redsturgeon wrote:If Musk really wants to make a truly efficient good value model 3 with a limited range that is not upgradeable, why not just remove half the battery array. The weight savings would increase efficiency and profit margin would surely be better than providing a software locked full battery, saving around 250kg, that's like losing three passengers
The problem being that Musk over-promised and then found that he couldn't produce a car he sell profitably at that price point. The car exists to tick a box, you aren't actually supposed to buy it, and Tesla very helpfully make it far more difficult to buy than any of their other cars to make sure you don't.
Similarly with the 93 mile crippled Canadian compliance crock, you aren't supposed to buy it. But the SR+ is considered part of the same range, and dropping the entry price of the range makes that eligible for the $5000 subsidy, which it previously wasn't.
The SR is all fun and gaming, it isn't a serious car, which is a shame because driving a range war which has been promoted numerous times on this very thread when a significant number of BEV's will spend most of their lives lugging around battery they will never lose fundamentally undermines Tesla's alleged raison d'etre, saving the planet for human habitation.
ReformedCharacter wrote:An interesting question which I suspect reveals a lot about an individual's psychology and experiences. Having spent quite a lot of my younger years fairly skint I view my wealth as a form of security against poverty. I'm also not keen on consumerism which seems to me to be a hollow and shallow sop to the stresses of modern life and (in general) environmentally harmful.
I view consumerism as a form of security against poverty. Other people's consumerism that is. If people didn't buy all the wonderful things and services the companies I own very small parts of provide I would be substantially less well off. Personally I buy well, not often, in the main but I'm not adverse to purchasing on the grounds that I would have to try quite hard not to get value out of something if a retailer is trying to give it away, and we all benefit from the technological improvements which ridiculous product cycles drive in some areas.