Lemur (L3MR) Time and end of the Full US tax credit on Friday Nov30 2018

Well Tesla has come out with the Medium Range (MR) model. Sadly at first they knocked off $4000 off the original LR RWD model price - which is gone. Now that's only $3000 off as they noted the demand. You still have to pay for a premium interior with glass roof. (which is quite nice BTW) Those people who said Elon would never make the base model appear at least for the moment to be right. This is just like mine except the battery range is 260 miles EPA and a curb weight of 3686 vs my LR RWD at 3814.  One hundred and twenty eight pounds lighter presumably due to less battery weight.

Still for those wanting the US tax credit the base car is pretty much the cheapest things can get:

MR 3 in basic black with 18" aero rims delivery & doc - 47200
MD excise tax                                                                      2800
Tags                                                                                       200

Total  $50,200 - this is with no Enhanced Autopilot that you can add later.

Then a full tax refund early the next year.... about $43K - pretty good for a new Tesla.     

(In Maryland excise tax deductions for electric appears depleted. Should be another $3000 if they get more funding in the summer 2019. So maybe $40K? in Maryland if they fund the program?

Tesla is only guaranteeing the full tax credit for orders placed through Friday Nov 30th because they have to deliver by Dec 31st to make the full tax credit. Orders delivered Jan 1, 2019 to June 30th will get half ($3750) when they file in 2020.

So order now kids for a $40K Tesla not counting your state tax. One day left !!!!

Here's my referral code so you can get free supercharging for six months on top of that:

http://ts.la/david901

 

Tesla - US employees fighting for us all

Who is the largest manufacturer in the USA state of California. Tesla.  After a four month Cal-OSHA investigation on safety, Tesla was found to have two minor safety reporting issues.

Tesla one-year-in-tesla-update

Remember the NPR/Reveal hit piece on Tesla safety? Tesla sources claimed it was a UAW + a disgruntled employee hit piece. Now I believe that unions have gained many victories for labor - but big unions simply have political agendas. Musk has held off the bad side of unionization by offering great security and rewards for his employees. Now he can offer tremendous safety benefits.

US Jobs, highly compensated and safer. Safest cars in the world.

Profitable company making the cleanest and safest cars in the world. Outcompeting all luxury cars and SUVs, competing (#4) in regular cars, a regular SUV just ahead, and a truck in the wings.

I am not a stock advisor and therefore can't give stock advice, but for me my long Tesla stock purchase is very satisfying.  I own a piece of a company trying to save children. Your children. Our future. Not in a greenwash way but in a concrete here and now.

Tesla has many enemies - Oil and gas companies, the Koch brothers, the UAW, parts and maintenance shops,  gas stations, auto dealers, and old line auto companies.

This is nothing less then a battle for the survival of our descendants and humankind.

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

The hour seems dark before the US midterms. Foolish men think they can roll back the clock to a smoggy paradise run by the privileged.

Your choice doesn't have to be Tesla which is pricey. A used Volt for $12K can drop your gas use into the basement and involves no compromise. The Bolt is a good electric. If you drive only in the city or local a Leaf can meet short driving needs.

Join us.

Climate Change - Does anyone have kids?

The dull look I get from 3/4 of people discussing global warming ( screw 'change') show the incredible crime the oil companies and their owners have purposefully committed.  A new UN report details time is short by even human civilization's timespan - 22 years to make earth moving change. I believe one day this purposeful genocide will result in a very ugly justice to the fossil fuel barrons involved, their minions, political rulers that went along, and all their descendants. Look at the conservatives rough populist movement and then imagine them without food as the breadbasket of the US bakes in drought. This is in twenty years - not a century.

No amount of science seems to be able move people to leaders who will push renewable energy, carbon taxed economics, smaller families, and sustainable ecological practices. People just can't bring themselves to spend a little more for solar at home or an Electric Vehicle instead of a polluting diesel. One child instead of four. Instead we all paste pictures of our good looking descendents to Facebook. My young men won't be fifty before they are struggling for survival with their families.

Patton Oswalt sounds the alarm better than I:

https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1049529720503586816

I'm all for human space exploration and even colonization. However even with hundreds of years no other planet exists to make into a paradise - Mars may one day support colonies but it's improbable that it will approach Earth's habitability. So space is great insurance to guard against an asteroid and encouraging a spirit of exploration but don't kid yourself - science has no 'Planet B' for us for centuries if ever. Even a Science Fiction guy can tell you, the vast majority humankind's masses will always be dependent on the good Earth. We stand or fall here.

Apparently we have twenty years to get our shit together.  The time for waiting, crying about the cost to business for survival, is over. Grab your pitchforks.

A nice confirmation from NHTSA - SAFETY !

Hey where was the data on Tesla safety? After all this blog has been big on specs for everything else. I claimed that electrics in general are safer and they are. In particular my latest brand of EV - Tesla.

Basically NHTSA has given the Tesla Model 3 it's best crash rating ever by probability of injury.  Electrek and Tesla have the figures below.

electrek.co tesla-model-3-lowest-probability-of-injury-nhtsa

Tesla - Model 3 lowest probability injury...

Now one thing about the best 50 cars NHSTA injury graph shown in the articles is the Y axis for percentage of injuries across the 50 best cars is blown up a bit ranging from best - Tesla Model 3 at ~5.8% up to  ~ 8.1 % The mean of the worst 40 in the graph appears to be around 8%. These are the top performers but only Tesla in the top 3 positions for safety is broken out by name.  Still a 25% reduction in injury over the pack of safest cars #11-50 is pretty impressive considering the first 3 of the ten are Tesla and then I would guess Volvo + some very high end cars for #4-10.

Now let's look at the figures from Tesla on crashes per mile.

Tesla q3-2018-vehicle-safety-report

Here's the meat:

Here’s a look at the data we’re able to report for Q3:

• Over the past quarter, we’ve registered one accident or crash-like event for every 3.34 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged.
• For those driving without Autopilot, we registered one accident or crash-like event for every 1.92 million miles driven. By comparison, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) most recent data shows that in the United States, there is an automobile crash every 492,000 miles. While NHTSA’s data includes accidents that have occurred, our records include accidents as well as near misses (what we are calling crash-like events).

Basically a Tesla has a 25% chance of crash without autopilot vs the overall rate of crash per mile of all US cars for Q3 2018.  We'll see if these figures hold up for Winter....
So 1 (Tesla US) in 4 (All US) crashes for the same mileage. Cool eh? That's WITHOUT autopilot.
With autopilot that goes down further 1 Tesla crash vs 7 general crashes for the same miles driven.
Then if you are in a crash, injury rate is under 6% vs 8% for the safest cars as shown.

My choice of car is an Electric Vehicle rated best for safety on the planet.  If my health was half as good.

Slippery Tesla

Ok I purposefully made the title sound like a stock shorter's hit piece for a little excitement - I cheated there...

This one is about aerodynamics - which I find fascinating. Again recognizing my betters out there I'm going provide a link to an in depth video way better than my writing can inform you - but first a testimonial.

Many folks care little for efficiency.  I care a great deal for it and Circe my Tesla Model 3 has delivered in spades. Having had a Leaf where I labored to get the watt hour per mile metric under 400 for five plus years I really appreciate the TM3 on efficiency these first 10k miles.

I know you can barely see it but my Trip B is for the whole 10K+ miles I have on the car over 6 months and three road trips - 260 wh/mile.  Now I like to accelerate fast at least a couple of times per short trip in certain places and as needed on long highway trips.  I'm also a steady driver during highway portions when I am not accelerating up to speed so my Trip B down to North Carolina shore - 259 wh/mile.

This is because Tesla has out engineered everyone on coefficient of drag - if you will recall from my statistics blog it's 0.23. That's up there with the slickest vehicles ever made. The hubcap/wheels are particularly amazing which is why when others cry about the aero's not looking like a metallic spider I grin and tell them they are the most beautiful wheels ever made. You can keep all the others.

These wheels in particular are very important for the critical band of 70-75 mph I like on the highway. The Leaf could run this easily but the efficiency dropped like a rock.  Sadly I can't give you exact numbers but I can tell I still ran 300+ with a few miles to spare pushing that first leg of a road trip in the seventies and I love making that first supercharger with 3% and getting back that first half at 120kw Supercharging in 15 minutes for 160 miles of range or so.  We had stopped for lunch and basically got a full charge but we could have easily pulled out after 20 minutes and made it home.

The whole body/chassis design of the Tesla Model 3 is basically this cleverly aerodynamic but you just don't know it. Yet beautiful too - anyone sees that. Well now you can learn in depth - check out this series of two videos by Youtuber Matt Shumaker at Tech Forum. The first is 23 minutes and the second is 12 minutes. Well worth your time on the fine details of auto aerodynamics and the Model 3:

Model 3 Aerodynamics #1 

Model 3 Aerodynamics #2

Tech Forum is really worth a subscribe. I love that Matt mentions the old Honda Insight - a pioneer in efficiency. I really recommend his videos on Tesla. All in all it means I can drive faster and yet be in a fun car that performs way better than the first generation of electrics. So glad Tesla and Franz did such an incredible job! 

General EV News for September

National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) was a success in many areas. In Poolsville, MD there were record numbers of Electric Vehicles (EVs) over several days.

I instead went to a small session at a library in Walkersville, MD. I kind of like a small gathering and this one features Jonathan Slade & Novia Campbell who made a PBS special about driving an early Nissan Leaf West to East across Maryland on vacation. I can tell you in 2012 that was an accomplishment.

PBS Electric Road Trip Movie

They are also great spokespeople for EVs.  While the audience was only a of couple of people the group was enthusiastic and really knowledgeable about the new wider world of electric transport.

I got to show off my Tesla Model 3, but both a Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Ioniq were there too. I wish we were a bigger group but hopefully this will grow next year with better announcement. Jonathan did a presentation with a lot of behind the scenes details of his journey into electric driving. It was quite amusing as well as interesting. I gave Novia a test drive of the Model after the presentation.

I also got to see the Emmy they earned for their movie - very impressive.

Next September I invite you, consider attending or better yet volunteering for National Drive Electric Week. I think you will learn about many different electric options by next year.

Latest Bob Lutz 2018 inaccuracies analyzed

Bob Lutz 2018 on Tesla - debunked one piece at a time.

( With thanks to Rob Maurer at Tesla Daily Podcast (TDPC) 9/19/18, CNBC, Autoline After Hours & John McElroy, Jack Rickard, Sandy Munroe, Patrick C at Cars with Cords, IIHS, and Bob Lutz himself. )

First the September 2018 CNBC Quotes

Lutz recently quoted by Maurer :

"They will never make money on the Model 3, because the cost is way too high.  He's (Musk) got 9000 people in that assembly plant producing less than 150,000 cars a year. The whole thing just doesn't compute. It's an automobile company that is headed for the graveyard." (RM TDPC quoting Lutz 2018)

He's been cranky at Tesla for years - October 2015

Maurer tears this 150,000 number apart nicely, which I'll document. Let's go deeper on the whole statement. I really want to tear this apart to show how this 'expert' statement is quite under analyzed.

So even using Lutz's inaccurate numbers let's get a ratio per car

Tesla Fremont factory - 150,000 / 9000 factory workers = 16.6 cars per factory worker.

GM Lordstown plant made 51,265 Cruzes in 2nd qtr 2017 so next annualize at the best rate:

GM Lordstown factory 205,060 / 5000 factory workers = 41 cars per US factory worker.
( I can't find a number of employees at the plant but GM website says 2017 was a 250 million payroll. Guessing a average of $25 an hr that's 5000 workers before the 2017-2018 layoffs and slowdown. That's where I'm 'computing' an employee estimate. )
https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/company_info/facilities/assembly/lordstown.html

So indeed if Bob's numbers were accurate (they are not),  16.6 cars per for Tesla seems a problem. Wait just a minute though. The GM Cruze sold for $17,800 including destination - let's spitball round that up to $20000 with a couple of thousand in options. Of course GM is sharing that with the dealer network by wholesale selling and dealer holdouts / incentives. The currently available lowest cost Tesla Model 3 starts at $49K. The performance is $79K.  The 1st Qtr 2018 reported production from Tesla's Investor reports of 34,494 with 24,728 S and X models - considerable more expensive.  Q2 2018 - 53,339 with 28,578 Model 3 and 24,761 S and X models.  In other words a Tesla goes for a price 2.5 times the Cruze on the lowest model and Bob should be able read production reports like any adult.  If I multiply 16.6 by 2.5 price adjustment I get *surprise* 41.5.  Even that is low, we should correct much higher with S and X's selling at least 80,000 this year - 4 to 5 times the cost of a Cruze.

Let's also correct his numbers based just on published numbers that are at least 60 days old and assume no growth (though Bob Lutz should know these too).  From Tesla's investor info above the 2018 first half production was  87,833.  Double that and an annualized rate of 175,666 would lead to the least rounded estimate of 175,000.  That's with no more growth and how likely is that?  Still his estimate of 150,000 reeks of either setup or ignorance - neither is pretty.  Where did the 25K go Mr. Lutz?

Now let's give it a reasonable ballpark if you've done your homework. Maurer's estimate is of the current annualized rate based on 3Q is 75,000 - that gives 300,000.  Doubles the production rate in Lutz's estimate.  Heck let's go easy and just look at overall 2018 - we are talking easily 235,000 cars this year. At that point his 2018 car per Tesla worker calculation goes from 16.6 to 26 cars per worker.

Did Lutz do BMW vs GM calculations based on cars per worker?  No.

Let's go one further and compare overall company numbers:

Tesla overall  - 235,000-300,000 / 30,000 Tesla employees = about 10 cars per worker.

GM sales for 2017 = 9.6 million.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/225326/amount-of-cars-sold-by-general-motors-worldwide/

From Bloomberg auto employee stats for GM

Giant GM 2017 9.6 million car / 180,000 workers.  53.3 cars per worker.  Remember in this case we are counting the $3 an hour worker in Mexico but not the worldwide dealership employees - they are separate corporate entities from GM. I also don't have median wholesale price to contrast vehicles for cost or profit.



I just don't think you can successfully get an apples to apples comparison with the worker / car metrics when one company is in sustainable solar energy and home battery backup, large scale industrial batteries, and high end electric cars. Plus Tesla does maintenance and delivery functions in house in the company vs separate dealer corporations.

"Tesla is hemorrhaging cash and due to SEC investigation is not able to raise the capital that they need." (RM TDPC quoting Lutz 2018)

Tesla's losses are clearly headed down this quarter, they have cash on hand, and their gross revenue is skyrocketing. Currently the Model 3 provides more revenue dollars than ANY other car model in US sales. I believe there is an excellent chance the final quarter this year will find the Model 3 in top 4 car makes (or better) in numbers too.

"Tesla has no tech advantage, no software advantage, no battery advantage, no advantages whatsoever." (RM TDPC quoting Lutz 2018)

This really is annoying. All recent comparisons of driver assist have given the Model 3 top marks. Tesla makes all the new safety features like emergency braking available standard - who else does this? They are unifying software across their models on in house platform for navigation and car control. They have their huge suite of sensors and driving computer built in standard on every car. Updates such as improving your braking distance are done Over The Air (OTA) - no other manufacturer does this. Munroe US and at least one German automotive evaluation company have torn the cars apart and estimate they are profitable to make. The examinations of the TM3 battery pack are rating it the most advanced in the business. We have tons of stats showing Tesla batteries with the least degradation of all EV's out there (Teslanomics for more info and stats). As Rob Maurer points out on technology Bob Lutz previously predicted the gull wing doors would never work - ha.  Lutz thinks his 'Destino' is cutting edge tech - but only if he can make people interested in ICE kit cars. Unproven so far as there no track record for that business I can find.  In fact the only tech Tesla doesn't have is Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) because they are no longer the future.

Finally for the Lutz 'no tech in autonomy' opinion look at this August 2018 IIHS article at the bottom test result chart. The Model 3 is ahead of everyone, including older Teslas, and darned near perfect in the stats. I'd call that a tech lead and they are NOT giving away the code.  Article here:

IIHS.org Evaluating Autonomy...

---------------------------------------------------------

If you want to listen to Rob's whole podcast please check him out on itunes or this Stitcher link.
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tesla-daily-tesla-news-analysis
He has great counterpoints on all the above quotes and more.

Next rather than rehash Tesla's advantages I'll let Patrick C, blogger at Cars With Cords and panelist on youtube's The Tesla Life explain the Tesla advantages:

Cars With Cords / Moats - Why Tesla can do...

The Tesla Life
------------------------------------------------------------

Next the September 20th Autoline Quotes - Especially the Semi Quotes

I want to add some of Bob Lutz's quotes from the Autoline After Hours show #436 9/20/18 on youtube. I believe this went much deeper than the short interviews and I'd like to quote it some.

At first Lutz discusses general car and truck info and seems generally knowable. Oddly he is not as into the details on the Destino as one would think he might be. He mentions he's 87 - I gotta say he looks good for that and converses well. Perhaps age has him stuck on his old positions, but it hasn't slowed down his wit and general knowledge. Clearly loves American muscle cars - which I can't fault. He also acknowledges electric hybrids for racing - for obvious four wheel and 0-60 reasons.
He bemoans the end of vehicle ownership.

VLF - Destino is now instead a Hummer custom producer. He says low flow production will be there for Middle East and China first. I interpret that as nothing happening now and original Fisker model is dead. Not a lot coming from startup business from a Tesla critic.  Lutz admits the Tesla design language is compelling aside from being electric.  Loves Franz von Holzhausen (so say we all...). Then they all agree Tesla is a disaster as a business. Then Lutz talks about all the future competitors to Tesla - several cases of which John McElroy tears apart. He admits Teslas have a big margin, but claims the competition will come in lower using ICE to undersell Tesla. He admits to Tesla mindshare but then claims 200,000 cars a year is too tiny. However he just got finished calling that rate 150,000 for CNBC.  This really tells me there is some sandbagging for the CNBC  150,000 / 9000 ratio going on. A couple phone calls answered. He makes a case that the Germans are running on rep and that some new Caddies and Lincolns are better but can't compete on exclusivity.  Lutz also seems to see his Tesla shtick is fading so he again gets into how sad the loss of the real fans of cars are.

More reminiscing, then back to Tesla.  The question is who should acquire Tesla given it's business model is problematic (?) Here we go with again - the quote from Lutz - "I don't know, but, would anybody?  The only thing, that they have no technology that nobody else has. Absolutely no technological advantage, not in autonomy, not in batteries, not in control systems, it's just an electric car like everybody else." shtick. John M counters with the Munroe teardown and once again Lutz kinda mumbles. Now we lose sound. Then we are back to reminiscing about Hummers etc.

Mind you that quote was right after Lutz admits how compelling the style and design of Franz von Holzhausen is. Countering the rest of the repeated negative points is spread across this whole article.

Finally because of the tech issues they go over the buying Tesla question again. Henry Payne asks "So Bob, If Tesla's not a viable business proposition on it's own, then, who should buy it?" . Lutz repeats his theme response: "Well ah, First of all you have to ask the counter question 'Why would anyone (buy Tesla)'. and ah.. The only answer I can see is ah.. you'd buy it for the name and reputation. Because I don't think there's any battery technology or autonomous vehicle technology that isn't basically available to everybody else. ah.. So my guess is, if someone were to buy it, it would be to acquire a very valuable brand. Ah.. Would it be GM or Ford? - I doubt that very much. Could be one of the Europeans. Could be an Asian producer. Could be a Chinese producer wanting own a very very powerful and legitimate brand. Or it could even be somebody not in the automotive business like a Google or an Apple or one of the Chinese electronics companies. But that would have the problem that once again it would remain a small car company not embedded in a larger automobile company where you've got shared engineering and shared fixed costs. So it would remain a small vulnerable producer. And, the ownership would be in the hands of people who don't understand the car business, which you know, is always a problem."

John M then asks what he thinks of Powerwalls, Solar City(SC), and the Semi.  Lutz then puts down Powerwalls and Solar City/Tesla Solar and calls them "A flop.". He says less than two dozen Americans have Power Walls beside Tesla executives.

I resent that because I own a PowerWall 2 and Tesla Solar and I like it very much and have many other friends with these systems. Yes there are many cheaper solar systems out there but I'm very impressed with the tech in mine acting as both home electric generation and seamless UPS.  So again Bob Lutz disparages without presenting facts or stats. I'd love to see them.

Also it's well documented that the battery business is much more than residential. Here's Tesla's Australia 55 million dollar system making 16 million in revenue in 6 months. A flop eh?

Tesla powerpack battery australia...

Then about the Tesla semis then Lutz says quote: "As for the Electric Semi, I think both of those were push mobiles.  You know they were elaborate things made out of a wood framework with ah plaster of paris troweled on them. Ah... First of all the total Semi market in the States is so tiny annually that even if you dominated it you're not talking very much volume and secondly every semi manufacturer whether it's Freightliner, (Daimler), Volvo, etc and even Cummins is coming out with a fully electric drivetrain for heavy trucks."   (Snip long verbiage saying this is a small and competitive business)  " Most Fleet owners tend to stay with the same brand." (Snip - he goes on and moves into issues with Elon with etc. - I find this area subjective and covered above so I'll skip.)

Now I'm frosted again! The semi's are not clay or plaster models. Or course they are prototypes but clearly they are practical enough to drive around the country to and from possible customers. Lutz has to know this if he is at all following electrics. So either he is woefully ignorant of the news on electric freight in the past year and therefore does not know what he is talking about, or he is deliberately false about these development semis. Dozens of articles are documenting months of the Tesla semis crossing the country.  Google Electrek and Tesla Semi - it's not hard.

Personally my **guess**, not even having a car background is: Tesla took off the shelf items like axles, suspension, truck wheels,  air brakes, etc components. Weld a pair of custom frames and add 2-4 Model 3 battery sleds, high end Model 3 computers, Model 3 steering actuators, and a Model 3 RWD motor for each of 4 of the 6 double wheels. Now add Model 3 AC/Heating steering and screen with custom longer wiring harness again totally based on Model 3 with software tweeks. Add trailer hitch components and lighting/trailer brake hook ups.  Finally get some sheet metal guys to make an aerodynamic lightweight body and seating. Lutz the secret sauce is the Model 3 components! The reason Daimler says it can't work is because they, like Lutz is clueless as to how advanced the Model 3 components are.  How by pumping out of a giant factory they are becoming the world's most advanced battery sleds at commodity scale and pricing - to Tesla only of course. Why build a special pack? When your off the shelf one in a group can be ganged up to do the job? If you read my previous blogs you know my estimate for the advanced 75 kwh pack in the next two years falls to $10k wholesale within Tesla. $40K for a 300kwh battery with lighting recharge by ganging up 4 Supercharger cords. Not only will it be easy to build 'Truck Superchargers' with your present tech but in a emergency regular SuperCharger stations would be an option.

Does no one have any imagination as to how Tesla would leverage its advantages? Yes they open source their patents but this doesn't give anyone their copyrighted software or manufacturing trade secrets. Just because they are new to trucking is it impossible to add an employee or two with truck experience?

Tesla's 'secret' is they are light years ahead on the battery sled and powerful computer controls - ask battery/electronic expert Jack Rickard and Munroe Automotive.

Rickard on Model 3 Battery Tech

Rickard blog - Tesla model 3 gone battshit

So what's left - yes Tesla may be learning how to build bigger frames and suspensions.  Differences in steering, braking, suspension software on a big rig. Reusing all the base software components and refactoring for the new size and physics. A lot of which they have been modeling on a smaller scale for years with their own tools - call it the 'Tesla OS' advantage. Trailer hookups.

You know what isn't an advantage is the new semi business?  Diesel motors. Mufflers. 20 gear transmissions. Clutches, Diesel tanks, filters, injectors, etc.  Time for a whole generation of employed experts to start drawing early pensions.

So let's look at the next failure of imagination as usual. Lutz in so many words says the market for semi's is small. I would respond that your highest costs are diesel and drivers - not big rigs. The company that cuts your fuel cost in half and allows one driver to lead a fleet of 4 semis across the country using *todays* autonomous highway software with a few tweeks - is Tesla. With that level of advantage you don't just replace this year's worn out semi.

You replace them all. With your already developed, very advanced electric tech.

Even if I disagree with Lutz - and believe me I do, this show is worth watching.  The final diatribe starts at 1:22:15 and the sad part is Lutz is a very convincing, well spoken guy - perhaps the advantages we Tesla owners see won't be enough and he'll be right.  My money's on Tesla.  Get the full answers and context and check it out for yourself:

Autoline AfterHours Lutz interview

Autoline Afterhours is also where you can find Sandy Munroe's analysis of Tesla's computer and battery advantages - I leave finding these as an exercise for the reader.

Enjoy!

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 5 stars Model 3

Short update. The argument for Tesla as one of the safest cars just got better - * 5 stars * all around from NHTSA. And they even missed the Model 3 has a great backup cam. Here's a screenshot:

The side impact is especially impressive. Should be interesting to compare what the IIHS Insurance Institute for Highway Safety comes up with as a final rating. Stay tuned.

Batteries - Why pick Tesla?

So in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle you have engine, fueling, and engine support (cooling, emissions/muffler) that are all critical to the functioning car.  Of course chassis, suspension, braking, safety are there but those are common to all car types.

Electrical vehicles (EVs) critical components are Motor, batteries, and electrical support (charge/regen/distribute electronics and computer control). Unlike an engine replacement in an ICE I'd argue a motor replacement in a decently designed EV is relatively plug and play. Not so for most EV batteries - they are large, heavy, and arguably your most expensive component needing replacement in old age.

Having watched my battery range drop in the Nissan Leaf was brutal as an owner. Having watched 'Who Killed The Electric Car' ands it's EV1 crushing scenes I wanted to own not lease. However my 70 mile range turned into 35 - at best, over six years. My EV was becoming a doorstop. I really want my future EV batteries to degrade as little as possible. BTW Nissan has supposedly improved Leaf battery chemistry, but they still do not thermally condition your battery.

Teslanomics - Tesla batteries last forever

So I've picked Tesla at a higher purchase cost. For one thing Tesla has battery fine tuning on it's charging - not just an 80/100 setting like my Leaf.  Charging to absolutely full is one battery wear factor that proven to degrade most lithium storage. Multiply the wear if it is hot and by the amount of time the battery sits at 100%.  Tesla lets you set daily charging to any value. Experts in Tesla charging say 70% is an order of magnitude less degradation as a charging level. So my rules are:

1. When at home, it's plugged to allow the thermal management to keep the battery temperature just where it should be even in my hot driveway in summer. Easy.

2. For daily use, I set charging via my phone to 70% percent - 220 miles of possible 310 with my long range battery. Trust me this is plenty on 9 out of 10 days.

3. Trip or long range days I set the timer to begin charging to 100% at a time that will let me leave immediately after filling the battery - minimizing time spent at full charge. Another nice Tesla 'fine tuning' charge feature.

These rules I hope will make the TM3 my 'forever' car barring accident.

My ace in the hole - the TM3 battery warranty. 120,000 miles 8 years of at least 70% of new range. I know Tesla guaranteeing this in the LR battery for every owner (when many will not take the trouble to carefully charge) means they are confident in the TM3 packs ability to have low wear - which is backed up by the battery range loss stats in the youtube link above. Worst case in eight years I have a standard range TM3 but I believe based on my research at better than 90% range in ten years.

Battery sourcing, composition, and recycling

My research shows Tesla has really gone the distance to make the Model 3 pack the most advanced and environmentally friendly in the world. My grandkids may be using the pack in whole house backup and solar time shifting long after I'm gone. Tesla is committed to end of life recycling as well. As for manufacture the only rare earth - Cobalt in the battery has been reduced to less than 3 percent vs 20 percent in others. Here's the major components in the battery pack:

NCA Chemistry in new Tesla Model 3 batteries:

Cobalt by weight in battery - 10.6 lb / 4.5 kg see:

http://benchmarkminerals.com/panasonic-reduces-teslas-cobalt-consumption-by-60-in-6-years/

Lithium by weight in battery - still unknown. My (Glotfelty) 2012 Leaf was 6 lbs per 24kwh so a round guess 20 lbs or less? Contrary to BS by the oil shills, lithium is plentiful and can be mined economically, ethically, and environmentally soundly. See previous entries. 

Graphite, Aluminum, Nickel, Steel, Copper, Plastic - all plentiful.

Just in case someone is selling you FUD on batteries so they keep you breathing exhaust, baking your world, and drowning you in ever more expensive oil and gasoline.

Finally - a real world example of Tesla excellent battery durability:

Model-X-300000-miles-2-years

Maintenance - the point #4 in favor of EVs

I'm pretty passionate about EVs - note my garb while hiking with my son in Japan.

However I want to be fair about the pro's of maintenance with an EV.  Pure electric does indeed have many fewer parts than ICE (internal combustion engine)- but there are drawbacks dependent on model. Let get the problem areas out of the way first.

Battery. 

This swings wildly with model and year and you really need to research manufactures. My personal experience is with three EV's and different use cases.

EnerDel batteries in the 2011 Think City have degraded very little over time - although with light usage - about 15K miles.  They got 65 miles new and 7 years later mine gets very close to new despite being kept outside.  Most users with higher miles tend to develop other issues than the batteries because, simply the Think City was not best engineered or protected electronics. A problem I have NOT seen in other EV's.

Nissan Leaf - My 2012 SL delivered Dec 2011 was fine for a couple of years but dropped quickly. I used it for commuting and put 60K miles over 6years and three months. The battery started with a 70 mile range but by year four was down to 50 and at the end could deliver 35 miles - not acceptable in my opinion. Nissan has claimed improved batteries but I know of other issues including charging issues and lack of thermal management which keep me skeptical. I hope Nissan's new gen with thermal management prove better - Nissan is a strong international brand with overall good quality.

Tesla - From the early Roadster, Tesla has been famous for long battery life. My TM3 has excellent battery life management hardware and software and so I'm hoping it continues the Tesla experience of quality battery durability. Here's a link to a youtube article documenting long Tesla battery life:

Teslanomics - Tesla batteries last forever

I guess my point is buy carefully and research your manufacturer's track record and this doesn't have to be a problem. I tend to keep a car ten years or longer if I can so this is important to me.

Tires.

Yep if you are used to running a Honda Civic you will be replacing tires faster. If you are more a Mercedes or Audi type you will find the weight of the performance engines is a wash with the weight of batteries. Plus at least in my Tesla the bigger tires themselves are more expensive.  I generally have not been able to get more than 40K out of my Leaf tires and with the jack rabbit acceleration of my TM3 I doubt I will do better.

Ok so those are the possible cost areas, how about where EV's rule:

Emissions control.

My Honda Civic was near 180k miles when I sold and was signaling it wanted it's fourth catalytic converter at $1500 each. Full of rare metals platinum (Pt), along with palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rh).  This is in addition to an O2 sensor and a new muffler at about 120K miles. I lead with this because it was the most expensive maintenance overall.
Pure EV's have no emission's control parts. My solar panel sourced energy also has no emissions. None.

Brakes.

The regenerative braking systems on EVs tend to keep brake jobs to a minimum as they do 80% of your braking putting kinetic energy back into the batteries rather than burning up brake pads. I find this tends to balance the tire cost (although all the performance cars have the tire cost issue).

Engine Oil, Filters, and Filtration system.

Short term you will always be paying for oil changes - or you will not have your car very long. Long term the system is complex enough to have plenty of issues such as gaskets, pumps, pans, drain plugs etc. Plus recycling that nasty oil.  Yes there are parts on all cars that need to be lubed but eliminating the infernal combustion engine (ICE) gets rid of the lion's share of a very serious contaminant to ground water.

Engine and associated support.

The 2000 moving parts in the engine. Coolant and radiator, belts, spark plugs, and many pieces you and I don't even see or know to name. You name it, I've seen it break.

Electric vehicles come out way ahead. They still need maintenance but let's face it - way less.

Point #1 Electrics are more convenient to drive

I saved my first point for last, because it's a big one.

Today's electric vehicle is much more convenient to drive.

Why - well first because your fuel station is your home. Learn just one easy step - plug it in when parked at home. Because your fuel is electrons your home takes care of your car's needs while you sleep. My home is not as fast at charging as a level 3 Supercharger. However it does pump back in 30+ miles an hour while I sleep on a 240v dryer type circuit. 

Because of it's big battery my Tesla Model 3 can be preheated or cooled via my phone before I hop in. I simply unplug the cord and return it to the weatherproof wall adaptor, and jump in. The car knows my phone and auto unlocks, pulls my seat back for easy entry, and adjusts my seat, mirrors, and wheel to me automatically. Yes a high end gas car can have preheating or cooling too but generally has to be running - spewing carbon monoxide into your garage or driveway.  Electrics have caught up on luxury features.

I push the voice recognition ball and say 'Drive to Annapolis, MD' from my PA home. Pushing the accelerator I can not only take advantage of turn by turn directions with auto calculated supercharging stops if needed, I can also have the car use traffic aware cruise control and lane keeping to handle stop and go driving for me - I supervise in case of difficulty but the car auto pilot handles the repetitious annoying stuff.  When I want to drive it's like owning my own Griffin like in a Harry Potter movie.

Yes, Supercharging can take 15 minutes more - but with 5 hours of drive range I generally need a bio break of about supercharging time, for bathrooms and a coffee or lunch. The timing on my Maryland to Boston trip was one perfect stop for a quick lunch with my cousins.

Besides 95% of the time I'm full with cheap solar panel electrons from home. I miss all the gas stops regular old dirty gas cars make local driving because - I own an electric filling station at home. My Tesla also knows where the supercharger stations are and how many stalls are filled if I need to route elsewhere for a long trip.

Plus, I sleep easy knowing my car is easy on the environment.  Don't believe the rightfully frightened BS from the oil companies - electric is MUCH cleaner even including manufacture of today's recyclable batteries - even in coal states. Convenience is also peace of mind. Here's a comparison to dispel the petroleum company myths.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=40386&id=39060&id=38975&id=39538

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are much safer (Point #3)

I'm going to base this on Tesla but I think most modern EVs have similar points because a large amount of battery weight is low and contributes to vehicle mass. The lack of a large engine up front in Teslas doesn't hurt either. Here's a photo of a multiple roll over wreck in a TM3:

The wreck maintained a safe space for the driver - Tesla glass fractured but didn't shower the driver and multiple airbags prevented injury.

Fire - A constant Boogieman of the petrodollar captains is fire. Oddly the same folks rarely point to gas fires which happen at a ratio 5 to 1. Here's a link :

Teslas are not more prone to fire than other cars 

More to follow.....                                                           

Climate change is real (Point #2)

Point number 2 from my What's so great about Electric Cars is:

Climate Change is real and electric cars help reduce the transport sectors contribution to greenhouse gases. 

If you watch climate deniers (CDs) they basically try to exhaust anyone trying to reduce their carbon footprint or publicly make a case for climate change. In a forum hundreds will pile on in a gang, many nasty name callers, some argument regurgitators from Fox or petrodollar sites, and a few believers.  So lets not tire myself writing endless rebuttals when a number of science based sites have it down pat.  First up consensus in science, from our science video log friend Joe:

 There is climate change consensus in science 

Busting Climate Change Myths - Answers with Joe

Every major CD argument is busted here

Skeptical Science dot com

If your petrodollar funded argument is already debunked on this site, I will simply point to it. Removing a great deal of wasted time. Which is one of goals of the advertising agency, the same one used for cigarette companies, hired by the oil and conservative lobbies. FUD is not going to be used to waste our time here.

So electric cars have their own carbon and climate change cost - therefore gas!

Even well to wheels examinations of electrics vs gas which include the climate costs of battery building and all other components, find electric cars in worst case coal generated electric areas to be more efficient. The study is quite conservative as well - not much examining just how often EV owners have solar roofs, keep EVs longer, or turn in batteries for recycle and alternative use.  Electrics win period.

ucsusa lifecycle ev emissions

Money. Money is everything. Screw grandkids etc. I live my limited lifetime only for Money. Therefore gas!

You still lose. Gas cars are still a little cheaper upfront. They are more costly overall due to the cost of gas plain and simple. They will soon be cheaper upfront as economy of scale hits. Even today though add in fuel and maintenance the Electric Vehicle (EV) is cheaper! For those with very tight budgets consider a used Chevy Volt. This car has 40 mile battery range supplemented by gas for long trips. It's battery has proven very long life with minimal degradation and the overall maintenance as a used car is very low. Finally used models can be found in the $10-15K range.

Ucsusa.org - cv report ev savings.pdf

Batteries are toxic! The Sky is falling! Therefore gas!

Batteries in the past maybe. Lead acid, Nickel Cadmium.  Even those recycle well.  Lithium is plentiful and can be mined low impact from salt flats. Recycling can happen in stages now - first being using whole exhausted car systems in home backup.  Then after an additional ten to twenty years doing that, we are next going down to full materials recycling. The most problematic trace element Cobalt is now down to less than 0.5 percent in a Tesla Model 3 battery sled. Here again Tesla has committed to full recycling of all the materials in their batteries.

That should block 99% of the Climate Skeptic Trolls. Anything new needed from comments I'll post below.

Tesla Sunset for the $7500 Electric Vehicle credit

Tesla has announced they will have sold 200,000 electric vehicles under the U.S. Federal EV tax rebate program.

This means you need to have title in hand with your Tesla by Dec 31st 2018 if you want to save $7500 the following year on your taxes.  It only works if you pay Federal tax of $7500 to receive the whole rebate - if your withholding covers you 7500 tax or more, it comes as a refund.

How was my predictive ability? On April 15th 2016 my prediction in this blog was Tesla would be here a quarter year earlier - that the phaseout would begin in Q2 2018. Check it here:

A plan for credits

Not bad for 26 months ago. I've been interested in a careful reading of the rules because it influences my Tesla buy too.  My March 2018 bought Tesla Model 3 gets a full $7500 but with my income level I'm probably closer to getting $7200.  Good enough for retiree work. A tax filer is eligible for one car buy a year and you have to keep your car one year. No quick resales etc.

My Leaf was at the beginning of the program and got the full rebate. The following year the Think EV also got the full rebate. When my TM3 rebate comes in it will be a total of about $22,000 in incentives to buy electric during this decade - not too bad considering I get to keep some of my tax money and help the environment.

What does this mean for you? If you are buying a Tesla in the US and pay enough taxes to cover:

Buying by Dec 31st 2018 means a $7,500 tax rebate in your pocket in 2019

Buying in 2019 by June 30th 2019 means a $3750 tax rebate in 2020.

Buying in 2019 after June 30th 2019 means a $1875 tax rebate in 2020.

Buying in 2020 means you have a shiny new Tesla - no rebate though.

While some lawmakers are trying to extend the program it would be surprising if the Republican congress did it - but still worth hoping for. It will be interesting to see how this affects sales. At least it gives Tesla 18 months to pump out as many incentive sales as possible.

My Cousin posing with the Tesla charger:

A Connecticut Yankee Weekend

I had the pleasure of putting another 850 miles on the car for a long Thursday - Sunday weekend.  My friends the Bellaflores invited me up to Connecticut which sounded great.  Indeed it was a great time.

With the Tesla Model 3 the trip from the bottom central area of PA to the top of CT cost me $6.11 in supercharging. Now even for supercharging that's wildly low. Last time I went to visit cousins in Boston I paid about $30 for supercharging in NY and MA.

I had been told - but didn't believe some CT superchargers are free for the Tesla Model 3. Normally we pay. Indeed this turned out to be true:

Darien, CT (NB) No Charge $0.00 <---This is on 95 near Stamford CT.  I was down to about 10 miles but was pleased to be able to make it to CT to charge. I also found that the Milford CT supercharger was Not free. Which BTW is fine - supercharging is still way cheaper than gas.

So my energy usage and price was:

Way up:

75 kwh (kilowatt hrs) Full home charge before coming up (My power is $0.13 per kwh (but was probably solar.) call it  - $9.75

42 kwh Darien, CT 7/5 Stop 1 (approx 35 mins)                                -  $0

(Caught in traffic jam going up on I95 so I decide to make a second stop for electrons to drive around Groton on...)

38 kwh (approx) Milford CT  7/5 Stop 2 (exactly 34 mins)                 -  $6.11

Way down:

65 kwh Darien, CT 7/8  (close to 1hr)                                                  - $0

70 kwh Home charging back to full @ 0.13 per kwh             about    - $9.10

Now I admit I'm estimating $18.85 in local power usage at wind rates when it was probably covered by my solar system. Still it's coming from somewhere such as my solar acquisition cost so let's use my wind rate. Add $6.11 in dollars and you have $25 in electron juice or 2.9 cents a mile.

The single stop down was covered time wise by a bathroom pitstop and a coffee break - again not inconvenient.

Gas Buddy Avg CT cost July = $3.03 x 30mph -> roughly 10 cents a mile or $85 for the trip gas.

With the $60 savings I took my friends to dinner for kindly having me up!

Happy 4th of July - Tesla - The MOST American car!

The most American car was in a 4th of July parade.

Don't take my word for it - check out Ben Sullin's Youtube analysis of Tesla being the most American car.  Happy Independence Day everyone.

Youtube - Tesla is The Most American Car Company

New to this Blog? What's so great about Electric Vehicles?

Hi Interested Reader!

Maybe you just got my card or saw the code on my car and ended up here.

So what is so great today about electric cars?

My claims - we'll investigate and substantiate each in a future post.

Number 1. As of the new Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3, the next generation electric vehicles are long range and actually MORE convenient than gas vehicles to drive. They are now close to price parity especially

Number 2. There is real climate change. The electric vehicle makes a significant dent in that despite made up claims to the contrary and we will prove that for our readers. This is the good for the grandkids (and great grandkids) part of the show. If you can install solar you are practically driving on sunshine.

Number 3. Electrics - especially Teslas are much safer than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars. Much safer.  The heavy sled in Teslas eliminates most rollovers, and most battery cars rate very high on safety.

Number 4. Electrics need less maintenance than ICE cars. We count 2000+ parts in ICE car engine and transmission. About 20 in an electric vehicle (EV).

Sold yet?  Already want a Tesla? Here's a referral code/link that is good for free charging on an S or X. (Solar benefits too!)  Sorry no bennies for the Tesla Model 3 - sales are booming.                                                                                 

http://ts.la/david901

Even if you are not buying, this link can sign you for a newsletter to keep up on Tesla.

Here's short article explaining why there is a very threatened group spreading falsehoods about EVs.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/26/electric-vehicles-will-prevail-despite-oil-industry-misinformation.html

Circe is back and better then ever.

Well Tesla mobile service offered to come out but first made a repeat attempt at OTA.

This one worked. I'm at 2018.21.9 75bdbc11.

A small change to the car display to allow surrounding cars to be visualized. No summon yet - perhaps its in a newer update unseen by mine so far - just happy my update is in and worry free.

Took about five days and one trip in - no cost appears to be warranty covered.

Circe - slightly mentally ill

Well the Tesla Model 3 - Circe - has a problem - not with driving. In fact we were out in the hills today.

I stopped to take a picture since there was a little shoulder space and a nice farm in the distance. So driving the winding hills is as pleasant as always.

The problem is OTA updates. I had called Tesla late last week and asked if my car had an issue as it's firmware was 18.3 and no updates are forthcoming. They poked around a bit and told me the brake subsystem had thrown a code which put a hold on the car for OTA updates. I was given an appointment for 6/22/18 Friday and I tooled the hour and a half South in to Owings Mills, MD Tesla. Clean, lots of helpful folk but it did take a while. After about two hours I was told the code was not an issue and was now cleared. The OTA update was ready, but I delayed it til early in the evening in order to do it at home and not on the road. Hey at least they washed it, very nice, the picture above is shiney.

Sadly the update that evening at home came back with an error - call Tesla Service.  No autopilot. No TACC. No to even regular cruise control. Now most autopilot functions I can live without but at least regular cruise control is a necessity not to get tickets. Too easy to go fast. The weird part was the app and main screen show 2018.21.9 75bdbc11 for the update - so something updated. I'm a 72xx VIN so perhaps we are looking at an early model 3 issue?

I called Tesla that night and next day - both times told to wait for a new OTA which is currently missing in action.... I have the feeling the next call tomorrow is going to involve the big three hour round trip again. Luckily I still enjoy driving even without autopilot. Hopefully emergency features are still working while the cruise control and higher brain function is dead.

As Maxwell Smart would say 'Still ...... Loving it!'.

More to come...

Tesla Model 3 Specs Summary

My Blue Long Range Tesla Model 3 - 'Circe'

Base MSRP $35,000 With Long Range battery, Premium pkg & paint, Autopilot, Self Drive, Delivery $ 59,000 as of 3/30/18. 


Physical Dimensions (Long Range battery)
Curb weight     3814 lbs / 1730kg (T)
Length              184.8" / 4690mm
Wheelbase        113.2” / 2875mm
Width                82.2" / 2083mm      (Mirrors folded 76.1"/ 1930mm)
Track Width      62.2” / 1580mm      (Front & Rear)
Height               56.8" / 1440mm
Ground Clear     5.5” / 140mm 
Coefficient Drag 0.23
Passenger vol     97 ft3 / 2.75 m3 (CD)
Trunk volume    15 ft3 /  .43 m3 (CD)
Center screen physical diag - 16.3" / 41.4 cm  x-14" / 35.6 cm  y-9" / 22.9 cm(G)
Center screen image     diag - 15.2" / 38.6 cm  x-13" / 33.0 cm  y-8" / 20.3 cm(G)
Screen has rounded edge surfaces so dimensions are measuring tape best estimate.


Performance ( LR Battery, single motor RWD )

Coefficient of Drag 0.23 (T)
Acceleration 0- 60mph / 97kph    - 5.1 sec (T)
                     0- 100mph / 161kph - 13.6 sec (CD)
Top Speed    141 mph / 227 kph (CD) (Limited)
Stopping Length 133' / 40.5 meters at 60mph / 97kph (CR)
Stopping Length 176' / 53.6 meters at 70mph /113kph (CD)
Turning Radius 19.4' / 5.91 meters
EPA eMPG  City 136 Highway 123 Combined 130
EPA rated range 310 miles / 499 km



Wheels  (G)  

(Other wheels available 19"-20" extra cost)
Std Wheels (mine) 18" / 45.7 cm
Hubcaps - Aero range hi-efficiency Pinwheel hubcaps ($30 - replacement cost)
Tires as supplied on 3/30/18 - Michelin Primacy MXM4 235/45R
Tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) - Audible spoken alarm in event of pressure loss
TPMS display screen of each tire pressure available on monitor 



Charging (EPA/M3OC)


On-Board charger options from AC power
208 volt max 80A - Wall HPC (High Power Connector)
208 volt max 40-48A - UMC (Universal Mobile Connector) plugin kit ~33 miles per hr
120 volt circuit max 12A - UMC (Universal Mobile Connector) plugin kit ~3 miles per hr
Tesla Supercharging Centers DC charging information
Up to 525 amp charging (EPA)

Safety


8 airbags
Frunk soft crumple zone to mitigate pedestrian impacts
Automatic emergency braking & collision avoidance
Electronic Stability and Traction Control
TPMS - Audible spoken cabin alarm in case of pressure loss.


Sensors

12 Ultrasonic sensors, Range ??
8 Cameras - 2 forward, 4 side, 1 rear, 1 interior
1 forward facing radar, Range 250m
Motor

Single electric motor, dual motor option available

Permanent Magnet Switched Reluctance Motor (CT)

Model 3’s battery-to-wheels ratio 88.5-89% vs 

83% for Model S (Rickard / EPA)

Motor Horsepower 251 (CR says 258)
Horsepower 335 at 80%SOC , 250 at 75mph (M3OC) 

Transmission (EPA)


The transmission is a fixed ratio, mechanical, transversely mounted gearbox with integral final drive unit (transaxle configuration). The shift lever is mounted to the steering column. The lever has five detents—one neutral, one reverse, one drive, one cruise or autopilot (if equipped). Selecting either forward or reverse position enables drive current to the motor to generate the appropriate torque. There is no physical reverse gear needed.



Battery stats (LR battery) (EVTV)

Energy 80.5 kwh (usable 78.27 kwh) (EVTV 35:40)

Pack Voltage - 346V nominal (EVTV) 400V rated (EPA)
Weight 1054 lbs / 478 kg
Full pack Energy to weight ratio 168 watt hours per kg (EVTV  34:58)
Full pack Usable Energy to weight ratio 164 watt hours per kg (EVTV+G)
Battery Pack Configuration 
4 modules total in battery pack, (EVTV)
2 modules of  23 group cells of 46 - 2170 size cylinders ( 2116 cylinders ) (EVTV)
2 modules of 25 group cells of  46 - 2170 size cylinders ( 2300 cylinders ) (EVTV)
One half pack = Module 23 + Module 25 in series  - Voltage calc'd 173V nominal (G)
Real world measured on a depleted pack half A- Voltage 150.2v (EVTV)

Real world measured on a depleted pack half B - Voltage 150.4v (EVTV)
Mod 23  Leng 67.5"/ 171.5 cm,  Width 11.5" / 29.2 cm,  Depth 3.5", Weight 191lbs / 86.6kg
Mod 25  Leng 73"   / 185.4 cm,  Width 11.5" / 29.2 cm,  Depth 3.5", Weight 207lbs / 93.9kg
Total number of individual 2170 sized cylinder cells - 4416 (EVTV)
Module Energy to weight ratio 223 watt hours per kg (EVTV-G) 
Module Usable Energy to weight ratio 219 watt hours per kg (EVTV-G)       


Battery recycle information (EPA)

Tesla’s lithium ion battery packs do not contain heavy metals such as lead, Cadmium, or mercury.  They are exempt from hazardous waste disposal standards in the USA under the Universal Waste Regulations. However, they do contain recyclable materials, and Tesla plans to recycle all battery packs removed from vehicles. 
Tesla  highly  recommends  that  all  battery  packs  be  taken  to  local  Tesla  service facilities and recycled by Tesla or Tesla authorized agencies, so that the battery packs can be recycled in a safe and efficient manner. For more information on the recycling of Tesla custom battery packs, please call Tesla Customer Service at 1‐877‐79TESLA (1‐877‐798‐ 3752).



Customer Satisfaction (CR)

Tesla 90% highest rating 2018.
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/car-brands-ranked-by-owner-satisfaction/


Corrections welcome, sources follow:

(CD) Car & Driver website
(CR) Consumer Reports website
(CT) Clean Technica website
 https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/11/tesla-model-3-motor-in-depth/
(EPA) Environmental Protection Agency Tesla info - FOI_HTSLV00.0L13_APPIPT1.pdf 
(EVTV) Jack Rickards EV MotorVerks Video

Jack Rickard youtube Model 3 Rectal Exam + EPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfmgj8nB3Z0

Jack Rickard youtube Model 3 Battery Removal & Disasemmbly:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCOcBynlq0

Jack Rickard Blog -  

(G) Glotfelty - simple calculation or conversion based on others source data, 
                         ruler measurements etc from my TM3 Vin 72xx, MRSP figures. 
(M3OC) Model 3 Owners Club forums
https://model3ownersclub.com/threads/official-model-3-vs-model-s-size-comparisons.4446/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmdzNE1YUkA
(T) Tesla Model 3 Specs from website