[volkman10]

Tesla Model 3 Development to Be Finalized by June 30 This Year.

What about its interiors?

Mr. Elon Musk himself - was reluctant to shed too much light on it. Instead, it used the mystical phrase "it will all make sense after the second presentation.

Speculations seem to head towards two different ideas: one postulates that the Model 3 will be packed with autonomous features and so it will not need an instrument cluster.

OR

The Model 3 using a new type of digital dashboard, relying on head-up displays and other things we haven't seen so far on production cars. The latter is further boosted by Felix Godard, Porsche Mission-e's interior designer, reportedly joining Tesla last month.

Now on its development phase,

Musk said that “from an engineering standpoint, we are already almost complete with the design of Model 3. […] So I think we feel pretty good about engineering completion of the last items probably within six to eight weeks, thereabouts. And so we’re sort of completing the final release for tooling no later than the end of June.”

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/te...ar-107265.html

[johannskaria]

Motor Trend at the world’s first photo shoot of the full line of Tesla vehicles. We have Tesla’s entire range of S3Xy electric vehicles, from the refreshed Model S, to the all-new $35,000 Model 3, to the first-ever Model X SUV - all at Tesla’s ginormous Gigafactory battery production center in Sparks, Nevada.

Tesla Model S, 3 and X at Gigafactory 1

[volkman10]

Tesla Model 3 to Use Korean Hankook Tires as Its Stock Option

With names such as Michelin, Good Year, Pirelli, Bridgestone or Continental also in the market, it's understandingly hard for a relatively new brand such as Hankook to break through, but the spreading use of low rolling resistance tires meant this was a golden chance for the Koreans to start level with the others.

And it would appear it has grabbed the opportunity with both hands, coming victorious out of a sampling contest held by Tesla specialists

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/te...on-107624.html

[volkman10]

Update on Tesla Model 3 bookings!

Tesla Motors Inc. now holds about 373,000 reservations for the Model 3 electric car due late next year following customer cancellations of about 8,000 cars and 4,200 duplicates canceled by the company.

The numbers were reported as part of a Tesla filing to raise $1.4 billion in a share offering to pay for the accelerated launch of the car.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...rders-canceled

[volkman10]

First update from Tesla on Model 3 to its prospective owners

By now, Tesla's reservations officially hold at 373,000. It is possible that Tesla is not so eager to add more reservations to its already ambitious production volume of 500,000 (including Model S and X) by 2018 as it is facing a 14 months window to get its Gigafactory's battery production running on time and seal the deal with all the suppliers for all the Model 3 parts. Elon Musk stressed on making sure suppliers will meet the July 1st 2017 deadline to supply parts in order to meet delivery by end of 2017.

http://teslaupdates.blogspot.in/2016...ervations.html

[volkman10]

The Tesla Model 3 Won't Have Free Supercharger Access reveals Elon Musk.

Obviously, [free Supercharging] fundamentally has a cost. [...] The obvious thing to do is decouple that from the cost of the Model 3. So it will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, to drive long-distance with the Model 3, but it will not be free long distance for life unless you purchase that package. I wish we could, but in order to achieve the economics, it has to be something like that."

those who signed up for a Model 3 will be put back by the fact they need to add an extra odd $2,000 (the actual value of the package hasn't been set yet) for free unlimited Supercharger use, especially since the average cost of the Model 3s ordered is way over $40,000, so people haven't been shy on the options.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/th...ls-108062.html

[holysmoke]

Was thinking about this supercharging thing. Specially for India, I would only go for it if it's close to my house or office. Maybe there can be pay per use where people can pay by the minute. That makes the most sense as it will prevent people keeping it in the spot even when it's done charging.

[Jeeper1941]

So now all Model 3 owners will have to pay to use the superchargers. Surprise surprise.

Our electricity cost is 26c per kWh, so doing the math, the 70kWh model would cost almost $20 to charge. And it only gives you about half the range of a typical ICE car. So, in reality it's no cheaper than diesel in terms of cost per unit distance.
And people who say electric cars are "green" please tell me again how "green" lithium (and other rare metal) mines and coal-fired power stations are.

Owning one of these cars is more about looking cool and making a statement than anything else.

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by Jeeper1941

So now all Model 3 owners will have to pay to use the superchargers. Surprise surprise.

Our electricity cost is 26c per kWh, so doing the math, the 70kWh model would cost almost $20 to charge. And it only gives you about half the range of a typical ICE car. So, in reality it's no cheaper than diesel in terms of cost per unit distance.
And people who say electric cars are "green" please tell me again how "green" lithium (and other rare metal) mines and coal-fired power stations are.

Owning one of these cars is more about looking cool and making a statement than anything else.

Just FYI, Base Model 3 battery pack size will be closer to 45-50kwh instead of 70kwh as in your calculation. At 26c/KWh it's more like $11.7 - $13 and not 20. Even at those exorbitantly high peak electricity rates (I doubt anyone in an Indian household even pays anywhere close to that amount), the cost comes at least 35-42% less than whatever "no cheaper than diesel in terms of cost per unit distance" you came up with.

And besides, Supercharger are present to serve you only for travelling long distances, in-city commutes need to be done by home charging only (by design). And you can offset carbon emissions (and electricity bills) by installing Solar Panels at your home if the Australian govt. isn't already doing that. (Indian government is, at record speed).

[Jeeper1941]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Just FYI, Base Model 3 battery pack size will be closer to 45-50kwh instead of 70kwh as in your calculation. At 26c/KWh it's more like $11.7 - $13 and not 20. Even at those exorbitantly high peak electricity rates (I doubt anyone in an Indian household even pays anywhere close to that amount), the cost comes at least 35-42% less than whatever "no cheaper than diesel in terms of cost per unit distance" you came up with.

And besides, Supercharger are present to serve you only for travelling long distances, in-city commutes need to be done by home charging only (by design). And you can offset carbon emissions (and electricity bills) by installing Solar Panels at your home if the Australian govt. isn't already doing that. (Indian government is, at record speed).

Fine. Even if it is $13 to charge, how long does it take to charge the car? How many kilometers can you do with it before recharging? There have already been numerous problems reported with the range of the model S. We need real world figures. Not some fantasy computer simulation or theoretical figures. In the real world my diesel car can travel 1200 km. That's carrying 4 people and luggage. I know this because I have done this many times. I know that when I fill up my car (which takes about 2 minutes BTW), I can actually travel 1200km.

And just FYI solar panels are not really "green" either; their production involves a lot of carbon emissions.

"Fabricating solar panels requires caustic chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid, and the process uses water as well as electricity, the production of which emits greenhouse gases. It also creates waste. These problems undercut solar's ability to fight climate change and reduce environmental toxins."

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5650

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ility-ranking/

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/...n-as-you-think

http://www.dw.com/en/despite-bright-...ean/a-16858170

http://www.solarindustrymag.com/onli..._A_Primer.html

If the contribution from wind turbines and solar energy to global energy production is to rise from the current 400 TWh to 12,000 TWh in 2035 and 25,000 TWh in 2050, as projected by the World Wide Fund for Nature, about 3,200 million tonnes of steel, 310 million tonnes of aluminum and 40 million tonnes of copper will be required to build the latest generations of wind and solar facilities. This corresponds to a 5 to 18% annual increase in the global production of these metals for the next 40 years. We should realize, that the life-time of wind plants (and most solar panels) is just twenty years - so after twenty years we are supposed to produce most of the concrete and dig up the metals again. And 25,000 TWh is still just one sixth of the total world energy consumption- this is not how sustainable evolution is supposed to look like.

[volkman10]

More details on the Tesla Model 3,


Elon Musk explained at the Code Conference,

Almost all of the Model 3 design is done, and we're aiming for pencils down basically in six weeks

https://youtu.be/mB5I78cGEjo?list=PL...YrHfIQaOzFPSL4

While the company will stop tinkering with the design, if any cool ideas emerge during the final design process they will be added in later versions of the car.

Production version of the car is expected to be shown in a'big event' by the end of 2016.

Tesla is still finalizing the car's specifications but the automaker has already confirmed the Model 3 will be able to accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in less than six seconds and travel up to 215 miles on a single charge.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/2/118...eeks-elon-musk

[aim120]

Originally Posted by Jeeper1941

And just FYI solar panels are not really "green" either; their production involves a lot of carbon emissions.

"Fabricating solar panels requires caustic chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid, and the process uses water as well as electricity, the production of which emits greenhouse gases. It also creates waste. These problems undercut solar's ability to fight climate change and reduce environmental toxins."

But that occurs only once per panel and there after, its pure green energy.
Compared to IC engine based cars which starts to pollute the moment you turn it On.
Not to mention ,you need to use fuel to transport the crude oil (when it comes from the middle east) and again you need to use fuel to transport it from refinery to gas stations and then you need fuel to run your car.

[Jeeper1941]

Originally Posted by aim120

But that occurs only once per panel and there after, its pure green energy.
Compared to IC engine based cars which starts to pollute the moment you turn it On.
Not to mention ,you need to use fuel to transport the crude oil (when it comes from the middle east) and again you need to use fuel to transport it from refinery to gas stations and then you need fuel to run your car.

Yes. But how many million panels need to be manufactured in order for the energy produced to be commercially viable?

And how are the panels going to be transported from where they are manufactured to the solar farms? Using fossil-fuels of course.

Please see the last part of my reply above: we will need millions of tonnes of raw materials just to manufacture these panels and wind turbines. So factoring all these in, the so-called "green" cars aren't any better than conventional ICE cars (and we haven't even considered the environmental impacts of producing the cars and the batteries!). Battery powered cars are not the answer to the long-term environmental threats facing our planet.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by Jeeper1941

Yes. But how many million panels need to be manufactured in order for the energy produced to be commercially viable?

If solar panels weren't viable they wouldn't be in business.Solar panels are the future even with their current efficiency ,an average urban house in India can easily put 2kw to 3kw of solar panels on the roof.
Not only that ,if you put solar panels on the roof ,then the cost/energy requirements of air conditioning or cooling the top floor becomes lower because of the shade created by solar panels.

Originally Posted by Jeeper1941

And how are the panels going to be transported from where they are manufactured to the solar farms? Using fossil-fuels of course.

Yes but only once per panel,where as for a IC engine car every drop of fuel as to be moved all the way from oil drilling plants to your cars lifetime and unlike fossil fuels which are found in only certain parts of the world.The raw materials for solar can be found in most of the world.

Originally Posted by Jeeper1941

Please see the last part of my reply above: we will need millions of tonnes of raw materials just to manufacture these panels and wind turbines. So factoring all these in, the so-called "green" cars aren't any better than conventional ICE cars (and we haven't even considered the environmental impacts of producing the cars and the batteries!). Battery powered cars are not the answer to the long-term environmental threats facing our planet.

The world has plenty of raw material for solar panels.
Some factories like the Tesla Gigafactory use solar panels for its energy needs.Batteries or not electric cars are the future.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by aim120

The world has plenty of raw material for solar panels. Some factories like the Tesla Gigafactory use solar panels for its energy needs.Batteries or not electric cars are the future.

The issue will not be solar electricity, but the batteries. Lithium supplies are getting short, and the Chinese have a near monopoly on it. Given the curent family Lithium being the lightest Alkali metal is the prime choice, and replacing with any other Alkali metal will have severe weight penalties.