sstonebreaker

True. Never said the Tesla marketing guys were stupid.

punky

Shouldn't be that way but that's how it is. Lets face it, the overwhelming majority of sports car buyers do not have the skills to use these current vehicles at any point remotely close to their limits.

tolnep

my two cents....electric power in transportation is part of the future, maybe a big part.

tesla is cool but its a niche product. my understanding is that its very expensive to support after the warranty wears off and you're gonna have to take it to a tesla center as normal garages dont work on them due to the more major differences on them and the tesla centers are expensive once you are off of waranty.

can i drive it down to south ga, take a side trip into some rural area and then go take a few side trips without worrying about it running out of power? i mean i can fill up my cars and any backwoods filling station. how's that work with a tesla?

finally, i think if and when electric cars become economically worth building, when folks will buy them for reasons other than virtue signalling or having something for short commutes, the big automakers will make them in any and all versions that the public at large will buy.

about the power grid going down and not being able to recharge your tesla.. i have a whole house generator and it produces enough juice to run everything in my house turned on at once, including dryers and a 220 volt shop air compressor, air conditioning and everything else. i suspect if the grid goes down and i had a tesla, it would just be one more thing plugged into my backup system. i know folks in florida in expensive homes and due to hurricanes and such, they have multiple 500 gallon propane tanks, just for their backup gensets so if the grid goes down and the gas company shuts down natural gas distribution do to possible leaks in destroyed homes, you would still be able to charge your tesla. folks i know ran for more than a week on their gensets.

bottom line. when electric cars will sell to the general public, the big automakers will make them.

ViperFan1

Lol.

NY09C6

they need that capacity to get the amperage needed for that level of performance. Otherwise they would reduce it for the weightsavings and take the mileage hit.

Parcival

did you own a first gen Roadster?... then you would know why not... Using the lotus body was the only cool part abt it...

Michael A

It's not just range that would be cut. It would be the maximum output of the batteries for acceleration and top speed. Push the current too high, and heat goes up, as well as, battery degradation. Tesla has done a great job of getting performance from Lithium Ion batteries, but they are now reaching the limits of physics.

Shinobi'sZ

I just purchased a Tesla P3 and it is almost as fun as my Z.

punky

Really? How good is it supposed to do? I live in SW FL and Teslas are everywhere, their owners love them.

alienranch

Same here - it's a blast. Just makes it fun to go drive around. Feel like I just got my license looking for an excuse to go out.

punky

Amazing how the cave men here don't or won't hear any of this.

Chrisrokc

They are like "we old, we don't want change"

I want to race a C7Z, but I haven't found one yet to burn in our P3.

Parcival

I hear it’s a blast. So, is my bmw “3” e46 series from 2001. I just seriously Tesla shopped (posted my experience here and on Tesla forums). It’s a cool car all around when you have 1-2 cars. Then you’ll get 550ft lb torque and 320hp off the line with P3 (based on three runs on Mustang dyno posted on YT by HorsepowerJunkies —with Abs sensors turned off) and you can lug your entire family around. g2 Roadster isn’t out yet so we don’t know but the G1 Roadster was a lotus only meant to outperform a turbo 4-cyl engine (based on the marketing slides).

I don’t need to lug anyone around in it, so I’m just looking at it as a car. Model 3 and S feel like soundless slightly zippier versions of my 3 series and previous 5 series, respectively. Take the P versions with upgrades and you’re more M like IMO. There’s a following for a reason.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to get one. Something’s missing. I am not even talking the range issue. Get up to highway speeds and the reverse hp/torque curve feels weird. I’m not a physics guy but the S P100 is well known to only get 275 ft-lb and 310hp at highway speeds — P3 and Roadsters will work similarly with reverse curve. We all know how an ICE like the Vette or even a Mustang GT feels at that speed, running above 3k rpm. In other words, the stop sign warriors are quite limp relatively at those speeds. Three times I test drove my salesman kept me on smaller roads with 50 mph speed limits and stop signs, probably for a reason...

Respectable cars no doubt, but cross shopping them is hard unless you use your Vette mostly to get groceries, car pool, and stop sign drag. Guess I’m a cave person.

jimmyb

I'm glad you like your car...but...if you're consistently doing 3.1 second 0-60 runs during your commute, your range isn't sniffing 310 miles.

jimmyb

You REALLY need to get over yourself.

Chrisrokc

Neither will any petrol fueled sports car. Your point?

jimmyb

Just pointing out that a couple of runs and the battery capacity plunges like a rock. As does an ICE. Difference is you can fill up an ICE anywhere in 5 minutes.

Parcival

are you going to race to the next stop sign, or will you try a quarter or lap of some sort?

Geez tell you what we learned from the S P100. You’ll win in short distances under 60mph and a fresh charge especially if you lighten up. On the highway above 70 or on the track you’ll just be a Chevy Volt.

Bill Dearborn

Actually only people interested in drag racing pay all that much attention to the 0-60 or 1/4 mile times as they are worthless when it comes to knowing how well a car will perform in the real world environment where it spends more time cornering, slowing and accelerating off a corner than accelerating from a stop. One of the key things missing from those acceleration times is how many times in a row they can do that without having a cool down period between runs.

A Model S might be able to get 330 miles on a single charge on the highway but when you start pushing the go pedal more that really drives up current usage and just like any other vehicle powered by any source higher performance drops traveling distance. The problem with any electric vehicle when running at max power is how long it can do that compared to a gas powered vehicle especially with the weight penalty the battery brings with it. On the Model S that is 1200 pounds. Tesla owners running at max power are seeing a 3 mile drop in range for every mile driven when running flat out and are seeing a max of 3 minutes of flat out operation before the system goes into battery protection mode and slows the car. Even a C7 Z06 A8 does better than that. The electric vehicle may be simpler and more efficient due to its electric motor but the battery is the weak link at this time and for the foreseeable future.

Bill

Bill

Bill

Varmit

Because I like driving across country