Tesla set to up prices by 5% in new year because of 'currency fluctuations' Tesla Motors is bumping up its vehicles' prices in the UK by five per cent, purportedly because of currency effects post-Brexit. According to the business, that change will arrive as soon as 2017 does, because of "currency fluctuations". These fluctuations have seen the sterling drop in value against the dollar. Today, £1 is …
Look where he wants to take it:
https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot
Look for where it says "Full Self-Driving Capability", and in particular the last 2 paragraphs:
All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, the car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination or just home if nothing is on the calendar. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigate urban streets (even without lane markings), manage complex intersections with traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts, and handle densely packed freeways with cars moving at high speed. When you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you.
Please note that Self-Driving functionality is dependent upon extensive software validation and regulatory approval, which may vary widely by jurisdiction. It is not possible to know exactly when each element of the functionality described above will be available, as this is highly dependent on local regulatory approval. Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year.
"Please note that Self-Driving functionality is dependent upon extensive software validation and regulatory approval, which may vary widely by jurisdiction. It is not possible to know exactly when each element of the functionality described above will be available, as this is highly dependent on local regulatory approval."
= any time between next week and never.
"Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year."
= no Ubering on the side.
The thing is with a vehicle like this then sharing is a serious option. If I'm asleep or in the office for 8* hours I dont see why my car shouldn't be out earning its keep. Just need to design one without the door column so the interior can be swapped out easily for cleaning/battery charging.
*with luck by then the anal retentive manager who likes you to be in the office so he can reduce your productivity with constant interruptions and changes of course will have been replaced by a raspberrypi with a flat battery.
"The thing is with a vehicle like this then sharing is a serious option. If I'm asleep or in the office for 8* hours I dont see why my car shouldn't be out earning its keep. "
In that scenario why own the car at all, a local company or the council could maintain a fleet of them for use by the public. If demand was high enough you could get larger ones with more seats...
That sounds familiar, but I cant quite place it...
This is not the first price increase since last June.
Tesla's are just getting far too expensive for the average person to even consider even with the Model 3 coming in 2018 (for those who have not reserved one).
Where are the BEV's that look like average cars (BMW, take note that the i3 does not cut it nor does the Leaf) and that the average punter can afford and actually get a decent range on the Battery?
Even the Mini Electric seems to be years away.
Where are the BEV's that look like average cars
Until they can perform well enough, makers WANT them to look funky and different....
that the average punter can afford and actually get a decent range on the Battery?
Truly vast amounts are being spent on battery research. All the car makers are doing this, along with battery makers. If you look at year on year upgrades, battery capacity is increasing, the new model Leaf in 2017 might even have a max range of 350 miles. Cost will fall in line when the volume makers start producing BEVs.
And at that point Tesla are dead. Their costs are too high, the build quality if very iffy, and the only thing that will keep the name around will be if there's a ton of IP somebody else is willing to buy the company for.
"Tesla's are just getting far too expensive for the average person to even consider"
just getting
The average person in the UK probably drives a car costing well under £25k new, and currently worth less than half of that. Even the existing electric cars other than Tesla are outside their price range, especially considering that they are often in a very high insurance bracket for their capability. I found this when looking for a small automatic for my wife who does a limited annual mileage - the only one at even a remotely sensible s/h price, the VW Up!, couldn't manage the longest regular journey needed on a single charge.
If you have Tesla money to spend on a car, you are into the top 1% or less level. As for the Model 3, I do wonder how much it will actually cost when it is made in volume, and whether it will be able to compete with GM on price.
"Currency" fluctuations in Canada has seen Teslas, and many other things increase by over 25%, fueling inflation while taxes and other expenses are increasing. Such is the cost of Canada remaining dependent on the export of raw resources to a single customer and importing more than it exports .
And while Canada sells it's oil for $10 to $20 a barrel less than what it could get outside of America it imports aviation fuel, gasoline and diesel made with that oil at the world price. So it is for most of the resources Canada exports.
UK is right to try and take control of it's nation and it's economy because only the UK and it's citizens have any concern for their short and long term interests. Control is well worth 5%, 25% and much more.
So the US recently changed it's law (thanks Oil Company Lobbyists) so that it can export US produced oil, result has had zero change in the price they get per barrel all it's done is potentially increase our dependence on foreign oil producers.
"A Chinese guy who complained to his bank that last month his Chinese pension was £20 more than this month, despite his pension fund sending the same amount from China.
"Fluctuations," explained the teller"
(Alternative ending)
"I know, I know. Fluct again," replied the Chinaman.
At more and more locations a phone can be used to pay for parking (and I'm not referring to near field payments). In some locations, for instance Bath Road, Newbury, UK, payment is only possible using a phone.
I see no reason why a self driving car can't connect to a phone and make a payment. My VW can connect to a phone, all it needs is some simple software to make a payment.
Charging points are also becoming more common, and surely it's no big deal to design a gizmo to autonomously connect a car to a charger. That is simpler, by many orders of magnitude, than the car driving itself to the charging point.
It would also be trivial to maintain a database of available charging points so that the car wouldn't have to hunt for one (or for that matter a free parking space when it doesn't need a re-charge).
"At more and more locations a phone can be used to pay for parking (and I'm not referring to near field payments). In some locations, for instance Bath Road, Newbury, UK, payment is only possible using a phone."
I did consider that as an option, but it's not ubiquitous and there are so many different operators with different methods of payment/repeat payment/select duration, and then there's the places where the contractor changes. The car has to be able to find and read the sign and may have to work through a voice activated system. As I said, many and disparate systems with no "standard". In the case of Tesla, I suppose they could create special Tesla parking spaces like they've done with special Tesla only charging points.
I do see your points and how they might be addressed, but in these days of everything being commercial, profit driven and "competitive", and every company wanting to be the next "Apple walled garden" I find it almost impossible to imagine a reasonably near future where self driving cars can relatively easily find and pay for parking or find and connect to a charger.
"I see no reason why a self driving car can't connect to a phone and make a payment. My VW can connect to a phone, all it needs is some simple software to make a payment."
How about I take advantage of that connection, hack it, and pwn your car?
"Charging points are also becoming more common, and surely it's no big deal to design a gizmo to autonomously connect a car to a charger. That is simpler, by many orders of magnitude, than the car driving itself to the charging point."
Mucho electricity. I tamper with such a gizmo and start a fire. No one nearby to stop me.
"It would also be trivial to maintain a database of available charging points so that the car wouldn't have to hunt for one (or for that matter a free parking space when it doesn't need a re-charge)."
It would also be trivial to tamper with that database and cause chaos.
Like I said, "In Theory."
""I see no reason why a self driving car can't connect to a phone and make a payment. My VW can connect to a phone, all it needs is some simple software to make a payment."
How about I take advantage of that connection, hack it, and pwn your car?"
Why on earth would it be anything other than read only without physically bridging pins? Oh yes, for 'convenience'.
"It would also be trivial to maintain a database of available charging points"
Well, possible - I think trivial may be underestimating what is involved, considering all the different parties continually putting new ones in place.
"Charging points are also becoming more common, and surely it's no big deal to design a gizmo to autonomously connect a car to a charger."
Again possible, but now you're introducing cost, weight and complexity to - and removing flexibility and adaptability from - a task that really doesn't need it. It wouldn't be my engineering choice.
Say the worst happens and a person falls into the road in front of your self-driving car whilst it's on it's way to/from parking and it runs them over (not even super-dooper Tesla's can defy the laws of physics and stop instantly), who's liable?
If it's THAT close that the Tesla has no way to avoid the accident, then it would be ruled just that: tragic but unavoidable, so it falls to the pedestrian whether there's fault attached or not ("How did the victim end up there?" would be the big question). We do that with human drivers as well.
Say the worst happens and a person falls into the road in front of your self-driving car whilst it's on it's way to/from parking and it runs them over
Both my cars have recording cameras, and I suspect any self driving car will be required to have them front and rear. The evidence will show whether it's the pedestrian or a fault in the car software. It's going to be a much easier legal problem to solve than current pedestrian collisions where assessing liability can be exceedingly difficult.
wait until the 'corporate welfare' for electric vehicles (like Tesla) is shut off... THEN you'll see prices actually reflecting the cost of producing the vehicle.
http://www.redstate.com/diary/qstarweb/2016/04/22/federal-energy-bill-includes-corporate-welfare-elon-musk-companies/
I don't think the free market supports electric cars anyway, at least not until the price of "all those batteries" etc. drops below the price for a gasoline engine, the charge lasts for more then a handful of miles, _AND_ you can fully recharge in under 5 minutes. Hybrids, on the other hand, tend to pay for themselves by the spectacular improvement in fuel economy, while NOT losing the ability to drive for hundreds of miles and 'recharge' (i.e. fill up the tank) in only a few minutes' time.
gasoline = liquid energy, stored in a form that's size/weight efficient and relatively easy to make use of. It's why we've been using it for over a century, and will continue to use it, for decades to come.
And anyway, only the "very rich" can AFFORD a Tesla, so why is anyone complaining?
"Well, we're chipping in $7500 for each one sold in the US: it warms my heart to act as Santa for someone who can afford a Tesla. A Thank You would be nice."
There is a US Federal Tax Credit of $7,500 that applies to a manufacturer's first 200k electric vehicles sold. Tesla Motors is very near that 200,000th car delivered and is likely to exceed it before the Model 3 begins shipping. General Motors, on the other hand, may be able to boast that the Bolt is still eligible making it much less expensive than the Model 3.
"gasoline = liquid energy, stored in a form that's size/weight efficient and relatively easy to make use of. It's why we've been using it for over a century, and will continue to use it, for decades to come."
The catch, of course, being it's currently in finite supply. Might put a crunch on things when it gets more difficult to obtain. Unless, of course, the Navy pulls off its research on synthetic fuel.
"fully recharge in 5 minutes.". Well let's think about that: 1 litre of petrol contains 36MJ of energy, a 60 litre tank contains 2GJ. Filling that in 5 minutes requires an energy transfer of 7MW. Replace
that with electricity at 250V and that will require a current of 28kA. That is one meaty connector.
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