As I understand it with Tesla owners talking to their agents, insurance companies did not expect "Tesla" pricing of repair cost. You cannot bring a Tesla to any body shop, only Tesla certified partners. In real, it means Tesla needs their cut. And any other repairs required to be fixed by Tesla too. If just checking a car cost $600, and check and brake fluid change cost $900, you can imagine how much a real repair can cost. People are shopping for cheaper coverage during their insurance renew period, but are getting harder to find. Until Tesla allows independent shops to work on their cars.... I think insurance companies are covering their end to not lose money. Hope Tesla sort out ownership cost when the 3 comes out... average Joe's don't give out their credit cards as easy as S owners. If you read up, there are other business practices that scares me... especially that I love to own one. Like... not allowed to buy extended warranty as 2nd owner. Not even CPO. Cannot transfer extended warranty to new owner when sold. Salvaged cars are shut out from software upgrade unless Tesla certified it is in good shape, which owner pays $1500 at their own risk even if not passed. Even stories of Tesla owners trying to share reversed engineered info get screwed around by downgrading their cars' software.
The G21 project within Toyota that turned into the Prius began in the fall of 1993 and the first cars were being sold in late 1997 in Japan. http://www.vfaq.net/docs/Prius_that_shook_world.pdf
As a full scale project, that is true, but the battery and motor developments of the EV RAV-4 was technology previously developed and strongly leveraged for Prius battery and motor advances.
In my working life I engineer aviation flight control hardware and software. I have to vent here. Virtually nobody "shares" reversed engineered info for entertainment. They are in there to screw around with something or assist someone else screwing around with something. Whether their intent is good or bad is irrelevant. Only bad things can happen. Let me repeat....Only bad things can happen. So one of the key requirements of any good safety design for vehicle control systems is to disable software, firmware, or hardware that has been screwed up. Whether it be the checksums are bad or other internal integrity checks fail, the vehicle must either disable (if safe to do so!) or shift to a backup or emergency system. So what you are calling Tesla greedy practices I see as absolutely essential needs for driver and passenger safety. Tesla is a for profit company, so they will always make decision on optimum profitability....but they also make engineering decisions to make their vehicles as safe as possible. Do not confuse the two.
Need all the facts to know the truth. Folks who screw around with stuff often leave out some critical details. How does one "find" something in software?
If someone has broken into my software, I am going to lock it down as best I can. I am also going to make sure they haven't managed to change anything, both for their own safety and the company's. You can twist it however you want, but it seems very reasonable.
not exactly yet, but they're starting to go that way; Stingrays, V8s, and plastic: What makes a Corvette a Corvette | Digital Trends .
Wow - stock is 'only up' 19% ... maybe read your link better Maybe someone needs a bit of cheese smeared on top of their smear Tesla reports possible issues & does voluntary recalls on the 1st couple thousand X's .... CR reports this many days old news ... & whatd'ya know .... the sky is still not falling. Dang! I should have bought stock on the 2% dip. Oh well - Stay tuned ... more drama will certainly follow. .
Tesla keeps getting dissed by many popular news and media outlets. Stock prices can drop in a second based on those factors btw.
It does?? What color is the sky in your world? You are correct, short term price movements can move quickly based on media. If you aren't a day trader though, popular media has little to do with long term stock prices.
The best article about what Tesla has to accomplish to stay in the game. Ten Charts That Will Make You Rethink Tesla's Model 3 - Bloomberg
Don't forget that legacy automakers have to also perform to "stay in the game". So let's ask the following questions about legacy autos: 1) Who is building big battery manufacturing capabilities to be in the future game? 2) Who is establishing a sales network that puts selling EVs as it's first priority (vs all those ICE vehicles)? 3) What makers are best prepared to handle the upcoming shock of gas price increases? 4) What makers are coordinating charging station capabilities with car charging capabilities? 5) What makers are actively using their sold vehicles to improve safety and navigation self driving abilities?
Time will tell. Tesla sure will have some explaining to do of the pre-ordered cars aren't ready in time.
That's what the doomsday crowd said about Model S, when it was late and the x when it was late. But life goes on and the buyers were there. So much so that despite all of the downside it's still the most highly-regarded car among owners. Hate to rain on your doomsday parade - so carry on as before. .
