Tesla

[sckego]

in 2015, They will finally put one in a major city in Texas. IMHO, they couldn not have picked worst spots in Texas for those stations. All of them a ways outside of the major citys.

Yeah, there's no reason you'd need to charge at that rate if you're just driving around the city. Remember, you start every morning with a full 300-mile charge, you're not going to use that up going back and forth to work and the supermarket and over to Dallas. You need the quick charge on long, inter-city trips, which is why they're placed way out between Dallas, Austin, Houston, and SA.

Look at the currently operating ones in California; they're all out in the middle of nowhere except for the Los Angeles one, which is kinda the "showroom" installation at our design center in Hawthorne. Everything else is to allow you to get from city to city: LA-to-Vegas (Barstow), LA-to-Bay Area (Tejon, Harris Ranch, Gilroy), Bay Area-to-Reno/Tahoe (Folsom).

[WillK675]

Yeah, hence my second post. My original thinking though was the coast to coast coverage they are going for. People want to drive through the major cities, to see the sites, and such on their way through. So realistically going from Cali to Florida, they would need to be more in the major city areas.

[DarcShadow]

Can Tesla's make use of the evGo charging stations?

[sckego]

Can Tesla's make use of the evGo charging stations?

Yes, I believe so. Those can charge at 44kW according to their website, or about 50 miles in 20 minutes. Not bad if you just need to add a few more miles to get where you're going. For long-distance driving, though, the Superchargers will still be the way to go--120kW, 150 miles in 20 minutes. Plus, all the eVgo stations are in either DFW or Houston, where you don't really need them, instead of *between* them.

[dufremle]

I don't think Tesla's can use the CHAdeMO chargers. They have an adapter for the J1772, 220v plugs, though. But they aren't going to get 50 miles in 20 minutes from them.

[sckego]

So we unveiled our latest tweak to the Model S last week: the P85D, a Dual-Motor car with a smaller motor up front to power the front wheels , as well as the big boy motor in the back. Totals up to nearly 700hp, *better* efficiency than the single-motor model, and an advertised 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds. BTW, we advertise the single-motor P85 as doing 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, and Motor Trend managed to time it at 3.9... take from that what you will.

The P85D also has a whole bunch of suspension upgrades and pulls 1.0g on the skidpad, and is a bit pricey at $120k, but that's not bad when you realize it's a 5-passenger premium sedan that will out-drag a McLaren F1. The non-performance 85D and 60D are more reasonably priced at a $4k bump over the single-motor cars.

I'll let you guys know when our group gets it's test car so ya'll can come out for a ride

[youtube]http://youtu.be/WbVEkh4AMqM[/youtube]

[Stardog]

Awe man, if I was well to do I would buy that today.

[WillK675]

That is awesome.

And the auto-pilot feature... I can see it now... ... "Telsa... I'm home, take me drunk."

[dufremle]

Hey Kegan, how does the new 'recognize the speed limit sign' thing work? I'm assuming it is something that can be turned off.

[sckego]

Hey Kegan, how does the new 'recognize the speed limit sign' thing work? I'm assuming it is something that can be turned off.

I'm not entirely certain, I haven't had a chance to fiddle with an equipped car yet. You can certainly turn it off while driving yourself, but I'm not sure how it ties with cruise control... that is, if there's a "normal" cruise control where you can just set the speed and keep steering yourself, even if the speed you set is over the limit. That might be entirely replaced by the autopilot mode which is cruise control + steering + safety features like following distance, auto braking, etc... in which case I'm not sure you can override the speed limit reading. It would make sense to allow you to, since doing the speed limit on roads like I-5 from here to LA would mean you're getting run over by semis... but I have no idea the legal ramifications of that. *shrug* I'm sure there will be a lot of system analysis done by various media once it's implemented.

[milesmiles]

My gps has the current speed limit on it, i've always wondered how it knows, but who really pays attention to that anyways

[JTChiTown]

Jim, our vehicles use the GPS to determine the speed limit and can display it on the navigation screen or the DIC. The cars also have cameras up by the rear view mirror they use for collision mitigation. They are smart enough to tell the difference from changing backgrounds and the rear of vehicles, so I'm sure it wouldn't be a stretch to have a camera recognize and identify a speed limit sign.

[dufremle]

My gps has the current speed limit on it, i've always wondered how it knows, but who really pays attention to that anyways

That data comes from the city, county or state responsible for setting the speed limits. That assumes that they provide that information to the GPS companies. Some of it may come from users who open tickets with the GPS company.

Jim, our vehicles use the GPS to determine the speed limit and can display it on the navigation screen or the DIC. The cars also have cameras up by the rear view mirror they use for collision mitigation. They are smart enough to tell the difference from changing backgrounds and the rear of vehicles, so I'm sure it wouldn't be a stretch to have a camera recognize and identify a speed limit sign.

My question was more around how the car uses the data. Can the set speed be overridden by the user or does the option need to be turned off first? What happens when you are on a road with no speed limit signs? There are a lot of those in Texas.

[U-Turn]

Will I be able to say "Tesla babe, (the name of my Tesla) I command you to drive as fast as you are capable."
And watch the world fly by ?? Hmm? HMM??

[sckego]

Will I be able to say "Tesla babe, (the name of my Tesla) I command you to drive as fast as you are capable."
And watch the world fly by ?? Hmm? HMM??

Yes.

[U-Turn]

Cool.

[LonestarCBR]

If you give voice commands like you text when on the hard stuff, don't be surprised by the results.

[U-Turn]

Poppycock!

[DarcShadow]

[fixxervi6]

lol

[DarcShadow]

Good thing you don't have to text your car to go someplace. Mile's car would probably explode from trying to process the text.

[Stardog]

"Could not comprehend, defaulting to whorehouse"

[U-Turn]

Woooooo ooo ooo!

[Firewa11]

If you give voice commands like you text when on the hard stuff, don't be surprised by the results.

I'd also be afraid of what a car would do with my voice commands when other drivers piss me off. "GET THE F@#*! OFF THE ROAD!" "GET OUT OF THE F##$*)ing WAY!!!!" "WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO EAT A D!*%!"

[LonestarCBR]

At this point it should deploy lasers, tasers, and phasers.