Previously, Tesla owners simply had to go to their mobile apps to pay and unlock the extra range.
God, I hate this timeline.
this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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It makes me happy that Telsa did this because Tesla owners deserve this.
Maybe the Tesla owners who still somehow worship or apologize for Musk, but most of them don't deserve this at all. A lot of Tesla drivers dislike Musk and regret their purchases at this point.
They were the best electric car to buy for a long time. I don't fault anyone for buying them in the past. If anyone buys one now, with all the information and other options we have, then maybe they'd deserve it.
Elon Musk was no lesser of a piece of shit back then than he is now.
Five years ago the average person didn't even know his name, or care. Honestly, even today the average person doesn't know who he is. My mom barely does. But those people still buy cars, and some of them still buy electric cars.
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If buying things from pieces of shit means we should get fucked by them, then all we would do is get fucked by pieces of shit.
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We don’t deserve a country where companies can do this
Honestly it makes sense if it pushes the batteries out of the optimal (say 40-80%) charge level.
E.g. It wears out the battery faster and so makes them more prone to fail faster.
But if, and only if, you’re getting an extension on the warranty where Tesla is eating the cost of the replacements.
Pay to disable a battery lifetime saver mode??
Basically and then that only makes sense if the company’s going to foot the bill. Otherwise they could just make it very very clear that by using extended mode they’re reducing the lifetime of the battery and doing so at their own risk, yadda yadda.
If it’s, as the article suggests, to use what’s already there (larger capacity) then nah. That’s slimy just like BMW.
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it's a car. it's not an app. stop trying to apply subscriptions to everything. it's wasteful to have unnecessary bloat for features people don't want.
We, as an entire society, will have to stop paying for any of this shit to make that happen.
Maybe we should write an open letter to our senators and congressman and request that they draft legislation to make it illegal for hardware vendors to software lock hardware capabilities behind a paywall.
If I buy a $100,000 vehicle I shouldn't have to pay 50 60 80 100 $200 a month to utilize the features that are built into the physical hardware of the vehicle I have purchased.
I can understand a fee for internet access or for premium radio subscriptions or something but not to use the heated seats and battery life that is physically built into the vehicle I purchased.
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As productivity increases, artificial scarcity becomes necessary to maintain pre-existing levels of inequality.
How the fuck is it cheaper to software lock than to assemble a smaller battery? Like aren't the batteries expensive? You just put in fewer cells for a smaller battery.
It’s possible that these vehicles are already built and Tesla needs a way to entice budget conscious buyers to clear out their inventory.
That is insane. If it costs the same to make, then lower range isn't a reasonable area to pitch a lower cost vehicle. Wanting to lower the cost is fine. Putting in cheaper/smaller components to get there is fine. If you are using the same components and just software locking them to nickle and dime the users later, that's anti-consumer and should not be tolerated. I can't believe how people look at micro-transactions in games and think "wouldn't this be cool with IRL stuff?"
No different than BMW having heated seats but if you want to use them you have to unlock with subscription plan. This way BMW makes one model and consumer has a choice with paymwnt. Intel CPUs have this too now. Company running servers can buy low performing chip, if they want to expand capability then intel sells them a license code to unlock more performance
They're pushing the limits of this simulation to see how much bullshit we can tolerate. Turns out it's a LOT.
If you pay the monthly subscription you can actually upgrade to the premium simulation.
I'm already paying a monthly sub! The devs made food and shelter basically mandatory, and then they charged for it! Biggest money grab ever, it's disgusting.
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Pretty sure BMW ditched the subscription seats plan in the US due to pissing off car shoppers.
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If people are ok with that then I guess it will stand, but it's insane and anti-consumer in my book. A product costs what it costs, based on supply and demand, and if you can't afford it you don't buy it. This flimsy premise of "It lowers the bar to entry so users can upgrade later without having to replace!" will never come to fruition, and it's too slippery of a slope to "put in a quarter to turn on your A/C".
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It is way cheaper. two assembly lines to assmebly 2 packs, separate work orders, specific assembly per model ordered ( so customet doesn't pay for low end amd accidentally get highend or vice versa ), CAD and data management of two variations. It is why ModelT only came in black, is streamlines the whole process. You see much simpler examples in other induatries ie. that use stock material. it is cheaper to stock say 3 foot precut lengths and if product only needs 2 feet you chop it off at assembly and throw away the 1 foot scrap, rather than stocking and inventorying 2 foot and 3 foot stocks. Unless you invest in an expensive atock feeder that cuts the stock to length typed in, but that machine isn't mobile so neesa to be placed at the exact location of assembly. And if you need it two places you need two stock machines, so then you start weighing the crude method vs precise
And don’t forget about the local lots where you’re keeping the manufactured cars. If you’ve ever purchased a new car, you know how annoying it is to get car with the color, engine, drivetrain, and cabin options you want.
If there are lots of variations of a vehicle platform, then dealers and stores will use often their space to stock a little of everything, or maybe a lot of the popular config and next to none of some other configs.
Less variation means dealers and stores are not shipping inventory around as much, and they have more stuff on hand for impulse purchases.
Just spitballing, but a new part number means new variations to account for, new testing, new code, new hardware (balance/charge rate/cooling system), and new safety verification.
It's cheaper to hire a lawyer and programmer to screw a customer than a team of engineers to appease government.
Reminds me of CD/DVD drives. Manufacturers build/test one model, and make 3 firmwares with software limits to market to low, middle, and high price users. All models make profit, but segmenting the market gets those who can pay a little more. The advanced users buy the cheapest drives and reflash them with the best firmware to restore function.
Making variants of things is expensive. You have to keep more inventory on hand for the manufacturing components and the final manufactured vehicles. You also have to spend time / energy / space in the plant for variants of things.
And for final point of sale, if you don’t have enough final inventory in one area, you’re forced to spend a shitload of money shipping inventory across country to fill gaps.
It’s a pretty common problem in product development. This is why Henry Ford was so revolutionary. Variation of components increases a ton of manufacturing and logistics costs.
That said, Telsa should’ve just sold the car at one fair price and not software locked this. This was shady AF.
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Holy shit he really did the sleep(30) trick
"Pay me more for the thing you already bought, or I will leave you stranded." -Elon
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One more thing that makes Tesla hacking a profitable skill.
From the article...
Over the years, Tesla has periodically offered cheaper vehicles with shorter ranges, and rather than building a new vehicle with a smaller battery pack, the automaker has decided to instead use the same battery packs capable of more range and software-locked the range.
I can see business wise why they would want to do that, but P.R. and public perception wise, that's one step forward, two steps back.
It’s tricky. It’s not like BMW locking heated seats, a trivial feature, to nickel and dime the owner out of $300.
Reducing the battery capacity severely alters the value of the car possibly dropping it into the range of more budget conscious buyers.
There are benefits too. Less wear on the battery by not using its whole range, faster charging to “100%,” and more potential value when it comes time to sell should the buyer want to unlock the extra range.
Leave it to Tesla though to bungle the PR and completely lose the narrative.
It’s not like BMW locking heated seats, a trivial feature, to nickel and dime the owner out of $300.
Yes it is; it’s exactly that.
Reducing the battery capacity severely alters the value of the car possibly dropping it into the range of more budget conscious buyers.
Or they could not reduce it for the same production cost. No money is saved by tasking an employee to develop the battery nerf.
There are benefits too. Less wear on the battery by not using its whole range, faster charging to “100%,”
There are no benefits. You could simply unplug at 80%.
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If I own the car then either those are all my cells or someone else has abandoned their property in my car.
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Letting rich people have access to the internet was a mistake. This shit is begging for regulation.
"Software-locked" is a weird way to say you need to install Linux to get it all working properly.
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Absolute garbage.
I hope someone hacks this, makes it free & makes applying it as easy as changing a channel on your TV.
Tesla section on XDA forums when
Your warranty is now void. I am not responsible for bricked devices, flat tires, an empty fuel tank, or you getting fired because the fart app goes off at random. Please do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
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Well, at least there’s no rare earth metals in Tesla batteries that are sourced from countries with exploitative labor practices. Might as well waste a few to create an artificially shittier product.
Good news is that now people have decent options for non-Tesla EVs.
Now we just need to make sure those cars have access to widespread and reliable charging. NACS is a good start, but NACS cars will only have access to less than a third of Telsa’s network.