I bawt a Tesla

[Clodfobble]

Elon Musk's solar roofing tiles are pretty attractive. Haven't looked lately at the overall price/viability, but I assume it's just a matter of time.

[Undertoad]

xoB pointed out to me that our state has a rebate program. I had forgotten. It took several tries to get the documentation right but I will get back $750 from the state.

xoB is a fine gentleman. I promise to use these funds only for good, and not for evil.

[tw]

From The Economist of 30 Jul 2020:

To provide buyers with some peace of mind, carmakers guarantee their batteries, typically for eight years or around 200,000 km. Producers are now, though, planning to go much further than that, with the launch of “million mile” batteries.

American law says batteries must last 100,000 miles. This is accomplished by not letting batteries discharge too much. By not charging too fast. And by charging and operating most often at temperatures closer to 50 degrees F.

To be able to charge on a 90 degree F day, I can only assume a Tesla has some sort of battery cooling system.

The lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries which power electric cars age in two ways: with time and with use. Battery-makers call time-dependent ageing “calendar ageing”. It is a consequence of the gradaul degradation of some of the materials employed in battery construction. This degradation reduces a battery’s ability to hold a charge—though even here it is possible to ameliorate the problem to a certain extent. Leaving a car with a fully rather than partly charged battery, for example, can increase the rate of calendar ageing. ...

Each cycle of discharge and recharge takes its toll. Lithium is so highly reactive that stopping it getting tied up in other chemical compounds while a battery is in use is hard. Even a small amount of diversion per cycle adds up, reducing the amount of the element available to store energy. On top of this, changing up faster than ions can be absorbed by the anode may result in a layer of lithium “plating” building up on the anode’s surface, reducing its storage capacity.

Plating becomes yet more of a problem if it leads to the development of structurs called dendrites. These are small, finger-like fibres which project into the electrolyte from points on the anode where plating is especially elevated. If a dendrite reaches the cathode the battery will short-circuit, causing it to heat up rapidly and possibly catch fire. ...

Once a battery’s capacity falls below 80% of its starting value, it is generally thought no longer suitable for use in vehicles. Some reckon that, on average, Li-ion battteries lose 2% of their capacity a yaer. This may not seem much, but by the time a vehicle is six years old it could mean it is halfway through its useful life.

Most of the article recites GM claims. As if GM is well ahead of everyone else with its Ultium batteries. Production starts in Ohio next year.

Elon Musk has hinted that Tesla, a Californian maker of electric vehilces of which he is boss, has a million-mile battery in the works. Rumours suggest this could be unveiled in September.

Plans are afoot to let electric-vehicle ownrs connect their jalopies to the grid in a way that will store surplus electricity generated in times of plenty by wind and sunshine and release it during hours of peak demand, with the owner collecting a fee for doing so. That means these grid-buffering vehicles will be racking up lots of charging cycles even when they are not moving.

[Undertoad]

On owner forums, it's widely held that charging to 80% is ideal practice, but charging to 90% regularly is fine, along with an occasional charge to 99-100% to go on longer trips.

Battery retention:

[Gromitspapa]

Good choice! I've had a Volt and Volvo S60 T8, currently an Audi e-tron. I drove the Model 3 and was really impressed (I've been in the car business for 30 years). I held off on getting one because at first they didn't lease them. Now they lease them, but the payments are high plus you can't buy it out of the lease, so I'll just purchase one instead. It should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

- I might be wrong, but I think it's cheaper to charge on 220, but then you have the cost of upgrading. I'm sure you did, but make sure your extension cord usage is safe.
- under those hubcaps are some nice wheels. You'll need to buy a center cap/lug nut cover kit for $40-50 if you want it to look nice.






I'll probably get this wood kit. Lots of stuff on this website:

https://www.rpmtesla.com/collections...le-overlay-229

[Undertoad]

Awesome sir !! After 2000 miles I'm still like a little kid with it, making up reasons to drive places.

That car ^ has the chrome delete kit, which makes it look really amazing.

I actually bought the lug cover kit, but I haven't taken off the aero covers yet. They save a lot of range and so it's this weird balance between saving range and looking really cool.

At my current place, I'm limited, because it's a rental. I could ask the landlord to install a charger, or more likely an external 240v outlet, but I'd have to make a deal of some kind with him. For 120v charging, I made sure to buy the highest quality 12 gauge cord, as short as necessary.

For the first week of ownership, I had an old 100 foot extension cable to use. That only charged at 9 Amps. Once I changed it out for the 25 foot, 12 gauge cable, that improved to 12 Amps.

[Gromitspapa]

Yeah, I guess you lose 3% or range, which doesn't bother me. You must have gotten a long range model- I texted my salesman regarding the software upgrade for faster acceleration, but he said it wasn't available on the standard range plus. Maybe later I hope! The Performance model accelerates really fast and the upgrade gets it just under 3 seconds to 60mph. I'd love it, but it costs a ton more.

I heard the chrome delete will soon be an option, so I might just buy a kit instead. There's also a wind noise kit that I'll look at.

[glatt]

When you let the thing go on autopilot, does it obey the speed limit based on its knowledge of the speed limit in that area, or do you have to tell it how fast to go? Does it know to slow down in construction zones, for example?

[Undertoad]

I think it will now default to 5 mph over if you set it? I forget. But I have had it slow down when speed limits change.

BUT you can always override while driving, and set cruise higher; I know I do.

BUT Autosteer will not work over 85 MPH. I have not tried to hit that; I generally won't switch on Autopilot at anything higher than 70, at this point.

It used to only get speed limits from GPS+Open Street Maps, but as of four days ago, it also recognizes speed limit signs.

I wouldn't try it in construction zones, they tell you not to. Here's an interesting story about someone who did:

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors...on_worker_and/

[Undertoad]

Oh and yes GP, I did get the long range. It was between the SR with full self-driving and the LR. I picked LR, I may have been wrong.

The question of how good the Full Self Driving will become, and how quickly, is a current fascination. I forget if I said it in the thread, but they are doing a full rewrite of the system, and Musk has it, and has hinted that it's awesome.

[Gromitspapa]

I joined the club today. I need the secret handshake and a bottle of the Musk cologne.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Good luck with it.
I think it's backwards, car should be darker and the wheels should be bright and maybe shiny.
Hmm... I did paint my Corvette white with silver painted wheels. nevermind.

[monster]

Name?

[Gromitspapa]

I dunno... maybe Zeke? He was a dog I had until a few years ago. He was mostly white with some gray. Be nice to have a namesake.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yeah but if someone dents your door you're libel to lose control. How dare they dent Zeke!