
Tesla Model X Launch, Tonight 8pm PST - Flemlord
http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx
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nextparadigms
Is this the model that's supposed to be $30,000 and ship in 2015? I love
Tesla's strategy of releasing a new model every 3 years for half the price of
the previous model. Does this mean they will have a $15,000 model in 2018?
That would be great.

Starting with 2020 electric cars should start going mainstream, which is not
too bad. I think many people wouldn't have expected this until 2050 (when we'd
be really running out of oil) about 5-10 years ago.

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Flemlord
I remember reading that they were working on an SUV body with essentially the
same mechanics as the Model S. However, the back-lit profile in my email looks
like another sedan.

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bhousel
The Model X is supposed to be a crossover (aka hatchback), not a full SUV.

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mutagen
Reading this headline before my first cup of coffee this morning and having a
dim awareness that Elon Musk is involved in spaceflight (no doubt conflating
Model X with SpaceX) I was disappointed to find discussion of cars instead of
rockets.

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mkramlich
In 2 months SpaceX will send a Dragon capsule to do a near docking with the
ISS. That will be an exciting milestone.

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nsxwolf
Electric cars will go mainstream when:

1\. They become priced like regular cars 2\. They have the range of regular
cars 3\. They come in form factors similar to regular cars 4\. They are
cheaper to own and operate than regular cars 5\. They stop being about "the
environment". San Francisco is not the entire US.

It looks like we're getting a bit closer to all of these milestones, which is
good.

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redthrowaway
All of your points are valid, but I think you miss the main one, which
Clarkson nailed: electric cars will go mainstream when they don't take three
hours for a "quick" charge. They already have the range of gas-powered cars
(~300 miles for the S), but once you hit that, you're stuck. It makes long-
distance trips onerous, if not impossible.

Anyway, they're getting cheaper all the time, batteries are getting better,
and when you can convincingly pitch the TCO as being less than a gas car,
you'll start to see people jump on it. Infrastructure will follow from there.

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mncolinlee
Clarkson is professionally paid to be an elitist fool.

Most Europeans already believe 300 miles range and room for eight passengers
is a luxury. Why? Their gasoline costs about twice as much per liter/gallon.
Their automakers build mostly hatchbacks to match demand. It's rare to even
see a large van on the roads. When you see an SUV/crossover in Europe, it's
the sign of a wealthy person who lives to excess.

As I pointed out in my article, ten minute chargers are only five to ten years
from commercial release. You can charge your Nissan Leaf from 0 to 80% in 25
minutes using today's Level 3 charger without waiting for any new technology.
That'd be ~45 minutes for a Tesla Model S.

If gasoline prices predictably rise and it only takes as much time to top up
at the local mall as it takes to stop there for a latte and a sandwich, you'd
be a fool to not own an electric vehicle.

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nsxwolf
That charger is $10,000. About the cost of 208 fill-ups in my Mazda in the
Chicagoland area. I fill up once every other week.

The Leaf already costs double what my car does. We're not quite at the point
where this makes sense.

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mncolinlee
Indeed. I won't pay $10k for one of those chargers. Car dealers, shopping
malls, and Starbucks will. I'm getting a Level 2 charger because I don't need
thirty minute charges at home when the car spends all night in a garage
anyway.

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sek
I was thinking first "what an ass, makes us curious now when it is almost a
year away".

Then i remembered how you write dates.

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cstefanovici
This is supposed to be a crossover vehicle that Elon Musk claims will be
"faster then a Porsche 911 and roomier than an Audi Q7". Also he claims the
most interesting view of it is with its doors open (a reference to something
rumored to be called Falcon doors, some sort of folding doors).

The next model after this is the one he wants to make for like $15000-$20000

They seem to think Model X will be very well received.

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JaggedJax
Here's an outline shot Elon Musk just posted with the doors open:
[https://twitter.com/#!/elonmusk/status/167648387313840128/ph...](https://twitter.com/#!/elonmusk/status/167648387313840128/photo/1)

His next tweet said they are not gull-wing. They definitely do something
interesting though.

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toomuchtodo
I wonder if I can turn my Model S deposit into a Model X deposit after
tonight.

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BrainScraps
Seeing the design elements that went into making the Model S from the ground-
up, I am excited to see what a "family" all-electric car built from the
ground-up will look like. I wonder if there's going to be another HUGE
touchscreen panel.

And how many seats? I'm pretty stoked. And maybe my Tesla stock will have a
nice bump after the unveiling. [weak disclosure] :)

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jasonmcalacanis
I saw the early prototypes... it's awesome. I'll be there tonight and will
post some photos to @jason

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troymc
I don't follow the car business; Is it normal or unusual to have a car launch
event like this?

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joezydeco
Auto show season is starting.

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tmh88j
>Does this mean they will have a $15,000 model in 2018? That would be great.

I wouldn't want Tesla to release a car even at $30,000. It takes away the from
the rarity and coolness. Electric cars certainly do need to evolve and Tesla
has done an incredible job, but there are dozens of other manufacturers out
there that are just as capable. If you could buy a Bugatti or Koenigsegg for
$75,000 they would certainly be less attractive to auto enthusiasts. It's
human nature to want what we can't have. If Prada (not knock-offs) started
selling their bags at $50 a pop do you think girls would still worship them?

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mladenkovacevic
If caring about the environment and going electric becomes a high-priced
elite-tribal-consumerist trend just take me off this planet; I'm not
interested in it anymore.

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tmh88j
You must have missed when I said "Electric cars certainly do need to evolve
and Tesla has done an incredible job, but there are dozens of other
manufacturers out there that are just as capable."

Are you trying to argue that you're not paying for a brand? If so, by your
logic then stores like Saks Fifth Avenue's "green" brands or high end auto
manufacturers with hybrid vehicles have no place in America.

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mladenkovacevic
I get what you were saying, but this is (one of?) the first commercially
available full-electric car manufacturers and it would be really depressing if
it turned into a Ferrari-like club where only millionaires can afford to own
it. It's a specific type of market where either you're all in, or you're out.
Bugatti doesn't make a point-A to point-B winter-beater and never will. The
FIRST EVER electric-car company becoming one of those luxury brands would push
the democratization of electric-car ownership that much further into the
future.

The Tesla S is great because it seems that upper-middle class folk will be
able to own it, and I hope they continue down that path bringing electric cars
to everyone.

EDIT: Also the other large manufacturers weren't interested in investing in
electric because their analysis showed them they wouldn't see enough return.
Tesla is there to prove them wrong. (Some large car-companies are only now
building electric cars but it feels rather like a green-washing campaign -
it's usually only one model, cars are dinky and impractical...etc)

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tmh88j
I'll try to translate this to another industry for you.

Think about premium brands such as Sony, Apple, and Samsung. They make high
end electronics that cost a pretty penny. Not everyone can afford a $2,500
laptop or $3,000 TV. When these giants come out with new technology it's
terribly expensive at first(think plasma TV's 7+ years ago). Well, after a few
years of production and a limited market, the lower-rung guys are able to
catch up and get their share too(Vizio, Olevia, Sanyo) granted their products
generally aren't as polished. The technology has evolved enough that others
are able to produce it so everyone can afford it, while the big name guys
still reign king because not only did they offer it at first, but their
product is still superior. This same thing is happening right now. Tesla is
the premium brand leader, and the other guys (Chevy, Ford, Nissan) are finally
starting to get their act together.

The majority of people would rather have a Sony TV than a Vizio(assuming the
picture quality is very similar) all because of that little Sony logo. Brands
rule America. It's sad but true. Otherwise there would be no reason to spend
$100 on a t-shirt.

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mladenkovacevic
I'm not sure why your post is down-voted. It's just an opinion and I don't
believe well articulated opinions should be down-voted.

I don't think Sony, Apple Samsung are the "premium/luxury" brands (Apple maybe
was considered one when it first came out but it certainly wasn't in the same
class of exclusivity as a Bugatti is in the car world). I see all of those
electronics manufacturers as the GMs or Toyota's of the hardware industry.
They make a wide variety of electronics at different price points for
different buyers. There's nothing exclusive or elitist about owning a Samsung
or an Apple product.

I'd like to see Tesla as the disruptive force among the well-entrenched car
brands like GM or Toyota, but I'd rather it not become the super-rare and
expensive alternative to them. I realize we pay some premium based on what
brand we choose but I was just expressing what I hope the Tesla brand would
come to represent (and also what I had heard its mission was initially).

