Elon Musk Reveals Details On Upcoming $35,000 Tesla

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How about some GOOD Tesla news for a change? Elon Musk says a smaller, less expensive Tesla is on the way. :cool:

“We had the model S for sedan and X for crossover SUV, then a friend asked what we were going to call the third car,” Musk told us. “So I said we had the model S and X, we might as well have the E… We were going to call it model E for a while and then Ford sued us saying it wanted to use the Model E – I thought this is crazy, Ford’s trying to kill sex!”
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My wife read about this yesterday. She said "I know what our next new care will be...." She has wanted a Tesla since they became available, and likes the idea of spending waaaaay less money on one.
 
Want... but live in Texas. No Tesla dealers here, would have to buy from out of state and have it shipped? Then how do I do maintenance.... headache.
 
Nice, so by the time these are out, and the waiting list has dwindled down, I should be able to afford one. Until then, I'll stick to paying for cheap used sub 10,000 cars because I hate the idea of having car payments again.
 
So presumably it'll start at $35k, then if you want all the extras like extending the range you'll end up buying a $50-60k car?
 
Gonna have to take a closer look at this when its launched.
 
This is going to sound crazy, but all this time, I thought Tesla was just a fancy, niche sports car brand.

PLUG IN
Anywhere. Seriously. Where there's an outlet, you can charge. The type of outlet or charging station will determine how fast you can charge.

The most convenient time to charge is often at night, when your car is parked in your garage. Simply plug in when you arrive home. Model S will charge right away or at the time you’ve scheduled using the Touchscreen or a smart phone. Long before morning, your car will be charged and ready for the next adventure.
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WHAT. So what would be the point of buying a gasoline-based vehicle instead?
 
Megalith said:
This is going to sound crazy, but all this time, I thought Tesla was just a fancy, niche sports car brand.



WHAT. So what would be the point of buying a gasoline-based vehicle instead?
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Range until more places offer EV charging.
 
So people have already forgotten about Tesla giving away all its patents?
 
DeChache said:
Range until more places offer EV charging.
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There are tons of Model Ss in California. Lots of EV spaces around. It's kind of a laugh that businesses now want to look green so badly they'll give out piles of kWh for free, but there you go.
 
Meh, I already kind of regret my Fiat purchase because they have so few dealerships in the US. Has to be a thousand times worse with Tesla, and would not be fun having to troubleshoot issues over the phone with my car.
 
Megalith said:
This is going to sound crazy, but all this time, I thought Tesla was just a fancy, niche sports car brand.



WHAT. So what would be the point of buying a gasoline-based vehicle instead?
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As the owner of an all electric car, (Leaf) I can tell you the time it takes to "refill" is the major thing holding people back. I can get to work and back on an overnight charge. If I get called back to work (oncall) then I am stuck without a gas vehicle. I wish I had purchased a Volt that had a hybrid power system so I could use gas in emergencies.
 
Aluisious said:
What maintenance?
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Fluids, brakes, shocks, CV joints, motors?

I work next to a Tesla service center. The place seems just as busy as most dealer service bays. The problem is that every car looks exactly the same though, so it's hard to gauge the turnover.

Still, it wouldn't stop me from buying one in a commie state like Texas.
 
Stiletto said:
So people have already forgotten about Tesla giving away all its patents?
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LOL. no.

They gave away a tiny subset of patents concerning it HV charging plug. Because everyone else went with the standard and he's cya'ing a proprietary move that is contrary to spreading charger availability by being able to share them between all cars.
 
Aluisious said:
There are tons of Model Ss in California. Lots of EV spaces around. It's kind of a laugh that businesses now want to look green so badly they'll give out piles of kWh for free, but there you go.
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OK I should of clarified that I live in Iowa. I have seen 1 place that offers EV charging (Free even). People in urban areas have plenty of options but those of us in rural areas don't have many choices expect for in the garage at home.
 
DeChache said:
OK I should of clarified that I live in Iowa. I have seen 1 place that offers EV charging (Free even). People in urban areas have plenty of options but those of us in rural areas don't have many choices expect for in the garage at home.
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I don't think it's being targeted for rural use.
 
sfsuphysics said:
So presumably it'll start at $35k, then if you want all the extras like extending the range you'll end up buying a $50-60k car?
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Yeah, it's not hard to imagine paying literally twice the cost of a Ford Fiesta ST. And most of the people waiting in line are probably not even close to financially independent. With purchases like this, they probably never will be. That's okay; we just need to make sure Mr. Musk gets rich.
 
Burticus said:
Want... but live in Texas. No Tesla dealers here, would have to buy from out of state and have it shipped? Then how do I do maintenance.... headache.
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its not like your talking about changing your every month. If you were to take out the motor make it electrical and put a sealed transmission in (which i dont think tesla even uses) there would be no reason for "maintenance" before 100k miles
 
the_servicer said:
Yeah, it's not hard to imagine paying literally twice the cost of a Ford Fiesta ST. And most of the people waiting in line are probably not even close to financially independent. With purchases like this, they probably never will be. That's okay; we just need to make sure Mr. Musk gets rich.
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I live in Atlanta. While i wasn't here for it after katrina there wasn't gas to buy because of pipeline damage. Having a 35k 200 mile range electric vehicle sounds awfully good for emergencies to me. My main vehicle is an f150 with a 35 gallon tank. I can drive between 500 and 700 miles to that tank depending on conditions. So in an emergency i can go multiple weeks without a refill which is fucking awesome. But the benefit of an electric car is: if there is no gas, there can be electricity. If there is no electricity there is no gas. I'm lucky in that i can literally drive up or over a couple of states fill up drive back and still have more then i started with if i had to. But you get my point. I've worked in enough 3rd world countries that i dont take chances.
 
the_servicer said:
So power is more reliable than petro. I never thought of it that way.
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ya, i'm a firm believer you shouldn't have an electric car and not have a gas powered one. I think there is to much chance in an emergency of getting caught with your pants down (car not charged). But as a primary means of transportation and dealing with the aftermath of a situation it could be very very useful.
 
as a secondary note: a lot of people are like OMG MY CAR IS UBER FUEL EFFICIENT. in an emergency it doesn't matter how fuel efficient your vehicle is: what matters is range. Keep that in mind when your planning your vehicles for your family.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I don't think it's being targeted for rural use.
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With a 200 mile range it really could be but nobody will put a charge station in a rural area because its rural why.

It would be fine 90% of the time running errands but I would still need a gasser for weekend trips because I can't charge away from home.

Still I wouldn't mind one as a third vehicle.
 
the_servicer said:
Yeah, it's not hard to imagine paying literally twice the cost of a Ford Fiesta ST. And most of the people waiting in line are probably not even close to financially independent. With purchases like this, they probably never will be. That's okay; we just need to make sure Mr. Musk gets rich.
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I'd say this is true for most car purchases, not just Teslas.

Practically very high schooler who has bought a new car, every high schooler who just graduated and just bought a new car, and every college student who just graduated and just bought a new car: I very much doubt many of these millions of people are financially independent nor should they be buying new cars.

The differing factor here is the cool factor I suppose, but I doubt that really drives up the number of people who buy things they shouldn't.

People who wouldn't buy a 35K+ car likely wouldn't still. People who shouldn't buy a 35K+ car but will anyway would likely have gone for another entry level luxury car anyway if the Tesla III would never exist.

But there is an upside: if financially irresponsible people are driving up demand for electric cars, that would at least help drive build-up of infrastructure for charging stations, then it would be more feasible for me to consider buying one some years down the road. ;)
 
the_servicer said:
Yeah, it's not hard to imagine paying literally twice the cost of a Ford Fiesta ST. And most of the people waiting in line are probably not even close to financially independent. With purchases like this, they probably never will be. That's okay; we just need to make sure Mr. Musk gets rich.
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WTF are you smoking?
 
Romale23 said:
its not like your talking about changing your every month. If you were to take out the motor make it electrical and put a sealed transmission in (which i dont think tesla even uses) there would be no reason for "maintenance" before 100k miles
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Have you read Edmunds.com long term review or checked the forums? People have little problems with their cars all the time, from windows going down on their own, fobs not opening the doors, blown fuses, info-tainment system crapping out, TPMS saying offline, doors not opening, etc.

Powertrain is not the thing that breaks on most cars, its the thousand electronic doodadz on the vehicle.
 
jpm100 said:
LOL. no.

They gave away a tiny subset of patents concerning it HV charging plug. Because everyone else went with the standard and he's cya'ing a proprietary move that is contrary to spreading charger availability by being able to share them between all cars.
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Well, its not a "standard" per se... its just a competing proprietary one sponsored by GM. Everyone seemed to like the GM one best though, and so went with that one. Tesla would have been smart to do the same, especially since they had problems with their own.
 
true, but now your talking about warranty repairs not maintenance. IRRC Tesla will send someone to pick up your car and have it fixed.
 
I'm really surprised that nobody's upset about the whole "pushing updates" thing. For example, an update came out sometime this last year which made you car move forward slowly if you were not on the gas or the brake, like an automatic car does.

If you didn't want this functionality, could you refuse the update? Can you turn off this "feature"? Will you be able to do this in the future? Personally, I still like being in control of my car. Anything that reduces that control bugs me.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
I'm really surprised that nobody's upset about the whole "pushing updates" thing. For example, an update came out sometime this last year which made you car move forward slowly if you were not on the gas or the brake, like an automatic car does.

If you didn't want this functionality, could you refuse the update? Can you turn off this "feature"? Will you be able to do this in the future? Personally, I still like being in control of my car. Anything that reduces that control bugs me.
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This would happen with a manual in gear too although you manage the clutch, when you press the clutch it's essentially the same thing as putting it in neutral, so put in in nuetral. I know that kinda an ass thing and i actually get your point. But no, to be short no you have no control over the updates. The car has it's own ATT compatable modem so as long as your in range of an ATT tower, your going to get it. The reason i was kinda an ass about my post is, there is no such thing as a manual electric car sold in the united states and the tesla sure ain't one either.
 
I'm eagerly awaiting the reviews to see how well the $35k car will perform.

However $35k probably isn't a real expectation.

The Model S is ~$80k, but in order to get the full range you need to drop the extra $25k on the better battery, so now you're at ~$105k. Then add more money for the super charger that can charge it in 45 min.

The comment from Musk about the $35k version going 200 miles might be accurate...but the question is if that is with the standard battery, or the better battery that will almost double the cost of the car.
 
Xrave said:
I'm eagerly awaiting the reviews to see how well the $35k car will perform.

However $35k probably isn't a real expectation.

The Model S is ~$80k, but in order to get the full range you need to drop the extra $25k on the better battery, so now you're at ~$105k. Then add more money for the super charger that can charge it in 45 min.

The comment from Musk about the $35k version going 200 miles might be accurate...but the question is if that is with the standard battery, or the better battery that will almost double the cost of the car.
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Supposedly it's newer batteries and from their future manufacturing giga-plant project. Apparently they're also promising owners of the older Tesla model to have batteries available with that technology that increases the range to 400 miles.
 
Ducman69 said:
Well, its not a "standard" per se... its just a competing proprietary one sponsored by GM. Everyone seemed to like the GM one best though, and so went with that one. Tesla would have been smart to do the same, especially since they had problems with their own.
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GM's is an SAE standard. In the automotive world, an SAE standard might as well be law.
 
Wierdo said:
Supposedly it's newer batteries and from their future manufacturing giga-plant project. Apparently they're also promising owners of the older Tesla model to have batteries available with that technology that increases the range to 400 miles.
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:eek: That would be huge. A 400 mile EV would be a damn compelling car.
 
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