M/T: Dual motor AWD Tesla Model 3 announced

[kevm14]

Some good news on the safety front: https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-m ... B6F6463927

[kevm14]

Not good. Tesla is being sued by the SEC over charges of fraud over tweets regarding when he might take the company private.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesl ... SKCN1M72OI

Of note:

It also seeks to bar him from running public companies, which would include Tesla, as well as a civil fine.

The SEC does not have criminal enforcement power.

Doesn't say anything about private companies...too soon? Too....late?

Fun fact: there is an 8 bay Supercharger in RI. That is the only one.

[kevm14]

There have been updates.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-re ... 32710.html
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/16/elo ... -approves/
https://www.motortrend.com/news/elon-mu ... ettlement/

Elon Musk to Resign as Tesla Chairman Now That Judge Has Approved SEC Settlement
Musk and Tesla will each pay a $20 million fine
by Words: Collin Woodard October 17, 2018
Well, it's official. Reuters reports that Judge Alison Nathan has approved the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's settlement with Tesla chairman and CEO Elon Musk.

Under the agreement, Musk will resign as chairman for at least three years and pay a $20 million fine. Tesla will need to replace Musk with an independent chairman, appoint two new independent directors, and create a committee to approve "any such written communications that contain, or reasonably could contain, information material" to the company or its shareholders. Even though Tesla hasn't been charged with fraud, it will also be required to pay a separate $20 million fine. Musk will stay on as Tesla's CEO.

This seems dangerous for him personally. His job as CEO seemed more protected when he was also the chairman. Now he's just as vulnerable as any given CEO, should the board decide he is no longer healthy for the company. Of course, if they booted him the stock would implode...and they know that.

[kevm14]

I have good news and bad news.

First the good news.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3039 ... 461&src=nl

5% power boost. Enough to gain 3 mph in the 1/4 mile which is something you'd probably notice. New specs: 12.3 seconds at 116 mph for the dual motor.

Now the bad news.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3036 ... le-parked/
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3038 ... breakdown/

There was a short in the rear inverter, which the vehicle detected, and it blew the pyrotechnic high-voltage fuse to prevent damage to the battery.

To fix our issue, the service center replaced the entire rear-motor assembly, along with the blown fuse and the 12-volt battery, which had been run down. In addition, the underbody aero shield, which was damaged by the tow-truck operator getting the car on or off the flatbed, was replaced, and they did a four-wheel alignment. In under a week that included two holidays, our car is back up and running.

It's unclear why it took nearly three months and 5300 miles of driving for the short to present itself, but we hope we're now in the clear.

Bill likes to give me shit about my expensive Cadillac parts where everything is integrated. Well guess what - the Model 3 uses a highly integrated motor/inverter assembly and failure of an electronic/solid state device required replacement of the whole motor since that's the lowest replaceable unit.

So...is this good, or bad? I can tell you it's bad from a price standpoint. My hood latch was quite affordable at like $170 or whatever I paid. eBay shows used Model 3 rear motor/inverters for the discount price of only $5,500! And that's just the rear motor. There is a front motor on the AWD. $4,500 for that...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... r&_sacat=0

Extra bonus fun fact: GM did not integrate this way for their Bolt. They built it in a modular way. As a result, a replacement inverter for the Bolt is only $750 and I'd assume less labor because it's right on top of the motor under the hood. And that's brand new, not used like the Model 3 motors in the previous link.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2017-2018-Chev ... 2822!US!-1

[kevm14]

This translates to the battery as well.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/08/te ... -examined/

The Chevy Bolt pack is made of pouch cells, with three in parallel, and benefits from reasonably rugged and organized pack construction using base plate cooling that includes fuses, relays, and BMS. The LG Chem cells are high-performance units capable of yielding a long range pack. Using fewer cells, cell assembly has simpler construction, and the components like BMS controller are separate, which allows access and repair.

Familiar story.

[bill25]

If only GM realized that people care about what their car looks like...

[kevm14]

Yeah. Well as you know I am talking strictly about engineering trades. Nothing more.