[earlyretirement]

Well, one thing I will mention is that the robots can be off. LOL. For example with my car, there was a paint imperfection in the back. I guess the robot didn’t spray one back panel enough and the paint is thin. Also, my hood had some rock chips. I complained and Tesla is painting those areas over again. They gave me a loaner car to use until it’s fixed. Also, a P85.

Still LOVING the car. I can safely say I will NEVER buy another ICE car again. I’ll get the Model X once it comes out as well.

Also, regarding the meter I posted on the Tesla forum but I’ll repost here:

I have the dedicated meter from SDGE so the nice thing is you can experiment with this sort of thing. Since our meters started out from 0.00 it’s easy to track. Just for kicks, I’ve been noting exactly how many miles I charge each night then log it on a spreadsheet in the morning at what the kWh shows on the meter. I’ll keep some meaningful period of at least a month then I’ll post a Google Doc with the spreadsheet for anyone interested.

I would have thought that the green led light on the HPWC would at least draw some electricity but I’ve never noticed the meter have changed at all from the last reading. So it must not be anything noticeable at all which is great.

For example. 3 random samples of charging below. (For frame of reference I have a HPWC and dual chargers at 80 Amps and I set to charge at 1:30 AM).

168 rated miles. It used 66 kWh. I have TOU EV super off peak charging rates with SDGE in San Diego

https://www.sdge.com/sites/default/files/regulatory/schedule_ev-tou_090113.pdf) which comes out to about $10.56 to charge the 168 miles.

155 rated miles used 49 kWh for an effective price of $7.84

142 rated miles used 45 kWh for an effective cost of $7.20.

Also, for further reference, on Tesla’s website — http://www.teslamotors.com/charging it showed 170 miles as only using about 55.9 kWh with the HPWC and dual chargers. And explained by other Model S owners, you will use more energy for the car and the cable while charging so it will always be higher than what Tesla’s website shows.

Estimates above aren’t exact and just estimates. I’ll need to see what SDGE charges with taxes and usage fees and possible generation fees. I didn’t get my bill yet since I got the dedicated EV meter so I’ll see how it affects the rates.

Hope this helps.

[earlyretirement]

DISGUSTING is right! Yes, I’ve done a lot of development and you are right it is plagued with conflicts of interests, fraud and abuse. “Consultants” aren’t needed in many cases and surprisingly in many cases the “consultant” is buddies with someone or related to someone in the process.

Funny they mention that assisted living project. I’m going to that meeting next week to discuss the project. Maybe I should ask them about this. LOL.

Yep, CAR as soon as I moved to San Diego and started doing some due diligence I could read the writing on the wall it would be a good idea to end my obligation forever while I can.

Who knows later if they ban pre-paying off your Mello Roos. I wouldn’t doubt it.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=CA renter][quote=UCGal]KPBS had a radio story this morning – following up on the articles ER posted.

Apparently PUSD was confused (nice term) when asked about the misused mello-roos funds. Different officials had different (conflicting) stories/explanations.

In a related story on the website – there’s been so much bru-ha-ha over the overpayment of mello roos by folks in Del Sur, they have posted a website to verify your mello roos amounts.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/sep/17/poway-district-responds-inewsource-probe-mello-roo/%5B/quote%5D

From the linked article:

“Property owners who have been overcharged are eligible for a refund going back one year.”

—-

That’s total BS. Those homeowners should be able to get back every single dollar that they’ve overpaid over the years.

Glad to see they are following up on this. Thanks for sharing, UCGal.[/quote]

I totally agree. You can bet if they overcharged me, I’d make sure I got back every single penny WITH interest. One year? Ha!

[quote=UCGal]KPBS had a radio story this morning – following up on the articles ER posted.

Apparently PUSD was confused (nice term) when asked about the misused mello-roos funds. Different officials had different (conflicting) stories/explanations.

In a related story on the website – there’s been so much bru-ha-ha over the overpayment of mello roos by folks in Del Sur, they have posted a website to verify your mello roos amounts.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/sep/17/poway-district-responds-inewsource-probe-mello-roo/%5B/quote%5D

Thanks for posting this. I’ll have to go check it out. Actually I’m not so worried about the “accidental over charges” as I do think they were accidents. What I’m MORE worried about is the potential fraud and abuse of the CFD funds and not being used for their stated/original goals. Or at the very least what they are legally allowable to be used for.

I’m DARN glad to see on my most recent property tax bill that came out this weekend that ALL CFD’s are forever OFF my bill and I’m not liable for them any more. It’s a great feeling especially after reading shenanigan after shenanigan and clear examples of PUSD getting busted for NOT using CFD taxes as they are legally allowed.

Some of this is like pure comedy! Only it’s OUR tax dollars so it’s not funny.

http://inewsource.org/poway-school-officials-front-costs-mello-roos-taxes-vow-pay-back/

[earlyretirement]

I was also glad to see Summers dropped out. Something about that guy always gave me the creeps.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=flyer][quote=spdrun]

At the same time, American made films are making billions of dollars in many foreign
countries–blasting domestic box office receipts out of the water.

That’s sad in a way — I’d rather not have the rest of the world become more poisoned with Dumberican unculture than is has already been.

Electric cars: great.
Spreading American poison: no fucking thanks.[/quote]

Understand how you might feel that way about some of the films out there, sp. That’s one of the reasons we started investing in them. We really have to believe in a project and the message it is sending–before we get involved.

IMO, films are not going away, and someone or some entity is making millions, if not billions in investment revenue–every year. I’d much rather see those dollars going to American investors vs. foreign–which is another reason we got involved. Plus, we’re having a great time with it![/quote]

AMEN. Kudos to you flyer. You sound like a guy that wears many “hats”!

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=earlyretirement]

I was thinking about getting the house automated. I already switched out a lot of the lighting to make it more energy efficient. I know a lot of companies have gotten into the home automation space. Do you recommend one over another based on your experience?[/quote]

I did it myself by buying a zwave controller on amazon and the necessary switches, etc.. It cool to be able to operate lights and door locks remotely, but it’s not a must have.

I only have a small apartment but you have a big house so you might want to call a professional.[/quote]

Thanks flyerinHI. Ah zwave. I thought that would have been bigger by now but it seems like nothing really became of it as of yet. Yeah, I have a bigger house so I’d probably need to call a professional. All these gadgets and gizmos are exciting.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=AN]I personally wouldn’t give Tesla the credit of “pushing” the other car makers to speed up their EV. I think the CAFE standard is a much bigger force in pushing car makers to look into other tech. The way I see it is, European are going all in w/ EV while Japanese are going all in w/ Fuel Cell. It will be very interesting to see which technology win out. I’m personally rooting for Fuel Cell due to the speed of fuel up. It’s much easier to pull up into a FC fueling station (like a gas station) and after 5 minutes, you’re back on the road. Both technology uses electric motor to drive the car.

I hope the next model S is as big of a disruption as the current one is. If they can solve the range issue (going 500+ miles per charge), then I’m totally sold. I think you’re giving Tesla too much credit for EV. Model S is not the first all electric. The way I see it is, they take what is done w/ the Nissan Leaf and apply it to a higher end car. Regardless, competition is great. As a gear head and a tech geek, all of this is really exciting. I can’t wait to see which technology win out.

As for the Model X, I think you’ll probably love out it’ll drive. I don’t expect it to drive too much different than the Model S. Just more room. I’m only disappointed that they stuck w/ the 85kWh battery. I love the space design. I actually like the Model X more than the Model S, based on the interior space.

Did you look at all the concept cars from Frankfurt autoshow that’s going on right now? There are A LOT of alternative fuel vehicles, from the cheap low end eGolf to the well over $100k Audi electric sport car. Exciting time is definitely in front of us.[/quote]

Well, I’m not sure if Tesla gets the credit or not but unless I’m mistaken, EV’s before Tesla were really ugly and the performance was nothing comparable. So whoever takes the credit, that doesn’t really matter to me. Ha, ha.

I know Tesla isn’t the first all electric vehicle. It’s just the first really awesome EV that looks great and performs well. As far as I’m concerned the Leaf, Volt and Prius are really ugly. I wouldn’t take one free if you gave it to me.

I definitely don’t see fuel vehicles going away anywhere anytime soon. There will be room for both to coexist along with probably other alternative fuel/energy vehicles.

Definitely I’m sure we’ll love the Model X. I know several people that already put deposits down sight unseen but I’m not the type of guy that can buy something without seeing and test driving it first. But as mentioned, I’m 99% sure I’ll probably buy one once they come out.

I agree it’s disappointing it has the same battery. I was hoping that there would be a faster increase in the battery technology but for our use, it is typically fine. We rarely take road trips but probably will more now that we have the Tesla.

I’m taking the first longer distance trip on Wednesday up to LA for a business trip and back the same day. I’ll hit the Supercharger in Hawthorne and post about it here.

No, I didn’t look at any concept cars. Honestly, I’m not a “car guy”. It is a testament to Tesla that they could get me to spend $125,000+ on a car. I’m not that type of guy typically.

Today, I just got back from taking my car in to the service. As mentioned earlier, I complained about the rear lock latch so they will fix that. Also, I had some paint imperfections and there was a small scratch on the hood of the car.

They gave me another loaner P85 to use until mine is done. They told me they will probably have to repaint the entire hood which will take several days. I told them to take their time.

One thing I also like is they just emailed me within 5 minutes after driving of their lot a list of everything they will do. They included all the service bulletin fixes even stuff I didn’t complain about.

Something else I noticed is they are wise because they limited the ability to go over 80 MPH in it. I know some have complained about the lack of privacy with the tracking but as a father of two young kids……it will be great to take advantage of this when my kids are driving. Also, being able to limit how fast their car can go probably can’t hurt either. LOL.

I agree whether you are an EV, alternative fuel or all around car nut…. the future will be amazing and exciting. I never in a million years thought I’d drop as much money on cars as I did with the Model S and getting the Model X next year.

[earlyretirement]

Definitely I see Tesla pushing the other car makers to speed up their EV’s. Audi has fired their guy that was formally in charge of EV’s. My good friend works at Audi and a sales manager there. He recently went to a national conference and the head executives told the staff their biggest thread in the future is NOT BMW, Mercedes or Lexus. it’s Tesla!

My close friend runs one of the largest dealerships in Southern California and he also said that once the Generation 3’s come out from Tesla it’s going to be interesting. This guy has been in the car business 30 years and he test drove my car last week and was blown away.

I do think kids these days are aware of the environment. My kids are still too young to fully appreciate the green aspects of electric vs. gas but they do recognize and understand no more gas stations with the Model S (except to go rent Red Box movies). Such a GREAT feeling just avoiding gas stations now.

I let my kids plug the car in at the end of the day and they think it’s cool.

I have NO doubt that the future generations of cars will all be impacted by this technology and Tesla. It will be amazing when they can get these batteries up to about 500+ miles or more.

Now that we have the dedicated EV meter from SDGE I think we will definitely go with the Model X. I still need to test drive it but my wife LOVES all that room. We are talking about having another baby next year so we’d welcome the room.

It was funny in that video when they used an Audi Q7 for comparison and showed how little room you have after you fold the 3rd row seat up and it’s true. There is almost NO room at all. But in the Model X wow is there a lot of room.

I’m actually not crazy about those doors because it prevents the use of adding a roof rack. I use the roof rack on my Audi Q7 when we drive to Lake Tahoe so that part doesn’t thrill me but everything else looks great. And I love that it still has the power, speed and performance of the Model S.

Interesting times indeed.

FlyerinHI,

That’s great that you are doing all of those changes. I was thinking about getting the house automated. I already switched out a lot of the lighting to make it more energy efficient. I know a lot of companies have gotten into the home automation space. Do you recommend one over another based on your experience?

[earlyretirement]

[quote=spdrun]Why is it cool to have your every move uploaded to TSLA’s servers? That sounds like my personal idea of Hell.

I love the idea of a usable electric car, but without the spyware, please.[/quote]

Well, I’m not thrilled about the NSA being able to go through emails and many other things but it is what it is. LOL.

Of course I need to actually test drive the Model X but I’d say there is a 99% possibility once the Model X comes out next year I’ll be buying one of those as well. So I guess more spyware for me. 😛

Check out this video: http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx

I like Elon’s sense of humor with Model names.

S-E-X

[earlyretirement]

[quote=spdrun]Am I the only one who doesn’t care about the location and speed of my car (at least not enough to have it be uploaded to the “cloud” all the time) nor the indoor and outdoor temps? Setting the climate control 15 minutes before I drove off, being able to close the windows and roof if I forgot, and seeing how far charged the car is would be nice, but that’s about it.[/quote]

Well, I don’t think that people find them essential but just cool. Tesla owners are a pretty interesting group. I joined the SD Tesla Club and met some SUPER interesting people.

I had a coffee the other day with a fellow member and the coffee turned into a 3.5 hour chat. SUPER interesting guy. The guy was working with Steve Jobs when he was at NEXT. And through it’s a small world he was the founder of a company that one of my clients here locally works at. Just a small world.

I just think that many Tesla owners have a clue just how much lack of privacy is out there with NSA and other things. So it’s not too big of a deal to have this.

I think this is just the cusp of what is coming. I read an article today that talked about the potential of battery technology to get MUCH better and VC funds are investing in that technology now.

Kleiner Perkins Has Invested In A Stealth Startup To Improve Battery Power By 300%, Says Moore’s Law Is Running Out Of Steam

[earlyretirement]

Here is the Iphone App and how it works. REALLY cool. It’s cool how everything is real time and exactly correct. Interior temperature inside and out, speed, exact location.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=flyer]Great thread, and very interesting.

We’ve noticed the Tesla’s are also very popular among the film biz people. Since we invest in many projects, and my wife works in the industry, we’re on set often, and have noticed many key players driving them.

As others have mentioned, it should be interesting to see how things develop in the future.[/quote]

Hey flyer! Thanks.

Yeah, they are popular in Hollywood. Also, in the Bay area amongst high tech executives they are VERY popular. About 7 of my friends in the Bay area have just recently taken possession of one here or will in the next few weeks. And I’m sure several more will be ordering in the next few weeks.

It’s totally cool to see something so amazing made right here in the good ole USA and in California no less. This is why I tell people that say silly things like “The USA’s best days are behind it” are totally WRONG.

Our BEST days are ahead of us. This kind of technology makes me really proud to be American and totally excited to see what else comes in the future. When I think of what kind of cars some of us with young kids will be driving it boggles my mind.

Probably by then they will have self driving cars all on electricity that go 800 miles a charge. Exciting, exciting stuff!

[earlyretirement]

[quote=spdrun]
earlyretirement — awesome story about the seat latch. This seems like something Rolls Royce would have done in 1905 — glad that some companies still care about personal service to that extent![/quote]

Yeah spdrun! It was really cool. I think eventually this will definitely need to be a recall and they need to fix it. Quite honestly, for them saying “this is the safest place in the entire car” I was shocked when the first day I got it my kids were in the back. I was slowly reversing out of my driveway when I see them fall back.

They made a huge oversight and put the button to fold them flat right in the middle in between the seats. It releases WAY too easily. My kids are young and if you just accidentally move your hand on it the seat falls back.

They should have made this so it can’t engage while the car is moving or the keys are in the car. There isn’t ANY earthly reason why anyone would need to fold these flat once the car is moving. So it was an oversight.

Or at the very worst, they should have put the button to fold them flat hidden at the side or something. So I’m 100% sure this is something they will need to fix for future models.

But it was totally cool that right after I emailed the Senior VP about it, he had his engineers working on a solution and constant email contact with me to let me know that they were willing to put their engineers fix (albeit a prototype) in my car.

But the kids LOVE riding back there in the back. It’s the coolest thing ever to them to ride back in the “cave” as they call it. You should see them at school when I’m dropping them off in the morning or picking them up at the end of the days. They are like rock stars! Amazing that even at such a young age of a few years old, Kindergarten and 1st and 2nd graders already are saying things like, “Mommy cool look at that Tesla”. It blew my mind that young kids that young already knew the brand name.

For a company that doesn’t do any formal marketing except having stores at shopping malls….I thought that was pretty darn good.

But on the other end of the spectrum there are some parents that have NO idea what the car is and saw my kids coming out of the trunk (rear seats) and looked horrified. LOL.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I think that within 10 years, every car will be connected.

I’m happy there is a Tesla. It’s increasing the cool factor of electric cars and electronics infused cars. Not everyone can afford a tesla but the car is creating a shift in the auto market.

Electric cars used to be the domain of treehuggers, but now, they’ve become aspirational purchases. It’s cooler now to drive a Prius than it is to drive a Ford Expedition.

I’m not much of a car guy though i’ve driven mostly stick shifts. I personally wouldn’t mind a self driving car. High tech is cool.[/quote]

Oh yeah. I agree about the cool factor. I would have NEVER considered an EV before. Quite honestly, I think the Prius and Leaf and Volt are God awful ugly. The cool thing to me about the Tesla is the performance and also that it’s an EV and great for the environment. But quite honestly, I didn’t buy it just for the green aspect of it. I know many others in the same boat.

But the car is a “game changer” for EV’s and cars in general I believe.

Yes, the separate meter is NOT complicated at all. That was the most frustrating thing about the process with SDGE. It shouldn’t have been that complicated or taken so long.

It’s more of the red tape and permit process and inspection process hassles but SDGE has assured me that they will address this to make it easier for future people that get them done.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=flu][quote=AN][quote=earlyretirement]Most younger people know the car/model already but I’ve had several older people ask me “is that an Aston Martin”. LOL. I’ve gotten that about 4 times. And speaking of Aston Martin, I thought this video review was pretty cool from the UK of the Model S smoking an Aston.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUW0l7bZn1s%5B/quote%5D
The guy did say briefly that the interior quality is not even in the same league. But he only said it in 1 sentence and never mentioned about it again. As for performance, that Aston is a dog. Saying they beat the Aston is like saying you beat the slowest kid in your class. That’s not saying much. I love to see the pit the Model S against the latest S63 AMG. Or better yet, compare it against this beast: http://blog.caranddriver.com/brabus-builds-an-838-hp-s-class-the-new-one-its-ibusiness-time-2013-frankfurt-auto-show/?src=spr_GOOGLE_PLUS_PAGE&spr_id=1458_22864379 😀

I wonder if they’ll put more battery in the Model X to greatly extend the range, since they have a lot more space to work with. Imagine a 6000lb Model X tank that can go 500 miles. I think I’ll be totally interested in that.

I’m loving all these new tech that’s hitting the car market. Love this one from Toyota as well: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/09/11/toyota-yaris-hybrid-r-frankfurt-2013/#continued. Super-capacitor vs traditional batter. That’s cool. The new MBW i8 sounds cool too. For the car that size, I’m really impressed that they can get it to weigh ~3200 lb.[/quote]

There was a Tesla S at the August autocross.
It was a Model S 60.

http://www.sdbmwcca.com/autocross/results/2013-08-10.php

See “X” class section…

It was brand new, I don’t think it had a plate on it yet. Spoke to him briefly. Nice guy. He did a 100.965 on a fast course. 64/100..However, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t representative of the car, but more likely he’s a new(er) driver and probably not trashing the car as much as other people were… The fastest X class was a near bone stock 04 miata with a 87.808, but that driver is not representative of the average either..He’s really good, since he normally stomps most everyone else regularly…

If the tesla driver shows up next time, I’ll see if I can get the time when the instructors runs it on the first practice lap. A few of us are curious about it as well..

ER…

Bring out your Tesla to play….$50 membership annually and $65/event and maybe a $200 helmet if you don’t want to borrow one……[/quote]

As far as the privacy concerns, Tesla has a good policy in place and I’m comfortable with it. I’m not worried about it. Actually my good friend went to college with Elon Musk and knows him. I’m not worried about privacy aspects.

If you’re a reporter trying to plant a negative story driving in circles (i.e. New York Times reporter that got busted) then you probably have to worry about getting tracked. If you’re a John Doe citizen not so much.

Anyway, I’m not worried about privacy driving it and being tracked by Tesla.

The management at Tesla has been VERY responsive to me. I’m not sure if it’s because I name dropped my friend’s name and that he knows Elon but when I complained about the rear seat latch being too easy to open and dangerous, Elon’s right hand man emailed me back within days to tell me that they had their engineer make a prototype to fix it.

They offered to put the prototype in my car even though they just made it. They are picking up my car tomorrow to install it and fix some paint imperfections I wasn’t happy about. That greatly impressed me that they are willing to install the prototype safety latch on the rear jump seats.

flu, I’ve never been a race car guy or even a “car guy”. But man is this fun to drive. I did 0 to 60 in about 4.5 seconds. My buddy IS a car guy and we were out the other day timing things and driving it. He’s had Porsches before and said this performance blows it away. You mentioned the Model S 60. I have the P85 which is the performance model which is MUCH faster than the 60 or even the regular 85. It’s a night and day difference to me. It almost feels like you are driving a spaceship.

I doubt I’d race this car on a race track. Not really my thing. But I do enjoy gunning it on the highway. The P85 hits 135. Instant power.

Here are a few more reviews for those interested: http://www.teslamotors.com/models/reviews

[earlyretirement]

FlyerinHI,

As promised, here is a photo of the set up and the meters side by side.

[Author]

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