[Nissan1180]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

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.

This is a very valid point.
Lithium is quite a rare element and the problem is that it the distribution is concentrated in China, Australia and some South American countries. Of these, China is a major producer.
Sodium ion batteries could be used but they work at a high temperature and that makes it more practical for off-grid power systems rather than EV batteries.
Even Silver is not going to last forever. According to a pessimistic estimate, if the present rate of PV adoption continues, we'll have problems with silver in the next 20 years. That's why people are working on organic solar cells, but even those depend on Ruthenium which is a rare element.
I think there's a very strong need to look at EV battery recycling. While Li batteries are common in most appliances, it is not economically feasible to recycle them due to the highly dispersed nature of disposal. EV batteries can be recycled more fruitfully.

[aim120]

Here are all the latest battery tech,aluminium based batteries could be the next big thing.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/1303...r-over-the-air

[Jeeper1941]

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.

aim120, with all due respect, do you even understand what it takes to get those raw materials out of the ground?! Have you been to a large-scale mine and seen what the environmental impact is? I have. It's really eye-opening.

Electric cars are not the future. Hydrogen is. The technology already exists. We just need a hydrogen infrastructure. That's it.

BTW, the idea of electric cars isn't new. The Baker Company had an electric car in the late 1800s. The real-world range was about 75 miles. A modern-day electric BMW i3 has a range of about 75 miles. So yeah, not much has changed in over a 100 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Motor_Vehicle

And I'm not going to go on with this anymore. I think we'll agree to disagree.

[volkman10]

Tesla is likely to add Samsung as the additional supplier should sales exceed expectations.

Tesla, which currently procures its batteries from Japan's Panasonic Corporation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sa...-idUSKCN0YT0AB

[aim120]

Yes,panasonic no longer as the per cell capacity advantage they once had.But panasonic cells has a slightly better voltage sag and can be discharged to a lower voltage.

I hope this doesn't lead to a shortage of cells for the average consumers .

[volkman10]

Tesla is warned by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA )

NHTSA warns Tesla over non-disclosure pacts.

U.S. auto safety regulators have chastised Tesla Motors over reports that it used nondisclosure agreements with consumers in exchange for covering out-of-warranty repair costs on some of its vehicles.

an automotive blog, reported on three instances in which Tesla owners claimed to have been asked by the company to sign such agreements, called “Goodwill Agreements.

In one, Tesla reportedly offered to pay half of the $3,100 repair bill for a customer whose 2013 Model S suspension failed at just 70,000 miles, according to the post. In exchange, the customer was asked to keep the offer and “incidents or claims leading or related to our provision of the Goodwill,” confidential. The language, the blog post said, appeared to imply that customers accepting the deal would be barred from reporting the incident to NHTSA as a potential safety issue

A Tesla spokeswoman said she was looking into NHTSA's statement, declining to immediately elaborate.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...autonews-daily

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Tesla is likely to add Samsung as the additional supplier should sales exceed expectations.

As it turns out, NOPE!


After this tweet from Musk, Samsungs shares dropped by $580 Million, and Panasonic's rose by $800 Million

Source

[volkman10]

Tesla tries to Persuade Model 3 Reservation Holders to Go for the New Model S 60.

Tesla sent out emails informing its clients of the Model S 60 launch, but Electrek reports some Model 3 reservation holders also received a second message that read:

We are thrilled to have just launched the new Model S 60 and as a valued model 3 reservation holder I wanted to personally reach out to invite you to University Town Center Showroom to experience Model S 60 and 60D. It is a wonderful opportunity to get into a custom designed Tesla with payments starting at $667/mth before gas and tax incentive savings. Depending on your current vehicle trade-in value the monthly payment could be even lower.

We know how excited you are to receive your Model 3 and wanted to ensure you had the chance to work with myself and our team to explore the options of getting into a Tesla even sooner. Please let me know if I can arrange a test drive experience for you or answer any questions. We would also be happy to review your current trade-in options as well. We are here to help you build your dream car and continue our mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport

And to make matters even more transparent, Tesla published a customer story on Monday where a couple looking to book a Model 3 left the store with two Model S.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/te...60-108597.html

[volkman10]

Tesla Model 3 Spied in Palo Alto highway!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_g1gg8uUs

it’s reassuring to see a matte black pre-production prototype do its thing on the public roads of the Bay Area, red paint calipers and touchscreen included

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/te...e-108720.html#

[volkman10]

Tesla Model 3 spied "prototype" in a service station?





http://imgur.com/a/6g9SR

[srishiva]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/30/tech...ath/index.html

Sad loss of a life for software defect :( Software will have bugs and using it in highly diverse situations will have a bad effect.

[volkman10]

Tesla Model 3 enters the design Freeze phase.

Tesla Model 3 "Pencils Down" Officially Confirmed by Elon Musk.

Unsurprisingly, Musk is even more confident than that. He says that Model 3 production is on track to meet the half million units by 2018 target, and it all has to do with the new manufacturing process. What's more, he says that once in full production, the new model should bring the company about $20 billion in revenues per year, with $5 billion in gross profit. That's consistent with the 500,000 units per year target sold for an average of $40,000.

Source

[searchingheaven]

I seriously hope Tesla stops going with touch controls inside the Model 3. The point of tactile controls is so you don't have to look at the screen to use them. And when you're bumping around in a car, you use touch for reference points and press down to gain control and steady your hand. If you try to do this in a touch screen, you just activate a bunch of buttons you didn't want to.

I had an opportunity to drive a friend's Model S. I'm kind of young(26) and pretty adapt with phone tech. I still find the touch screen a tad inferior to tactile buttons in certain situations. Want to turn off the aircon since you just got onto some nice windy mountain roads? Either scroll and click with the thumb wheel CAREFULLY to do that, or press one button on the touch screen. Now I have to look to find that button at the bottom of the touch screen. Want to open the sunroof? Another 3 touches on the touchscreen - that's two touches too many, and three touches on a non-tactile interface too many, in my opinion. What I really wish that Tesla would do, is to have a row of say five buttons between the steering wheel and the touchscreen - just let them be customisable! The car is a computer anyway! People can set the buttons to exactly the things they want, in the order they want; and this can easily be saved with your driver profile too.

[volkman10]

New Image Reveals Interior Of The Tesla Model 3 On The Street .


One thing left unanswered is the car's gauge cluster or lack thereof. Musk has made no comment about whether or not the Model 3 will have a

gauge cluster like the Model S/X and this latest image reveals nothing we didn't already know. There's a possibility Tesla may integrate the speedometer, odometer and range displays into the touchscreen or use a heads-up display. Alternatively, a set of gauges may make their way into the finished product.

Link

[Rodeo]

I had booked Model 3 few months back. Couple of days back I get written confirmation by post. No details on delivery yet.