What would happen
Posted on 09/10/2017 10:42:47 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Tesla has pushed an over-the-air update to some of its vehicles in Florida that lets those cars go just a liiiittle bit farther, thus helping their owners get that much farther away from the devastation of Hurricane Irma.
Wondering how that's even possible?
Up until a few months ago, Tesla sold a 60kWh version of its Model S and Model X vehicles — but the battery in those cars was actually rated at 75kWh. The thinking: Tesla could offer a more affordable 60kWh version to those who didn't need the full range of the 75kWh battery — but to keep things simple, they'd just use the same 75kWh battery and lock it on the software side. If 60kWh buyers found they needed more range and wanted to upgrade later, they could... or if Tesla wanted to suddenly bestow owners with some extra range in case of an emergency, they could.
And that's what's happening here.
As first noticed by Tesla owners on Reddit, the company has pushed a "temporary update" to vehicles within the evacuation zones that bumps the 60kWh models up to 75kWh.
On the road, according to Elektrek, this battery bump works out to about 30 miles of additional range on a full charge. If that little bit of range helps even one person avoid injury or get their loved ones out safely, I'd say its worth whatever work this required.
Alas, the upgrade won't stick around forever — Tesla generally charges at least $5,000 for the permanent equivalent. Members on the Tesla Motors Club fan forum report that the temporary update will be reversed on September 16th.
(Meanwhile, in case any gas-powered vehicle owners in the path of the hurricane end up on this page: GasBuddy has rolled out a tool meant to help Floridians find gas stations near them that still have fuel. And if you can get out, please do.) View Reactions (563) Stephen Todd Hoover
The difference is the terms of sale/lease. When you buy software, you but a license to use someone else’s possession.
When you buy a car, you buy a possession that is 100% yours.
When you buy a car, you are also buying software. You cannot disconnect the two.
Does Tesla's OS allow user to select/decline specific upgrades, as Windows does?
Perhaps it’s a new world with Tesla, but I don’t remember seeing any separate software agreements in the P&S agreements I signed for my cars.
And I’m guessing you didn’t get any source code either. And it IS a new world with Tesla, because the other car makers don’t have the ability (with my knowledge) to automatically update your software.
“What kind of fool would use an electric car to escape a disaster? Once the battery is dead it takes hours to get it recharged. “
i would think driving a car with a fully charged battery through a flood would be even scarier.
back in the day, IBM sold a family of card sorters with a range of sorting speeds, with the faster ones costing more money.
For a significant fee, the slower models could be upgraded to the faster ones. This was accomplished by IBM field personnel by opening the cover of the drive belt and then slipping the belt up a step or two on a pair of step-pulleys. No difference at all between the models, just the position of the drive belt on the pulleys.
Are the customers buying or leasing the computer EQ?
If they are leasing, the computer company owns what is in the box and can store upgrades for their own convenience in there. I don’t have a problem with that.
Are you saying that speed queen’s mechanical control washer and dryer will be off the market in dec?
I thank God I got one recently. I love the Speed Queen with NO electric waiting-to-break crap.
In this Land of the Free (yeah, right), Americans need to be free from the Federal Gov’t’s stupid regulations. PDJT asked us to let him know if there were any regs that we wanted axed, this would be a good one to let him know about.
That is the date they may no longer be manufactured. Dealer told me they may have already stopped making them but didn’t know for sure. If you want one you should probably get one now.
I will call them in the morning. I have always planned to replace my current washer and dryer with a mech speed queen set.
I cannot tell you how much I hate the EPA
#3 I install printers every week at the Helpdesk job I have. You download the Ricoh or HP drivers and you see they are for several models and languages. My joke is they charge $100 more for the new nameplate on the printer.
Yes, the last few Speed Queen non-electronic top loaders in this area are going fast. However, I just fixed my old GE the old-fashioned way so am going to pass. $375 total lifetime investment in the old washer.
HP has gone to complete crap. More Chinese trash products.
Anyone posting on this Testla thread in their defense work for the company?
Just curious if their PR folks troll here.
Not only that, but now there a technology called POWER Enterprise Pools. Instead of having the processors or memory you purchased locked into one physical machine, you have a pool of memory and/or CPU activations that you can move between physical machines at will.
Yep, good stuff, and really handy when trying to license for Live Partition Mobility.
They have been doing this since the early days of the model S. They offered a 40KWh model that few people wanted. They decided to use a 60KWh battery and to software limit it to 40KWh for the few people that wanted less capacity. The early models had optional supercharging modules. They decided to install the module on all cars and enable it through software. They are doing the same thing with the autopilot hardware.
I suspect Tesla has a sizable leasing business and this gives them the flexibility to reconfigure the car for another lease or sale.
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