Thanks, @aMacMom and @IxnayBob.
“your first few hours of Autopilot will go from freaking out at every curve to being in a calmly observant state.”
I think I’d be afraid of falling asleep!
@doschicos, that’s the surprise. When you’re hyper-focused on the car in front of you, you can get almost hypnotized by highway driving. I find that I’m more alert and much less likely to fade in and out when using Autopilot.
I live just south of San Francisco. First time I noticed a Tesla was about five years ago in the parking lot of my gym. At first I thought it was a Toyota because of the T insignia. Eventually I realized it was a Tesla. Nice looking car.
I see them more often now, but I still wouldn’t say they’re common. My neighbor across the street has one.
My husband is on his second Tesla. He thinks it’s the best car ever. Me? It’s okay. The best part is that you can ask it to play any song you want and it will play it. Like Alexa. It doesn’t have the technology to self-drive yet. It will be downloaded by the company remotely. I’m not looking forward to that.
I see a lot of them in my neck of the woods.
They are a status symbol around here. I know people who have one. They have to plan their longer trips around where the charging stations are rather than where they want to go.
@RightCoaster I agree with your comment that buyers are fans of the engineering and innovation, the whole Tesla backstory. Many in the tech world revere Elon Musk as a Steve Jobs figure. So my question is whether Musk’s cooperation with the presidential task force raises the possibility of a backlash against Tesla? Isn’t Musk really positioning for SpaceX and private commercial exploitation of space? Doesn’t being labeled as a ‘crony capitalist’ hurt Musk in a similar way that Jobs was tainted by overseas production of everything Apple?
@Oregon2016 I don’t think Musk or Tesla will have to deal with a lot of political fall out. Musk is seen as an agent of change, so perhaps people will overlook his dealings with the president as merely a means to move fast forward ahead with his vision for the future.
I don’t think she is dishing the Midwest and has many friends from other parts of the country and spent her college years plus away from Ca. It is warped in her mind what people spend on these cars. She has a friend who is 26 and is taking delivery of a Model X in a few weeks. In parts of the country that would buy a house or almost a house. She had a friend visit who was born in the Midwest and now lives in Alabama. He was blown away when he saw several in the grocery store lot near my D. He had never seen one in person. Also where distances between towns are long I would think you wouldn’t see many.
I didn’t look at them when I bought my last car but maybe I should have. One thing I wouldn’t like is that all the models are fairly large cars. Any idea if they are thinking of a smaller model? I also have been seeing quite a few of the BMW electric cars but they are pretty funny looking.
@IxnayBob - the young man we know who is awaiting his delivery loves the speed of the Tesla. He became friendly with the people at the showroom and they have been extremely generous in letting him take it out for test drives without a salesperson. The crazy thing is he is going from an old beater Honda Civic.
I’m now thinking the place D and I saw all the charging stations was probably a stop for those traveling up the coast. Oxnard Ca where this shopping center is located isn’t a town I would expect to find a lot of Teslas.
@mom60, the Tesla showroom and service people are very friendly. They are not, typically, converts from other brands, although I think the managers might be. My BIL took a test drive, and then they let him keep it for an additional two days, I think in part to try to sway his wife, who was on the fence.
The newer, much more affordable model, the Model 3, is smaller. There are hundreds of thousands of reservations on them, and I think they’ll start shipping later this year. Disclosure: Elon Musk is notorious for being overly optimistic, and the inside joke for any delivery is “soon.” We lovingly allow Elon that one failing; he has many offsetting and redeeming virtues.
Charging stations typically are on or near heavily traveled routes, where someone has entered an agreement with Tesla. On the drive to DS’s college (Skidmore) for example, we usually charge at a very good Italian restaurant (Newburgh, NY) or Albany (LL Bean store and Cheesecake Factory in a shopping mall).
They are adding Superchargers at a good clip, and also adding what they call Destination Chargers (hotels, restaurants, malls) which might or might not be capable of Supercharger speeds.
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Teslas are everywhere here in Oregon, and I get such a kick out of riding in them! I hope to buy one someday, but will have to settle for being a fangirl for the time being.
I work in the zip code in Michigan that has the highest per-capita income in the state. I see Teslas (and Bentleys, Maseratis, Porsches, Ferraris, etc) somewhat regularly … as “regularly” as one can see that sort of car in the midwest. I have never been in a Tesla, but I think it looks totally awesome!
@auntiek and others who are fans- what makes you a fan and gives you the kick out of driving or riding in one. The fact that it is electric? The feel of the ride? The speed? The style lines of the car or how it is finished inside?
@mom60, I don’t love the look of the Model X, but I don’t mind it. The Model S is much nicer looking. I do love the fact that it’s electric, the ride feels good (for the driver and passenger, I have a bone to pick with the second and third row comfort), the speed (or more accurately, the acceleration) is mind boggling.
Even more than those, I think, is how well integrated everything is. When I get into the car in the morning, it is charged. My calendar comes up on the console, and it takes one press of the screen to set the meeting location into the NAV. The NAV tells me, based on elevation change, temperature, and my past 30 miles of driving history, how much charge I can expect to have at the destination and how much if I make it a round trip. If charging is required, it will present Supercharger options, and how long I should charge there in order to charge optimally (long story, but charging is faster the emptier a battery is, so sometimes it is better to charge at two different locations rather than longer at one).
I can have the car handle the steering and speed setting duties, which makes me more relaxed but also safer.
If I should happen to get into an accident, I am in arguably the safest production vehicle sold in the US. Tesla engineers are good, but they also have a much easier job of it than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle engineers; they don’t have to worry about what to do with a massive hot engine, fuel tank, gasoline, etc. – all things that you don’t want to deal with in an accident, but can instead think about materials to use in a crumple zone. The engineers of my old car, a Range Rover, had to think about how, in a frontal accident, to keep the heavy engine from landing in my lap. Additionally, stability is much easier to engineer if you’ve got a huge portion of the vehicle weight (battery) down well below the axles, and additionally, the battery is rigid, once again making the engineering simple.
Okay, that’s enough, I apologize for getting carried away. Have I mentioned that I love this car?
I am also totally frugal, cut coupons and before this only bought totally sensible cars. Also live in the midwest. But my son talked me into the X and we bought it in his name so that he could jump to the front of the line for the 3. I now love it. Absolutely love it. We put the charger in the garage so it’s ready to go every morning. I haven’t had a need to drive more than the maximum range in a day yet, but there are charging stations in enough places that we can coordinate with stopping for lunch. Had to go to Ann Arbor once unexpectedly when there were only about 100 miles on the car. Not enough to get there and back. But we drove to the super charger and had lunch and were on our way in less than an hour. I would absolutely get another one. My other son drives it occasionally and has said that he can’t understand why anybody would own anything else and is saving up for his own.
Too expensive for many people?
How is the cost of electricity relative to the cost of fuel that you would use for whatever other vehicle you would have chosen if the Tesla you have were not available?
@ucbalumnus I read somewhere that the electricity needed to drive 15,000 miles a year would add $602 to the utility bill. The net savings compared to a high end luxury car (BMW 7 Series 740i in this case) was just under $900 per year.
aMacDad can charge at work, so we have that added cost savings. We only used charging stations on the trip home from the factory but utilizing that option can also offset home electricity usage.
The big advantage of electric cars is pollution reduction.