Tesla’s Model 3 Loses Recommended Status From Consumer Reports

Tesla’s Model 3 Loses Recommended Status From Consumer Reports - WSJ

The electric-car maker’s newest plug-in model had reported problems with loose body trim and glass defects, product-review magazine says.
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I would love to own & drive one of these but the energy stored in those big lithium batteries is equivalent to that in a good sized bomb.

JacksinPA said:

Tesla’s Model 3 Loses Recommended Status From Consumer Reports - WSJ

The electric-car maker’s newest plug-in model had reported problems with loose body trim and glass defects, product-review magazine says.
==========================================
I would love to own & drive one of these but the energy stored in those big lithium batteries is equivalent to that in a good sized bomb.

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What????
So's the energy stored in twenty-five gallons of gasoline.

Please don't tell me you still think that electric cars are all driving around catching on fire willy nilly by the millions.

Checkerboard Strangler said:

What????
So's the energy stored in twenty-five gallons of gasoline.

Please don't tell me you still think that electric cars are all driving around catching on fire willy nilly by the millions.

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A year or so ago a wrecked Tesla caught fire in the yard where it had been towed. No gasoline involved.

JacksinPA said:

A year or so ago a wrecked Tesla caught fire in the yard where it had been towed. No gasoline involved.

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I've seen the same thing with gasoline powered cars, several times.

We've thought about buying an electric car for our next one. My wife's car is fine but it's a 2008 so starting with those problems that older cars always have - A/C keeps going out, rattles that can't be located, major engine repair last year, etc. Her use is perfect for an electric, and we have a diesel SUV that gets around 38mpg on the highway for long trips as the other.

I'm not ready for an electric vehicle, but I'm seriously considering a hybrid SUV.

JacksinPA said:

A year or so ago a wrecked Tesla caught fire in the yard where it had been towed. No gasoline involved.

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Yes, of course. And yes, a large lithium battery can pose a danger, particularly if a wrecked electric car isn't dealt with properly.
When I used to be a TV news camera stringer, there was always a running bet pool on the car crash stories.
I cannot tell you how many times wrecked cars have caught fire, even while in the process of being towed from the accident scene.

It didn't use to be FD policy to cut the big red positive battery cable in L.A. until a few spectacular incidents took place.
With fuel injection it's not as common but in the old carburetor days, just a nice bump might short out the positive battery terminal and a crushed carburetor leaking fuel all over the engine compartment would catch.

There is now an official State of California policy regarding towing wrecked electric cars. I am trying to look it up for you.
Part of it involves a current draw-down procedure to de-energize the battery.
If the battery is too damaged to do that procedure safely, there are other recommendations but I want to find the link for you instead of blathering.

If you're looking for a 100% guarantee that ZERO electric cars will EVER EVER catch fire, that is unrealistic.

JasperL said:

I've seen the same thing with gasoline powered cars, several times.

We've thought about buying an electric car for our next one. My wife's car is fine but it's a 2008 so starting with those problems that older cars always have - A/C keeps going out, rattles that can't be located, major engine repair last year, etc. Her use is perfect for an electric, and we have a diesel SUV that gets around 38mpg on the highway for long trips as the other.

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What make and model diesel SUV?

Checkerboard Strangler said:

What make and model diesel SUV?

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2015 Audi Q5 TDI. We bought it from my mother in law who had to quit driving. It's a great car with lots of power and great mileage, especially on the highway. Gets about 22-24 in the city, depending.

By the way, I had an Anton-Bauer Dionic 160 Lithium Ion battery catch fire while on the camera, like this one.



Pretty spectacular, pretty scary, thank God I was able to run out of the club with it.
Sat there in the parking lot watching it go up.
I managed to yank it off the camera.

This one is a pic of my actual (former) camera.

JacksinPA said:

Tesla’s Model 3 Loses Recommended Status From Consumer Reports - WSJ

The electric-car maker’s newest plug-in model had reported problems with loose body trim and glass defects, product-review magazine says.
==========================================
I would love to own & drive one of these but the energy stored in those big lithium batteries is equivalent to that in a good sized bomb.

Click to expand...

Musk is going to tip over completely. He's running only two shifts, he's laid off 7% more and - a lot - of line people are contract workers for some $14 an hour from jippo temp agencies.

The had writin's on the wall.

Chomsky said:

I'm not ready for an electric vehicle, but I'm seriously considering a hybrid SUV.

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We're looking at all-electric because the electrics have outstanding (instant) acceleration and my wife is kind of an aggressive driver.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/06/tesla-model-3-vs-22-competitors-straight-specs/

Plus the way I understand it electrics can get higher mileage in the city than on the highway, and her driving is mostly city - to work, tennis, to see mom, home.

JasperL said:

We're looking at all-electric because the electrics have outstanding (instant) acceleration and my wife is kind of an aggressive driver.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/06/tesla-model-3-vs-22-competitors-straight-specs/

Plus the way I understand it electrics can get higher mileage in the city than on the highway, and her driving is mostly city - to work, tennis, to see mom, home.

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I'm still not sold on all-electric yet.

We - as a family and as individuals - are very mobile. We tend to hop-in a car ... and go. By go, I mean go to Colorado, go to California, go to Canada, go to Wisconsin, etc., etc. I don't want to have to take added precautions and make additional plans for our free-spirited vagabonds.

Chomsky said:

I'm still not sold on all-electric yet.

We - as a family and as individuals - are very mobile. We tend to hop-in a car ... and go. By go, I mean go to Colorado, go to California, go to Canada, go to Wisconsin, etc., etc. I don't want to have to take added precautions and make additional plans for our free-spirited vagabonds.

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Sure, it depends on what other options you have for transport and your driving habits. All electric cars just don't work for long distance travel at this point, so someone who does that needs options. We just never need both cars for long distance travel and if the "worst" happened and we both had business/personal trips outside the comfortable range of an electric on the same days, the Enterprise rental office is 10 minutes away...

We know a lot of people who figure they save money using rental cars for long trips, and so rent a car to drive to e.g. Florida, just to save wear and tear and depreciation on their personal cars. Not worth it for us, but it definitely is an option!

It's all good IMO. I'm glad to see the progress electric cars are making. Weirdly the smog around here is the worst in the GSMNP. The mountains kind of trap it and so on bad days in the summer you can hike up to a summit and have VERY limited visibility and it's not the good kind of "Smoky" that the park is named after, but straight up pollution. So anything to reduce that over time is a good thing IMO.

JasperL said:

Sure, it depends on what other options you have for transport and your driving habits. All electric cars just don't work for long distance travel at this point, so someone who does that needs options. We just never need both cars for long distance travel and if the "worst" happened and we both had business/personal trips outside the comfortable range of an electric on the same days, the Enterprise rental office is 10 minutes away...

We know a lot of people who figure they save money using rental cars for long trips, and so rent a car to drive to e.g. Florida, just to save wear and tear and depreciation on their personal cars. Not worth it for us, but it definitely is an option!

It's all good IMO. I'm glad to see the progress electric cars are making. Weirdly the smog around here is the worst in the GSMNP. The mountains kind of trap it and so on bad days in the summer you can hike up to a summit and have VERY limited visibility and it's not the good kind of "Smoky" that the park is named after, but straight up pollution. So anything to reduce that over time is a good thing IMO.

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Yeah, we're lucky to have so many transportation options. Sometimes we fly and rent a car. Sometimes we just pick a place and go. We all drive ... shall we say ... expeditiously! And often I take a train in & out of my city too, Ubering around while in it.

I'm sure part of my hesitancy is simply resistance to change.