plug or inflator kit would fix. I'd say that in half of those cases, the nail or whatever the object was sealed to hole up well enough that the tire didn't go flat until after I got home. The TPMS warned me the pressure was getting low before it became trouble in the car that had it equipped. I did once chunk the sidewall on a curb, but the tire held up.

The 3000 mile oil change is no longer needed. Likewise, the tire designs and rubber compounds have also improved with the rest of the technology that goes into cars. You might be able to still get a bias ply tire for a trailer, but not for your car.

Universal TPMS also means that anyone can mount run flat tires if they want. Of course, the TPMS is already going to help prevent all the flats and blowouts do to underinflation. If most people had regularly checked their tire pressures, we wouldn't have been saddled with the system.

 

Toyota only gave the option for the Liftback, though. The more fuel efficient Prime is stuck with no OEM spare tire option at any price short of buying the company.

 

Because it's a plug in, and most of the people buying those value EV range over having a spare. i don't know of any plug in that has a spare tire as even an option.

Cars have limited space for all the things people want to have in them. The Spark EV doesn't have a spare, not because it's a BEV, but because it's a Spark; a tiny car that is barely a subcompact. There is literally no room for a spare tire in it. The Miata might not have a spare tire in order to cut weight for better performance, but more likely it is because it has a tiny trunk to begin with.

 

@hill claims several people have added a spare to an EV. He even posted a photo to prove it in #540.

 

Cell phones haven't come with manuals for years. Quick start guides might be in the box, but those are rare.

Old people chat/email us for hard copies, but we're a green company and have only PDFs, which any office supply store can print.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

But how many of the thousands of Tesla owners have done so?
Would they have given up even 15 miles of range to have a spare tire standard?

Unless the manufacturer did something like fill the spare tire well space up with styrofoam, not having a spare means more trunk space for these sans spare cars. So adding a spare isn't going to cripple some feature off the car. The models with spares also didn't get them for free. Tesla could have added a spare tire, but that would increase the base price, and take away from the car's cargo space.

I was disappointed that Starcraft2 didn't have manual.
But annoyed that the online resource that took its place wasn't mobile friendly.

 

Anybody worried about increasing the base price to include a spare tire isn't looking to buy a Tesla.

 

Anyone that can buy a Model S or X can afford the four figure price tag for a fifth wheel and tire if they want a spare. A factory spare isn't going to add just $100 to the MSRP like in the case of a car for the masses, and the Model 3 isn't truly a car for the masses either.

An issue with a temporary spare in regards to more performance oriented car is that the spare steel wheel may not fit on the car because of the brakes. I know in the case of the SS trim for the HHR, the spare wheel will only fit on the rear hubs, because of the larger front brakes.

 

Whoopee for the few hundred Model 3's Tesla has produced since July. Sounds like HUGE problems at the Gigafactory ....

http://www.hybridcars.com/model-3-bottleneck-blamed-on-chaos-and-incompetence-at-tesla-gigafactory/

They had an opportunity years ago to build the Gigafactory somewhere in CA. Sounds like they blew it building out of Sparks NV with casino workers as talent pool and NV Energy causing weekly power outages.

 

I owned a car where, if the rear tire failed, you did have a mini-spare but you couldn't get the trunk closed with the failed tire/wheel in it. Only way to transport the wheel was in the passenger seat. Hmmm ... take my wife or a $800 wheel and tire? Life is full of tough choices.

 

they're not totally solar?

 

incompetence in a large business - but don't you love the irony? On the one hand we're shocked at incompetence - & so Tesla fires 100's that are incompetent ... and then, it's "oh how horrible - firing all those poor poor employees - Booo Hoooo !!"
What a shame, everyone doesn't get a gold star.

right - Musk should'a built in Jerry Brown's uber-overtaxed state .... nearly run into the ground previously by Grey (brownout) Davis.
Again, damned if you do & damned if you don't. all of us armchair quarterbacks .... we always have a better plan - after the fact.
BTW;
Average Casino dealer yearly wage;
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/casino-dealer-worker-salary-SRCH_KO0,13_KE14,20.htm
Average assembly line worker;
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/assembly-line-worker-salary-SRCH_KO0,20.htm
Just saying, don't know why you would figure people would go somewhere else just to take a cut in pay, most likely. Or are you just spewing indignation for those not making six figures. maybe suggesting, hiring MIT grads? Despite what cars would then cost? IOW - not sure what the point of bringing up Casino workers is.
.

 

But how much more would it have cost to build in California with the taxes and environmental regs?

The NV energy commission changed the rules to favor the utility companies a year or so ago. The solar installation companies left the state.

Even if the Gigafactory can power itself during the day, it isn't off the grid, and I'm guessing they don't want to divert production to do so at this point.

 

I presume you have heard of the powerwall. And the gigafactory is making batteries you know. Their backups run most of the island of Kauai. If they could do that, how hard would it be to do it to their own Factory.
Can Tesla Power Its Gigafactory with Renewables Alone? > ENGINEERING.com
.

 

You would think they should be able to at least buffer momentary outages with batteries.

 

I am aware of them, and SolarCity offered, or at least advertised on their site, battery banks before the Powerwall came to market.
Does the Gigafactory have enough installed to run the factory while the grid power is out?
If not, will they have to divert cells from Model 3 production to produce those battery banks?

I suspect any battery banks they have are more for the purpose of peak shaving/time shifting, and they likely don't have the equipment to isolate the factory from the grid in the event of an outage.