Comment by davidgould | Hacker News Reader

Comment by davidgould | Hacker News Reader

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I dunno about military-grade, but the Model 3 is definitely special.

I found this video series [0] about disassembling and analyzing a Model 3 very interesting and informative. If you have worked on cars much, particularly if you have ever changed a clutch or removed an engine, there will be some mind blowing things here.

For example, removing the entire drive train requires unplugging a half dozen connectors, two coolant hoses and undoing four bolts. Probably a half hour job, given a lift, a transmission jack and a few hand basic hand tools. [1]

Take a look at the inverter. [2] It's about twice the size of the one on my electric bike, but it's good for 300kw. The 100kw inverter in my Chevy Spark EV is huge by comparison. It's the lower module in the big stack of boxes [3]. Above it is the 3.3kw charger.

I already have an electric car, and the Chevy Bolt would suit my needs better (small, hatchback) than the Model 3, but I'm tempted by the artistry of it.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/Ingineerix/videos [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4eQ7nN_Lwo [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6dV2re3rtM [3] https://www.automobilesreview.com/gallery/2015-chevrolet-spa...

Love my Chevy Bolt EV. I like that Chevrolet has adopted a lot of standards - J1772A/CCS Combo Charging, android auto and carplay in the infotainment system. Surround vision and rear view camera are amazing.

Model 3 is ok, but there are few things to consider about that Tesla.

- The lack of the free Tesla supercharging perk for m3. Without spending any additional money, that car is locked into only having support for Tesla's proprietary standard "out of box." There is no other hardware included with the car which make it compatible with other technologies. (CCS/Chademo)

- And that proprietary built in charge port requires a $500 Chademo adapter if you want to use a different network for fast charging. Even that standard is being replaced by SAE/CCS - No support at all by Tesla, but is the standard used by Volkswagens upcoming Electrify America EVSE Network.

- Are you a do it yourselfer? You won't be buying Tesla parts - they don't make them available to customers. Whatever their service charges - that's what you pay. I find the right to repair my own equipment is a must for something I'm spending over $30,000 on.

I don't wanna have to teach a lesson to anyone on how to open my car doors. Emergency exit handle is in a bad spot... Yep. Right where you expect it to be - In the face of a normal handle on any car! If someone in your car uses the emergency exit handle which is right on the door, the infotainment system present a warning message telling you not to do that again as the window trim can be damaged. Humans are going to always look for the handle on a car door...

Only one camera is actually useful - rear backup camera. But there are a lot more cameras for the autopilot feature. What's the point of having all these cameras if you can't do anything with them?

- Even $35,000 is a lot to spend on a vehicle that was assembled inside of a circus tent in Fremont.

CCS/Combo chargers are not free either, so how is that an advantage? Superchargers are also usefully placed for trips and are not located in lots that are blocked off at night like the last CCS/Combo I tried to use. They are also here today unlike VW's upcoming network.

I'm already signed up for four or five charging networks because of the fragmentation of the CCS market. I don't see any advantage here either.

I'm probably not getting either car, but I did try to plan a trip from Oakland, CA to Portland OR which I do sometimes. It is easy in a Model 3 LR with minimal delay for charging. The Bolt struggles to make it at all and needs a couple extra stops to hit the mountains with enough charge to get over. I'd probably do it, but it would be an adventure.

I used to be a do all my own mechanical work, but the nice thing about electric cars is you really don't need to do much of this. I'm expecting either car to run for years without any of the sort of service I would tackle.

Your complaint is that the car comes with more cameras that the backup camera? You are aware that it does collision avoidance with the front and side cameras, right?

> circus tent in Fremont

This is just bigotry, what have you got against Fremont?

EVgo CCS for my used BMW was free for the first year and is $99/year after. Not unreasonable.

I've signed up for several other networks, but I prioritize using EVgo and chargepoint since I get "free" sessions on both.

“Even $35,000 is a lot to spend on a vehicle that was assembled inside of a circus tent in Fremont.”

For what it’s worth I believe only specific known configurations are being built on that tent (the AWD model?) so you can avoid it if you want. Most of the cars are being built on the normal assembly line.

Your other points seem very fair... Tesla seems like a very closed ecosystem compared to any other manufacturer.

" You won't be buying Tesla parts - they don't make them available to customers. "

I guess that's a part of the SV playbook to make their products unrepairable. that alone would be reason for me to not get a Tesla.

I've got an i3 and really enjoyed this assembly video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa5_tudyAF8

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