Did my wife just say that...???

Fat Homer

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I was arguing with my coworker of Tesla vs BMW and he decided BMW wins because of engine noise. He admitted my car was faster, better handling, more comfortable ride and seating, safer, cheaper fuel, cheaper maintance, better resale value, better technology, could upgrade over the air, and full self driving. But in his mind the noise of the engine overruled all of that.

The “more electric pieces that can break” comment is simply wrong, sorry. There are even more controls in a modern gas engine since they are so obscenely complicated, not to mention the hardware in the engine breaking. The first Tesla model 3 just hit 100,000, the ONLY maintance was changing tires and fixing door damage from off roading.

The reality is anyone that buys a new car that isn’t an electric car just made a bad decision. That only variance to that is if you do actually regularly drive over 300 miles on a road without chargers, but that’s certainly not normal.
As i mentioned in my original post, i did say they break down more in HUMID climates...

I’ve seen this first hand living in Asia, all my friends who drive teslas are constantly taking their cars in to get fixed over here due to the humid climate and weather...

Even my brother in-law had to take his in over 4 times during the first year of owning his because of all the problems with the electronics that he had with his car parking it outdoors...

Either their nav screen goes down or other problems arise with their electronics, where as my BMW hasnt really had any electrical problems, just needed your basic service repairs...

At the end if the day though, everyone will have their own preferences when it comes to cars (like any other hobby), some like electric, others like petrol...

I just always preferred petrol, feels much more fun than all the electric cars i’ve driven personally and if i go on long drives in the outback, its more likely i’ll find a petrol station than a super charger...
 
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Ulu

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I converted my gasoline powered boat to electric, and I was quite fond of the electric car idea, except for the price.
Then I started talking about electric cars with my neighbor who is a Fire Dept captain.

He told me that Teslas, Prius cars and similar have a nasty tendency to jam the doors shut in a rear-end collision, and then catch fire.

All the firemen had to attend a special 2 hr training session on how to treat electric cars after a collision. How to disconnect all the batteries, etc. Evidently, when the Tesla battery pack starts burning it keeps burning, and it can take 3000 gallons of water to cool it off.

The majority of gasoline car fires do not happen in a collision, but from bad maintenance.

Tesla doesn't talk about the folks who have been barbecued in a collision.

Anyhow I won't be interested until on-board fire suppression becomes the standard. (Available Aircraft type fire suppression is not effective on Li battery fires.)
 

Fat Homer

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I converted my gasoline powered boat to electric, and I was quite fond of the electric car idea, except for the price.
Then I started talking about electric cars with my neighbor who is a Fire Dept captain.

He told me that Teslas, Prius cars and similar have a nasty tendency to jam the doors shut in a rear-end collision, and then catch fire.

All the firemen had to attend a special 2 hr training session on how to treat electric cars after a collision. How to disconnect all the batteries, etc. Evidently, when the Tesla battery pack starts burning it keeps burning, and it can take 3000 gallons of water to cool it off.

The majority of gasoline car fires do not happen in a collision, but from bad maintenance.

Tesla doesn't talk about the folks who have been barbecued in a collision.

Anyhow I won't be interested until on-board fire suppression becomes the standard. (Available Aircraft type fire suppression is not effective on Li battery fires.)
Now that you mention it, i do remember reading that the electric car batteries can be quite hard to put out, just didnt realize it would take so much water...

But that part about the BBQ definitely puts me off electric cars even more than before... definitely sticking with me bmw for now lol...
 

Chefken

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I was arguing with my coworker of Tesla vs BMW and he decided BMW wins because of engine noise. He admitted my car was faster, better handling, more comfortable ride and seating, safer, cheaper fuel, cheaper maintance, better resale value, better technology, could upgrade over the air, and full self driving. But in his mind the noise of the engine overruled all of that.

The “more electric pieces that can break” comment is simply wrong, sorry. There are even more controls in a modern gas engine since they are so obscenely complicated, not to mention the hardware in the engine breaking. The first Tesla model 3 just hit 100,000, the ONLY maintance was changing tires and fixing door damage from off roading.

The reality is anyone that buys a new car that isn’t an electric car just made a bad decision. That only variance to that is if you do actually regularly drive over 300 miles on a road without chargers, but that’s certainly not normal.
The other issue is battery life......I typically drive my cars over 175,000 miles before moving on and the batteries do not hold up that long. They also cost 10-12K to replace. I am waiting for better batteries or swapable systems.
 

Chefken

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i would add that if I could buy a used Tesla with a brand new battery I would jump on it.
 

Ulu

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I can't fault Tesla too much. It's just the nature of the beast.
Time will reveal all the warts and people will assume the risk even though they know . . .

I ride motorcycles. I've flown in balloons and stunt planes and speedboats.
Midget cars, hotrods . . . Which is more insane?
 
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Yoimbrian

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Wow...

Lots of Tesla haters here!!

The Tesla model 3 is the safest car ever reviewed by the NHTSA, by a fairly decent margin (with the Tesla model S and X the next two safest cars ever). There have been 2 people burned in a Tesla that I have heard of, both of whom were going very high speeds and crashed into a tree. And yes, it sucks for them, but the reality is looking at overall statistics it is still the safest car to be in on the road. Also, side note, the recent one was in a model S, not a model 3, which has the handles you can't manually open - the model 3 door handles are functionally no different than any other car door handle (I will concede the model S door handle does open some safety issues, which may be perhaps why they abandoned it for the model 3).

And yes, Tesla also raises fascinating questions about technology, i'll bring up autopilot before someone else does. There have been multiple people killed by self-driving cars, both car occupants and one pedestrian. And yes, it sucks for those people, but the statistical reality is there is enough data out there to show that Tesla's on autopilot are 9 times safer than a normal car - so yes there will be people that die, but far fewer than would have died without it.

As far as putting out the fire goes, it is a fascinating bit of chemistry. A "normal" fire with wood / gas / oil / whatever, needs the fuel source but also oxygen and heat, and are thus fairly easy to put out because you just need to take away one of those three things. A battery fire has its own fuel, its own oxidant, and makes it own heat - you can't deprive it of anything it supplies everything it needs itself. So you don't actually put a battery fire out, you just let it burn and contain the fire from spreading elsewhere.

Your comment of battery longevity is also quite simply wrong, unless you are basing it off 7 year old data from the original Teslas. Model 3 batteries are designed and tested to last between 300,000 and 500,000 miles, mostly depending on charging style (if you super charge to 100% full, it'll be closer to that 300,000 mile mark) - but even at that point by "last" they mean is down to 80% its original range. The first model 3 to pass 100,000 miles has the first real world data, and the battery has 98% of the original range. The powertrain itself is also tested to last over 1,000,000 miles, because the reality is in an electric motor and no transmission there is nothing that really wears out. So based on your example of driving a car 175,000 miles, you'd have to buy 6 gas cars to last the life of a single tesla with 1 replacement battery (so call it 6 cars to 1.5 cars). That's also ignoring the fact you would have saved $70,000 in fuel costs driving the Tesla for a million miles, and a likely 6-figure sum on oil changes and other maintenance. Also, they also had a very exciting lab breakthrough that should enable the batteries to last over 1,000,000 miles as well, see below article:


However talking about a normal person driving a million miles is kind of pointless, considering if you buy an average 16 year old a shiny new Tesla they will most certainly die of old age before hitting a million miles. Battery longevity is at the point where it doesn't matter for normal people if they make it better, it only matters for taxi drivers, semi-trucks (when they are available in a few years...), but most important utility scale energy storage. Speaking of Australia, the largest Tesla battery installation has been wildly successful, and is saving ratepayers a lot of money compared to the alternative of installing a gas peaker-plant. Starting now and accelerating over the next few years utility scale battery installations will go from niche to standard, and they will not only be good for the environment but they will save money in the process.


Honestly, like I said, people that buy any new sedan that isn't a Tesla simply made a mistake, and most of them because they simply don't understand how amazing Tesla's have become. I will happily sit here all day and discuss it, or just go to a Tesla show room and with 1 test drive you'll likely buy one that day - just make sure to put me down as a referral ( https://ts.la/brian90886 )
 

Fat Homer

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Didnt say i hate them, just dont really like them... so dont take it as a jab towards teslas per se...

At the end of the day everyone has their preferences regardless if its about cars, fish or whatever and i personally prefer petrol over electric even having driven a tesla before...

Who knows maybe one day i’ll change my tune but for the moment at least, no thanks...
 
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