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Tesla Comes Apart Easily


Yul Lose

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A woodworking friend of mine has one of the Tesla’s with the rear gullwing doors. They left last Friday on a cross country trip and going through Texas on I10 earlier this week part of the top of the car blew off. They pulled over and contacted Tesla and were informed that the nearest Tesla service center was in Dallas, a couple of hundred miles away. The worst part was they were informed that there are no body replacement parts available because they are all going into new car production and the soonest parts may be available was six weeks. My friend and his wife made it to a Lowe’s and using duct tape and cardboard they made the car drivable and headed back home. I’m pretty sure after their adventure last year with charging stations and now this Tesla is a dirty word with them. My wife was thinking about buying one but after reading his story about the roof blowing off I don’t think that’s going to happen.

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Range anxiety nor service location are not a big problem in Kalifornia unless your driving in the foothills or mountains.  Driving cross country is more of an adventure in an EV.

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37 minutes ago, J.D. Daily said:

Range anxiety

A new term that is now in vogue in regards to electric cars?

 

I actually considered buying an electric motorcycle a couple of years ago. Then I found myself doing mileage vs charging calculations and trying to determine sensible routes on trips that I might take to keep optimum power available. 

 

I hadn’t even bought the damn thing and it was annoying me.

 

Teslas, you can’t swing a dead cat in Southern California and not hit a Tesla driver. At least they aren’t as obnoxious and self-entitled as the Prius drivers seem to be on the freeways. 

 

I might consider a hybrid but full electric? I don’t think so. 

 

Man, that must have scared the heck out of them when the top popped off! 

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3 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

A new term that is now in vogue in regards to electric cars?

 

I actually considered buying an electric motorcycle a couple of years ago. Then I found myself doing mileage vs charging calculations and trying to determine sensible routes on trips that I might take to keep optimum power available. 

 

I hadn’t even bought the damn thing and it was annoying me.

 

Teslas, you can’t swing a dead cat in Southern California and not hit a Tesla driver. At least they aren’t as obnoxious and self-entitled as the Prius drivers seem to be on the freeways. 

 

I might consider a hybrid but full electric? I don’t think so. 

 

Man, that must have scared the heck out of them when the top popped off! 

Yeah, I wish I could post his entire story of everything that transpired but Tesla lawyers might come calling. Sure makes me never want to own one.

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There are some limited access highways that I drive. There are times that the gas stations are backed up. Waiting ten minutes for three cars in front to gas up, five pumps available both sides, many cars. Waiting ten minutes is not bad but suppose there are three cars waiting for the charging station.

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In 2015 Tesla was having issues.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100561_tesla-model-s-too-many-problems-to-recommend-consumer-reports-says

 

This is a Consumer Affairs link with reviews from verified owners. It starts off nicely but then things change. These are from 2019.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/tesla_motors.html

 

The thing that bothers me about electric cars is not so much the cars themselves. It’s the ability to charge, the competition for chargers away from home and most of all, the attitude of entitlement that I am seeing in electric car owners in regards to public charging stations.

 

We have 3 parking spots at work. One in the main lot. One in a remote parking spot and one in a handicapped spot right in front of the building. They are all 3  “class 2” chargers, I believe. We have a guy that has a Tesla S. He has been with us since the shop opened and he parks his car at a charger, plugs it in and leaves it all day. He believes he has “seniority” regarding the charger. Each spot has a sign that says 4 hours parking / charging maximum.

The other day I roll in on my 50mpg :D motorcycle and there is a Chevy Volt (hybrid) parked in the handicapped spot and it’s plugged in. There is no handicapped placard in the car. 

I walked over and asked the guard who owned the car. It was another security guard. He said the guy in the black Tesla S keeps hogging the charger. I told him about the other charger further away. I also told him that I have no jurisdiction over parking but if s police officer comes onto the property and gives him a ticket he can expect to pay around $500.

We have two plug in cars taking 2 of 3 spots and I heard someone else is going to be “needing” a spot.

 

I talked to my boss and the boss of the Tesla S driver and told them we are looking at a potential issue. I also told them that this entitlement mentality needs to be squashed now.

I asked them both how they would feel if all the evil gas powered car drivers came to work expecting the company to provide a fuel truck to come and top off everyone’s fuel tanks?

 

The other thing that I wonder is that now these people are provided “free” electricity for charging. Free = someone is paying. What is going to happen when it’s not “free”? Or, when it’s discovered that somehow the taxpayers are paying for this power and that “entitlement” is ended. Who is going to be the first dirtbag to step up and sue to get that “entitlement” back?

 

There is a large parking lot at a mall near me that has about 30-40 Tesla charging stations and they are always occupied. Tesla provides this for Tesla drivers. The mall is privately owned. I am told Tesla pays the electric bill but am told it’s “free” to Tesla drivers. How much do you want to bet once Tesla get it’s hooks in enough people that “free” service goes away and those people will expect someone else to pay for their power.

 

I can see this entire electric car thing becoming a serious PITA soon and somehow I believe non-electric car drivers are going to be expected to pony up for it.

 

I truly have to wonder about the sensibilities of people that spend $40-$90K on a car and then leave it in a remote mall parking lot for 8-12 hours a day. I wouldn’t leave my 2002 Chevy truck in a mall parking lot for even a couple of hours.  

 

 

 

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It'll be pretty funny for me when one of them runs out of power on the Interstate in the middle of the night. Can't just call AAA to bring a 5 gal. can of electricity!:o I guess you need to carry a generator with you!

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19 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Of course there is possibility the owners FAILED to properly latch the panels before departure??  Nah, that couldn't happen.  Could it??

These panels were factory installed and the owner had no way of latching or unlatching them, I asked that question already.

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I have always had range anxiety.  I want my vehicles to get 400 miles to the tank because I hate going to filling stations.  I usually settle for about 350 but won't consider anything that gets less than 300. 

 

My wife's car gets over 500. 

 

But wait, were they on I10 or I20?  Dallas is more than a couple hundred miles away from I-10, and I woulda figured houston would have a service center too.  If they were on I20 they were definitely in high wind country. 

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1 hour ago, Ramblin Gambler said:

I have always had range anxiety.  I want my vehicles to get 400 miles to the tank because I hate going to filling stations.  I usually settle for about 350 but won't consider anything that gets less than 300. 

 

My wife's car gets over 500. 

 

But wait, were they on I10 or I20?  Dallas is more than a couple hundred miles away from I-10, and I woulda figured houston would have a service center too.  If they were on I20 they were definitely in high wind country. 

I re read his email and it was I20 west of Abilene.

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5 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

A question I have is, if we're all required to use electric vehicles someday what is that going to do to our already overburdened electrical grid? Are we going to have to dam up every single stream, creek and culvert?

 

It may work if most of the charging is done at night where there is a lot of excess capacity.  If everyone charges during the day, the grid can not handle it today.  

 

Imho the bigger challenge for wide spread adoption is winter range.  It can easily be 30-40% lower than summer range.  Also quoted range is not at highway speeds and you are lucky to hit quoted range in summer at 75mph.   In winter it can be half, so a 300 mile range suddenly becomes 150 at 0deg and 75 mph.  

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7 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

It'll be pretty funny for me when one of them runs out of power on the Interstate in the middle of the night. Can't just call AAA to bring a 5 gal. can of electricity!:o I guess you need to carry a generator with you!

Carry a bunch of AA's or call the pink bunny. 

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What Still hand Bill says is correct. Where I live, the electric company is offering rebates to people that install car chargers, and have a separate meter for it, and charge after 11:00pm, when there is less demand for the grid. 

 

However at some point, as more people get electric cars, we'll start to see more homes with solar panels which can help soften the peak demand of the grid, at least on sunny days. 

 

I actually just purchased a plug in hybrid. I'm quite surprised at how good the apps are for finding chargers, and the availability of chargers in my suburbia. Totally different story when going more rural. 

 

I doubt internal combustion engines will ever go away, but I can picture two-car families having one electric car for the commute and a ICE car for other uses. 

 

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6 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

A question I have is, if we're all required to use electric vehicles someday what is that going to do to our already overburdened electrical grid? Are we going to have to dam up every single stream, creek and culvert?

 

I don't know if the power companies around here in Florida are concerned about electric vehicles but they were real worried about the electric tankless water heaters. The tankless water heaters draw very large amounts of power when used......I can't see how they would save a family of four money.

 

Pat Riot has a valid point.....these businesses can pay for electric vehicles to fuel up, what about the rest of use? Class action lawsuit? I'm sure the ambulance chasers lawyers are looking into the possiblities.

 

The first Tesla death was a beheading while the driver was in self drive mode in Florida. Seems that the car didn't recognize a semi that had pulled out onto the road and the driver wasn't paying attention.....neither was the car....and more people want these things. Well, bless their heart.

 

As the buyer of a way overpriced car, I'd be pretty upset about having to drive a car with either a improvised T-top or a duct taped tarp on top of it for a month and a half, if you believe the dealership. I've found that the dealerships don't want to tell you the "real" truth, they have cars to sell and pissed off present and soon to be former customers are not good for sales. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Rooster Cognizant said:

I doubt internal combustion engines will ever go away...

 

I hate to tell you this, but the more radical members of the progressive left are actually pushing to have all internal-combustion engines banned in this country by 2040. How they plan to actually do that is anyone's guess, but don't forget they're the same people who pushed the microstamping laws on CA's gun owners even though such technology doesn't really exist yet.

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My suggestion for Yul's friends would be to take many pictures of the cardboard and duct tape repairs and flood every social media outlet they can with 'em... explaining that they're forced to such measures because of Tesla's very poor customer service abilities.

 

Make sure that the local newspapers and TV stations get copies... along with Tesla upper management.

 

I kinda suspect they might just "magically" find some parts.  ;)  

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What I want to know is how are all those electric vehicles are going to pay for the roads they use.  Currently they are getting a free ride as they don't pay motor fuel excise taxes. :unsure:

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2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

What I want to know is how are all those electric vehicles are going to pay for the roads they use.  Currently they are getting a free ride as they don't pay motor fuel excise taxes. :unsure:

BINGO!!!! My friend told me that Tesla uses that as a added selling point.

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2 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My suggestion for Yul's friends would be to take many pictures of the cardboard and duct tape repairs and flood every social media outlet they can with 'em... explaining that they're forced to such measures because of Tesla's very poor customer service abilities.

 

Make sure that the local newspapers and TV stations get copies... along with Tesla upper management.

 

I kinda suspect they might just "magically" find some parts.  ;)  

Use orange duct tape.

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2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

What I want to know is how are all those electric vehicles are going to pay for the roads they use.  Currently they are getting a free ride as they don't pay motor fuel excise taxes. :unsure:

States are investigating going to a mileage tax instead of a fuel tax to get everyone paying for road upkeep.

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A friend of mine, years ago, had issues with a new Ford car. Seems that the metallic light blue paint wouldn’t stay on the car and Ford wouldn’t do anything about it. 

 

He bought some ski rope, a bottle of white shoe polish, and a case of lemons.  He used the shoe polish to write the problems with the car on the front and back glass, strung the lemons on the ski rope, wrapped the car in the lemon rope, and parked it in front of a dealership. 

 

Wasn’t long before his car was repainted.  They painted it two or three times over the next several years, each time at no charge to my friend!!

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20 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

A friend of mine, years ago, had issues with a new Ford car. Seems that the metallic light blue paint wouldn’t stay on the car and Ford wouldn’t do anything about it. 

 

He bought some ski rope, a bottle of white shoe polish, and a case of lemons.  He used the shoe polish to write the problems with the car on the front and back glass, strung the lemons on the ski rope, wrapped the car in the lemon rope, and parked it in front of a dealership. 

 

Wasn’t long before his car was repainted.  They painted it two or three times over the next several years, each time at no charge to my friend!!

I had a Jeep Cherokee in 1998 that spent more time in the shop than my garage. I finally got fed up with it and had a sign company make up some big lemon signs and listed all of the issues with the vehicle and one Saturday morning I parked the Jeep across the road from the dealership with the lemons and problems listed and on a Saturday by 9:00 the regional sales manager was negotiating with me about what it would take to make me happy. Turns out a whole bunch of Jeep Cherokee owners were experiencing the same issues that I was and I got a new Cherokee with none of the issues of the old one.

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16 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

 

I hate to tell you this, but the more radical members of the progressive left are actually pushing to have all internal-combustion engines banned in this country by 2040. How they plan to actually do that is anyone's guess, but don't forget they're the same people who pushed the microstamping laws on CA's gun owners even though such technology doesn't really exist yet.

 

Oh, I know that. There are radical members of all kinds of groups pushing all kinds of crazy things, both left and right. I still don't see the death of the internal combustion engine by 2040. If it were to die, it won't be because existing battery and charging technology replaced it. It would only happen if some new power source were invented/perfected.

 

I do think we'll see a higher percentage of hybrids before then. Currently, in some platforms, it's not a huge extra cost option. A Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid XLE is only $2000 more than a Rav 4 XLE non-hybrid. We will see more of them not so much because of mileage but because of emissions.

 

Many people think the original Prius was made so people could get better mileage, but that was really just a by-product. The Prius was first designed to emit fewer emissions in congested cities like Tokyo. It's one reason you are starting to see more Prius taxi's in cities like New York and Chicago, mileage helps but emissions are driving part of it. 

 

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Have you all seen a Tesla Burn ???

They are next to impossible to put out ... It took two fire crews over a hour to put one out ....

What does it cost to have Two crews and a Fire Chief out to put your fire out ???

 

Jabez Cowboy

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My momma and daddy had a early Prius. We had it for 9 years and had no problems. After my daddy died, she traded for a new 2014 Prius. She passed in early '15 and I inherited the Prius, with only 4000 miles on it. At the time, I was driving 50 miles a day, roundtrip, to work and back. That 50 MPG was a real help. While a pick-up or an SUV would fit my life style better [mountain boy :)], still drive the Prius most of the time, especially since my 4WD pick-up gets, at best, 14 MPG. :(

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I'm no expert, but I occasionally listen to car programs on the radio. On problem no one seems to want to discuss is when the batteries crap out on an electric car you basically have a real nice piece of scrap. You can't sell it cause it costs more to replace the batts than the car is worth. My mother in law used to have a cheap little Mazda that the transmission crumped. It was going to cost twice what the car was worth for a new transmission. Not economically feasible.

JHC

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On 6/13/2019 at 6:24 PM, Sixgun Sheridan said:

 

I hate to tell you this, but the more radical members of the progressive left are actually pushing to have all internal-combustion engines banned in this country by 2040. How they plan to actually do that is anyone's guess, but don't forget they're the same people who pushed the microstamping laws on CA's gun owners even though such technology doesn't really exist yet.

They're morons out of touch with the real world. Unless solar panels take about two quantum leaps in efficiency. Where do these idjits think electricity comes from? You gonna run a Lincoln arc welder, locomotive, ship, airliner, or plants that pour the metal for your electric cars, on solar or wind energy? What if they're on the operating table with their chest split open and the power goes out without emergency generators?

JHC

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On 6/13/2019 at 9:32 AM, Sixgun Sheridan said:

A question I have is, if we're all required to use electric vehicles someday what is that going to do to our already overburdened electrical grid? Are we going to have to dam up every single stream, creek and culvert?

The streams creeks & culverts won't be touched.  Every square foot of open space will be covered with solar panels & the horizon will be filled with wind turbines.  What isn't covered with these will have houndreds of ISO container sized boxes filled with batteries & bi-directional inverters. 

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5 hours ago, Capt. James H. Callahan said:

They're morons out of touch with the real world. Unless solar panels take about two quantum leaps in efficiency. Where do these idjits think electricity comes from? You gonna run a Lincoln arc welder, locomotive, ship, airliner, or plants that pour the metal for your electric cars, on solar or wind energy? What if they're on the operating table with their chest split open and the power goes out without emergency generators?

JHC

If you live in CA in the areas that are prone to wildfires get used to periodic black outs when the weather conditions are ripe for a powerline started fire.  This should be good for electrical contractors who serve residential & small retail businesses.  After a few 4+ hour power outages there will be a lot of calls for installing home standby generators.  This will be especially true for those on a well.

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5 hours ago, Capt. James H. Callahan said:

I'm no expert, but I occasionally listen to car programs on the radio. On problem no one seems to want to discuss is when the batteries crap out on an electric car you basically have a real nice piece of scrap. You can't sell it cause it costs more to replace the batts than the car is worth. My mother in law used to have a cheap little Mazda that the transmission crumped. It was going to cost twice what the car was worth for a new transmission. Not economically feasible.

JHC

The battery packs generally don't crape out.  What happens is that the capacity kWH decreases with use.  Eventually for an EV the range is inadequate for the owner's normal use.  If a hybrid the engine runs more.  Because, the Fed's require that the batteries have a 100k miles life the packs are derated from what the capacity for other uses.  I.E. UPS, switchgear control & communications applications.  Because of this the used car battery packs are repurposed for other uses.  Tesla repackages Knackered Tesla car batteries into PowerWalls which are UPS's for commercial & residential customers.  Because these used battery packs have value greater than the recycled materials the pack exchange price is not so high that the vehicles value after battery replacement is less than the replacement cost.

P.S. The battery pack is made up of series & parallel strings of 3 volt cells.  Should a cell in a string open circuit the capacity of that string is lost.

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5 hours ago, Capt. James H. Callahan said:

They're morons out of touch with the real world. Unless solar panels take about two quantum leaps in efficiency. Where do these idjits think electricity comes from? You gonna run a Lincoln arc welder, locomotive, ship, airliner, or plants that pour the metal for your electric cars, on solar or wind energy? What if they're on the operating table with their chest split open and the power goes out without emergency generators?

JHC

That is why hospitals have on site emergency power systems.  And the state requires rigorous  testing and maintenance programs that are monitored by the authority having jurisdiction.  JAHCO is the national hospital organization that acredits hospitals which has similar requirements as the state.

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