Official Tesla Model S thread

[Herm]

So slightly different question, what's the advantage of having it on the rear drivers side?

The port is closer to the charger, thus less internal copper wiring is needed and its lighter.. assuming the charger is in the rear of the car and not under the hood.

 

[Zythryn]

Personally I like it in the back drivers side. I prefer to back into the garage. We have a ton of kids in our neighborhood and I feel safer driving forward when leaving the garage. If I found it more convenient to drive in forward, I would have installed the 220V plug close to the front of the garage.
Public chargers have long enough cords that I could plug in, on the rare occasions I would need one.

Other than the advantages listed previously, you have fewer panel edges, so less air turbulence (I am sure it is a small issue, if any) and hiding it behind the taillight has aesthetic appeal.

 

[LEAFfan]

Personally I like it in the back drivers side. I prefer to back into the garage. We have a ton of kids in our neighborhood and I feel safer driving forward when leaving the garage. If I found it more convenient to drive in forward, I would have installed the 220V plug close to the front of the garage.
Public chargers have long enough cords that I could plug in, on the rare occasions I would need one.

Other than the advantages listed previously, you have fewer panel edges, so less air turbulence (I am sure it is a small issue, if any) and hiding it behind the taillight has aesthetic appeal.

Doesn't it have a RVC like the LEAF? If so, there should be no problem seeing kids behind the car.

 

[Zythryn]

Doesn't it have a RVC like the LEAF? If so, there should be no problem seeing kids behind the car.

Yes it does, but I prefer having the full field of view given looking out front (4 feet) rather than through a RVC (8" or so). It became a habit before we got the Model S and is just easier, and safer to do.

 

[Train]

Do they have enough reservations to fill out the 2013 model year? I would love to have the 85 kWh battery, but I just do not like the size. I like the size of the Leaf, but would like about 3 to 6 inches wider. To me the S is just too large for me. And I hear the X is almost as large. I just have to wait for the version after the X and I want them to remain in business long enough to develop a smaller five place version.

Yeah, I cancelled my Model S reservation when it came time to pony up – it's just too big for my tastes. On the outside, that is. There's actually plenty more headroom and legroom in the LEAF, particularly in the back seat. And I was told by the Tesla rep that the Model X will actually be larger (in length) than the Model S. On the other hand, I'd go for the new electric RAV4 if it had comparable range and AWD – that's a great sized vehicle – I have the ICE version now and like it a lot.

Like many, I'm looking forward to Tesla's follow-on vehicle, a more reasonable-sized sport sedan hatchback. Or if only Nissan would offer a larger battery pack option on the LEAF, I'd trade up even with the existing styling.

Look for many others to do the same. When the time comes to send a check, realizing you're going to have your bank account significantly depleted and/or you're going to be paying $1000 or more a month for quite some time, hard reality sets in.

The ones who can really afford this car will enjoy the Tesla for its impressive technology. But the ones who know they shouldn't be spending this much on a car are going to be in for some migraine intense buyer's remorse.

Sure, there will be the few months of the honeymoon and "This is the most life changing thing in my life, ever!" Showing it off to friends, driving it every chance you can.

But weeks will turn into months and time will turn the $95,000 car into, well..a car. Then one night, 6 months from now, you'll sit at the kitchen table eating pecan sandies staring at the clock, suddenly realizing that you forked over 95,000 bones for a four door sedan. Ninety. Five. Thousand. Dollars. A whole new level of rationalizing and self affirmation will start taking place.

Reservations are one thing. Paying the balance is another. We'll see if everyone who says they want the car actually buys the car. Guilt ridden granolas, notwithstanding.

When all the doctors, lawyers and former Leaf/Prius owners who-are-not-thinking-clearly-to-be-paying-this-much-for-a-car all get their electric earth ship delivered, I believe Model S sedans (even the $49,000 version) will start taking up all those extra parking spaces in Freemont. A conundrum will then ensue. Because I don't believe enough demand will be there.

 

[Herm]

Train, how big is the $100k car market in the US, Japan and Europe?.. Tesla is building 20 stores in Japan.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

last I looked, it appears there are something like 900 new reservations for the S in the last two weeks or so, and that's after the price increase, holly cow!

 

[Zythryn]

Train, how big is the $100k car market in the US, Japan and Europe?.. Tesla is building 20 stores in Japan.

Not sure how big it is in Europe and Japan. In the US the 'luxury' market is about a million a year. Someone mentioned the bottom end of that price range is $35,000 (seems low to me, is a fully optioned Leaf a luxury vehicle?).
So IF that is the case, say the bottom 15k is half of that market. That still leaves 500k a year in the market. So Tesla is looking to capture 4% of that market. If the market for 50-100k$ vehicles in the rest of the world is half of the US market, Tesla only needs 3%.

 

[TonyWilliams]

last I looked, it appears there are something like 900 new reservations for the S in the last two weeks or so, and that's after the price increase, holly cow!

But peak production is 400 per week....

 

[mitch672]

last I looked, it appears there are something like 900 new reservations for the S in the last two weeks or so, and that's after the price increase, holly cow!

But peak production is 400 per week....

Yes, a nice "problem" to have as a manufacturer. I think they are going to keep ramping well beyond 400/week, with Europe and Japan, as well as the U.S., who knows what the sustained demand could be, 700-1000/week could be possible. I can tell you this, my reservation was done on 7/2/2012, at that time I was quoted 'Spring/Summer 2013' I received my "finalize" email on 12/2/2012' I promptly submitted it.. I was called a week ago, my car is ready and on a car carrier to the east coast, due Sunday, this is at least 3-4 months ahead of the initial estimate, probably because i am getting what they are already building (85KW, dual chargers, Dolphin Grey etc)

They are not slowing down or stopping, for anyone. It's obvious they will far exceed even their own production estimates. By selling as many as possible, it insures success and gets them additional working capital for Model X and BlueStar production and development. There could well be more Model S than Nissan Leafs in a year or two.

It's a good time to be TSLA shareholder as well

 

[Train]

Oy vey.

And how many believed Nissan's sales projection a year ago. They just lowered the prices for 2013 Leafs and had to have fire sale leases just to sell what they did the last quarter of 2012.

Using a backlog of Tesla reservations and extrapolating all of them to be sales, well, be my guest.

Tesla, like the Leaf, will have their rabid, enthusiastic buyers who will pay or do anything to get one. After that, I'm not so sure.

At this point, I'm not impressed with fogged windows, water in light casings, gaps in body panels, stuck door handles, and blacked out screens. Not on a $100,000 car.

 

[mitch672]

Oy vey.

And how many believed Nissan's sales projection a year ago. They just lowered the prices for 2013 Leafs and had to have fire sale leases just to sell what they did the last quarter of 2012.

Using a backlog of Tesla reservations and extrapolating all of them to be sales, well, be my guest.

Tesla, like the Leaf, will have their rabid, enthusiastic buyers who will pay or do anything to get one. After that, I'm not so sure.

At this point, I'm not impressed with fogged windows, water in light casings, gaps in body panels, stuck door handles, and blacked out screens. Not on a $100,000 car.

Personally, I'm done hearing your opinion about the Model S, no one is forcing you to buy one.
I'm not impressed with YOU

You think Nissan (or should I say "Datsun") first car had no issues? They will solve their mnor problems. and it will be wildly successful, despite you. Tesla has figured out what Nissan hasn't been able too, even giving their cars away won't matter, no one wants a 100 mile range car, even though that's all they really need.
People buy what they PERCEIVE they need, not what they actually need.

Tesla has over 18,000 reservations now, and these are people who put down a minimum of $5,000, a little more than Nissans $99 handraisers, most of them are very serious about the Model S.

 

[evnow]

I'm not impressed with YOU

Pls, no personal attacks.

Tesla has over 18,000 reservations now, and these are people who put down a minimum of $5,000, a little more than Nissans $99 handraisers, most of them are very serious about the Model S.

Do you know the conversion rate ? If not, how do you know "most" people are serious ? Reports are that the conversion rate is not very good.

 

[Train]

Oy vey.

And how many believed Nissan's sales projection a year ago. They just lowered the prices for 2013 Leafs and had to have fire sale leases just to sell what they did the last quarter of 2012.

Using a backlog of Tesla reservations and extrapolating all of them to be sales, well, be my guest.

Tesla, like the Leaf, will have their rabid, enthusiastic buyers who will pay or do anything to get one. After that, I'm not so sure.

At this point, I'm not impressed with fogged windows, water in light casings, gaps in body panels, stuck door handles, and blacked out screens. Not on a $100,000 car.

Personally, I'm done hearing your opinion about the Model S, no one is forcing you to buy one.
I'm not impressed with YOU

You think Nissan (or should I say "Datsun") first car had no issues? They will solve their mnor problems. and it will be wildly successful, despite you. Tesla has figured out what Nissan hasn't been able too, even giving their cars away won't matter, no one wants a 100 mile range car, even though that's all they really need.
People buy what they PERCEIVE they need, not what they actually need.

Tesla has over 18,000 reservations now, and these are people who put down a minimum of $5,000, a little more than Nissans $99 handraisers, most of them are very serious about the Model S.

Looks like someone got their feelings hurt.

18,000 reservations doesn't mean 18,000 sales. We'll have to wait and see. It is just as easy for someone (as they posted above) to reconsider and get their $5000 back. It's a refundable deposit, nothing more.

Hey, it's your money, you can do what you want. But from what I'm reading, many are making this purchase emotionally and not rationally. But for six figures, I'd expect the car to be a lot more put together than the problems some new owners are reporting. I attribute this to Tesla just getting them out of the factory as fast as they can so quality control suffers.

I mean, doors popping open, 12V batteries that already need replacing, paint scratches...

Time will tell if it ends up as another Delorean.

 

[mitch672]

Looks like someone got their feelings hurt.

18,000 reservations doesn't mean 18,000 sales. We'll have to wait and see. It is just as easy for someone (as they posted above) to reconsider and get their $5000 back. It's a refundable deposit, nothing more.

Hey, it's your money, you can do what you want. But from what I'm reading, many are making this purchase emotionally and not rationally. But for six figures, I'd expect the car to be a lot more put together than the problems some new owners are reporting. I attribute this to Tesla just getting them out of the factory as fast as they can so quality control suffers.

I mean, doors popping open? Something I'd be concerned about.

Time will tell if it ends up as another Delorean.

Totally rational decision here. I'm never going to buy gasoline again, ever. I'm not limiting myself to a vehicle with a 71 mile highway range. Model S gets free SuperCharger access, no fuel costs to drive long distances, no other manufacturer has this yet, it's unique to Tesla.

They spent quite a while checking the quality when it was first released, but nothing finds issues or problems than the users of the cars. I'm confident the minor problems will be handled. No other manufacturer has built a ground up EV, not even the Nissan Leaf was a totally new design, they used many existing parts from their parts bin, it follows that there are going to be some problems with almost any mfrs model year 1 car. I'd like to see others design ground up EVs, but they all seem to want to sell their ICE cars, they don't have the desire to do it, they are not %100 commited, as Tesla is. Even GM wimped out with the Volt, where is their Sparq, how many FF EVs will Ford make? not many, I can tell you that.

Why does the price matter? Toyota, GM, Ford have all had serious saftey recalls, not to mention numerous "other" recalls for issues, from $15K vehicles to luxury barges... Tesla is the only mfr that will send a Ranger to you to fix it, or bring it to their shop to fix a problem, that's Service+ that no one else even offers.

Delorean? Pleeease, that was all glitz and no substance from day 1

anyway, I am going to enjoy my Model S, problems and all

 

[Train]

Totally rational decision here. I'm never going to buy gasoline again, ever. I'm not limiting myself to a vehicle with a 71 mile highway range. Model S gets free SuperCharger access, no fuel costs to drive long distances, no other manufacturer has this yet, it's unique to Tesla.

They spent quite a while checking the quality when it was first released, but nothing finds issues or problems than the users of the cars. I'm confident the minor problems will be handled. No other manufacturer has built a ground up EV, not even the Nissan Leaf was a totally new design, they used many existing parts from their parts bin, it follows that there are going to be some problems with almost any mfrs model year 1 car. I'd like to see others design ground up EVs, but they all seem to want to sell their ICE cars, they don't have the desire to do it, they are not %100 commited, as Tesla is. Even GM wimped out with the Volt, where is their Sparq, how many FF EVs will Ford make? not many, I can tell you that.

Why does the price matter? Toyota, GM, Ford have all had serious saftey recalls, not to mention numerous "other" recalls for issues, from $15K vehicles to luxury barges... Tesla s the only mfr that will send a Ranger to you to fix it, or bring it to their shop to fix a problem, that's Service+ that no one else even offers.

Delorean? Pleeease, that was all glitz and no substance from day 1

anyway, I am going to enjoy my Model S, problems and all

Fortunately there's plenty of gasoline and diesel so that the Tesla Model S can be delivered to their new owners.

And I would wait about the never saying never part.

 

[mitch672]

Fortunately there's plenty of gasoline and diesel so that the Tesla Model S can be delivered to their new owners.

They could go on all electric cross country trains to be transported, if we had any.
Other countries do of course, but we don't because of the lack of will, and the cheap cost of fuel.

Hey but at least its made in the good old U.S. of A, and doesn't need to take a boat trip to get here from Japan (if you are going down that road..) Yes I know the Leaf will be made in Smyrna TN, wasn't for the last 2-3 years.

 

[Herm]

...many are making this purchase emotionally and not rationally.

I think that is how most $100k cars are sold. You want reliable?, buy a Corolla

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

I love this thread, it's like having our very own Faux News commentator ripping off FUD strategy almost word for word from the anti EV threads of yester year! :lol: sometimes I think we are our own worst enemy...

 

[reeler]

Without mentioning names, it looks like we have an astroturf warrior by the read of some of these comments. Either that or a troll that baits discourse for fun?

Check out a persons profile and other posts. A profile with little detail and a bent in an opposite direction from an enthusiast forum like this spells a shill or troll.

Not sure which, but I just updated my "foe" list to hopefully screen some of the baiting typically from trolls and shills. I suggest you do the same and avoid being baited into uncivil discourse.

Click on someones profile to list them as a "foe" and you will never see that troll/shill's posts again. I feel better already.