Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 28, 2014 @12:51PM (#7488399)

My Infiniti payment is something like ~$550/month. To go to a Model S would only cost me ~$800 more per month, which is 5 hours of my time from a billable perspective.

Yes, the payment is higher, but I'd have no fuel expenses (currently ~$350/month), so technically its only $450 more a month (3 hours of my time).

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by dangayle on Friday March 28, 2014 @01:34PM (#7488720)

If you went with the 60 kWh Model S, your payment would only go up $130, INCLUDING gas. If you're spending $350 a month in gas, you'd actually save money over your Infinity.

http://www.teslamotors.com/true-cost-of-ownership

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 28, 2014 @02:05PM (#7488926)

Think you just sold me on one. Well done :)

I'm not worried about going with the smaller pack; it only takes 90 seconds to swap it with a new, higher capacity pack down the road.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by Locke1689 on Friday March 28, 2014 @01:31PM (#7488700)

That just indicates that you make enough money to buy a more expensive car, not that the Tesla is not significantly more expensive (i.e., about double what you are paying).

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 28, 2014 @01:38PM (#7488748)

That's entirely fair. I didn't look at it that way.

What do we consider affordable? I haven't had the time to do this, but you could take US Census data (average/median income per zip code), derive a formula for percentrage of income someone can spend on transportation, and thereby determine what affordable is.

A Model S is definitely a luxury item at this time; on the other hand, if it was self-driving, and could roll into bays to recharge all in software, with access being on-demand (Uber, with no drivers), they wouldn't be expensive. It would be the same as a company buying airplanes and selling seats on said expensive aircraft.

Maybe we're looking at Tesla wrong. They're not selling luxury cars; they're bootstrapping a mobility company by selling to the wealthy.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by Locke1689 on Friday March 28, 2014 @01:40PM (#7488760)

Maybe we're looking at Tesla wrong. They're not selling luxury cars; they're bootstrapping a mobility company by selling to the wealthy.

I would agree with this statement 100%.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by darkmighty on Friday March 28, 2014 @03:00PM (#7489256)

It's the best strategy also because it makes sense to them to produce a car that has a controlled demand, since they're essentially limited by battery production. It also showcases the quality of the brand, associating it with reliability and luxury -- and it's a sedan, which has a smaller power requirement than other luxurious classes.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 28, 2014 @03:18PM (#7489369)

> and it's a sedan, which has a smaller power requirement than other luxurious classes.

Model S vs the new Corvette Stingray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VOqW...

If you need more power than that, you might as well bolt a turbine engine on your car.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by Tossrock on Friday March 28, 2014 @08:08PM (#7490790)

That is actually what Elon Musk has explicitly said: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-p...

"1. Build sports car

2. Use that money to build an affordable car

3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car"

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Saturday March 29, 2014 @12:07PM (#7492685)

Yes, but you're assuming those affordable cars are for purchase. If Elon can make them self-driving, you get the benefit of never having all the expenses that go with vehicle ownership, and he makes the spread between an expensive electric transportation appliance and people paying dirt cheap rates to get from A->B (because electric is so much cheaper per mile than petroleum).

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by Tossrock on Monday March 31, 2014 @01:05AM (#7499747)

What? I'm not assuming anything. All I did was post a link to Elon Musk's own words.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by josephlord on Friday March 28, 2014 @01:37PM (#7488745)

So at 3 hours per month you are talking about 36 hours per year or three to four days of holiday (depending on the length of your work day).

That sounds significant to me. It might be worth it but there are other ways to spend that time and money.

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Re:Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflect... by toomuchtodo on Friday March 28, 2014 @02:01PM (#7488903)

We each value our time differently. 3 hours per month is more than acceptable to me.

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