austinpreneur

My take on the Tesla Motors battery discharge hype and FUD

A number of people have forwarded me a blog post by someone who has never owned a Tesla Roadster building up a lot of hype about a problem that no sensible owner will ever experience.

As a quick background, I own Tesla Roadster Signature Series #83 and took possession in January 2009. It is my daily driver. I have driven it to San Antonio and back on multiple occasions. I have Model S Signature Series #234 on order and two reservations for Model X's. Clearly I'm drinking the kool-aid and am happy with my purchase.

Everyone keeps asking me what I think so rather than try to squeeze it into 140 characters over and over, here is my quick assessment:

• I have never heard of anyone having the problem before this article
• I believe it is possible that the stories are true, but don't believe everything I read on the Internet at face value
• I've talked with at least 20 other Roadster owners, and none of them have had this problem or expressed concern about it
• Even after a long trip, I've never had my battery so low that I would have worried about this
• Tesla Motors customer service is some of the best in the world. I put it on the same level as the Four Seasons, the Mandarin Oriental, the W Hotel, and American Express Centurion. In particular, Scott Bruns in customer service kicks ass. I have cell phone numbers for 3 different Tesla techs (not that I have had to use it much, but the one time I couldn't get the trunk to close it was really handy!)
• I had one of the first Roadsters that shipped. I had a few foils go bad in my battery. After Tesla shipped the car to LA twice at their own expense trying to fix it, Tesla replaced my battery free of charge. Not anything like the experience described in the article.
• I don't plan on shipping my car to Japan

I love my Roadster and believe that electric cars are the future. I can't wait until 2014 when my garage is all electric and all Tesla!

Here is the original post.

Have a comment? I'm on Twitter @joshuabaer

KXAN story on the Tesla

On Wednesday morning KXAN met me at the Harris Hill Road track to take a look at the Tesla Roadster #83.

Put your name on the list for a ride in the Tesla

One track mind

I just ordered the license plate for my Tesla roadster set to arrive in November. TESLA and PLUGIN were taken, so I went with a different word very dear to my heart, EMAIL!

My first drive in a Tesla

Well, I finally got to test drive a Tesla today. I was in Menlo Park for some meetings and realized the Tesla showroom was right down the street so I stopped by. Jeremy was kind enough to toss me the keys to a light blue, early prototype. It has the 2-speed transmission but was locked into 2nd gear. Apparently it only has about 75% of the power of the production version that I'm getting. And it was really powerful!

My first impression was fantastic. The car has a smooth acceleration that throws you back into your seat. Of course, its silent - all you hear a light whirrr and the wind rushing by. What a rush!

Tesla colors and options locked in!

Well its official - I've locked in the options for Tesla Roadster #83. Those who know me well will find it no surprise that I selected Very Orange for the exterior color with black and orange leather seats inside. Other than that, there wasn't too much decide besides the various "Signature 100" badges and plaques within the car. I opted for the interior plaque and door sills but skipped on the exterior badge. I like the outside to be as clean as possible with as few decals as possible. I took the "Cayenne Turbo S" badge off the back of my Porsche because I thought it was just too flashy.

Looks like I'll be getting the 1.5 powertrain with the single-speed transmission

Tesla's CTO recently blogged about their progress on the new and improved powertrain. This has been the source of many Tesla woes over the past year so its good to hear that its still on track for production this year. They say the new powertrain should be in production by vehicle #41 - I'm scheduled to get #83 so it should be fairly well tested by then and I won't need to hassle with sending the Tesla back to them for a powertrain upgrade.

Help me out - I can't decide what colors to get?

Tesla Roadster #83 delivered in 2008?

Well, this is the closest I've ever seen to a delivery date from Tesla for my Signature 100 Roadster. I'm scheduled to get number 83 but only seven have been produced so far. I had to pay for it almost 2 years ago but from everything I've seen it will be worth the wait!

The chart says that they will have the first 100 produced by October and then to expect another 2 months for delivery and finishing. I think gives me a pretty good shot of having mine by the end of the year!

Jay Leno got production car number one and has a great video review.