Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Tesla's electric car plans are simply 'fantasy', warn analysts

Analysts question Elon Musk's plans to build a £20,000 electric car and halve battery costs over the next three years

“The issue is separating what’s commercially real and achievable and what’s a dream,” says Benchmark Minerals managing director Simon Moores, who describes the plans as "fantasy".

“Tesla has put out a lot of big statements to do with zero cobalt in the batteries, to do with how they make cathodes, especially on lithium, and they make it sound like they can do it now. They make it sound like it’s easy but the reality is it’s far more difficult than that.”

Moores says having zero cobalt in the battery puts the “entire vehicle at risk from fire and destabilisation”. 

Musk also claimed to have a partnership in place with a Nevada project that will extract lithium from clay without disturbing the environment. He did not give much detail beyond it.

“Lithium clay has never been commercially achieved,” Moores says. “They really simplified it by saying they wash the clay with water and the lithium comes down and we put it back in the ground. I mean, it’s not that simple.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/09/23/teslas-electric-car-plans-simply-fantasy-warn-investors/

JKenH

California to Ban Sale of New Gasoline Vehicles in 2035, Favoring EVs

The order would only affect sales of new vehicles; gasoline-powered vehicles will still be allowed on the road.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34129129/california-ban-internal-combustion-vehicles-2035/

Martyn1981

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

Apparently Tesla systems are down at the moment causing a few problems for owners. Some are unable to access their cars. I believe it is widespread in US including Hawaii. I don’t know if it’s affecting charging but presumably the charger relies on a central server for the handshake. 

The more interconnected cars get the bigger the potential problems. I can imagine robotaxis stranded all over the place as they don’t know where to go next.

https://electrek.co/2020/09/23/tesla-suffers-complete-network-outage-internal-systems-and-connectivity-features-down/

For a second there, I though you meant they literally can't get into their cars. 

I did; from the comments below the article.

I can’t get into my car for one. And I don’t have the key card. Hope they fix ASAP.

Same here in Germany, no remote access to the car via app.

Jeez, didn't see that.
Bit of a muppet to not carry the key card.

A bit like the Tesla touch screen, give me physical buttons anytime.

Must admit, the cars are great looking from the outside but I'm not a fan of the minimalist interior and massive screen.

Should only take a minute to get used to, then you have an incredibly simple car, with far less to go wrong, and almost no clutter. Great fun.

NigeWick

My takeaway from the Tesla battery day is that in about 3 years, they'll be able to produce a base model fully autonomous BEV with 300 miles range for US$25,000. IMHO, it will likely be capable of charging at 350kW too. Any other vehicle manufacturer wanting to stay in business will have to match or beat that. 

EVandPV

Martyn1981 said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

Apparently Tesla systems are down at the moment causing a few problems for owners. Some are unable to access their cars. I believe it is widespread in US including Hawaii. I don’t know if it’s affecting charging but presumably the charger relies on a central server for the handshake. 

The more interconnected cars get the bigger the potential problems. I can imagine robotaxis stranded all over the place as they don’t know where to go next.

https://electrek.co/2020/09/23/tesla-suffers-complete-network-outage-internal-systems-and-connectivity-features-down/

For a second there, I though you meant they literally can't get into their cars. 

I did; from the comments below the article.

I can’t get into my car for one. And I don’t have the key card. Hope they fix ASAP.

Same here in Germany, no remote access to the car via app.

Jeez, didn't see that.
Bit of a muppet to not carry the key card.

A bit like the Tesla touch screen, give me physical buttons anytime.

Must admit, the cars are great looking from the outside but I'm not a fan of the minimalist interior and massive screen.

Should only take a minute to get used to, then you have an incredibly simple car, with far less to go wrong, and almost no clutter. Great fun.

After just over a year driving an EV, I certainly don'y miss gears, clutch, coolant, oil, etc, etc. 
Just so nice to drive and with way less maintenance.

Martyn1981

NigeWick said:

My takeaway from the Tesla battery day is that in about 3 years, they'll be able to produce a base model fully autonomous BEV with 300 miles range for US$25,000. IMHO, it will likely be capable of charging at 350kW too. Any other vehicle manufacturer wanting to stay in business will have to match or beat that. 

Yep, so much to take in, and almost every vlogger I've watched has said/warned about the same thing - The Osborne Effect - so they need to play down times and try to avoid people delaying their purchases.
A stand out for me, just to emphasis the progress they have made, they will be offering the plaid TMS, with close to Roadster II performance specs, but at a price not too much more than the original top of the range TMS when it came out.
The analysts are a bit negative, but they always are and have been for Tesla, and as the saying goes when a company doesn't 'hit' the targets the analysts have set out - Companies doesn't miss targets, analysts miss reality. They really seemed to want to hear "million mile battery", instead mention was made of greater range and battery cycles, perhaps we'll see 500 miles and 2,000 cycles ....... but not a million miles!
So they will be upping range, upping battery performance, reducing costs, and already way ahead of the competition, and profitable, then launching a cheaper and smaller model ........ I wouldn't want to be one of the old guard.

Solarchaser

EVandPV said:

Martyn1981 said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

Apparently Tesla systems are down at the moment causing a few problems for owners. Some are unable to access their cars. I believe it is widespread in US including Hawaii. I don’t know if it’s affecting charging but presumably the charger relies on a central server for the handshake. 

The more interconnected cars get the bigger the potential problems. I can imagine robotaxis stranded all over the place as they don’t know where to go next.

https://electrek.co/2020/09/23/tesla-suffers-complete-network-outage-internal-systems-and-connectivity-features-down/

For a second there, I though you meant they literally can't get into their cars. 

I did; from the comments below the article.

I can’t get into my car for one. And I don’t have the key card. Hope they fix ASAP.

Same here in Germany, no remote access to the car via app.

Jeez, didn't see that.
Bit of a muppet to not carry the key card.

A bit like the Tesla touch screen, give me physical buttons anytime.

Must admit, the cars are great looking from the outside but I'm not a fan of the minimalist interior and massive screen.

Should only take a minute to get used to, then you have an incredibly simple car, with far less to go wrong, and almost no clutter. Great fun.

After just over a year driving an EV, I certainly don'y miss gears, clutch, coolant, oil, etc, etc. 
Just so nice to drive and with way less maintenance.

Yeah totally agree.
A little shy on 2 years now, and I really don't miss changing the oil, doing brakes, crossing fingers at mot time (though a warning for leaf drivers, lower front crossmember in front if radiator, which has always been a problem on Nissans, was starting to rust on my 15 plate, so worth sticking some por 15 or similar down there if you are planning to keep a hold of the car) it really has been maintenance free motoring, and there is ALOT to be said for that.

I've spent £160 on two tyres, and £20 on a charge place Scotland card (still never had to pay for a charge in Scotland unless it was rapid charge) and that's pretty much it.

I really should have a look under it at some point....

michaels

Solarchaser said:

EVandPV said:

Martyn1981 said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

JKenH said:

Apparently Tesla systems are down at the moment causing a few problems for owners. Some are unable to access their cars. I believe it is widespread in US including Hawaii. I don’t know if it’s affecting charging but presumably the charger relies on a central server for the handshake. 

The more interconnected cars get the bigger the potential problems. I can imagine robotaxis stranded all over the place as they don’t know where to go next.

https://electrek.co/2020/09/23/tesla-suffers-complete-network-outage-internal-systems-and-connectivity-features-down/

For a second there, I though you meant they literally can't get into their cars. 

I did; from the comments below the article.

I can’t get into my car for one. And I don’t have the key card. Hope they fix ASAP.

Same here in Germany, no remote access to the car via app.

Jeez, didn't see that.
Bit of a muppet to not carry the key card.

A bit like the Tesla touch screen, give me physical buttons anytime.

Must admit, the cars are great looking from the outside but I'm not a fan of the minimalist interior and massive screen.

Should only take a minute to get used to, then you have an incredibly simple car, with far less to go wrong, and almost no clutter. Great fun.

After just over a year driving an EV, I certainly don'y miss gears, clutch, coolant, oil, etc, etc. 
Just so nice to drive and with way less maintenance.

Yeah totally agree.
A little shy on 2 years now, and I really don't miss changing the oil, doing brakes, crossing fingers at mot time (though a warning for leaf drivers, lower front crossmember in front if radiator, which has always been a problem on Nissans, was starting to rust on my 15 plate, so worth sticking some por 15 or similar down there if you are planning to keep a hold of the car) it really has been maintenance free motoring, and there is ALOT to be said for that.

I've spent £160 on two tyres, and £20 on a charge place Scotland card (still never had to pay for a charge in Scotland unless it was rapid charge) and that's pretty much it.

I really should have a look under it at some point....

Do you have some pics for the cross member? [another 15 plate leaf owner - have had many more than 2 tyres in our 5 and a half years of ownership (50k miles) and had to do the drop links this year (carp roads and too many speed bumps - £60 parts and labour) - oh and also had to replace the drivers side windscreen wiper blade....]

Solarchaser

These are the only two I have im afraid. 
The rust doesn't look too bad... yet.

But this is a standard failure point on 10 year old nissans, so best to get at it before it takes hold

JKenH

That’s the advantage of an ICE. Built in oil leaks to keep the rust at bay😀