I’ve been working in Palo Alto. I swear every 10th car is a Tesla. Lots of BMWs and Audis have license plate frames that say “my next car is electric”, as if to apologize for not breaking their lease to save the planet. Not sure if Tesla is sending these out to people with a Model 3 deposit.
Honestly it’s rubbing off on me and creating some desire. I’m looking forward to the Model 3 pricing and packaging to be released. I wouldn’t mind ordering a car in year 2 of production.
Like I said hydrogen fuel cell cars are shit. good job at finding a great example west - fukin genius.
The pricing and packaging on this is really nice, now. I’d be looking at $71,000 even after $1000 referral credit and $7500 tax refund. The tax refund will probably run out within 12 months.
Will be interesting to see where model 3 pricing ends up.
tax refunds here are about $14,000 for a Model S (Ontario, Canada). Those are CAD though so about $10,500 USD.
Here’s something to consider for anyone buying a tesla. Don’t be fooled by the nomenclature, the 75 is not necessarily 75 kw.
Original 60 – 58.5 kWh usable.
85/P85/85D/P85D – 77.5 kWh usable
90D/P90D – 81.8 kWh usable
Original 70 – 68.8 kWh usable
75/75D – 72.6 kWh usable
Software limited 60/60D – 62.4 kWh usable
Software limited 70/70D – 65.9 kWh usable
Relative to the name, capacity wise the best bang for your buck is the ‘new 60’ (which is now discontinued) which wsa actually a 62.4 kw usable capacity (104% of named capacity) and the older 70 which is the one I have which is 68.8 kw (98.3%)
The worst bang for your buck are the 85 which are actually 91% of named capacity and the 90D, also 91%.
I was considering getting maybe a second car with a bigger battery but the cost to ‘upgrade’ to an 85 is about $20,000 and you’re only getting an extra 8.7 kw, which is about 43 kms/27 miles of range.
The best way to enter the fray is the buy a used Model S 60 (second generation 60), then pay Tesla $2000 to upgrade to the 75 (2nd gen 60 is software limited to 60 but is the 75 battery in actual fact).
Problem is I’m not the only one who knows this and the second gen 60 is in hot demand.
Here’s my car.
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170601_223114_zps2bqoxdp9.jpg
Here’s is the key
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170403_162854_zpsv10fyj9c.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170601_223051_zpstemjv2rb.jpg
Here it is parked beside the RS4 the night it the RS4 was purchased by a friend’s younger brother
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170614_184108_zpsdnfah2zi.jpg
Here’s how fast charging can be if your battery is low…580 km/h is about 6 miles per minute. In other words, charge for 20 minutes, and add about 120 miles of range. It’s fastest when your battery is lowest, so if doing a long trip, it makes sense to use the bottom/middle of the battery rather than the middle/top of the battery (top of the battery charges slowest at the supercharger stations).
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170617_214230_zpsfa0do15q.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170601_222958_zps7j60eicn.jpg
Here’s the plug you need at home to charge it (the big one on the bottom). it charges at about 48 km/hr or 30 miles/hr connected on this (I have the single charger in the car which is plenty fast). That means if I bring the car home empty, it can be fully charged in 8 hrs which gives me about 237 miles of range. Interestingly the other big plug there would have charged it at about 15 miles per hr. It was already there but I opted for the bigger one so I could always go from 0-full in one sleep. The regular plug charges at about 3 miles per hr.
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20170404_182755_zpsigkt5eel.jpg
In the US they are only selling the 75 and the 100 model. It’s about $22k to make the jump.
i was talking used.
If I sell a 2015 70D and buy an equivalently equipped 85D, I’m out a ton of cash for not much range. Makes no sense.
75D and 100D are the only cars being sold new build here too. In fact their ‘new inventory’ is down to 5 Model X right now in Canada. there’s usually 50-60 cars there including a number of model S.
The free chargers at work seem to be pretty quick - about 4.4kW per hour. This one was hooked up to a Model X 75D. Essentially you’d always be full after topping off your commute.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170626/639d4182f262255264d8e312eebb4c30.jpg
The new 2017 E-Golf looks interesting, if you only want to spend $30k not $80k. Tax credit goes a lot further when the car is that cheap.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2017-volkswagen-e-golf-ev-first-drive-review
With Tesla d/c’ing the 90D/P90D and raising the price of the 100D/P100D seems like 90 owners cars all appreciated. They are holding strong between $90-110k even with 15k+ miles on them.
Saki, I thought you were keeping the RS4!?? That car will be a unicorn in the future; especially the condition yours was in.
Is it annoying being in a slower, heavier, less nimble car?
I really hope they are not making such a slow piece of shit…I will gouge my eyes out getting stuck behind those
that car gets a $13,000 credit here. Half the Audi and VW dealership staffers are lining up for it
Yeah it is basically a $22,000 car after the credit. Really cheap way to get to work, net of all costs.
it’s not much slower if at all
i don’t notice the weight
it’s definitely less nimble but so is everything
I really like the Tesla. My wife is driving it mostly. I’m driving her B8 A4 Avant. Trying to figure out what to do. I do a lot of kayaking so I need something I can cartop with. I don’t know that I want to put a kayak on the roof of an SUV. Tough call. Not many good, fun, fast, AWD cars that I like and that I can cartop with. Maybe I’ll grab a used E63 AMG S Wagon. They’re AWD. I really don’t care much. Busy with work so cars are priority 50 right now.
I love the look of the A4 allroad (B8 or B9), as it’s basically an Rs4 Avant body but it’s only available in 2.0T. If they made a diesel 3.0T or a 3.0T supercharged version, that’d be cool. otherwise 2.0T is just a slow weak little tractor engine.
The 100D is 102.x kWh. So you get 42% more battery going from a 75D to a 100D, and a different cooling system. Then you also get air suspension and a faster 17.5 kW/h charger, which is about a $5000 value. Probably not worth the extra money, as that pushes the price well over $103k.
102.x battery, or 102.x usable battery? Because I posted the usable capacity, not the actual battery size. For example my 70D has a 72.2 KWh battery, but only 68.8 is usable.
Wonder what the 100D is.
Air suspension is cool but not necessary. The faster charger is useless. When you’re out charging your car at a Tesla supercharger you don’t even use your car’s onbpoard charging. You use the 14 chargers stacked up in behind the fenced area at the supercharger station. So having the former dual charger option or the current 100D faster charger option is really only for charging at home. My single charger chargers my car at a rate of 30 miles per hr connected. When will you ever need more than that at home? And if you need it much faster, just drive to a supercharger. There’s one being built 5kms from my house. I can go there and charge at 300 miles per hr connected if I am desperate (which I would never be).
Whatever it is, it’s about to be usurped by another big battery announcement by Tesla. Someone I was talking to had his P100D written off in an accident and when he went to buy a replacement, the sales rep told him to hold off for a couple of months. Guess there’s a 110 or a 120 on the horizon.
Will be pretty amazing when you can get a 200 battery in these cars. And all electric cars. That’s where you start passing gasoline vehicle range (even a diesel jetta) and getting 600 miles or 1000 kms on a charge. Any bets on when the first 200 battery is sold in a car that isn’t a million dollars?
It must not feel slower because of all the instantaneous torque/power compared to the RS4 having to wind it up to get that HP
Nissan makes the GTR heavy yet destroys the track. If Tesla setup their “P” cars similarly to a GTR on a track I’d seriously consider one. IMO for $150k it should.
Saki, sounds like you need an RS7! 4 doors, low roof for the kayak, and semi-hatchback like 
They are trying to build a car that has a 750 mile range before 2020. That would be a 200 kWh battery.
Even though Tesla is ramping to 20k cars a month in December for Model3, I think those cars are going to friends of Elon and existing owners rather than people who saved money for this car. The first production run tends to have a lot of parts replaced. Not great if this is your only car. Better if it’s your 4th car.