Official Tesla Model S thread

[evnow]

:lol: this is a pipe dream!

What makes you think that the leaf is going to cost less in the future? Nissan already raised the price once on the leaf. Factoring in inflation, there is no way that cars are going to get any cheaper going forward.

Seriously, you haven't heard about the falling prices of batteries ? :lol:

ps : the last Leaf price increase was because of exchange rate jump.

 

[evnow]

Some might just write a check, maybe they've worked a very long time, and have actual savings.
Maybe they have a large amount saved in their 401K, and want to spend it. Not everyone lives paycheck to paycheck.

Ofcourse. We are not talking about specific cases - but general trends. Even people with no paychecks (like Romney) can buy a couple !

 

[KJD]

Somewhere on this forum I read that the average selling price of the Model S was right around 80k.

My question is what will be the value of that used car 2 years from now ?

 

[TonyWilliams]

My question is what will be the value of that used car 2 years from now ?

You might be able to use the Roadster as a guide, but I think the Model S will retain a higher percentage because it's a practical car.

If Tesla is selling strong in two years (I seriously doubt, by the way), then resale on used cars will be EXTREMELY high. I doubt that they will maintain the momentum because the car is just way too pricey. The market is very quickly reduced when you factor how many people can physically afford a $60k - $100k car. If the country goes into a second recession (very possible), or we are fighting a middle east war that maybe includes nukes (yes, gasoline will go up, but then folks will buy more LEAF's, not Tesla's), then I don't see a lot of hope for Tesla.

They truly are "locked in" now, where this absolutely must work. Thousands of employees, huge overhead on factory and supercharger stations, lots of money spent on developing several new cars, etc. I'd say they were doomed with Romney, but even now with Obama, it will be hard to say we're broke while handing out more loans to "failed" companies like Tesla.

So, I'll buy one, because that is the best way to make sure they succeed. Oh, and buy some stock.


10 new Model S cars awaiting a new San Diego owner. Every color including green:

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

...
So, I'll buy one, because that is the best way to make sure they succeed. Oh, and buy some stock.
...

are you being facetious? or has your experience so far with the RAV4 made you want to go all the way?

 

[waidy]

...
So, I'll buy one, because that is the best way to make sure they succeed. Oh, and buy some stock.
...

are you being facetious? or has your experience so far with the RAV4 made you want to go all the way?

I second Tony, so I got both (2012 Rav4-EV and 2012 Model S85).

 

[Boomer23]

10 new Model S cars awaiting a new San Diego owner. Every color including green:

My favorite thing in those pictures is the cool black Tesla car cover on one of the cars.

 

[TonyWilliams]

10 new Model S cars awaiting a new San Diego owner. Every color including green:

My favorite thing in those pictures is the cool black Tesla car cover on one of the cars.

That is the "imminent" delivery cover. Apparently, they were ready to deliver that one today, and for some reason, it wasn't yet on the trailer. The rest of the cars were dirty from their trip from Fremont.

I decided I don't like the 19 inch wheels. The car looks too much like every other car with fairly boring wheels. But the 21 inch style, I really like.

My favorite was the silver with dark grey wheels... very distinctive. I was ready to take a pic when they told me to not take pictures.

 

[DaveEV]

I decided I don't like the 19 inch wheels. The car looks too much like every other car with fairly boring wheels. But the 21 inch style, I really like.

Interesting that on the new range estimator on the Tesla website that the 19" wheels extend range about 6-7% over the 21" wheels...

http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric#range" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[TonyWilliams]

I decided I don't like the 19 inch wheels. The car looks too much like every other car with fairly boring wheels. But the 21 inch style, I really like.

Interesting that on the new range estimator on the Tesla website that the 19" wheels extend range about 6-7% over the 21" wheels...

http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric#range" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ya, I saw that. I suspect that the 21 tires are stickier.

 

[waidy]

I decided I don't like the 19 inch wheels. The car looks too much like every other car with fairly boring wheels. But the 21 inch style, I really like.

Interesting that on the new range estimator on the Tesla website that the 19" wheels extend range about 6-7% over the 21" wheels...

http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric#range" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ya, I saw that. I suspect that the 21 tires are stickier.

The 21 tires are easier to wear out (because it's meant for performance); and they are more expensive to replace.

 

[thedak]

21" tires are expensive as hell.

No clue why they couldn't have picked 20 or 22"

 

[Zythryn]

The 21 tires are easier to wear out (because it's meant for performance); and they are more expensive to replace.

This, as well as ride quality is why we got the 19" over the 21".
I'll agree that the 21s do look cooler, but that isn't the reason I am driving the S. It is all electric, has the range we need, and is a damn smooth ride

 

[Zythryn]

...
If Tesla is selling strong in two years (I seriously doubt, by the way), then resale on used cars will be EXTREMELY high. I doubt that they will maintain the momentum because the car is just way too pricey. The market is very quickly reduced when you factor how many people can physically afford a $60k - $100k car. If the country goes into a second recession (very possible), or we are fighting a middle east war that maybe includes nukes (yes, gasoline will go up, but then folks will buy more LEAF's, not Tesla's), then I don't see a lot of hope for Tesla.
...

I disagree. The market for luxury cars in the US is about 1,000,000/year. Tesla is looking for about 2% of that. I don't think that is overreaching.
In addition, they are bringing people into the luxury car market that would never have been their if it were not for their cars (me for one).

A second rescission is always possible. However, the luxury sector of the auto market is typically one of the sectors that does the best in recessions.

 

[Randy]

Check out the cool Nat Geo video about the design and manufacturing of the Model S. Lots of great factory production footage....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhm2Yf2Zqzc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[mkjayakumar]

What surprised me in that video is the size and shape of each cells. Cylindrical like a D battery, only a little longer and perhaps the same diameter. The volume of each cell seems smaller than the cells I have seen for a Leaf.

Won't it make sense to get the volume bigger, maybe twice or even thrice, there by reducing the overall cell casing size and weight cumulatively ?

 

[mitch672]

What surprised me in that video is the size and shape of each cells. Cylindrical like a D battery, only a little longer and perhaps the same diameter. The volume of each cell seems smaller than the cells I have seen for a Leaf.

Won't it make sense to get the volume bigger, maybe twice or even thrice, there by reducing the overall cell casing size and weight cumulatively ?

Nope. Tesla has a totally different approach to batteries. They are using common Panasonic 16650 cells, millions of them are manufactured per year, by multiple manufacturers, these are used in your "DeWalt" power tools among other things. By using "commodity" cells, Tesla is assured a continuous supply, at competitive prices, since they are so common and mass produced. Teslas "special sauce" is how the strings of nearly 7,000 cells are put together in series/parallel, and their thermal management of the cells.

If you think custom cells made specifically for EVs are a better idea, just look at the situation Fisker is in now. They are shutdown because they can't get their cells/packs manufactured from A123 currently, until the bankruptcy is settled.

 

[qwk]

:lol: this is a pipe dream!

What makes you think that the leaf is going to cost less in the future? Nissan already raised the price once on the leaf. Factoring in inflation, there is no way that cars are going to get any cheaper going forward.

Seriously, you haven't heard about the falling prices of batteries ? :lol:

ps : the last Leaf price increase was because of exchange rate jump.

Yeah, Nissan is losing money on every leaf sold right now. Once they reach mass production, that will cut costs, but I doubt that they will pass a $10k savings onto you just out of the goodness of their heart. The battery savings will just be eaten up in their profit. Simple economics.

 

[evnow]

Yeah, Nissan is losing money on every leaf sold right now. Once they reach mass production, that will cut costs, but I doubt that they will pass a $10k savings onto you just out of the goodness of their heart. The battery savings will just be eaten up in their profit. Simple economics.

We are talking about post tax credit prices. Remember Leaf started at $25k - not far from my prediction of just above $20k. The savings will come from battery cost reduction as well as production in US.

BTW, the way you write, people would think you are on the Nissan board instead of the reality of just speculation.

 

[KJD]

My question is what will be the value of that used car 2 years from now ?

You might be able to use the Roadster as a guide, but I think the Model S will retain a higher percentage because it's a practical car.

If Tesla is selling strong in two years (I seriously doubt, by the way), then resale on used cars will be EXTREMELY high. I doubt that they will maintain the momentum because the car is just way too pricey. The market is very quickly reduced when you factor how many people can physically afford a $60k - $100k car.

It looks like the next 2 or 3 years is going to be very interesting. I hope that Tesla sells cars as fast as they can build them.

As for myself the Model S is out of my price range. Now if Tesla does keep increasing production and selling lots of cars then at some point there will be used ones available to people like me. It may be that the range on a used Tesla will be a better buy than a new LEAF a few years from now.

More competition = more choices and better prices for all of us.