looool

March 30, 2016. I arrived to the Tesla showroom/service facility at 7am to a line of about 30 people already camped out. A local Tesla fan club was handing out donuts and coffee. Tesla store employees were handing out whatever swag they had in stock; I got a nice pen.

Then, the line grew… and grew. Hundreds of fans wrapped around the building as we all eagerly awaited plunking down $1000 sight-unseen for a car. It seemed insane, but I wanted nothing else. It was a jovial, exciting party, and we were all there for the same reason. Then, the doors opened and it was electric (heh).

The order system couldn’t keep up, as every customer rapidly put in their reservation as quickly as possible to allow the next person to get theirs. I excitedly rushed home and bought as much TSLA stock as I could afford.

The next night was just as exciting, as I saw the grand reveal. The car was different, but beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. Other people felt the same.

Then came the excruciating wait, as the company struggled to start production and avoid bankruptcy. People on the subreddit coordinated volunteer opportunities to assist Tesla in any way possible. We were all in this together.

Once deliveries started, it was again like Christmas morning. I got a call from a weary rep that my new baby was ready to deliver. One more painful week, and I was driving my amazing new whip away from the center, cheering to myself. I was hot shit as I turned heads around town in my low-VIN Magic Future Machine. Despite some early part replacements under warranty, it’s been a great car.

Which brings us to today. I’m now embarrassed to pull it out of my garage, despite the fact that lots of Teslas are tooting around town. I roll my eyes at the couple Cybertrucks I see. I want to put one of those “bought this before…” stickers on the bumper, but that seems kind of corny to me. My friends mock my Swasticar. I want to get rid of it, but I have no car payment and can’t be dropping the cash on something else. Even a used Polestar 2 would be $10,000 out of pocket. I’m sure there will be a rush on other EVs anyway.

I’m left with a perfectly good car that tells everybody that I’m an evil racist who supports the destruction of the better world I hoped to hasten with my original purchase. I don’t know what to do. What do owners like me (I assume there are many) suggest? Do we just live with our mistake?

Video Source:

https://bsky.app/profile/crindivisible.bsky.social/post/3lirwann5ns2h

Tesla just released a SiriusXM streaming app for the Model 3, Y, and Cybertruck. I’m a longtime SiriusXmM subscriber, and actually have a free streaming account with them. Ever since I got my MY I’ve listened via their streaming app on my phone & Bluetooth.

Not only will my current streaming account not transfer to the Tesla app, but I also can’t activate an old existing account with it either. In fact I can’t even add the Tesla streaming account to my existing SiriusXM account. They want me to create a new account on SiriusXM with a different email address just for the Tesla app. The fact that I’d have to create and manage a second account is downright absurd. Whoever approved that asinine decision at SiriusXM should be fired…

I guess I’ll just keep streaming their stuff through my iPhone…

As part of an update to its AI roadmap, Tesla has also announced the features that will be in FSD v13. Tesla provided many details about what we can expect, and there’s a lot of info to break down.

I want to open by saying this is the most aspirational presentation I’ve ever seen. Some of this stuff looks insanely futuristic, so in a few short years we’ll be either completely blown away or (more likely) Tesla will further badly damage their reputation for delivering on their promises.

Presentation opens with a very long disclaimer about “forward-looking statements” which is pretty damning. Never seen that before.

54:20 - Elon comes out of a building and we get the first glimpse at the robotaxi/cybercab. It has a very Cybertruck aesthetic but much less polarizing. Satin gray exterior looks like it could be stainless steel but I don’t think it is. Large lights span the entire width front and rear, much like cyber truck, including the abominable rear light that looks like a brake light but totally isn’t and definitely should be illegal. The doors open/close automatically as Elon walks up/in.

55:36 - We get a look at some crazy laser lights going on. They do not look in any way useful, more like a light show, but maybe indicative of some sort of future lighting technology?

56:44 - Elon says “I just arrived in The Robotaxi - The Cybercab”. It doesn’t seem they have decided on a name for the vehicle. Personally I think “robotaxi” may be a type of vehicle and “cybercab” may refer to this specific vehicle. Notably, the license plates on the back say “robotaxi” in the same font as the cyber truck.

Elon says there are 20 more, for a total of 50 vehicles demonstrating full autonomy that day on the closed circuit at Warner Bros.

57:25 - Elon mentions there are no steering wheel or pedals. There are also no mirrors of any kind.

58:17 - a video comes on screen that says “today’s transportation sucks, costs too much, not safe, not sustainable”. Of note, in the first few seconds of this video is a train, reminding everyone that Elon is notoriously and vehemently anti-public transit.

58:45 - “you could fly to, ya know, another city faster than you can get across LA”. This is the first sign of something that later becomes readily apparent, and that is that Elon is just making shit up on stage and hasn’t prepared any statements for this event.

59 - Elon talks about how much money autonomous cars will save you, since you won’t be paying for a car that is sitting around doing nothing for 95% of the day.

He says you can get time back (presumably working for Elon) because you don't have to drive.

1:02:00 - Explains the average cost to operate a bus (not the ticket price) is about $1/mile. Elon “We think probably, over time, the operating costs is probably going to be ~$0.20/mi. And price, including taxes and everything else probably ends up being $0.30-0.40/mi”

A whole lot of "probablys and other qualifiers there...This is the second time where it’s clear Elon has prepared nothing.

“You can buy one. We expect the cost to be below $30k”. Presumably this means $29,990. Notably already more expensive than the $25k they touted previously. Though it can’t be proven this was the “Model 2” Tesla spoke about previously, I think it’s pretty clear that it is.

Elon talks about how you could start a business managing a fleet of robotaxis. This is really strange, in my opinion, as I don’t understand why Tesla wouldn’t just operate the fleets themselves and keep all of the money.

1:03:50 - Unsupervised FSD in TX and CA next year for M3 and MY. Honestly, at this point, Elon has been saying “next year” for 9 years, and if you’re still falling for it, you’re a special kind of sucker.

Cybercab production in “probably, well I can be a little optimistic with timeframes, in 2026. Before 2027, let me put it that way.” Again here it sounds like he’s just making this shit up on stage. This shouldn’t be something you have to think about on stage. It’s something you very carefully consider and then present on stage in a definitive tone.

1:07:04 - Elon says the “AI 5 computer” (presumably this is new nomenclature and this will be the successor to “HW4”) will be “open spec”.

1:08:45 - Elon announces they’re doing “inductive charging” and the robotaxi has no plug. Unclear exactly which models will be equipped with this.

1:09:30 - Talks about the elimination of parking lots.

1:10:00 - The Robovan appears. Elon hilariously mispronounces the name. No one laughs so he explains the joke. Can carry up to 20 people. $0.05-0.10/mi

1:12:10 - humanoid robots appear. Their walking seems impressively stable and humanoid. Some people speculate they are remote-controlled.

1:13:15 - “You should be able to buy an autonomous robot $20-30k long term” again here, $20-30k is an enormous gap and it sounds very much like he’s just making it up. “The biggest product, ever, of any kind”. Elon claims Optimus will usher in “an age of abundance” where “anyone will be able to have any products and services they want”.

My take: this is nothing short of delusional… What will happen is that they’ll further displace human labor and further consolidate wealth into the hands of the 1%. So, pretty much the opposite of what he’s suggesting. That is, assuming these things are ever delivered or functional enough to replace the kind of work currently done by humans.

1:15:50 - There’s a concert where they play Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock” while a bunch of Optimuses dance on stage. Honestly pretty dope.

1:22:15 - They show the Optimus serving drinks. The way it interacts with people at the bar appears very human, and by that I mean this is obviously why people think they’re remote-controlled, shaking it’s head, posing for pictures with a thumb up, waving at people, playing rock, paper, scissors and then reacting to losing. They seem to be carrying conversations. However the motions appear very fluid and humanoid, which is at least mechanically very impressive, and beyond anything I’ve seen from Boston Dynamics (though it doesn’t do any cool flips or anything).

Closing thoughts: This was a very short presentation where they unveiled a whole lot of stuff, but all of it was very sparse on any details whatsoever which, on the one hand, maybe they're beginning to learn from their mistakes. On the other, why even bother? Just release some photos and don't waste your time.

Some have criticized the choice of 2 seats. But honestly, how many people are taking an Uber with 3+ people? It makes a lot of sense to me, especially considering this will likely be one of the most energy-efficient vehicles ever made.

I just got back from a 1,200+ mile road trip and Superchargers, especially with the trip planning, made it easy!

However non-Tesla chargers seem to be more common in Connecticut. I went to try one and discovered I don’t have as complete a set of adapters as I thought. What if I need to charge at a CCS charger?

I looked online and the price range is huge. I see a $64 and one close to $300, and several in between. Do you know what the difference is or what I should be looking for? Is there one you’d recommend? Is it even worth it, since Superchargers are everywhere, plus I charge at home, and CCS is likely to go away in a couple years?

I just got back from my first real road trip in an EV: over 1,200 miles in nine days! I stayed with my brother most of it, but did not even ask to plug-in. I saw many destination chargers, but filtered them out.

I charged only at Tesla superchargers. There was always one close to on my way, and I never felt too delayed. My first charging stop was at the Meadowlands, which is apparently a huge mall when they’re not playing football. It was a huge surprise to see the pop up to continue the trip before we were able to find the food court. I did follow the pattern from trip planning, to charge up frequently for short periods of 10-20 minutes, rather than wait for a full charge, and it worked very well. Basically each stop was to grab a soda, maybe use the bathroom, and go, and I always had a couple hundred miles of charge available

There was only one spot where I was worried. After sitting in traffic over an hour with the AC running, I was getting worried about reaching the planned supercharger. I exited to try a different brand, but discovered I didn’t have that adapter. Oops. However in the end, we did make the planned stop with a decent amount of charge left, despite the traffic delay and a couple detours

The final leg of the trip was 350 miles through mostly rural are with fewer super chargers. Trip planner recommended 2 quick charging stops, but by the time we ate lunch, the first stop was more than sufficient. Even in this rural area, supercharging wasn’t inconvenient!

No more range anxiety here it, it worked very well …… although admittedly in urban areas in the northeast where superchargers are fairly common. Still, destination chargers were common and I could have plugged in at my brothers.

Found myself visiting r/teslamotors the last couple weeks and so I’m moving the discussion here — how is it? Anyone get it on their hw3 model yet?

Electrek’s Take

I feel like the Tesla master plans don’t hold as much value now that Elon has clearly shifted Tesla to an AI company.

The Part 3 was all about scaling the auto and energy businesses at a scale that would accelerate the entire economy’s transition to sustainability.

However, in the last few months, Elon killed, or at least indefinitely postponed, the $25,000 Tesla on the unboxed platform, which was a major part of the master plan part 3.

With part 3 and some of part 2 not completed, it feels premature to jump to part 4, but I’m pretty confident it is going to be all about self-driving and robots.

Additionally, there are rumors about a more affordable Tesla model. This compact car is speculated to be positioned below the Model 3, with a target starting price of US$25,000. Although there have been conflicting reports about the status of this vehicle’s development, Tesla has not officially canceled the project.

I wish Tesla would hurry up and make something cheaper than the Model 3. The market is there, and I feel like they would sell like hotcakes.