Tesla Stock

[billvon 2,463]

2 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Curious. Did you have a bad experience with Tesla? I'm asking cause the two ladies in my life are looking towards EV as their next purchase. Tesla being on the top of the list. Overall, a 97 NPS with pockets of pure pissed off at Tesla. 

Note: I have been keeping track on Consumer Reports and there's some "issues" that prevent us from taking the leap sooner than later. 

We've had two.  One 2015 Model S that ended up getting about 120,000 miles on it.  No serious problems with it.  Minor problems included:

-Main screen leaked.  Repaired under warranty.
-Driver screen leaking now.  Still works fine, just looks odd.
-Battery pyro fuse needed replacement.  In 2015, the battery fuses only had a 10 year life.  Now they last 20 years.
-Weatherstripping needed replacement on passenger door for some reason.
-One door handle broke, replaced under warranty.

We had to get new tires every 30-40,000 miles due to the higher wear.

[BIGUN 1,096]

On 5/10/2024 at 4:43 PM, billvon said:

We had to get new tires every 30-40,000 miles due to the higher wear.

Thanks for the feedback, Bill. All minor issues and fixable - which occurs even with new ICE vehicles. 

[wolfriverjoe 1,365]

On 5/10/2024 at 8:23 AM, normiss said:

Early 1900's Bugatti's would like to register a disagreement.

A number of manufacturers have used various types of aluminum casting for engine components for many years - it was a big selling point of the Saturn cars by GM - they used a lost foam casting process which I believe was a new process for low pressure aluminum casting.

CAD/CAM/CAE has been designing and manufacturing aluminum casting and machining since the 70's, so the hardware and software have been there for years - of course all tech improves over time though. CAD has done some impressive things for aircraft and spacecraft. Some defense industry manufacturers have been using this tech since forever. I've seen milling machines with beds over 50ft manufacturing wind tunnel components, rocket test stands, rocket body components, weapons and defense systems.

The cars aren't the tech IMO, just a different application of similar tech. New process using old tech isn't new.

They made engine blocks from cast Alusil (aluminum impregnated with silcon) back in the 70s.
One infamous example is the Vega block. The issues had nothing to do with the technology itself, it was an issue with the cooling. Alusil is very vulnerable to overheating. The Vega had issues with localized overheating (back of the head) that resulted in warped heads and blown head gaskets.
The exact same tech/alloy was used in both the Porsche 924/944 and 928. Both had excellent cooling systems and there are examples of both exceeding 500k miles without major engine issues.

On 5/10/2024 at 2:12 PM, BIGUN said:

Curious. Did you have a bad experience with Tesla? I'm asking cause the two ladies in my life are looking towards EV as their next purchase. Tesla being on the top of the list. Overall, a 97 NPS with pockets of pure pissed off at Tesla. 

Note: I have been keeping track on Consumer Reports and there's some "issues" that prevent us from taking the leap sooner than later. 

Have you/they looked at the Chevy Bolt?

It's being discontinued, but the used market is pretty robust.

It's not perfect. 
There's a battery recall out there on them, some of the batteries had issues and needed to be replaced. There's also a 'charge limit' software patch that limits charging to 80% for 10,000  kilometers while the computer monitors the health of the battery while it charges. If no issues show, the limit disappears. If issues show up, Chevy replaces the battery under the recall.

The 'fast' charging (DCFC) isn't all that fast.

But it's got pretty decent range and L2 (240v) charging will suit most people's needs.

Disclaimer: I'm a bit of a fanboy. I got one about 6 months ago. It suits my needs and fits my life far better than I would have expected.

There's  few different forums, and a decent Reddit sub (the Reddit sub has it's share of fanboys, but it also doesn't pull any punches on the shortcomings).

Edit to add:
I considered the Tesla, but the quality issues were one problem. The fact that Musk is a 'flaming asshole' was another. 
The recent kerfuffle with the charging network simply shows me that I wasn't wrong on that.
Mainly though, a Tesla in my price range was going to be a lot older and have a lot more miles than the Bolts (2020, 16k miles when I bought it).

Edited May 12 by wolfriverjoe

[BIGUN 1,096]

4 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Have you/they looked at the Chevy Bolt?

It's being discontinued, but the used market is pretty robust.

I have looked at it. It's too small for me, but the ladies would be fine in it. My understanding is that the term "discontinued" is more a temporary pause for a year or two to enhance the existing Bolt and not a full stop but a new direction. Harley did this back in 2014 where they didn't produce for a year. They extended the frame 4" and designed some other modifications to prepare it for the new Milwaukee 8 engine and called it the "Rushmore Project."

So, I'm interested to see that direction from Chevy while keeping an eye on Tesla and  the others.   

[JoeWeber 2,339]

1 hour ago, BIGUN said:

I have looked at it. It's too small for me, but the ladies would be fine in it.

Ya', well maybe you ought not to be even a car passenger wearing out the roads and using up valuable tires with extra friction and heating up the climate. Maybe we should write our congressthey's about it.

[BIGUN 1,096]

14 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Ya', well maybe you ought not to be even a car passenger wearing out the roads and using up valuable tires with extra friction and heating up the climate. Maybe we should write our congressthey's about it.

Let's get you home and get you to bed. 

[normiss 635]

On 5/10/2024 at 1:13 PM, SethInMI said:

Like others are saying, it isn't that Tesla was first with anything, it's that they did it right. Like Apple with the mouse. Apple didn't invent it but they used it properly, combined it with good software design to produce an innovative product.

Tesla was rolling out OTA software updates to its entire fleet multiple times a year from 2012 and still does it today for millions of cars.  Other car companies are finally getting on board 12 years later. 

I think that is why auto manfs. gave their UIs to Google and Apple via Android Auto and CarPlay. They couldn't keep up without an OTA mechanism.  Having to use Android Auto is a PITA comprise that is finally dying now all? new car models can OTA and have Google or other UI built-in.

That first Apple mouse was the worst mouse ever. It wasn't THE first by the industry standards. The pucks/mice being used at the time were serious tools. It paled in comparison to the pucks being used in mainframes, minis, and midframe design systems.

 

[SethInMI 146]

29 minutes ago, normiss said:

That first Apple mouse was the worst mouse ever. It wasn't THE first by the industry standards. The pucks/mice being used at the time were serious tools. It paled in comparison to the pucks being used in mainframes, minis, and midframe design systems.

I defer to your knowledge of those days.  At school in the early 90s I do remember the trackball mice (windows and apple) as being crappy, and the Unix workstations having optical based mice that were great.  

[wmw999 2,166]

14 minutes ago, SethInMI said:

I defer to your knowledge of those days.  At school in the early 90s I do remember the trackball mice (windows and apple) as being crappy, and the Unix workstations having optical based mice that were great.  

Cleaning mouse balls was the source of plenty of jokes in the later 80's

Wendy P. 

[billvon 2,463]

1 hour ago, normiss said:

That first Apple mouse was the worst mouse ever.

It was pretty bad.  It also precipitated the transition to mouse driven GUI's, so it was a very big deal.

The Model T was the worst car ever by modern standards.  It was still pretty important, because it was the first mass produced car that people could afford.

[normiss 635]

2 hours ago, billvon said:

It was pretty bad.  It also precipitated the transition to mouse driven GUI's, so it was a very big deal.

The Model T was the worst car ever by modern standards.  It was still pretty important, because it was the first mass produced car that people could afford.

It was slightly better than the original computer mouse from the 60's.

Barely.

But yes, so much of the transition that when I saw the first Windows based computer, my comment was, "if I want this GUI, I'd just buy the MAC. it's better".

My how times change. Except I still prefer to be a keyboard warrior. It's faster than the rodent.

[wmw999 2,166]

15 minutes ago, normiss said:

Except I still prefer to be a keyboard warrior. It's faster than the rodent.

I am SO with you. I even got a keyboard for my tablet. Its on-screen keyboard is way worse than an iPad’s

Wendy P. 

[BIGUN 1,096]

4 hours ago, normiss said:

Except I still prefer to be a keyboard warrior. It's faster than the rodent.

WordPerfect 5.1 hotkey master here. :) 

[ryoder 1,406]

If only Tesla had an adult in charge:

Elon Musk laid off the Tesla Supercharger team; now he’s rehiring them

[gowlerk 1,952]

This just popped up in my FB feed. 

[billvon 2,463]

56 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

This just popped up in my FB feed. 

Which is a good example from above.  Aluminum casting is so new, people think it's molded plastic.

[airdvr 200]

I think Elon is on the spectrum 

[gowlerk 1,952]

57 minutes ago, airdvr said:

I think Elon is on the spectrum 

Considering that he is on record saying that he has Asperger's Syndrome that would be correct.

[ryoder 1,406]

10 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Considering that he is on record saying that he has Asperger's Syndrome that would be correct.

But that would mean believing something he said, so I'd be skeptical.

[SethInMI 146]

On 5/14/2024 at 8:56 AM, ryoder said:

If only Tesla had an adult

Musk did something similar with twitter iirc, fired half the company then brought back key personnel, so he is at least consistent in his chaos; at this point anyone working for him has to view themselves as cannon fodder.

as for the reason for the re-hire, this idea of him doing a 180 and not stopping Supercharger installations, his "we are doing $500M of installs in 2024" tweet might be more sales speak.  I would want to know how 2024 spending compares to 2023 and planning for 2025.  $500M might be what is needed to wrap up existing commitments.  If 2023 had $900M and 2024 is planned for $100M then this really isn't a pivot after all, but without context his tweet doesn't mean much.

 

[CygnusX-1 42]

I tend to think the firing and rehiring of people is more of a reactionary result and not part of some grand plan. Everything that has come out, I think the actual scenario was:

1. Elon to VP: I need you to reduce your department.
2. VP: We have all good people and more work than we can handle. This department cannot afford to be reduced.
3. Elon: Fine, then you are all fired.
4. Elon -> all other VPs: Don't go against my wishes.
5. Rest of the world gets word of this and starts questioning Tesla, Supercharger network, JS3400 connector, etc. People start publicly questioning their commitment to that standard.
6. Elon realizes he screwed up politically and tries to do damage control by stating Tesla is going to concentrate on reliability. (IMO, this statement is probably questionable.)
7. This doesn't calm fears enough, so he is forced to hire back part of the team and make it sound like everything is back to normal.

From a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense to fire and hire people. There is a bunch of paperwork needed to do that. IDK maybe with as quickly as things turned around, the people "hired back" were never really on paper fired.

[billvon 2,463]

2 hours ago, CygnusX-1 said:

I tend to think the firing and rehiring of people is more of a reactionary result and not part of some grand plan. Everything that has come out, I think the actual scenario was:

1. Elon to VP: I need you to reduce your department.
2. VP: We have all good people and more work than we can handle. This department cannot afford to be reduced.

Agreed, although what I heard is Elon said "I need you to reduce your department"  and the VP said "OK I reduced it by 20%, that's as much as we can reduce it and still meet deliverables" and he said "not enough, you're all fired."  Similar but not identical.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/inside-story-elon-musks-mass-firings-tesla-supercharger-staff-2024-05-15/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2KkodQm7OB7k1HvHgYAYzxllpWaWr5t963ti3aVTWCvcLbv3mAVoCVfNA_aem_AQAr6toEgkKVwIpnxgPvK5Zl8EzDnJ5_t9s4vVk_IOBQV7kkbyFc7K_0J-l459ObDsoia5AGRQa-cdopZo-R3Yp8

[kallend 1,672]

On 5/14/2024 at 10:37 AM, billvon said:

Which is a good example from above.  Aluminum casting is so new, people think it's molded plastic.

?

My 1946 MG has some cast aluminum parts.

[JoeWeber 2,339]

5 hours ago, kallend said:

?

My 1946 MG has some cast aluminum parts.

That is soooooo... hot!

[Phil1111 931]

1 hour ago, JoeWeber said:

That is soooooo... hot!

Those ash frames giving you a woody?