OT: Tesla Model 3

[palincss]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Well, that and the smell of leakin engine oil burning on the exhaust system.

And the fact that when you buy a Harley you get a social life included at no extra charge.

[livingminimal]

Originally Posted by dancinkozmo

i agree wrt the environmental stuff, but the US is pretty much oil independent due to shale oil/fracking.

Not entirely, and even if that is the case, fracking is ···· too, and regardless of any of that, we have a goddamn fireball in space that is an insanely efficient producer of energy whose process of harvesting and producing useable electricity likely is much more environmentally friendly and will probably outlast this friendly reminder on our oil supplies:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=38&t=6

Domestic or foreign, the fact that we continue to rely so heavily on fossil fuels is mind-boggling.

[dancinkozmo]

Originally Posted by palincss

And the fact that when you buy a Harley you get a social life included at no extra charge.

free chlamydia !! yay !!!

[93legendti]

Originally Posted by Gsinill

Tried and failed miserably, i.e. burning almost B1$:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place

Yup. You beat me too it. $20,000 car. In a small country with a population that mostly lives in 3 large cities, where you can drive the length of the country in 8 hours and the width of the county in 90 minutes or less.

I saw several Better Place charging stations in the sparsely populated North. Near Rosh Pina and Tzfat, if memelry serves.


The concept was a car that was cheaper than a gas car and swapping batteries was no slower than filling with gas-to quickly swap battery for a charged battery, like exchanging a sent propane tank for a BBQ.


Still can't make those batteries green. And in the end, the entire package is still more harmful than dreaded, big, bad gas cars.

[93legendti]

Originally Posted by dancinkozmo

i agree wrt the environmental stuff, but the US is pretty much oil independent due to shale oil/fracking.

"In 2015, about 24% of the petroleum consumed by the United States was imported from foreign countries, the lowest level since 1970."
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6

[Neil]

The oil import/export thing is Obama putting the hurt* on Putin, very successfully as it goes - notice that he's not done to the Ukraine what he did to Chechnya.

It doesn't change the reality, which is that a) fossil fuels are running out and b) burning them isn't doing any of us any good, so it's probably an idea to look at alternatives sooner rather than later.

Note- I own a highly modified performance car, I love the engineering that goes into combustion engined vehicles and I enjoy driving them.

However, If the Tesla 3 had an estate version I'd likely have put a deposit down.

*Did I use this American idiom correctly?

[93legendti]

Fossils fuels have been "running out" since the 50's....even as we find more fossil fuels every year.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by livingminimal

Not entirely, and even if that is the case, fracking is ���� too, and regardless of any of that, we have a goddamn fireball in space that is an insanely efficient producer of energy whose process of harvesting and producing useable electricity likely is much more environmentally friendly and will probably outlast this friendly reminder on our oil supplies:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=38&t=6

Domestic or foreign, the fact that we continue to rely so heavily on fossil fuels is mind-boggling.

Cuz it's cheap. People vote with their wallet. We'll get nervous when it's scarce. And expensive.

[Polyglot]

Originally Posted by flydhest

Polyglot, those look interesting. On the price, though, BMW's website says they are $46k new.

The list price does indeed start at $46K new, but I bought an 11-month old one for half the list price with no sales tax (NJ exempts all ZEV's from sales tax, ie. a savings of $2500 in my case). Still has 3 years of full service from BMW. if you buy a new one, you should be able to haggle about $6K off the list price and then add in the tax credit of $7,500. Dynamically, I prefer the BMW to the other options.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Saint Vitus

I'm not sure if anyone here saw/read this article and added any comments based upon it, but it's a very sobering read:

http://www.latimes.com/business/hilt...htmlstory.html

So the deposit money is on the books as an on-demand loan. I think that means if Tesla runs out of cash the would-be buyers lose their money. It is not like a deposit on a real estate purchase where the $$ is held in an escrow or trust account that the seller can't get until the deal is done.

If Tesla continues losing money you don't want to wait too long to get your deposit refunded or there may not be any money left.

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

...

If Tesla continues losing money you don't want to wait too long to get your deposit refunded or there may not be any money left.

The deposit is not a significant amount of money though. Just $1000.

Jeff

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

The deposit is not a significant amount of money though. Just $1000.

Jeff

"It's not about the money. It's the principal of the thing."

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by 93legendti

"In 2015, about 24% of the petroleum consumed by the United States was imported from foreign countries, the lowest level since 1970."
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6

Thanks, Obama

[gemship]

Till we figure out a way of making cleaner electricity and batteries then it's just a feel good thing. Heck I think the manufacturing of those two plus everything else is so much worse than people driving fossil fuel cars.

[GonaSovereign]

Originally Posted by Neil

The oil import/export thing is Obama putting the hurt* on Putin, very successfully as it goes - notice that he's not done to the Ukraine what he did to Chechnya.

It doesn't change the reality, which is that a) fossil fuels are running out and b) burning them isn't doing any of us any good, so it's probably an idea to look at alternatives sooner rather than later.

Note- I own a highly modified performance car, I love the engineering that goes into combustion engined vehicles and I enjoy driving them.

However, If the Tesla 3 had an estate version I'd likely have put a deposit down.

*Did I use this American idiom correctly?

You did, and all was 'murcan until you called it an estate instead of a wagon. But I'm a Canuck, so don't trust me.

BTW: I would love to see the estate version as well.