[Ira]

Five of us toured the Tesla factory in Fremont, CA, and test drove the P85. In the factory, there were lots of robots and other high-tech machinery to admire. The P85 is a HUGE improvement over the original S Model.

The Tesla employees were good-natured about us driving up in our Karmas and they stood around our cars, admiring them and taking pictures.

Tesla also uses the factory as a sales outlet. A customer walked by our Karmas and did a double take. He turned and said, "Am I at the right factory?"

I asked the tour guide about Elon's next major announcement, due out on Thursday. His said that it'll likely involve a battery-swapping program.

I'm a diehard Fisker fan and among the many who don't feel that a BEV will fit into my lifestyle, battery-swapping or not. Having said that, Elon has done a great job convincing a lot of people otherwise.

 

[Fabulist]

This was a very fun visit, especially for a bunch of EV nerds like us, organized by our own goodwill Ambassador to Tesla, @Dennis who gets a lot of thanks.

As usual, my car was the only one with a front license plate. Doesn't anyone else obey state law around here?

Five of us toured the Tesla factory in Fremont, CA, and test drove the P85. In the factory, there were lots of robots and other high-tech machinery to admire. The P85 is a HUGE improvement over the original S Model.

The Tesla employees were good-natured about us driving up in our Karmas and they stood around our cars, admiring them and taking pictures.

Tesla also uses the factory as a sales outlet. A customer walked by our Karmas and did a double take. He turned and said, "Am I at the right factory?"

I asked the tour guide about Elon's next major announcement, due out on Thursday. His said that it'll likely involve a battery-swapping program.

I'm a diehard Fisker fan and among the many who don't feel that a BEV will fit into my lifestyle, battery-swapping or not. Having said that, Elon has done a great job convincing a lot of people otherwise.

 

[marswill]

Actually the Tesla Model S that we test drove was a P85+ which has several performance improvements over the P85.

 

[dennis]

Actually the Tesla Model S that we test drove was a P85+ which has several performance improvements over the P85.

The P85+ suspension and tire upgrade package ($6500) makes a huge handling improvement in the Model S. Gone are the "floaty" transient response when changing direction and the understeer on freeway on-ramps. The P+ suspension is now a match with 4.0 sec. 0-60 straight line performance, putting this version of the Model S in the same class as the M5, but without the burden of 11 mpg.

On another note, I was struck by what Tesla has been able to accomplish with their $1.5B in capital, vs. what Fisker did not accomplish with their $1.4B. A startup vs. big car company mentality and an engineering vs. design/marketing focus are the difference IMO.

 

[P90XMC2]

How did I miss this?

 

[Ira]

This was a very fun visit, especially for a bunch of EV nerds like us, organized by our own goodwill Ambassador to Tesla, @Dennis who gets a lot of thanks.

As usual, my car was the only one with a front license plate. Doesn't anyone else obey state law around here?

Maybe that's why these Tesla employees were so interested in your car.

 

[NJFISKERGUY]

Thanks for the invite boys!

 

[Harleyguy]

Not sure any of you have watched it but very impressive .

 

[Ira]

Yes, that video captured a lot of what we saw. They do almost everything onsite, including the motor and the large touchscreen. The giant stamping machines and the assembly robots have to be seen to be believed.

 

[doug]

Not sure any of you have watched it but very impressive .

That NatGeo vid uses some of my footage. =)

 

[Fabulist]

I asked the tour guide about Elon's next major announcement, due out on Thursday. His said that it'll likely involve a battery-swapping program.

He was correct. From Tesla's Twitter feed:

Tesla Motors ‏@TeslaMotors 14m
Tomorrow evening we'll be demoing our Model S battery pack swap technology at our Hawthorne design studio. Tune in at http://teslamotors.com