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from the Jaaane-stop-this-crazy-thing dept.
Elon Musk had teased Twitter a few days ago about giving us "the D".
The announcement today includes both a front-axle motor with intelligent four-wheel drive capability (and a claimed slightly extended range), and the fact that all Model S built in the last couple weeks are equipped with new sensors to enable limited autopilot and extended driver assistance.
Ars has the rundown of the new performance numbers, and nifty dreams about future plans of self-parking cars picking you up autonomously. No indication on how they unplug themselves from the wall charger, yet. The cheapest Model 60D will provide emission-displaced AWD for a mere $75k, while the fully-kitted P85D sits just shy of $138k, before taxes and incentives.
No update on the actually-affordable Model X and 3, but let's hope the new advanced features make the leap down to the rest of us.
(Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Tuesday October 14 2014, @11:27AM
Gotta tell you: You're not going to make up the cost differential on mileage alone. (copied from teslamotorsclub website, where I originally posted it...)
I created a simple formula to figure out how much I save in my Tesla compared to my previous car.
Gas Car variables:
A = Fuel consumption in miles/gallon
B = Cost of fuel in dollars/gallon
Electric Car variables:
D = Fuel consumption in Wh/mile
E = Cost of fuel in Dollars/KWh
Savings/mile = B/A - E*D/1000
So, comparing my Model S to my previous 2013 BMW 328 xDrive, going 20,000 miles/year:
(The fuel consumption for both the Tesla and the BMW were my real world fuel consumption. I drive aggressively in both, greater than 90% on highway miles)
A = 28 miles/gal
B = $4/gal
D = 344 Wh/mile
E = $0.12/kWH
((4/28)-((0.12*344)/1000))*20000 = $2031/year savings in fuel.