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Yeah, but people have been saying they won't make it for over a decade now. It's tiresome and unproductive. Meanwhile they've done amazing things that most con

by Reedx 8y ago

Yeah, but people have been saying they won't make it for over a decade now. It's tiresome and unproductive. Meanwhile they've done amazing things that most considered impossible. They went for it despite the difficulty and actually changed an industry. Electric cars were thought of as golf carts! Not so anymore. The idea of covering the country with chargers was a pipe dream. Now it's reality. Here's hoping Telsa continues doing big things.

steelframe 8y ago
I'm an ex-Tesla owner (went for an I-PACE with my last EV purchase), but I have to agree with this sentiment. Tesla will go down in history as an amazing phenomenon, regardless of whether they survive in the marketplace.
- m3kw9 8y ago
  Haha I see that you did. That’s after you’ve tried an I-Pace
semi-extrinsic 8y ago
I'm not sure they've done things anyone considered impossible. People have said these things will be wildly unprofitable, sure, and so far those people are mostly right. But nobody has said it would be impossible to build a big expensive electric sedan with high range. Nor did anyone say it would be impossible to build a wide coverage fastcharge network. Surely they are impressive feats, but not "thought to be impossible". In fact, other companies have managed to build similar things. Today the Jaguar and Audi e-SUVs are competing with the Model X, in a few months the Porsche Taycan is competing with Model S, and the ChaDeMo charger network is the same size as the Supercharger one (both have 12,000 units deployed globally).
- pbreit 8y ago
  First US car company in 60 years, electric at that. Best crash test ratings. Highest owner satisfaction. First US-owned factory in China. Built in about 6 months. Ability and willingness to use OTA updates. Willingness and ability to put auto-pilot on the road for consumers. Ridiculous performance. Better chip than Nvidia. Top 2 auto battery supplier. Best selling lux car in US (ICE or EV). Dramatically better battery efficiency. No dealerships. Online ordering. Plausible FSD story. Camera-based autonomy. $35k price point.
  - semi-extrinsic 8y ago
    Apart from the FSD bit, which is still a far way from realized and might never be, none of those things are in the category "people said this was impossible".
    - pbreit 8y ago
      Read the list again.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Plausible FSD story. No. > Camera-based autonomy. That's among the reasons the former isn't true. > $35k price point That PR point has largely been abandoned. I mean, nominally they’ll still sell it to you if you jump through hoops, but they’ve deliberately made it less accessible because, as much as it was an important PR point, it was never really viable.
    - whttheuuu 8y ago
      This comment is the very definition of head in the sand lol.
    - pbreit 8y ago
      Continuing to deny something that exists is actually beyond calling it impossible! If you've got some spare time, go read some third party research on how cameras might actually be better. Lidar superiority is a myth. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.07179.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.07179.pdf
      - threeseed 8y ago
        That paper says nothing of the sort. Did you even read it ? The numbers actually show pseudo-LiDAR being worse in general and significantly worse at longer distances.
        pbreit 8y ago
- leesec 8y ago
  >I'm not sure they've done things anyone considered impossible. Is this also a joke? They've been doing impossible stuff for literally 10 years, there's plenty examples of people claiming so. Consider this, there isn't a better car than the one they produced in 2012, and GM's best effort at an EV (the Bolt) lost somewhere between 4-8k per unit.
S_A_P 8y ago
Agreed- and I'm a fan from a distance. Again I have no dog in their fight, but I would at some point like to own a Tesla or equivalently performing vehicle. For me, Elon is still the guy to lead the effort. He had some missteps during a stressful period, but he is someone that will keep Tesla in the news and keep people interested. Even if half of the people want him to fail. Aside from Autopilot and the everymans model 3, Tesla has delivered some pretty damn incredible tech that actually works in the real world. I would love to own a Model S, maybe when V2 comes out, I will be in a position to get one. Lets hope they still exist when that happens. I personally don't understand why someone would wish for them to fail. Maybe to prove that how they feel about Elon was "right", who knows. I see some issues with autopilot coming to a head at some point. They are either going to deliver or have a giant rebate due at some point in the future. I don't see any other option. If I bought a car in 2018, and had to wait 4 years for a feature my car would be about used up(I drive about 26,000 miles a year).

by Reedx 8y ago

steelframe 8y ago

I'm an ex-Tesla owner (went for an I-PACE with my last EV purchase), but I have to agree with this sentiment. Tesla will go down in history as an amazing phenomenon, regardless of whether they survive in the marketplace.

m3kw9 8y ago
Haha I see that you did. That’s after you’ve tried an I-Pace

semi-extrinsic 8y ago

I'm not sure they've done things anyone considered impossible. People have said these things will be wildly unprofitable, sure, and so far those people are mostly right. But nobody has said it would be impossible to build a big expensive electric sedan with high range. Nor did anyone say it would be impossible to build a wide coverage fastcharge network. Surely they are impressive feats, but not "thought to be impossible". In fact, other companies have managed to build similar things. Today the Jaguar and Audi e-SUVs are competing with the Model X, in a few months the Porsche Taycan is competing with Model S, and the ChaDeMo charger network is the same size as the Supercharger one (both have 12,000 units deployed globally).

pbreit 8y ago
First US car company in 60 years, electric at that. Best crash test ratings. Highest owner satisfaction. First US-owned factory in China. Built in about 6 months. Ability and willingness to use OTA updates. Willingness and ability to put auto-pilot on the road for consumers. Ridiculous performance. Better chip than Nvidia. Top 2 auto battery supplier. Best selling lux car in US (ICE or EV). Dramatically better battery efficiency. No dealerships. Online ordering. Plausible FSD story. Camera-based autonomy. $35k price point.
- semi-extrinsic 8y ago
  Apart from the FSD bit, which is still a far way from realized and might never be, none of those things are in the category "people said this was impossible".
  - pbreit 8y ago
    Read the list again.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Plausible FSD story. No. > Camera-based autonomy. That's among the reasons the former isn't true. > $35k price point That PR point has largely been abandoned. I mean, nominally they’ll still sell it to you if you jump through hoops, but they’ve deliberately made it less accessible because, as much as it was an important PR point, it was never really viable.
  - whttheuuu 8y ago
    This comment is the very definition of head in the sand lol.
  - pbreit 8y ago
    Continuing to deny something that exists is actually beyond calling it impossible! If you've got some spare time, go read some third party research on how cameras might actually be better. Lidar superiority is a myth. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.07179.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.07179.pdf
    - threeseed 8y ago
      That paper says nothing of the sort. Did you even read it ? The numbers actually show pseudo-LiDAR being worse in general and significantly worse at longer distances.
      - pbreit 8y ago
leesec 8y ago
>I'm not sure they've done things anyone considered impossible. Is this also a joke? They've been doing impossible stuff for literally 10 years, there's plenty examples of people claiming so. Consider this, there isn't a better car than the one they produced in 2012, and GM's best effort at an EV (the Bolt) lost somewhere between 4-8k per unit.

S_A_P 8y ago

Agreed- and I'm a fan from a distance. Again I have no dog in their fight, but I would at some point like to own a Tesla or equivalently performing vehicle. For me, Elon is still the guy to lead the effort. He had some missteps during a stressful period, but he is someone that will keep Tesla in the news and keep people interested. Even if half of the people want him to fail. Aside from Autopilot and the everymans model 3, Tesla has delivered some pretty damn incredible tech that actually works in the real world. I would love to own a Model S, maybe when V2 comes out, I will be in a position to get one. Lets hope they still exist when that happens. I personally don't understand why someone would wish for them to fail. Maybe to prove that how they feel about Elon was "right", who knows. I see some issues with autopilot coming to a head at some point. They are either going to deliver or have a giant rebate due at some point in the future. I don't see any other option. If I bought a car in 2018, and had to wait 4 years for a feature my car would be about used up(I drive about 26,000 miles a year).