Holy cow... so I checked out Tesla S in person today, I had no idea.

[bigi]

I'm just waiting to see what happens when it rains on these things. I'm no rocket scientist, but water and electricity don't mix....and it's hard to drive safely when you're actively being shocked.

wow.

Whatever you use my dear sir, I want to try it.
I do hope the damage ain't permanent.

 

[Ferzerp]

One of the safest cars ever too

Except when it burns to a crisp like another just did yesterday in TN with no collision damage evident from the pictures (which, are missing the driver's side though)

 

[natto fire]

I would image that flood damage....especially along the coast, would render that car useless.

You forgot to claim you weren't a rocket scientist first.

a) Where does it say anything about a flood in the post I quoted. Rain and flood are two very different things.

b) As pointed out, even an ICE car is ruined by flood waters. They are usually the cars at the "buy here pay here" places with all the warning lights on and a terrible odor.

c) You used the word "image" incorrectly

Again, I have no problem with Tesla bashing, but make sure it is for a logical reason, and don't move the goalposts by turning rain into a flood...

 

[monkeydelmagico]

One of my many hobbies is RC cars, planes, and helis. Water shouldn't be a problem as the electronics are easily enclosable. I would imagine Musk and Co. got that covered.

I can see, with that much dc current and flamable batteries, there is potential for fire. Can't be any worse than gasoline though.

The biggest problem I forsee relates to battery longevity. It might just be the QC for RC vehicle batteries but they are really hit or miss on specifications.

i just hope we get a mid range model soon. Make it all wheel drive please. Mate the running gear from a Tesla to the all wheel drive goodness of a mitsu evo or WRX STI and WOW. The torque will rip your head off.

 

[Imported]

The storage in one in insane. I thought the same when I first saw one. They had a Model X at the local dealership but its gone now. Would like to see how that looks on the inside..

 

[phucheneh]

Heh...just saw on the local news that an S caught fire down the road from me. Report was fairly vague and said the driver struck something (as in road debris, I think), was alerted by the car that something was wrong, and pulled over as it caught fire. Also said something about 'operating as designed' (sorry, but that made me LOL). By that they apparently meant the fire was contained to one area. Tesla people flying out to investigate.

Not condemning the car, just figured it was worth mentioning since it came on the news right as I was clicking on ATG.

 

[jpiniero]

Yeah, they are going to have to redesign it, move the battery somewhere else. It's just far too vulnerable where it is now.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, they are going to have to redesign it, move the battery somewhere else. It's just far too vulnerable where it is now.

19,000 Teslas on the road...3 catch on fire from severe accidents...And they need to redesign it? It has 1/4" metal plate protecting 16 individual battery cells. Sounds safer to me than an ICE fire:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Car-Fire3-1024x768.jpg

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fa9a8d8/turbine/sfl-car-fire-photo-1-20120508/600

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/news_impact/2009/04/large_Car-Fire-196.jpg

http://linapps.s3.amazonaws.com/lin...06/g7976-highway-47-car-fire/156103-1c8c2.jpg

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Car-Fire-011.jpg

Wait, did I just become a Tesla apologist?

 

[Zorba]

19,000 Teslas on the road...3 catch on fire from severe accidents...And they need to redesign it? It has 1/4" metal plate protecting 16 individual battery cells. Sounds safer to me than an ICE fire:

What I love is when Boeing was having the issues with the 787 batteries Elon was doing the rounds letting everyone know he was willing to "help" Boeing figure out the issue. He also made sure to tell everyone how Boeing screwed up the battery design, unlike the almost foolproof battery in the Tesla. Karma is a bitch.

 

[michal1980]

19,000 Teslas on the road...3 catch on fire from severe accidents...And they need to redesign it? It has 1/4" metal plate protecting 16 individual battery cells. Sounds safer to me than an ICE fire:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Car-Fire3-1024x768.jpg

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fa9a8d8/turbine/sfl-car-fire-photo-1-20120508/600

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/news_impact/2009/04/large_Car-Fire-196.jpg

http://linapps.s3.amazonaws.com/lin...06/g7976-highway-47-car-fire/156103-1c8c2.jpg

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Car-Fire-011.jpg

Wait, did I just become a Tesla apologist?

how many ICE cars are on the road, vs how many tesla S?

how many ICE cars catch fire in a accident vs how many tesla s?

 

[michal1980]

What I love is when Boeing was having the issues with the 787 batteries Elon was doing the rounds letting everyone know he was willing to "help" Boeing figure out the issue. He also made sure to tell everyone how Boeing screwed up the battery design, unlike the almost foolproof battery in the Tesla. Karma is a bitch.

Elon's EGO is huge.

Hows that tube travel thing going?

...anyone even remember that PR stunt?

 

[Demo24]

Elon's EGO is huge.

Hows that tube travel thing going?

...anyone even remember that PR stunt?

While that may be so, so far all he has done and proven earns him that at least for now. I read recently that some company may be picking that tube concept up and that was part of elons goal there. It'd be years from now before he'd start serious work on it if it he hadn't opened the concept up. Not necessarily money, just time and resources.



As for all this Tesla fire stuff. So far none have caught fire in normal operations. Ice cars do that all the time. No one thinks any differently about it these days because 'oh, petrol is highly flammable from the get go'. If these Tesla's start burning down in the garage or sitting at a stop light undamaged, then yeah they probably have a serious flaw/issue.

 

[Kaido]

What I love is when Boeing was having the issues with the 787 batteries Elon was doing the rounds letting everyone know he was willing to "help" Boeing figure out the issue. He also made sure to tell everyone how Boeing screwed up the battery design, unlike the almost foolproof battery in the Tesla.

Well, to be fair, the Boeing airplane didn't impact anything to cause the fire

 

[Kaido]

how many ICE cars are on the road, vs how many tesla S?

how many ICE cars catch fire in a accident vs how many tesla s?

Like JCH13 mentioned in the electric car thread, the statistics aren't really applicable due to volume differences & lack of long-term historical data. However, Tesla does have an informative blog post about it here:

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-fire

The nationwide driving statistics make this very clear: there are 150,000 car fires per year according to the National Fire Protection Association, and Americans drive about 3 trillion miles per year according to the Department of Transportation. That equates to 1 vehicle fire for every 20 million miles driven, compared to 1 fire in over 100 million miles for Tesla. This means you are 5 times more likely to experience a fire in a conventional gasoline car than a Tesla!

So an ICE car is 5 times more likely to catch on fire than a Tesla. In addition, of the 3 fires that have occurred (one was from road debris, one was from an accident, last one is being investigated), they have all been contained to the frontal area, allowing the passengers to escape unharmed: (and the first two owners have said they want another Tesla!)

Tesla fire #1

Tesla fire #2

Tesla fire #3

 

[Kaido]

Elon's EGO is huge.

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-c...lon-musk-inspired-tony-stark-of-iron-man-fame

:awe:

 

[michal1980]

Like JCH13 mentioned in the electric car thread, the statistics aren't really applicable due to volume differences & lack of long-term historical data. However, Tesla does have an informative blog post about it here:

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-fire



So an ICE car is 5 times more likely to catch on fire than a Tesla. In addition, of the 3 fires that have occurred (one was from road debris, one was from an accident, last one is being investigated), they have all been contained to the frontal area, allowing the passengers to escape unharmed: (and the first two owners have said they want another Tesla!)

Tesla fire #1

Tesla fire #2

Tesla fire #3

Tesla is quickly catching up. That blog link you posted was after the first fire. Since then 2 more caught on fire. So now they are at 1 fire in 33 million miles. So your only 1.5 times more likely to be in a car fire in a regular car. One more fire they are nearly tied. 2 more, and tesla's are more dangerous.

And that's the problem with Tesla and their ego's. They think they've created some unicorn. nothing is ever wrong with their design. Maybe Musk should have focused on his battery pack instead of talking smack about Boeing.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Seperating the product from the talking head can be difficult. Notice that no one is pointing any fingers at one particular person at Boeing. The problem with Tesla is that it has become synonymous with it's creator. For better or worse. Mostly worse.

Out of curiosity does anyone know how likely a prius is to catch fire?

 

[bigi]

19,000 Teslas on the road...3 catch on fire from severe accidents...And they need to redesign it? It has 1/4" metal plate protecting 16 individual battery cells. Sounds safer to me than an ICE fire:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Car-Fire3-1024x768.jpg

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fa9a8d8/turbine/sfl-car-fire-photo-1-20120508/600

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/news_impact/2009/04/large_Car-Fire-196.jpg

http://linapps.s3.amazonaws.com/lin...06/g7976-highway-47-car-fire/156103-1c8c2.jpg

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Car-Fire-011.jpg

Wait, did I just become a Tesla apologist?

What is really interesting that suddenly there are "multiple" (three) Tesla S striking objects on roads and catching fire which all get reported in news.

Got petroleum distillate?

 

[Kaido]

Out of curiosity does anyone know how likely a prius is to catch fire?

They don't go fast enough to catch on fire.





:awe:

 

[Kaido]

Tesla is quickly catching up. That blog link you posted was after the first fire. Since then 2 more caught on fire. So now they are at 1 fire in 33 million miles. So your only 1.5 times more likely to be in a car fire in a regular car. One more fire they are nearly tied. 2 more, and tesla's are more dangerous.

And that's the problem with Tesla and their ego's. They think they've created some unicorn. nothing is ever wrong with their design. Maybe Musk should have focused on his battery pack instead of talking smack about Boeing.

To be fair, they've never said it was bulletproof. And in all fairness, all occupants made it out alive & unscathed. Being "the safest car in the world" simply means being safer than the nearest competitor, not being invincible. There have been plenty of Tesla accidents, but only 3 of out 19,000 have caught on fire:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/19373-Model-S-accidents

 

[michal1980]

To be fair, they've never said it was bulletproof. And in all fairness, all occupants made it out alive & unscathed. Being "the safest car in the world" simply means being safer than the nearest competitor, not being invincible. There have been plenty of Tesla accidents, but only 3 of out 19,000 have caught on fire:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/19373-Model-S-accidents

My point was that Musk's arrogance is stinking up the company. That blog post was based on 1 car catching fire.... Just a few weeks later a 3rd catches fire.

They go from having a 5:1 ratio of gas to electric fires, to 1.5:1 in a span of a month. 2 more fires flips it to 1:~1.2.

But instead of saying they are looking into it, they keep defending the product. They dont know when to stop digging.

The mileage is a good comparison between the overall car population. But lets pick one of the more popular cars.

remember the deadly pinto?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Fuel_tank_defect

according to reports 27 caught fire. 3,000,000 were made. a car to fire ratio of 1/111,1111

tesla, 1/6666

 

[Kaido]

But instead of saying they are looking into it, they keep defending the product. They dont know when to stop digging.

Honestly though, what is there to look into? These cars aren't fireproof. They were involved in serious accidents that resulted in a fire. Just look at the one in Mexico:

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads//2013/10/Tesla-Model-S-Fire-Mexico.jpg

They're not spontaneously combusting. They're not catching on fire in fender benders. They all experienced impacts at speed. There have been dozens of other Tesla accidents, including ones with broken batteries, that have not resulted in fires. I don't see what the problem is here. More than one of my $20 mini electric R/C helicopters have crashed and caught on fire. I don't expect a fuel source to withstand severe impacts without damage.

 

[Kaido]

remember the deadly pinto?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Fuel_tank_defect

Also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_Pinto_runabout_(1).jpg

Hubba hubba

 

[cardiac]

Last night's LA Times reporting:

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-stock-20131108,0,3341290.story#axzz2k4YBs9gX

 

[Kaido]

Last night's LA Times reporting:

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-stock-20131108,0,3341290.story#axzz2k4YBs9gX

They are reporting the car hit a tow hook. Did it hit a boat anchor too??