Comment by startupstella | Hacker News Reader

Comment by startupstella | Hacker News Reader

I just drove a Tesla Model S last weekend. Here are my perceptions, as I was SUPER curious about the car before I drove it:

Pros: 1) The drive is AMAZING. The car is quiet, it accelerates amazingly, and the regenerative braking is really cool. 2) It feels like the future. The huge computer screen is cool (but distracting, you can go on the internet at anytime). 3) The ability to get software updates all the time is cool when thinking about cars.

Cons: 1) It is impractical for an urban dweller in a condo building: you have to pay for an electrician to come install a special outlet, then pay for the electricity (which is fine if you own a house, getting this through a condo association is a nightmare). 2) The whole time you are thinking about the battery charge. What if you forget to plug in your car at night? 3) For the cost, it lacks feature a luxury car should have: park assist is one feature. The model i drove was around 90k and the more "luxury" features felt like a standard sedan (the leather, the wood, etc). You are definitely paying for the tech. 4) What if someone hits you? How much compared to other cars does it cost to get repaired? The salesperson couldn't answer this. 5) The car is connected to 3G for maps (unless you upgrade) and at some point, you will be paying for this service. 6) You have to plan out where you power up for a trip longer than 200 miles...so annoying.

If you have the capacity or need for a fun, toy car at this price point...check out the Model S. I don't find it practical as a main car in the city.

In California, 1353.9 pretty much requires condo management and similar authorities to accommodate electric vehicles. IANAL, but I have served on an HOA board for my sins. You will usually have to get approval, supply proof of insurance coverage, and pay any associated costs - but it can be done.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=civ... has the relevant code.

Good points, especially the condo thing! The range thing confuses me: How often do you drive more than 200 miles in the city? I live in DC which has lots of far-flung suburbs, and can still take a day-trip to Baltimore (an hour away) and back for around 100mi total.

I see this as a really attractive second car for wealthy commuters. If my spouse had a normal gasoline car we could use for long trips and hauling things, this would be a great daily driver, especially if I lived in suburbia and commuted for 30min a day where having a nice car would make a big difference in my life.

That's not a con for the car, that's a con for living in a condo. The list of things that are impractical for someone living in a condo building could fill a warehouse.

No. That's a con for the car.

As the population of the world increases housing density will also increase. Hence it is important that Tesla find a way to accommodate people like condos as well as people who rent.

As electric cars become more popular, it will become less of a special request and more of a foregone conclusion that parking will have electric charging capability. It's not terribly expensive to add, as long as the building's wiring is capable of serving it.

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

The points about charging apply to any electric vehicle, though, and that's where I have trouble seeing electric cars really taking off. The Tesla approach seems great if your only use case is up to 100 mile drives from home to somewhere else and back again the same day to a home where you can easily plug the car in (essentially the typical car commuter). That's got to be a reasonable market now, but I remember seeing a recent article about a strong trend (in younger generations) towards living close to work and not driving or at least driving much less. I definitely fall into that category, and while I do have a car, I only use it on weekends to take trips out of town -- generally to places out in the woods where there will never be charging stations and often far enough that I wouldn't trust a 200 mile range. Unless battery technology gets way better, I just don't see electric-only working for that kind of use case. The Volt makes a lot more sense to me since you always have a backup plan.

Regarding charging stations for urban dwellers, my building (like many new projects in the Seattle area, as I understand it) has a few parking spots that are with charging stations. I don't see them in use now, but if electric cars actually do take off, people are going to be fighting over those few spots.

>That's got to be a reasonable market now

According to NHTS data, the mean Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) per day for Americans is 33 miles. The median is 22 miles. With numbers this low, and steadily decreasing, electric vehicles are viable for nearly all drivers. When small electric cars are comparable priced (taking into account lower cost of ownership) to their gas-burning competitors, things will really start to change.

"Range" can be confusing though....how does range compare on an open freeway vs stand still traffic?

> With numbers this low, and steadily decreasing, electric vehicles are viable for nearly all drivers.

I guess I should go look at the actual NHTS data, but mean and median might not actually support this assertion. They're way too generalized. As an example: over the past few years, I've driven 4000-5000 miles per year. You could express that as 11-14 miles per day, but that's pretty misleading. I might only drive 40 or 50 days a year, so in reality I'm driving an average of 80-125 miles per day. Not a good fit at all for today's electrics.

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