Tesla Model S Named Automobile's "Car of the Year"

[Parsad]

The plate "WATTSA" is available in California. 

 

I am presently mulling over a list of plates on the California DMV website.

 

I decided WATTPWR might get me murdered and thrown into a ditch, so nixed that idea.

 

Purchased "NOFILLR" a moment ago.  There we go, that's not going to offend anyone.  Reference to "All Killer, No Filler".  Very fitting plate for such a bad a** car.

 

LOL!  Should have picked "NOEMISHN" or "0TO60N4".  I'm sure the boardmembers will have other suggestions.  Cheers!

[ERICOPOLY]

The plate "WATTSA" is available in California. 

 

I am presently mulling over a list of plates on the California DMV website.

 

I decided WATTPWR might get me murdered and thrown into a ditch, so nixed that idea.

 

Purchased "NOFILLR" a moment ago.  There we go, that's not going to offend anyone.  Reference to "All Killer, No Filler".  Very fitting plate for such a bad a** car.

 

LOL!  Should have picked "NOEMISHN" or "0TO60N4".  I'm sure the boardmembers will have other suggestions.  Cheers!

 

WATTBOY was another that I figured somebody would get riled up over. 

 

Same with TSLMIST.

 

[ERICOPOLY]

Eric,

 

If you did go the BYD route for that system would you mind maybe doing a post on it?

I (and a few others, no doubt) would be interested to get your take on the customer service, price points and product quality they provide - as well as how they compare with Tesla (different purchases I know, but still...).

 

TIA.

 

Okay, this might sound like a stupid question, but how does one buy the BYD option?  There is no pricing on their website, and when I tried to ask them they didn't even bother to reply to me.

 

Here is what I sent them on July 25th:

 

 

To: nmd.og@byd.com

Hi,

I would like to find out what the price is for the DESS-B08P03A-E.

 

I live in Santa Barbara, California.

 

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Guest ajc]

Okay, this might sound like a stupid question, but how does one buy the BYD option?  There is no pricing on their website, and when I tried to ask them they didn't even bother to reply to me.

 

Here is what I sent them on July 25th:

 

 

To: nmd.og@byd.com

Hi,

I would like to find out what the price is for the DESS-B08P03A-E.

 

I live in Santa Barbara, California.

 

Thanks,

Eric

 

No, you're right. That just sounds like inexperience/poor service from them. All I could think of would obviously be resending or otherwise on the 'contact us' page they've got phone details for the America corp as well as their America HQ.

 

BYD America Corporation

Add.: 1500 West Shure Drive, Suite 250, Arlington Heights, IL 60004

Tel: +1-847-590-9999

Fax: +1-847-590-9002

Toll free: +1-877-585-6868

 

BYD North America Headquarter

Add.:1800 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA90015, USA

Tel: +1-213-748-3980

 

If I'm not mistaken it seems like they've changed their whole website format around in the past few weeks because I remember it being alot different so maybe the email got impacted too, but as you correctly imply the details and first impression clearly matter if you're going to switch things up online.

 

No really good answer to your question, which is unfortunate I think...

[rkbabang]

On the bottom of the brochure for that system lists the contact info as:

 

BYD North America

1800 S.

Figueroa Street,

Los Angeles,

CA 09915, USA

Tel: +1-213-748-3980

Email:bydenergy@byd.com

 

 

[rkbabang]

An interesting article, they guy has a few minor complaints, but mostly positive.

 

Life With Tesla Model S: Owner's Report After 5,000 Miles

 

"The Stubborn Vampire

 

Big Problem No. 2 is the Tesla's "vampire" thirst for kilowatts even when it's turned off and parked.

 

I've measured idle power losses of around 4.5 kilowatt-hours a day, for a total of about 750 kWh during the time that I've owned it.  That's almost half the electricity I've used to drive the car!

 

The 15,000-odd Model Ses now on the road collectively squander about 60 megawatt-hours of electricity a day. That's the equivalent of about 50,000 60-Watt light bulbs left on 24 hours a day for no reason--what a waste."

 

 

[ERICOPOLY]

An interesting article, they guy has a few minor complaints, but mostly positive.

 

Life With Tesla Model S: Owner's Report After 5,000 Miles

 

"The Stubborn Vampire

 

Big Problem No. 2 is the Tesla's "vampire" thirst for kilowatts even when it's turned off and parked.

 

I've measured idle power losses of around 4.5 kilowatt-hours a day, for a total of about 750 kWh during the time that I've owned it.  That's almost half the electricity I've used to drive the car!

 

The 15,000-odd Model Ses now on the road collectively squander about 60 megawatt-hours of electricity a day. That's the equivalent of about 50,000 60-Watt light bulbs left on 24 hours a day for no reason--what a waste."

 

It's somewhat like the problem of having your desktop computer running before there was a sleep/resume power management implemented in the OS:

 

Here is what a Tesla employee wrote on the Tesla Forum:

 

Regarding the ancillary drain of Model S. Over the course of the next several months the firmware will continue to be updated to reduce the power consumption of the car’s computer systems. We strive to strike the right balance between minimum energy consumption and ability to have the car always ready and responsive. In our next major firmware release coming this summer, the car's computer systems will use half the power they currently do when the car is off. By the end of this year, they will use about 1% of the power that they do now when the car is off. The loss of range when the car is off has absolutely nothing to do with energy needed to heat, cool or otherwise do anything to the battery pack. The battery pack simply doesn't consume energy when the car is off nor do the systems that manage it. All of the "sleep" energy loss is going to onboard computer systems and providing the useful benefit of keeping them ready to start-up at a moment’s notice when the driver returns. As noted above this energy consumption will be almost completely eliminated over the next 2-6 months.

 

http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/vampire-drain

[jeffmori7]

Wow, welcome to the 21st century..firmware update for your car, I like that :)

[ERICOPOLY]

On the bottom of the brochure for that system lists the contact info as:

 

BYD North America

1800 S.

Figueroa Street,

Los Angeles,

CA 09915, USA

Tel: +1-213-748-3980

Email:bydenergy@byd.com

 

Nearly a week... no response from them yet.  Next time, I will ask them "pretty please, with sugar on top, do you guys have a price for this item?".

 

To: bydenergy@byd.com

Subject: price quote for energy storage

Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 16:08:29 +0000

 

Hi,

I would like to find out what the price is for the DESS-B08P03A-E.

 

I live in Santa Barbara, California.  I pay 9 cents a kilowatt between 12am and 6am, and during summer I pay 47 cents per kilowatt between 10am and 6pm.  I have been thinking about the cost efficiency of buying the electricity at night when it's cheap and using it during the day when it is expensive.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[ERICOPOLY]

Wow, welcome to the 21st century..firmware update for your car, I like that :)

 

And looks like version 5.0 is now out in the wild (screenshots from somebody who has car with the installed updates):

 

 

In this release they have already released the first fix to the energy loss problem when vehicle is not in use.  Plus it looks like some map improvements, WiFi tethering, Tow Mode, Screen Cleaning mode (so you can wipe the touchscreen).

 

The additions to Driver Profiles seems to be tied to the key fob.  So for example, if I unlock the car with my key it will adjust the driver's seat to my preferred settings.  And if my wife unlocks the car with her key fob (and no, I didn't give her one... just hypothetical of course) then it will adjust the driver's seat to her preferred settings.  I haven't played that much with the driver profiles yet, but I think it will even remember your preferred power steering settings (be it "standard" or "sport").