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Old 01-15-2019, 06:20 PM   #175 (permalink)
RedDevil
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
But then you wind up with expensive, incompatible batteries, which will probably wind up being unavailable or prohibitively expensive in a decade.
Modularity adds to the cost. Batteries need to go into the car and ideally stay there for its life. Compatibility is a reason to reduce the options. Even a modular battery would need different control electronics depending on its capacity. And last but not least, Tesla redefines batteries, integrating the charging and control electronics in the pack. The 'battery' is a complete system nowadays.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
No, their biggest mistake was to invest a lot of their capital in developing autonomous driving. How much does that bump up the unit cost of a Tesla? And what percentage of buyers actually want it? Then there's replacing usable tactile controls with a touch screen.
I want it! Not for myself, but for all the idiot drivers I come upon daily.
I would use it myself if it gets good enough to trust - and to not give the idiots a reason not to use it. I believe it would make me a safer driver - but I'm certain it would make other drivers less of a risk in traffic.

Kudos for Tesla trying to make it work. It seems hard - but so was building an electric sports car, and luxury sedan, and supercharger network, and so on. Tesla habitually achieves goals that many declared impossible before. They do have self driving capability that is less than perfect, yet does work in most cases, and improve on that gradually.
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