@sgtrock21, I get your point. A Tesla S is as reliable as a 1971 Vega.
“Drive unit” might mean the electronic motor speed control and not the motor itself. It is common to call variable frequency inverters for three phase induction motors “drives” or VFD’s, (variable frequency drives).
I’m pretty sure that the Teslas are powered by either three phase induction motors controled by VFDs or brushless permanent magnet DC motors which also need a VFD.
I’m not trying to condemn electric cars. I’m just pointing out the surprising (to me) amount of problems a single Tesla S has had. No exaggeration on Edmund’s part, 3 drive units and a battery were replaced, that’s the facts.
I’d much rather see improved EVs than what I see as a dead end (and a huge waste of tax $$) in hydrogen cars. EVs have the charging infrastructure in place, hydrogen has none.
@wesw big oil and big auto had better get on board or china or india or germany will take the lead. electric cars are here to stay and will only get better.
Do you have any idea how much my eyes roll every time I hear “big” before oil, auto, agriculture, pharmacy, alcohol, tobacco, government, entertainment, ad nauseum? Not everything is a vast conspiracy orchestrated to maintain the status quo.
Electric cars will replace gasoline powered cars if and when a long road trip in an electric car stops being a stunt that requires careful planning and a careful choice of routes based on the availability of charging stations combined with occasional careful driving in order to make it to the next charging station in an electric car that the working class can afford.
^^Yup. I hope everyone realizes I was being sarcastic in my post. Just having a little fun at the expense of the “Who Killed the Electric Car” conspiracy nutters!
I never said anything about a conspiracy, just competition. I was just repeating another posters phrasing. Dramamine might help the nausea. be careful or your eyes might stick that way. if you think electric cars aren t gonna increase market share you have your head in the sand. just as well, nobody likes to see eye rolling
Whatever failed may well be a simple bolt not torqued down or something out of tolerance. However, Tesla is instructing the technicians to replace the drive unit instead open it up. This sort of obscurity does not help with gaining public trust. It would be better for Tesla to tell the consumers where they screw up and what they are doing to correct the problem.
You can make anything fail,if you try hard enough.Used to work around people who would make the brags" that they were going to tear something up because they didnt like the make.
"Lovers of the racket of the infernal combustion engine will never like the quiet torque and reliability of the electric motor"I would trade all my infernal junk right now for electric,if I could afford it.
Does anybody realize how many people electric cars(good ones) would put out of work?
Teslas approach is rather radical,but remember,if you dont lie,you dont have to remember anything.
Reminds of the time my wife and me bought a new Honda Passport,one of the worst vehicles I ever owned,the engine started running really bad after a few thousand miles(I found out at the {Isuzu place,if I remember correctly} that these engines had a secret warranty.[by the way the Isuzu Rodeo,had a better warranty then the rebadged Honda Passport] by not knowing about this secret warranty,it cost me a lot of money and aggrevation-So I applaud Tesla for being straightforward and honest.Definitly on my list of cars to own,if I had the lucre-Kevin
@B.L.E.
You can count me in as well with oil and major auto companies not supporting electric cars. Oil companies don’t support the use of natural gas as a major long haul trucking fuel either, for now. There are a lot of things that companies do to increase or maintain their profits. It does not take some thought of a major oil company conspiracy. It’s the nature of all for profits. Natural gas does get tacid support but only as oil companies start acquiring the natural gas resources for themselves. Oil companies support electric cars powered by fuel cells. They are on record for that endeavor and are working with the military to that end. Fuel cells takes the consumer right back to the “buy at the pump” mentality instead of battery storage technology which puts the consumer ultimately in charge of his power options. Oil president Geo. Bush/Cheney are on record as the major supporters of this technology to the extent they wanted to actually subsidize this fuel cell effort. It has it’s merits but mostly for military use and high oil company profitability. No conspiracy, just fact !
Toyota runs and hides from any major EV development and only trots out longer range, high cost plug ins as market forces demand it as required by some states. Look at the Spark EV. An electric car anyone could own but restricted to sales in only two states to the relief of their maker, GM. Teslar is on it’s own. And as a non auto company, has to suffer indignantions auto companies wouldn’t because of their resources. But they, auto companies are smart enough not to dive into their production till forced to. With an EV market of less then one percent, the electric car is right where oil and auto companies want them…inconsequential.
@weswI never said anything about a conspiracy, just competition. I was just repeating another posters phrasing. Dramamine might help the nausea. be careful or your eyes might stick that way. if you think electric cars aren t gonna increase market share you have your head in the sand. just as well, nobody likes to see eye rolling
I’m sure electrics are going to gain market share. It’s just that “big whatever” has become a cliché used mostly by conspiracy theorists and fanboys. If there is a conspiracy, it’s only that they keep building better and better ICE powered cars.
I used to know people in high school who would break their bikes so that their parents would buy them a new, more popular one. there was one boy who would break the frames for them by jumping ramps and slamming the landing.
kids my sons age did the same with their phones.
one of the few benefits of being poor was that I learned to make something out of nothing. I put together one ten speed, from broken bikes I salvaged, that was widely popular, and very fast. it was stolen many times.
believe it or not, I saw it last year at the scrap yard. my son and I were taking some scrap there and it was in the pile of newly dropped off junk.
I knew it was mine by the customizations unique to me. I hadn t seen it since I was 21, 25 years ago. it was too far gone or I would’ve called the cops and re claimed it, again
the Volt seemed to be designed to fail, IMHO.
@wesw, I’m a little confused about your Volt comment. Why do you think it was designed to fail?
FWIW, My neighbor has one and likes it a lot. He only commutes 22 miles total so the engine rarely runs. I needled him for paying so much for so little but he leased it at a very nice payment. They seem to be more reliable than a Tesla at 40% of the price and never have to rely on finding a charger for a long journey.
The biggest problem I see with them is the $40,000 price. The Tesla has that problem $60 to $100K depending on the battery PLUS the range issue for a long trip. The very same unsolved issue ANY pure electric has dealt with for 115 years!
I think the Volt is a much more elegant solution to having an electric car that can make long trips than the Tesla is. The ICE in the Volt likely weighs less than the additional batteries in the Tesla do making for an overall lighter car, and lighter cars consume less energy than heavy cars do. Even electric cars consume energy and electricity is not a source of energy, it’s a method of transporting energy from a distant power plant to the place energy is needed.
have you read the reviews at Edmunds? a lot of unhappy buyers
“Owner satisfaction” for the Volt on Consumer Reports is higher than EVERY EV or hybrid, except for the Tesla S.
the same mountainbike Thanks for the memory refresher. Since I was having no problems with the car I just serviced it often and drove it until the BIG BANG.
Not everything is a vast conspiracy orchestrated to maintain the status quo.
If interests align, a formal conspiracy need not exist in order for the same or similar effects to occur. In other words, “big oil” companies do not have to conspire with each other to work against electric cars. Electric cars represent a threat to oil companies, and so individual oil companies are highly likely to independently decide to attempt to thwart them.
“…individual oil companies are highly likely to independently decide to attempt to thwart them.”
So how would an oil company thwart them?
All car manufacturers have to live or die on their reputation for reliability. Tesla too. The numbers aren’t in yet. And this report is just on one car. But it does raise an alert. To set things right I think Tesla Corp should do what’s necessary to determine what went wrong with this car and publish an explanation.