One thing is certain - both Tesla and Apple are thinking 20-30 years ahead of its time. These days we experience highly congested city park areas, hardly ever being in a position finding a free parking spot when and where needed, and as the time goes by the issue is gonna be bigger and bigger. Cranking out 15 mil. new cars in US, 8 mil. in Europe, not to mention China each year, it simply implies new way of offering disruptive parking solutions So, why not erect a tower power that addresses both, a possibility to park an e-car in a 15-17 storey building and offfer juicing them up wirelessly at the same time. This tower would be sort of a power generator that needs no access road, given the e-cars would incorporate a vertical thrust feature. These days, they say, no-one is apt to deliver deliver such a solution. Being down to earth, I admit that partially true, since we have players able to pull that off. But only firms fully committed to highest consumer satisfaction can make it work properly, namely Apple & Tesla, but this time not separated and divided, but rather united. That is the only way, and all those coming in favour of this idea are on right track. A vision is invaluable in achieving all of this.
Something people need to consider is that the customers of traditional auto manufacturers are NOT the end consumer, but rather the auto dealerships. Dealerships make about 70% of their profits from their service departments. Consequently, they would much rather sell internal combustion engine cars, with all their required maintenance and thousands of parts prone to failure. There just isn't much money to be made after the sale of an all electric car. If any traditional auto manufacturer intends to sell all-electric cars at a volume higher than that required to comply with laws pertaining to sustainable transportation, they will have to find a way to get the dealers on board or find a way to bypass dealers (as the doomed non-innovative Tesla has already done). Currently, auto dealers will try to persuade potential customers away from electric cars.
You hit on a very important fact. Not only are electric cars potentially a paradigm shift in maintenance but I'd also add they are too in manufacturing. That's why all those saying (as they did about Apple entering the phone industry) that 'Apple doesn't know anything about car manufacturing so they cannot succeed' are wrong, dead wrong. The fact is an electric car is quite a simple beast until you get to the software and GUI side of things. I can easily imagine Foxconn and a few other partners turning out the required parts for (hopefully) a US assembled electric Apple line of vehicles. My belief, based on Apple's history, is that they won't necessarily seem cheap (like a South Korean car) rather they will have features thus far unimagined by other car makers and be a product people will just love and will be willing to pay the 'Apple Tax' for. I do give credit to Elon for breaking the mold where it comes to dealerships and also recharging stations. As to traditional car dealerships, flags and all, they will be history. I see no reason why you couldn't buy an Apple sports car or SUV from the Apple store or even on Amazon and have it delivered to your door the next day! Can you imagine no sleazy car salesman and no hearing the old saw, "I'll have to ask my manager ..." again? I can also imagine a new one every two years by using the Apple purchase plan!
I assume the "ABYSMAL" comment was about the Edmunds report which, they admitted, was on a early production model. They also said the only expense was for tires, everything else was under warranty.
I have a mid-'13 Model S and have had very few problems; none of which left me stranded and not one of which required me to go to the service center. I have had to visit service because of updates to the built-in charger, failure of one of the tire pressure sensors, and because of a failing 12V battery. I didn't notice any problem with the latter but they emailed me that my car had sent them a message about the battery. I have also received many over the air updates to the operating system which have improved or added new features.
No oil, no lube, no gas and the thing just keeps getting better. Here in the Pacific NW it costs me ~$2.60 for the electricity to drive 100 miles unless, of course, I'm on the road using the Supercharger network. Then it's free. About 10 trips over 1000 miles and no cost in fuel.
It is what automobiles should be in the 21st century.
Hey, bud, go on actual user groups and their endless list of whines and spout your crap there. That's all I'll say. You got lucky, so what.
Simply disregard this dude. My Tesla has been flawless too. Perhaps you should just go drive one. They really are an amazing vehicle.
The article from the LA Times is a pretty good read. They reference an earlier Consumer Reports article based on a survey of recent and long term Tesla owners. And the LA Times article brings out some of the issues that may result from the current quality problems. It's a credible report.
But the article is hardly a death knell for Tesla. Tesla owners who have had service are the most satisfied of all car owners requiring service. New car ratings have consistently been good. Of the model S, the article reports "Consumer Reports slammed Tesla’s Model S on reliability even though it loves the way the car drives." It's the reliability that is the problem that could indicate failures of design and manufacturing.
The short of it... if Tesla doesn't get its act together on reliability it will be in trouble. This should be enough motivation to get its act together. So a remaining doubt is whether they bring the necessary talent and experience to solve there reliability problems quickly... before the model 3, targeted for 2017 at a moderate price point, comes online.
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Simply disregard this dude. My Tesla has been flawless too. Perhaps you should just go drive one. They really are an amazing vehicle.
But the article is hardly a death knell for Tesla. Tesla owners who have had service are the most satisfied of all car owners requiring service. New car ratings have consistently been good. Of the model S, the article reports "Consumer Reports slammed Tesla’s Model S on reliability even though it loves the way the car drives." It's the reliability that is the problem that could indicate failures of design and manufacturing.
The short of it... if Tesla doesn't get its act together on reliability it will be in trouble. This should be enough motivation to get its act together. So a remaining doubt is whether they bring the necessary talent and experience to solve there reliability problems quickly... before the model 3, targeted for 2017 at a moderate price point, comes online.