Featured Tesla Model 3 May Have a 300 Mile Range Option

My guess is they will be able to fold down, but that detail was not given yet. I don't think a skii pass through would work on a surf board, and yes, I'm sure they tested it ;-)

 

Not trying to be a smart a$$ Bob but your question tells me you haven't surfed. A 7ft surfboard AIN'T the same thing as a 7ft 2x4. LOL Especially one with alot of rocker. There's only one way to get something that large in a small sedan: through the back.

Me? I prefer the roof; much easier, cleaner, and obviously more room for passengers. I've read you can't put rigid roof racks on the model X. I wonder if that will affect the 3 also.

 

That's a chicken & egg situation. There were no 200+ mile CCS cars on the road so of course there weren't any Supercharger-like CCS stations spread along interstate routes. Once the cars are here there will finally be economic incentives for interstate CCS stations and J1772 overnight motel charging.

Porsche (and perhaps others) are considering using higher voltage battery packs of around 800V instead of today's 400V packs. The car would presumably be able to open a contactor within the battery pack to enable it to charge as two parallel 400V packs for compatibility with older charging stations. That would allow them to charge twice as fast at newer 800-1000V at the same amperage limits. The top official CCS current is now 200A but a new standard in development will allow 350A with the same connector.

Although, it looks like the front windshield is pretty conventional unlike the X which has a windshield that sweeps way back along the roof. The Model 3 looks like it has 3 window segments: typical windshield, front passenger roof glass, and finally a long rear windshield which sweeps up above the rear passengers. Rear windshields rarely need to be replaced.

In any case, the glass roof is apparently an option. The default is a typical metal sedan roof and there will also apparently be a conventional motorized panoramic sunroof.

 

Most load groceries in the front trunk (Frunk) which leaves the rear for even more stuff ... but everyone else won't mind moving up one space

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This is the opening behind the rear, seat backs of the 2001-03 Prius:

Perhaps you've never seen this view or have it confused with some other sedan.

Bob Wilson

 

The windshield of a friend's RX was over $1100 to replace 10 years ago.

The falcon doors would get in the way of a traditional roof rack. SeaSucker has racks for bikes and surf boards. Board & Kayak Racks | SeaSucker

 

I don't read anything about on-board charger rate(s). Model S has 2 options - single or dual chargers. Model X has a choice of a 48 or 75 amp (5X faster than the PiP's on-board) charger. Anyone find out what the 3 gets?
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Tesla Model 3 Spotted In The Wild - Images + Video

 

IMHO it is not chicken and egg, its different business models.

I met a guy in line that had one of the first roadsters. He was perfectly able to make long trips, but now that he has done the upgraded battery pack, he can use much more convient superchargers. He said they have to build one more to make it convient to drive to new orleans, but that is planned. Before he found trailer parks and plugged into those to get a charge.

Tesla decided that they are going to build for the future to over come objections to long range BEVs. That included designing the pack to be swappable and to be charged at a high rate. They have invested or wasted money in locations that likely won't have many cars, so that they can support long trips.

on CCS bmw is helping to build it out as are some west coast and east coast states, Illonois and Texas. These support regioinal trips and at 50 kw. As opposed to being free for life they are rather expensive, but if you only charge 10% on them, its not too bad. BMW is making them free for a while to new buyers. CCS looks like it will do regional trips. Its not the same but it shouldn't be required to sell the bolt, most users if they are planning extensive trips accross the country are going to buy a tesla or a phev (bolt, prius prime, i3-rex, bmw 330e, ford energi, etc) Therefore if the states doesn't subsidize I doubt NRG or the car companies will. Market share is pused toward tesla, so if NRG does out of its business model start building these, they may take a little cash from tesla and add a tesla plug too.

I don't think tesla needs a nationwide US, european, and japanese supercharger network to sell the S or the model III. They do want people to love their cars and to get more people to buy. Its a marketing plan that builds the brand. People that may never take long trips may buy a tesla for the advantage.

 

It's kind of ironic that you are praising Tesla for looking to the future but you yourself are looking backwards at the past when discussing CCS.

As I noted before, today's CCS stations are designed to support today's 80-100 mile regional EVs. That isn't at all surprising. The next generation of CCS EVs starting with the Bolt EV will include 200+ mile cars that are fully capable of longer distance travel (if not yet ideal for it). Their presence on the road and the implied economic opportunities will drive a new generation of 100 kW and even 150 kW CCS chargers to be installed at new locations oriented toward longer distance travel and that is essentially identical to the placement business model being followed with Tesla's Superchargers. In other words, interstate locations outside of big metro areas and overnight charging at motels.

It would be nice if GM helped to pull forward the timeframe of this new generation of CCS chargers but even if they don't there will be other companies selling higher-end 200-300 mile EVs that will be motivated to help push the new CCS infrastructure so they can compete with Tesla. I think Porsche/Audi (VW) and BMW are going to be very motivated to do this as they are seeing Tesla take a large chunk of their premium vehicle sales. And even if the car companies do nothing, the economic forces will bring this new infrastructure eventually anyway. It's just a question of timing.

 

Really I am pleasantly suprised that tesla's super charger strategy appears to be working. I don't think I am looking backward when it comes to ccs.

Sure how long will it take? By the end of 2018, it looks like tesla will have over 200,000 - 200+ mile BEVs in the US. GM looks like its hoping to have around 60,000 ccs 200+ mile bevs, but these will mainly be on the west coast, where most ccs chargers are. BMW also may soon have over 100 miles but like gm is pushing phevs to do long distance trips. Its a different business model.

50% of plug in sales are west coast (california, oregon, and washington). IMHO gm and bmw are fairly happy selling bevs for that market, and phevs for long trips outside that market. If you are outside that region though, tesla will have good coverage in all the continental US and southern Canada by the end of this year.

The supercharger network then represents a moat, building tesla's brand. GM is making a better EV-1 (other than looks) with the bolt, and we should give it credit. There is more of a risk tesla pulls this off this model 3, but if they do its a better sports sedan. I can see people stepping up from the camry/accord class to these cars. Demographics in the lines were much younger than hybrid sales. 30 something year olds might easily step up from a regular midsize sedan to a model 3, and that is the biggest car market.

I actually think the volt is probably better for long trips than a bolt with faster CCS. GM probably is better off concentrating on moving voltec technology to larger vehicles (CUVS?) Eventually? Or maybe gm buys into the supercharger network and pays to help expand it. We don't know. My guess is if you want a network you are better off getting a model 3 in 2019 (if you don't have a deposit down you won't get one until then), but you could certainly lease a bolt until the model 3 is available.

 

Sure, I think there is little doubt about that. The Bolt EV has roughly the long-distance abilities of a Tesla S60 if it has access to 100 kW (200A) CCS stations. The Model S with larger battery packs are clearly superior for long distance traveling not only because they can go farther between stops but also because they charge at a faster absolute kW rate when empty and charge at a faster rate in terms of miles added per minute of charge time. In spite of that, there are S60 owners that regularly take them on road trips.

Yep, that's my plan. I plan to get a Bolt EV and drive that until Tesla shakes out any issues in the Model 3 platform and adds a 2nd generation of AutoPilot hardware sometime by around 2020-2022.

Their battery costs should be dropping as capacity utilization ramps at the GigaFactory. Around the time that I'm ready to get a Tesla the tax credits will have lapsed for them and (GM, Nissan) and given that the only other 200-mile used EVs on the market will be Model S cars I figure that should provide a stronger lower-bound on used Bolt sales prices than we have seen for past used EVs. With stronger relative used Bolt pricing and dropping battery prices I'm hoping that will mostly make up for the disappearance of the tax credit when I get my Model 3 or Model Y CUV Tesla. I also plan to get a 300 mile pack by then to enable better long distance convenience. I also want to be able to throw my bike in the car and that implies a hatch of some kind. At least that's my theory.

Meanwhile, as for charging networks, I think interstate CCS will sprout adequately within 500-1000 miles of where I live so I suspect I can get by until I have access to Tesla charging. Folks in most non-coastal areas probably are limited to using the Bolt EV as a local metro car.

 

If you have a low reservation number, you might do better selling your place in line than getting a refund.

 

Tesla reservations are non-transferable.

 

According to what I've read, Tesla says you can't sell the place holder; i.e., use it or lose it.

 

hmmm I duno . . . . if that's a picture of the sets back there. . . . off the shores of Thay-haus . . . . i'm thinking that the long board on top of that C-max hasn't seen much surf either

Better have then check out the sets off of the Cali coast next time they're out this way. . . . . . . . .
Mavericks . . . . they got some nice twig breakers out there


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BTDT Cali, Mex, and Hawaii all back in the day before, ahemm, life happened.