CA built Tesla Model S is 2nd best selling luxury car in the nation.

[Dinner]

It seems Tesla, at least for now, is proving the nay sayers wrong as it is currently outselling Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Lexus. Not bad for the new kid on the block.

http://m.bizjournals.com/sanjose/new...nd.html?r=full
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...-mercedes-benz

I have to admit I do see a lot of these cars on the road, they've gotten rave reviews, and the price is pretty competitive.

[Sava]

I'll give a **** when they sell 4 million cars... not four thousand.

[Dinner]

I admit it is only their first quarter of production but those production numbers are pretty good considering this is only the second production car the company has ever produced but they're still out selling most of their established competitors. Even better the cars are pre-sold before they're ever built and there is a long waiting list of people who have put down payments on them.

[Dinner]

Plus it's a beautiful car and most of the subsystems were built in whole by long standing major industry component suppliers.

[Dinner]

The next model they're working on is the Model X which will be a cross over/SUV with some rather interesting gull wing doors. That model will be coming out in 2014. After that it will be a new Tesla Speedster which was an electric roadster. They're also talking about a station wagon version of the Model S to keep things interesting.

http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx

[Sava]

Why are you thumbs upping a niche market toy car for rich guys?

This doesn't address any significant issue with regards to CO2 emissions. 4,000 cars is nothing. It's not even a drop in the bucket. And do you think the cars are built from hemp? Do you think their factories are powered by peace and love? If anything, this just creates another mess. How are the batteries disposed of? How are they manufactured?

I guess because the publication has "green" in the title, everything is okay.

[Dinner]

Cars themselves originally started out as a niche market toys for rich people. That's how new technology always starts out and then once they reach scaled production prices go down and regular people start getting into the act. Besides, $45k is hardly an astronomical sum for a new car.

That and I'm happy to see a new American car maker who actually is producing a world's best model. It shows America can compete and win even if the established industry players have stopped really trying to be the best.

[Asher]

That car is not beautiful. It's not ugly, either. It's bland, boring, and probably the most unreliable piece of **** outside of a Pinto.

That whole class of cars is douchebag central, as well (7-series, S-series, LS, etc).

****, the hideous Cadillac XTS dominates this market in the US. That's all kinds of ****ed up.

I bet you a year from now (and I will bump this thread then) the Model S' sales will be a tiny fraction of what they are right now. The models it's competing against (sans XTS) are not "new". New models always have massive sales spikes.

[Sava]

Well... we need a "world's worst model" more than a "world's best". Stop buying all the marketing BS.

Also, we need an entire infrastructure overhaul... not just a shiny new car. Until we get all that, I'll get more excited about whatever Sharper Image has in their catalog.

[Sava]

That whole class of cars is douchebag central, as well (7-series, S-series, LS, etc).

[Dinner]

Currently they get ~250 miles per charge on the base battery, 350 miles on the upgraded battery, and they're currently working with IBM who is perfecting a lithium-air better which would give the car a 500 miles per charge range.

[Asher]

Lithium Air is at least 10 years away in modest implementations. If it's viable at all.

They aren't "perfecting" it. It's in its infancy.

[Dinner]

That car is not beautiful. It's not ugly, either. It's bland, boring, and probably the most unreliable piece of **** outside of a Pinto.

That whole class of cars is douchebag central, as well (7-series, S-series, LS, etc).

****, the hideous Cadillac XTS dominates this market in the US. That's all kinds of ****ed up.

I bet you a year from now (and I will bump this thread then) the Model S' sales will be a tiny fraction of what they are right now. The models it's competing against (sans XTS) are not "new". New models always have massive sales spikes.

Quality reports have been great so far and given that Tesla has Toyota doing the quality control as well as using Toyota's parts suppliers I am going to guess that quality will continue to be good. Also, Tesla is only aiming at ~20k per year in production for the first year for this model (and factory output is now at the 400 cars per week level) though they want to ramp up production in subsequent years beyond the 20k production level. I'd have to disagree that owning a luxury car makes someone a douchebag.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1081861_tesla-model-s-production-line-now-running-at-full-capacity

[Asher]

http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/159/2/R1

Abstract:

Lithium/air batteries, based on their high theoretical specific energy, are an extremely attractive technology for electrical energy storage that could make long-range electric vehicles widely affordable. However, the impact of this technology has so far fallen short of its potential due to several daunting challenges. In nonaqueous Li/air cells, reversible chemistry with a high current efficiency over several cycles has not yet been established, and the deposition of an electrically resistive discharge product appears to limit the capacity. Aqueous cells require water-stable lithium-protection membranes that tend to be thick, heavy, and highly resistive. Both types of cell suffer from poor oxygen redox kinetics at the positive electrode and deleterious volume and morphology changes at the negative electrode. Closed Li/air systems that include oxygen storage are much larger and heavier than open systems, but so far oxygen- and OH−-selective membranes are not effective in preventing contamination of cells. In this review we discuss the most critical challenges to developing robust, high-energy Li/air batteries and suggest future research directions to understand and overcome these challenges. We predict that Li/air batteries will primarily remain a research topic for the next several years. However, if the fundamental challenges can be met, the Li/air battery has the potential to significantly surpass the energy storage capability of today's Li-ion batteries.

[Asher]

Quality reports have been great so far and given that Tesla has Toyota doing the quality control as well as using Toyota's parts suppliers I am going to guess that quality will continue to be good. Also, Tesla is only aiming at ~20k per year in production for the first year for this model (and factory output is now at the 400 cars per week level) though they want to ramp up production in subsequent years beyond the 20k production level. I'd have to disagree that owning a luxury car makes someone a douchebag.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...-full-capacity

Owning a luxury car doesn't make you a douchebag (I am buying a Lexus this year).

Buying a full-size luxury car so you can drive to work in a portable tank makes you a douchebag. I know several people with cars in this class, and they're all monstrous douchebags.