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Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record
- GrumpyNl 9y agoNice news, but when will they deliver? Maybe its time they start to answer that question first.
- _Codemonkeyism 9y agoEasier to annouce a Pickup than deliver a Model 3.
- jhall1468 9y agoWell yes, just as it's easier to make snarky comments than provide actual content, as evidenced by your post.
- _Codemonkeyism 9y agoMy fail, I forgot it's sacrilege to critizize Musk here. Model 3 production is way behind and currently does not look like it progressing. Musk is blaming Panasonic on the problems with batteries, while reports from the Model 3 factory tell about a lot of manual work. So yes it is easier to announce a Pickup some years ahead than fix Model 3 production.
- mikeash 9y agoThis was a customer car, so it would seem that the answer is “they already have.”
- agumonkey 9y agobased on some random youtube video, production went from zero to 150 to 350 over the last months. grain of salt etc etc
- sveme 9y agoPer day? So around one to three years for the delivery of 150 000 cars.
- mabbo 9y agoOnly if they stay at that rate. I think what he means is that they were able to double production in a relatively short period of time. Perhaps they can do that again a few more times. Side note: if you know anyone with a Tesla and are in the Bay Area, owners can take three friends with them on a tour of the factory. It's fantastic and I highly recommend it.
- swarnie_ 9y agoProduction will continue to scale. Estimates are given in ElonTime(TM) so need adjusting for the reality everyone else lives in.
- maxerickson 9y agoPer month. But given how much faster they are with the other models and how bad their estimates have been for the Model 3, it just means we don't know how many vehicles they will average per day this year.
- semi-extrinsic 9y agoIt's worth noting, though, that for the Model S and X the assembly lines were not built by Tesla. The Model 3 assembly line is the first one Tesla's ever made themselves. The "old" Tesla factory was bought from a joint GM-Toyota venture that achieved average production of 25 000 vehicles per month running those lines for 25 years. Then that venture failed, Tesla bought the factory and repurposed the existing infrastructure. It's like if SpaceX started by buying an old working NASA rocket design and repurposed it for the Falcon, but for Falcon Heavy they started entirely from scratch developing rocket fuels, engines, materials etc. without ever having done so before.
- cdjk 9y agoI’ve seen three in the last few days and I haven’t spent much time driving.
- Matt3o12_ 9y agoThey are getting started. Mass producing a vehicle is not an easy task and takes a lot of expierence, equipment. Every manufacturer starts slowly but we don’t notice it as drastically because there is usually less demand. If Model A is not available, most customers choose Model B or Model A-like from company B. Or chances are they have not even heard of that Model and just don’t look for it. For Tesla it is different. Tesla needs to announce them far in advance so they get funding. They can’t just create another Model, start mass production and delivery without anyone noticing and caring to post it online. So they capitalize on the hype and sell as man as they can. Furthermore there is no Tesla Model 3 from any other company. There is not even a Model S or X from any company. There are some products that are close but lack some desirable features such as being purely electric or being “techy”. For the Model X there is the Volvo XC 90 plug-in with 19 miles of range which wouldn’t get many people to work in the winter. The screen is a bit Tesla like but from what I have heard is that Tesla’s screen (and infotainment system) is much better. For the Model 3, the only true competitors are the i3 and Chevy Bolt. The i3 is selling ok but does not have a lot of range and is a small vehicle. For its price, it is not really a good deal unless you are looking for any ev. The Bolt is a much better choice but many do not like its style. It is also not really available because it is often seen as a complicance vehicle. I have heard that people were laughed out of the store when they wanted to buy it. It is also not available in Norway where it is anticipated the most. My guess is that the 2018 Nissan Leaf will be the best choice this year but compared to a Model 3 still a compromise because it lacks (amongst all non Tesla) a proper quick charging network. So the real question should be: when will the other manufactures start delivering?
- Kayou 9y ago>For the Model 3, the only true competitors are the i3 and Chevy Bolt More like the Chevy Bolt / Opel Ampera e, the i3 has very limited range while the Chevy/Opel offers between 300 and 500km of range thanks to its much bigger 60kWh battery. The BMW i3 only has a 33kWh battery in the newer version, previous one was even less than that... The Leaf 2018 goes in the right direction, but 40kWh is still no enough to do 3h+ road trips. Also, you make a very good point by saying that the Chevy Bolt/Opel Ampera E is a much better choice (ignoring the design). Same pricing as the Model 3 but the range seems much better. Given the experience of Chevy, I think that they can reduce the price and mass produce the Bolt much faster than Tesla can do with the model 3.
- GrumpyNl 9y agoNice downvote, the fact is they promise a lot but no cars are delivered. Its all backorders. Mine will come in 18 months ( w hope )
- robotresearcher 9y agoThe article is about a customer in his already-delivered car.
- EwanToo 9y agoI'm a Tesla fan, but in the middle of the article, it says: "The two completed the cross-country drive in 50 hours and 16 minutes, setting a new electric Cannonball Run record." That's not quite the same as the headline... It looks like petrol cars have done it in under 27 hours http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/03/ny-la-26-hours-28-minutes-gt-r-powered-dual-control-infiniti-q50/ http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/03/ny-la-26-hours-28-m...
- stefanfisk 9y agoBut the title clearly says EV Cannonball Run Record, how is that unclear?
- EwanToo 9y agoHmm, either the title changed after I started writing the comment, or more likely I totally missed EV from it! Sorry if it's the latter..
- StavrosK 9y agoDon't feel bad, I had to read it twice to spot the EV in the title.
- bneumann 9y agoSo EV's have their very own standards of speed, convenience and usability. And if an EV is ONLY TWICE AS SLOW going across the country than a gasoline car, then that's AMAZING.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ep103 9y agoFor people who don't follow this, records for the cannonball run are usually always a few years old (people wait to announce hoping the statue of limitations expires, or at least makes it less likely). That said, its unlikely to change too much, most recent records were done in wildly expensive cars (retrofitted with additional gas tanks, radar, police scanners, etc), and usually include aerial support for the entire trip to scan for speedtraps and the like.
- kumarvvr 9y agoThere is so much negativity about Tesla. Watching Tesla reminds of the the quote "We hoped for flying cars, but what we got was 140 characters" (or something similar, I don't remember it verbatim) Every time I think about Tesla, I am reminded of the thousands of brilliant engineers toiling away in Silicon Valley trying to optimize online advertising. Maybe we could be a bit more closer to Fusion energy, maybe we could be a bit more closer to lesser carbon footprints. That small bit really is crucial, especially when we are fighting a losing battle with mother earth. Perhaps the world has too much information. When information flow is cheap, the cost of propaganda is low enough to create legitimate confusion. Imagine a world without Google, FB or Twitter, perhaps there would be concerted efforts by governments towards educating the masses about global warming. Perhaps such efforts could not be subverted by foreign governments or fringe groups. Looking back, the true value addition by SV will be companies like Tesla, Solar City & SpaceX. Here is a guy who is scarily close to being a real-life Iron Man, doing something that has shown verifiable results and actually progresses humanity far more than FB/Twitter and to some extent Google. But all I feel is constant negativity. I really feel sorry for Musk. I sincerely admire him for what he is struggling for and I really wish he'd get more support. Note : I do understand his background and that the seed money for SpaceX was from paypal and all, but even then, paypal was a different business than just online ads.
- hnarn 9y agoIt's always been my sincere opinion that even if Musk fails miserably I'll still admire him more than most other "tech idols". There are people that say he's all talk, but I don't care. Even if he's 75% talk and delivers on the rest, whatever he does achieve is still better than a face-detecting smartphone or a social network that makes money by profiling your personality for advertisers. I don't care about the money, I like his vision and in the end that's what makes a leader.
- chronic193 9y ago> I don't care about the money You must not be an investor.
- kumarvvr 9y ago
- kozak 9y agoIt's interesting what would be the equivalent result for Chevrolet Bolt, as it's pretty much an equivalent car, but without the advantage of Tesla's supercharger network.
- mikeash 9y agoI don’t think it would be possible in anything like a reasonable amount of time. Non-Tesla fast chargers have huge gaps for a cross-country run. You’d have to spend days waiting for 6kW commercial chargers or 240V RV plugs charging you at 25-35MPH.
- BoorishBears 9y agoDC fast chargers aren't as common but charge the Bolt at supercharger-like speeds if you have the option
- mikeash 9y agoThat doesn’t really address what I’m saying. The ability to use a DC fast charger doesn’t help if there aren’t any to use. Last I looked, there were no cross-country routes available using non-Tesla fast chargers. You’d need to cross large gaps on 240V charging alone. Edit: just to show what I'm talking about, here's what plugshare.com shows for CCS chargers in the middle of the US: http://mikeash.com/tmp/screenshot_F67FD9DD-D048-43EC-8DDF-9E94AB19900E.png http://mikeash.com/tmp/screenshot_F67FD9DD-D048-43EC-8DDF-9E... That gap in the Nebraska is 336 miles long. Utah to Colorado is likely to be quite challenging with the mountains. East of St. Louis is another tough area. I think you could do the trip entirely on DC chargers if you took some of the legs really slow to extend range.
- BoorishBears 9y agoThe Bolt is EPA rated at 238 miles but on a long highway trip with not-terrible-weather it's trivial to drive and get 300 miles of range without resorting to hypermilling. A Level 2 charger would cover the 36 mile gap. You'd expect to use a mix of DC chargers and Level 2 chargers. I think it's doable in both cars but I'd personally never take that trip in either of them. I don't know how often people are doing LA to NY trips that they'd ever decide between cars over their ability to do that vs just renting a car (or flying).
- mhraza95 9y agoI agree. Summer time would consume less energy than Winter time. But waiting might not be an option if you want to be the first! It's an awesome record for Model 3 that has only 310 mile range which is less than Model S with 335 mile range!
- InTheArena 9y agoI drove the Model 3 last week. It’s a properly good car in it’s own right - It reminded me of the MOdel 3 from BMS in how it handles, of course the performance curve is totally different. The rethinking of the dashboard is perfect for the cell phone age. It’s Apple Good (back when Apple was good). The performance curve - the instant power at any point is addicting. The seats were comfortable, and the trunk space was ample. The build quality, at least on the unit I saw is _better_ then the S or the X right now. This is primarily due to the simplification of the assembly compared to the S and the X. Honestly, having driven both, I would buy a 3 before buying a S. The only killer feature I see missing is the air suspension, and we know that is coming for the 3. They are going to sell a million of the 3s. For the record, I’m not a EV or a green evangelist. I don’t have a snarky license plate, or solar on my roof. But I will be picking one of these up. It’s perfect for my use cases. People will compare it with the Bolt, but people forget that SUperchargers are Tesla only right now. Want to get from LA to NY? Easy in Tesla. With a Bolt, there are places that you just can’t go. It looks like (judging by VIN allocations, which is not a great method, but also by drone videos) that Tesla hit 1k a week the last week or two of December. Assuming no huge bottlenecks remaining, that takes them solidly half way up their ramp, with one more huge jump - to 3-5k a week - remaining.
- noveltyaccount 9y ago> With a Volt, there are places that you just can’t go. To be fair, you can charge any EV fairly quickly at any campground with 220V RV hookups. With adequate planning, I think you could drive a Bolt anywhere.
- mikeash 9y agoI wouldn’t describe the ~30MPH you get from a 240V RV plug as “fairly quickly.” It’s fine for an overnight charge, but you’ll basically be limited to driving the car’s single-charge range each day. It’s possible but I wouldn’t want to try it.
- Retric 9y agoYou can go from east to west coast in the US in 10 days while limiting yourself to ~210 miles per day. For a retired person with little need to hurry that's reasonable even with only nightly charging. Personally, I have little interest in driving 600+ miles per day making fast charging minimally useful.
- juanmirocks 9y agoArguably, Tesla & Elon Musk already achieved their goal of speeding up the adoption to EVs away from combustion engines: all car companies are working now on or have plans for electric vehicles. Elon Musk has already succeeded big big time.
- danielbln 9y agoAnd to add to it: the other car companies are ACTUALLY working on EMVs now, not just show some design study drenched in blue lights at some car expo once per year before going back to selling Diesel engines like they did in the past.
- kinard 9y agoWithout a doubt, It seems like everyone is playing catchup, I'm still shocked how far behind the German car manufacturers are. I recently switched from a BMW M5 to a model S. It's been a great switch for me. Slightly lacking in build quality but made up for in that 0-60 excitement!
- juanmirocks 9y agoSpot on. I live in Germany and fear for its car industry. Still, I hear good things coming from Audi or even still BMW. Mal sehen.
- nickik 9y agoThey had every oppertunity to get on this. They have government friendly for green cars, they have the scale to build charging infrastructure, they have the programming knowlage and so on. They could also have jumped in with the Supercharger network and profited from the global network that Tesla is building. Well, lets see how they recover, by now Tesla is way ahead.
- gcheong 9y agoGuessing it's more likely due to California's ZEV mandate.
- lafar6502 9y agoOK, what was the previous EV Cannonball Record?
- hluska 9y agoIt was set by other Teslas. The Verge has more information in their story at: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/2/16842816/tesla-model-3-la-new-york-record-cannonball-run https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/2/16842816/tesla-model-3-la-... The relevant quote reads: Not only did the time best what Roy and a team did in 2016 when they did the run using a Model S and Autopilot by about 5 hours, but it also beat a record set just last summer by friends Jordan Hart and Bradly D'Souza in a Model S 85D by more than an hour. ("Roy" refers to Alex Roy, editor-at-large for the Drive, who was on the trip.)
- mikeash 9y agoIt will be interesting to see how the next Roadster is able to do once it actually becomes available. With a 600 mile range and likely the ability to charge significantly faster, it should be able to smash this number. Eventually.
- arkh 9y agoHow much time spent charging? Charging time is what make petrol win. Drive 500 miles, take 5mn to charge up and you're good for 500 more miles. Until EV can do this (surely through charging stations like petrol cars) they won't good at anything more than daily commute if you can plug your car at at home and at work. So battery technology is where the interest should be. We already know how to make efficient electric motors, we know how to make small vehicles. All wee need is fast charging energy stores. All some kind of electrical rails available on highways EV could use. Maybe setup specific separated lanes with no speed limit, EV rail but only if using some autonav which responds to the highway command to optimize the flow. Yes, you'd get something like trains for individuals.
- _ph_ 9y agoYes, refuling will always be faster than recharging. That is physics. The question rather is: at which point (and for which driver profile) is it no longer a practical problem? Elektric cars already save you a lot of refuling stops in day-to-day driving, if you plug them in over night. And the Tesla supercharger network is basically almost fast enough, that it reasonably fits with the breaks one would take on long trips when not racing for time. And of course, electric cars give you all the benefits of electric cars, like no exhaust, no noise and better torque, no gear shifts.
- atourgates 9y agoPersonally, I think it's when an EV can make a 9-hour drive without needing more than about 30 minutes of total charging. 9 hours is (in my opinion) the max amount of driving you can seriously do without at least a couple hours of resting. That'd be about 540 miles total, maybe a bit less if you could make those 30 minutes of rest stops at a fast charger. Right now, EV's are clearly the future. I'd say that when they have a 500 mile range with an MSRP that matches ICE vehicles, they'll go from being "exciting new technology" to "the obvious choice for most people."
- elsonrodriguez 9y agoI don't think 500 miles of range is what will trigger it as the obvious choice. A proliferation of decent, non "ev looking" cars with 200 miles of range will be all it takes for people to realize that they only really drive 50 miles a day, and paying for gas is for suckers.
- wernerb 9y agoWhile I appreciate the record, the GPS fast forward video shows frequent texting while driving. Is this legal in the US? Here in the Netherlands we have statistics showing car accidents up after a downward trends with texting while driving as the leading cause. It makes me wish people were back to using cellphones without carkits, at least people had more chance of eyes on the road.
- bpicolo 9y agoIt's not legal in most states. It's also possibly not legal to be driving at the speeds they were probably driving at for this record at various points (previous canonball run records for non-EVs went far over the speed limit and used police radars to avoid run-ins. I'm not sure if this attempt stuck to a more legal approach or not)
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoI've not watched the video but it's possible Tesla autopilot was engaged at those moments. I'm not sure if that changes the legalities though.
- greglindahl 9y agoIt doesn't change the legalities. As a Level 2 system, the driver has to behave like a driver, constantly alert.
- bneumann 9y agoWOW! The Tesla run was 3 hours faster than the original 1933 record set by a gasoline car! It was just over HALF AS FAST as current gas cars! Pretty soon Tesla may catch up the the 1950's gasoline cars!