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"If you leave your $40k battery pack alone for months without a trickle charger, you will kill it" is no more challenging to communicate or implement than "if y

"If you leave your $40k battery pack alone for months without a trickle charger, you will kill it" is no more challenging to communicate or implement than "if you run your ICE without oil, you will kill it."

politician 15y ago
There is a world of difference between overuse leading to failure, and non-use leading to failure. It's disingenuous to claim that the messages are similar because they have abOut the same number of words.
- feralchimp 15y ago
  From a marketing and CRM perspective, the messages are identical: "Here is a simple and cheap routine maintenance behavior that will prevent a catastrophic repair bill: X". In the ICE case, X is "maintain a minimum oil level while the engine is running." In the Tesla case, it's "maintain a minimum battery level, even during storage." Given that the underlying drivetrain technologies actually are worlds-of-difference apart from each other, that strikes me as a pretty minimal difference in terms of routine maintenance. Unless it's somehow difficult to understand or costly to implement, we should assume Tesla customers aren't f'ing morons and go about our business.
  - vacri 15y ago
    'simple and cheap': ICE: park it out the back... or in the street Tesla: Park it out the back... plugged into a trickle-charger... which is a $2k specialist item you have to have installed... and you can't use a long extension cord... and you can't just have it in the street, it'll need to be undercover, protected from rain... and away from the public, even in a nice neighbourhood...
    - lutorm 15y ago
      Somehow, I don't think someone buying a Roadster has a problem parking it under cover, away from the public...
      - vacri 15y ago
        Might they take a while to visit someone who doesn't have undercover parking or a $2k power adaptor installed? From the article, it seems that while the roadster owners aren't burger-flippers, they're also not so wealthy that they can take a $40k loss on the chin.
azov 15y ago
It is not about communication, it is about function. "You have to constantly pay to keep your car alive. If you leave it alone for a few weeks, it will die". This is the way I read it. PS. If the battery management system won't allow the car to reach dangerously low level of charge, if it is very unlikely that I will damage my battery by accident - why won't Tesla guarantee it and subsidize battery replacement? Make it a $1K repair, that's enough money to keep people from not plugging their vehicles out of pure carelessness, but don't make it a $40K event that in insurance terms would be a total loss.

politician 15y ago

There is a world of difference between overuse leading to failure, and non-use leading to failure. It's disingenuous to claim that the messages are similar because they have abOut the same number of words.

feralchimp 15y ago
From a marketing and CRM perspective, the messages are identical: "Here is a simple and cheap routine maintenance behavior that will prevent a catastrophic repair bill: X". In the ICE case, X is "maintain a minimum oil level while the engine is running." In the Tesla case, it's "maintain a minimum battery level, even during storage." Given that the underlying drivetrain technologies actually are worlds-of-difference apart from each other, that strikes me as a pretty minimal difference in terms of routine maintenance. Unless it's somehow difficult to understand or costly to implement, we should assume Tesla customers aren't f'ing morons and go about our business.
- vacri 15y ago
  'simple and cheap': ICE: park it out the back... or in the street Tesla: Park it out the back... plugged into a trickle-charger... which is a $2k specialist item you have to have installed... and you can't use a long extension cord... and you can't just have it in the street, it'll need to be undercover, protected from rain... and away from the public, even in a nice neighbourhood...
  - lutorm 15y ago
    Somehow, I don't think someone buying a Roadster has a problem parking it under cover, away from the public...
    - vacri 15y ago
      Might they take a while to visit someone who doesn't have undercover parking or a $2k power adaptor installed? From the article, it seems that while the roadster owners aren't burger-flippers, they're also not so wealthy that they can take a $40k loss on the chin.

azov 15y ago

It is not about communication, it is about function. "You have to constantly pay to keep your car alive. If you leave it alone for a few weeks, it will die". This is the way I read it. PS. If the battery management system won't allow the car to reach dangerously low level of charge, if it is very unlikely that I will damage my battery by accident - why won't Tesla guarantee it and subsidize battery replacement? Make it a $1K repair, that's enough money to keep people from not plugging their vehicles out of pure carelessness, but don't make it a $40K event that in insurance terms would be a total loss.