I suggest you re-read my posts…I specifically said I’m not fan of this practice. I said it MORE THEN ONCE.
The ONLY point I made is that this practice has been going on for DECADES. Nothing new.
My mistake. I misunderstood your intent when you equivocated.
As I and others posted before, extracting more energy per cycle from a lithium (and most other types of) battery shortens its life and increases the chance of a warranty replacement.
I guess I haven’t really thought about this and don’t have a dog in the hunt. I was just thinking though how I would feel if my car came with a V6 installed but without plugs or wiring for two of the cylinders. So you pay for a V4 but you have to pay extra to have the plugs and wires installed for a V6. I don’t intend to ever own a Tesla or flee a hurricane though.
I’ve never been a fan of this practice by companies. However if they can do away with it without increasing the price, then I’m all for it. Right now it’s far cheaper for Tesla (or any company) to build ONE item and then enable the features as needed. People will pay for these features/options.
As noted, this practice of hardware/software features has been done for a l-o-n-g time. You may have just not noticed. If you took apart most of your small electronics, you would likely see partially populated circuit boards with the options for the higher level just not installed. This saves everyone buying the less capable unit money. Why? The financial advantages of VOLUME purchasing. Only one version of circuit board to design, fabricate and stock.
The costs actually drop even more, in most cases, if the features are populated in hardware but disabled in software. Why? Even more volume of assembled hardware. Less stocking, handling etc. if only one hardware version. If a manufacturer buys and installs only one version of board, it is usually cheaper all the way around. The parts cost is usually negligible compared to the rest of the costs. The same is true for all parts in the process; wiring harnesses, ports, feature amenities etc.
I’ve worked in manufacturing industry my whole career. It is always a goal to have common parts to leverage the volume advantage in both purchasing and assembly labor. Even competing products may have many of the same internal “guts”.
Software/firmware is often developed similarly. This reduces the amount of V&V needed as only one full boat package needs to go through extensive (i.e. expensive) testing and validation.
I also agree with the people pointing out that the extended range option erodes margin in the design. It costs more to have this feature primarily due to decreased longevity of the battery pack = increased warranty exposure for the manufacturer. People are paying more for that extra range which offsets those potential costs…
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The circuit board is missing components or circuits! It can’t do new (secret) tricks! I’m good with manufacturers using the same “frames” and then building them in a variety of levels and features.
What I’m not OK with is buying stuff that is exactly the same as another unit, but the manufacturer purposely locks me from its use.
“Want more battery range? Not a problem. You’re car is equipped with it. Here, we’ll let you use it for a very shot time.”
When I buy something I want it complete with the features I selected. I don’t want it capable of more, but a manufacturer keeps me from it.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I made my bed and I’ll sleep in it. I flat out don’t want them screwing with me after the sale!
If I was told that could happen to me, up front, I would not purchase from those jack-wagons! I’d walk. If I found out later on they’d lose a customer. That’s just how I roll.
I worked at a car dealer and the General Manager, a personal friend, found out that a different supplier of shop supplies could supply carb-cleaner at $1 less. He questioned our supplier that he had been loyal to about the situation.
The guy said, “not a problem! I can match that.” He was immediately thrown off the property, permanently!
To me it’s like “No problem! Your car can do that (if we let it).” BAM! You’re out of here!
CSA
Remember back in the 50’s and 60’s everything was an option? Paid extra for a heater, radio, tinted windows, back-up lights, full wheel covers, etc. A long long list. Now at least Acura just packages all the options together and that’s what you get. Very few options except AWD, navigation, etc. You get all the goodies including power seats, windows, and so on because it was cheaper to manufacture the cars that way, and besides the public demanded the options. Can’t imagine paying $57 for a back-up light option or $500 for a heater. I guess when marketing meets manufacturing costs.
But what if you actually had to pay MORE for that exclusivity? If they have to make something completely different just to differentiate between models, you may actually pay more for your less capable model than you would with the common parts. Most people are choosing the less capable model due to price, not features. Would you feel differently if you knew it cost more just so it didn’t have those embedded functions that are disabled?
It doesn’t bother me at all but I’m the kind of guy that would probably try to unlock it on my own if I knew it was there 
You must be mad at a lot of car manufacturers then. De-rating an engine, often via the ECU, is very common in the automotive industry. GM is particularly famous for doing it specifically so that some other car with the same engine won’t be comparable to a Corvette.
I guarantee that you own a number of products right now that are lower-end versions of products which are exactly the same, but with a limiter built in to differentiate them.
Your car, unless it’s the top-of-the-line version, most likely has a bunch of wires going nowhere because your car doesn’t have whatever option they would have wired them to.
This is saving you money whether you bought the expensive or the cheap versions of those products. The manufacturer isn’t gonna short their profits becuase they have to design two wholly different products and open two completely separate manufacturing lines to make them. They’re gonna raise prices.
Instead, they’re making two different products with the same parts and the same assembly line, and saving a lot of money on it, and that means you will end up paying less when you buy it.
You’re trying to educate me, but I already know this and you might be surprised to find out that I don’t have a problem with it.
Example from several years, ago:
My wife’s Dodge Intrepid “program car” came without remote door locks. I bought an OE kit from Chrysler with complete instructions and 2 fobs for about $130 and installed it myself. The receiver plugged into the BCM, a cake walk. I didn’t need a different BCM or anything else. It (the kit) cost far less than the option did on new cars!
Read carefully! What I have a problem with is not leaving blank spots on circuit boards or fog light wiring dangling…
What I have a problem with is putting it all together, nothing missing, but keeping me from using it.
You’re on! Try me! Name one! Educate me.
I’ll tell you if I have it and if you’re right. Be careful, I live a pretty tech-free simple lifestyle and keep things for decades.
CSA
My Olds Aurora had the autobahn package. I don’t know if it cost anything or not but it took the speed limiter out of the software until about 135-140 mph. I never tried it out but it was an option Aurora fans looked for. Normal Auroras wouldn’t go any faster than 105 until the computer shut them down. Just a programming thing at no extra cost I suspect once the program was written.
Now if you live in Florida and want to buy a new car without a heater like the old days, I suspect they will pull it out but at some additional cost to the buyer.
I know what you meant and addressed it in my last post which you did not answer. Are you willing to pay more for that low end coffee maker if they have to provide a separate low end circuit board without the added features present but disabled? Just out of principal?
That is what is happening in many circuit boards. The difference is a simple jumper. Remove the jumper and it unlocks all the features.
Here’s a simple example I worked with some 30+ years ago. Our company bought 30 9600 baud modems. Back then you could buy modems that could only receive, but not send. We wanted modems that could send and receive, but the modems they sent could only receive. Called the company up and they gave us instructions to turn the modem into a send/receive modem…just moved a jumper from one spot to another. The cost difference was about $100 for the send/receive vs the receive only.
But it’s FAR CHEAPER for the modem manufacturer to make and stock just one version. If they had to make two versions, the cost of the send/receive modem would probably be $50 to $100 more and the receive only modem would be $50 - $100 more. If it’s saving the consumer money - then I’m all for it.
Well, I’d have to paw through your stuff to figure out what to point at, which I’d bet neither of us wants…
But it wouldn’t surprise me if your car (for some reason I can’t remember what you drive) has a software speed limiter and rev limiter. It’s capable of going faster and revving higher, but the manufacturer is keeping you from using those capabilities.
I don’t know what version of Windows you use, but it’s probably not the Pro edition. Do you really think Microsoft programmed two entirely separate versions of Windows for the Pro and Home versions?
Some other examples of products you may or may not (probably don’t )have:
Sony’s Playstation 3. The lower end version had the same blu-ray DVD playing hardware as the higher end version, but Sony eliminated one plug so that you couldn’t use it.
Canon’s Powershot cameras are crippled versions of higher-end Canon cameras. They can do things like calculate depth of field and run exposure zebras, but Canon disabled them in software.
Sharp had a DVD player that could play both American and European standard DVDs. You pressed a button to flip between the two standards. The version sold here in the USA had a plastic cover glued over the button so you couldn’t press it.
Sennheiser’s HD555 speaker is especially fun. It was lower-priced than the HD595. It had the exact same hardware. Sennheiser stuck a piece of foam into the HD555 so that the speaker wouldn’t sound as good as the HD595.
The Mazda 2’s lower-power version is the same as the higher power version except for code in the ECU which reduces engine horsepower.
The Casio fx-92es scientific calculator has the exact same hardware as the more-capable fx-911es, but it’s got lines of code that tell it what version it is, which tells it not to allow the user to do certain functions. People have been known to hack this calculator to trick it into thinking it’s the higher-end version, and they’ve gotten a free upgrade as a result.
Federal Express even got in on the game. If you don’t pay for 2nd day shipping, they still ship it in two days - they just put it to the side somewhere along the way to force it to take more than 2 days to get there. But your package goes on the same vehicles and on the same routes as the faster service packages travel.
I will point out that I do have problems with some of these. The foam crap that Sennheiser pulled is an irritant, because it actually cost them more to make the cheap version since foam is not free. On the other hand, people who know about this particular product differentiation can buy the cheaper speaker, then open the cabinet and remove the foam and end up with the more expensive speaker.
I will also point out that, with the exception of Windows and the products that users themselves hack (and, of course, therefore void the warranty), none of these products can be improved to the upgraded version. If you want the faster Mazda 2, you have to sell yours and go buy another one. If you want the higher resolution display on your Playstation, you have to sell your crappy one and go buy a good one. If you want your package to get there in 2 days, you have to pay Fedex to not artificially slow their shipping process down.
By contrast, if you want the longer-range Tesla all you have to do is call Tesla up and give them some money, and they’ll unlock it for you. Further by contrast, apparently when you find yourself in trouble from a natural disaster, Tesla will just unlock it for you long enough for you to get out of danger. They don’t have to do that. It’s a very good thing for them to do, and that’s where my objection comes - they did something nice which is refreshing in today’s business world, and they’re getting dumped on for it.
I’ll further point out that Tesla was completely up-front about the fact that the lower-range cars had the same hardware as the higher-range cars, but were software limited. They didn’t hide that fact from anyone, unlike the products I listed above which would rather you not know that they’re crippleware.
The customers chose, knowing full well that they were buying an artificially limited car, to buy the artificially limited car because they didn’t want to spend the extra money. Nothing wrong happened here.
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"patgurr
Gas to the rescue."
Enjoy it while you can. Here in the People’s Republic of California, the governor and Air Resources Board are floating an idea to completely ban the sale of gasoline and diesel powered cars by 2030.
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Why not? China, India, France, Britain, Norway, Germany and several other countries are all considering the same thing.
Having driven both an electric golf cart and a gasoline-powered golf cart for work, I prefer the electric. The electric one is smoother, more powerful, and it never backfires. (The gas burner backfires due to the speed governor required by my employer.)
When ever I’m in a golf tournament on a course I’m not familiar with I take notice of what type of carts they have.
Electric - Flat
Gas - Hilly or extremely long. Electric ones run out of juice before you finish 18.