Seth Weintraub

I’ve been forming my big picture opinion of the 2017 Chevy Volt over the past week and journaling the experience in a set of diary posts (1, 2, 3-4). It has definitely been a journey from my initial impressions to becoming extremely comfortable with the car in a matter of days.

Overwhelmingly, the 2017 Volt is a fantastic car that will fit into many people’s lives and probably be one of the most functional mass-market electric cars for the next 3 years. The numbers don’t lie – Volt sales are up while some EV competitors are down.

I say 3 years because I believe that is how long, give or take, it will take electric infrastructure in the US to be as convenient as gas – at which point it will become more convenient. Sure, almost every house, building and structure has an electrical outlet which can charge on level 1 or 2 (and the 2017 Volt does both levels of AC charging), meaning you wake up every morning with a full 53 mile “tank” of electricity. But to finally close the convenience gap of gasoline and frankly beyond, pure electric cars need to be outfitted with high power DC chargers and long range batteries — both of which the Volt lacks.

As a pure electric car owner, there are still a bunch of ski resorts in Vermont I can’t go to with my long range ‘200 mile’ electric car. To travel to my parents’ house in Ohio from New York, I need to avoid the straight shot Interstate 80 and dip down almost to Maryland to stay on the Supercharger route. Even going to an EV show in Montreal next month will require me to go 2-3 hours out of my way to stay charged up.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re close, but we’re not there yet with electric infrastructure. The case is being made but there are still many obstacles outside of the $1 Trillion dollar Oil industry.  For one, currently three different DC fast charging standards exist (Tesla, SAE and Chademo) so there’s work needed to either consolidate or build (more) adapters. DC charging will also speed up over the next few years. Teslas can currently charge at 135kW while most other EVs top out at 50kW. That means most DC charging “fill ups” will take at least 30 minutes.  But Tesla wants to take that down to 5-10 minutes by the time the Model 3 is released and has all but abandoned its under 90 second battery swap plan.

I’m currently willing to make these route/time sacrifices because I love EVs, clean air and my Tesla, but I don’t think mainstream users are OK with going hundreds of miles/several hours out of the way to make a medium-long trip electrically for the next few years.

That’s where the 2017 Volt fits in.
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The fine folks at GM have given us a shiny new (OK, 500 miles) electric blue 2017 Chevy Volt to test drive for the next week. I’m keeping a diary of my experiences every day here and will wrap up the week with my conclusions. Catch up on Day 1, Day 2
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The fine folks at GM have given us a shiny new (OK, 500 miles) electric blue 2017 Chevy Volt to test drive for the next week. I’m keeping a diary of my experiences every day here and will wrap up the week with my conclusions. Catch up on Day 1 or Day 3-4.

Day 2:

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2017 Electric Blue Chevrolet Volt

The fine folks at GM have given us a shiny new (OK, 500 miles) electric blue 2017 Chevy Volt to test drive for the next week. I’m keeping a diary of my experiences every day here and will wrap up the week with my conclusions. (Day 2, Day 3-4, Conclusion/Wrapup)

Day 1, Delivery and Setup
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As far as presidential candidates are concerned, it’s hard to find one with scarier implications for the planet than Donald Trump. As Politico points out, the presumptive Republican Presidential Candidate has called global warming “a total hoax,” “BS” and “pseudoscience.”

But that’s just the candidate trying to win the Republican endorsement for president. As a businessman with properties on the coasts, Trump takes a decidedly different tack…
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On today’s Tesla earnings call, CEO Elon Musk addressed the concerns of the Model X quality control by noting that he was now working at a desk at the end of the Model X assembly line and was spending so much time there that he had a sleeping bag there – and that he used it quite frequently…
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Tesla’s Facebook account now has the keeping it 100 emoji (💯).  While the emoji means “To Keep Or Stay Truthful Or Staying The Same” most folks are seeing it as a hint that Tesla is about to release its much anticipated 100kWh battery option.

We had heard some false reports that the battery was going to launch with the Model S update but if this is it it seems like it would have been delayed, possibly by certification or safety inspections or just plain old development/scarcity.

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Aerovironment is a company with a long history of innovation. I first encountered the company in the 90s in undergraduate Aerospace Engineering when the Southern California company took part in USC’s engineering and internship program. At the time, founder Paul McCready and Co were working on human powered flight and then solar powered flight, which required radical battery and charging systems.

Since then, the company moved on to building drones for governments (boo!) and working on innovation in the electric car space (yay!).  AeroVironment was a big part of the Sunraycer and Impact/EV1 project with GM in the late 80s and 90s and now powers the charging solutions with a number of automobiles through its EV Solutions subsidiary.

Their main consumer product is the TurboCord Dual, a tiny combination Level 1/2 charger that can be plugged into a normal 110V outlet or with the included adapter, 240V NEMA 6-20 outlet and charge a vehicle at three times the speed.  How well does it do? I’ve been using one as my main on board charger with vehicles ranging from the Plug in Prius to the Tesla Model S since the beginning of the year…
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Update: The screenshot above is no longer available and the base price was updated to $83,000

Tesla today opened its Model X configurator a day after CEO Elon Musk had planned for yesterday. The Model X Recall probably delayed plans slightly.

Besides the configurator, it appears at 1st glance that the Model X will get a new 75kWh battery option (though initially there is some confusion on the website, see above).
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We first reported that the Model S was expected to get a facelift at the end of last year.  Since then, we’ve received information from sources on exactly what that would look like. The TL;DR is that the front end will look more like a Model X, minor appearance changes will happen to the rear lights, seats will be vented like the Model X. But there’s more…
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Today, I updated much of my lawn equipment to electric and not just because it is better for the environment – there are tons of reasons well, 11 listed below, to make the move. Until recently, electric lawnmowers, chainsaws, edgers, snowblowers, etc weren’t’ as powerful as their gas counterparts. However, with Greenworks and others making the jump to 80V products, the high end of electric lawn tools now compete well on power with standard gasoline-powered competitors.

I have Greenworks products (40V Mower/chainsaw, corded snowblower) that work well, but I’ve not tried or used the 80V products I purchased today.  These are way more hardcore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLVZPjIRRZk

So if they are roughly equivalent to the power of gas, and often cheaper, what other advantages can you expect to see?
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Tesla today began a wider rollout of its 7kWh Powerwall product for customers who are also Tesla vehicle owners across the US. Tesla Energy quietly cancelled the 10kWh Powerwall option with limited cycles we found out today because the “economics didn’t work” just months after it was announced. The 7kWh battery is obviously a lower capacity but it optimized for daily usage cycles which may not be optimal for those looking for a backup solution rather than an off grid application…
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There are so many things to be impressed about with the Model 3 that its hard to get my head around all of the goodies. But that doesn’t mean there are some disappointments too.

One thing that struck me, as a Model S owner looking perhaps to either downsize or get a second electric car, was the lack of storage, particularly up front in the area Tesla and its fans called the ‘Frunk’. Here’s a picture of one of the AWD Model 3s with its Frunk open via Reddit:

That’s about the same room as you get beneath the seat on a regional jet and almost pointless in size unless you need secure purse storage. That bag looks about 8 inches thick at the rear and maybe 3 inches thick at the front and about 18 inches long and at most 3 feet wide at its biggest point. You can’t put groceries here or a stroller (2 things I put in my RWD Model S frunk). Besides the tailor-made handbag above, it is hard to imagine what use this space can provide to the typical user. Tesla could put a roadside emergency kit with tire fix can? Maybe you can fit a squeegee for the windows since Electric cars don’t stop at gas stations? How about a very small ball pit?

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There have been a lot of Tesla Model S/X drag races, some more ridiculous than others. But today’s might take the cake.

Australian Airline Qantas put their 737-800up against Tesla’s Model S  along the three kilometre runway at Avalon Airport southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Nevermind that the Tesla Model S can’t even do 181 mph which is the take off speed of this aircraft.

Plane versus car… pilot versus driver. We raced our Boeing 737 against a Tesla Model S to celebrate innovation and sustainability with Tesla Motors.

Who won? My 1st reaction was “certainly not the environment” – they probably used the same amount of petrol that all of Tesla Model S/X in Australia saved together in a year on this stunt. But Qantas says they’ve offset that somehow and have some exciting tie-ups with Tesla Motors. Head south for details…and the drag video… 
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Early next week or the week after, Tesla is expected to raise the price of its Model S vehicles. In fact Tesla sort of confirmed this with a vague comment to us last week:

“We price our vehicles consistently throughout the world which requires us to adjust pricing to foreign currency exchange rates. We have let customers know that some price changes will take effect in early April.”

Let’s assume that happens very soon. What would Tesla give its customers in exchange for that cost? I think some significant changes are in store for the Model S…

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Never one to shy away from controversial accounting, Tesla CEO Elon Musk today tweeted his take on the initial Model 3 sales numbers which are at 180K barely 24 hours into sales. By his math, which he estimates an average of $7000 in options on each Model 3 sold and more controversially, counting every Model 3 reservation as a sale, he’s come up with a $7.5 billion payday for Tesla.

Model 3 orders at 180,000 in 24 hours. Selling price w avg option mix prob $42k, so ~$7.5B in a day. Future of electric cars looking bright!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2016

Clearly, everyone who put down $1000 yesterday and today isn’t going to buy a Model 3 worth an average price of $42,000. But a huge number of those people will and more importantly, many more people will try to get in early to reap the $7500 tax incentive from the US government over the coming months.

Update: The reservation count is now nearing 200K and we’re likely nearing the end of the $7500 tax credit window.

Thought it would slow way down today, but Model 3 order count is now at 198k. Recommend ordering soon, as the wait time is growing rapidly.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2016

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Elon Musk often acts as the defacto PR department for Tesla Motors and in a Tweet today – in the mist of the Model 3 unveil – the CEO announced that Tesla would be expanding into at least 7 more countries. The expansion includes 6 continents and includes the BRIC countries of Brazil and India, South Africa (CEO Elon Musk’s birthplace), South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Ireland. The tweet left room for others that might not fit into the 140 character medium.
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Via Wired.de – what’s that on the left?

Update: Tesla has now announced specs for the base model which will be 215 mile range and a 0-60 time of under 6 seconds.

We’re about 24 hours away from the Model 3 unveil and it’s time for everyone to show their cards. Tesla, in an age when secretive tech companies like Apple can’t keep any of its products from leaking, has let almost nothing leak on the upcoming Model 3. Almost everything we know about the Model 3 has come via Elon Musk late night Tweetstorm or official releases.

We’ve talked to Tesla employees, former Tesla Employees who have worked on the design team, contractors and just about anyone who would be involved in the project. To Tesla’s credit, almost no one would say anything about the Model 3 that wasn’t already public –even former Tesla employees who are now working at competitors.

Until now…

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Tesla will soon have more charging stations in Manhattan than there are gas stations in the city according to a report from the NYPost:

Looking to make driving less of a pain for the 1,500 owners of its electric cars in the Big Apple, Tesla motors plans to greatly expand its network of Manhattan charging stations to 105 by March 31, The Post has learned. Each will be able to provide a full charge in as little as four hours — and most will be free to Tesla owners. The expansion, green-lighted by Tesla founder Elon Musk, means there could soon be three times as many electric-car charging stations in Manhattan as gas stations.

It wasn’t specified in the report which was *verified* by Tesla PR, but those charging stations will all be 40-80A destination chargers which can charge a Tesla with up to 58 miles per hour of charge. The nearest Supercharger is still at JFK airport as far as we can tell so the Post’s opening line:

Charging a Tesla in Manhattan will soon be easier than gassing up the family sedan.

…is kind of BS…

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