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Title: Two-Thirds of Earliest Tesla Drivetrains To Fail In 60,000 Miles, Owner Data Suggests
Source:
Green Car Reports
URL Source: http://www.greencarreports.com/news ... 0000-miles-owner-data-suggests
Published: Dec 9, 2015
Author: Matthew Klippenstein
Post Date: 2015-12-10 09:09:41 by Operation 40
Keywords: Tesla, fail, resale
Views: 461
Comments: 1
With almost 100,000 on the world's roads, the Tesla Model S electric car is a remarkable achievement. It remains the longest-range electric car in volume production more than three years after it launched. But reliability issues with electric traction motors in early cars--those from the 2012 and 2013 model years--have dogged the earliest owners. Now, a new analysis of data provided to Plug-In America by 327 owners of early Tesla Model S cars suggests that as many as two-thirds of those early Model S drivetrains will need to be replaced within 60,000 miles. This analysis has not been publicly disclosed before now. Before publishing this story, Green Car Reports asked several specific questions of Tesla Motors to help put the analysis in context. Tesla declined to answer those questions. Instead, it issued general statements about its reliability. Both the questions and its statement are at the end of the article. ...a Weibull analysis of that data suggests that two-thirds of early (2012 and 2013) Model S cars can expect a drivetrain failure within 60,000 miles. That's troubling. Clearly, Tesla's eight-year warranty coverage on the drivetrain protects new and used buyers. And the company has said several times that it has made great leaps in quality as it gains experience in building the car. Tesla's November update said the company has cut its failure rates by half, while CEO Elon Musk has expressed strong confidence in the improved drivetrains it has been shipping in recent months. But the data set used to analyze drivetrain reliability includes about 10 times as many early (2012 and 2013) cars as recent ones from the 2014 and 2015 model years. If enough recent buyers add their information, we may be able to improve the analysis and get statistical backup for the trend of improved reliability Tesla has mentioned...SNIP Complete article: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101153_two-thirds-of-earliest-tesla-drive-trains-to-fail-in-60000-miles-owner-data-suggests
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#1. To: Operation 40 (#0)
Tesla will have to cover these defects or they would likely be finished as a company. They can't afford not to stand behind their product. I doubt that Musk is going to run out of Google money any time soon. He's a deep partner with Google's brass. He doesn't have to meet the same market constraints with Tesla or SpaceX as other competitors do. In other recent Tesla news, Tesla Powerwalls just made a big sale. From ArsTechnica a few days ago. Customers of Green Mountain Power (GMP) in Vermont will be the first in the US to have Tesla Powerwall stationary batteries installed in their homes, according to the utility. Tesla’s home battery was announced in late April this year and attracted nearly 38,000 reservations in the first week after it was announced. GMP says it will receive 500 7kWh Powerwalls in early 2016 with shipments starting in January. It will initially install the daily cycling batteries in the homes of 10 pilot customers, and then the utility will open order and installation to all customers. Back in September, Tesla said that it would start providing Powerwalls for pilot installations, with power company SunEdison beginning installations in Australia in November. Tesla said 7kWh Powerwalls would be shipped first since those batteries have a chemistry that is made for daily cycling (filling up the battery from solar panels and using that power to run your home at night, for example). The 10kWh Powerwalls will not be shipped until later next year—these larger-capacity batteries will have a chemistry suited for backup use in case of a power failure, rather than daily use. Tesla has been clear that third-party installers will be the intermediary getting Powerwalls to individual consumers. Tesla only directly handles the installation and management of so-called “Powerpacks,” which are built for industrial- and utility-grade customers. GMP said it would install the 7kWh battery on customers’ homes either to use as a supplementary power system to an array of solar panels or as a backup battery in case of power failure (this includes homes without solar panels). Still, the total price for installation of the battery will be more than twice what Tesla quoted for the 7kWh battery in April. When Tesla first announced its batteries in spring 2015, it drew lots of attention for the price tag—previously, similar lithium-ion batteries went for upwards of $20,000, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that batteries would only cost $3,500 for the 10kWh version and $3,000 for the 7kWh version. Now, according to GMP, buying a 7kWh Powerwall outright will cost $6,500, including the inverter and the installation fee. The inverter, GMP says, is made by SolarEdge and includes communication software that customers can use to check on how the battery is being used and its state of charge. SolarEdge did not respond to Ars’ request for comment. GMP is also telling its customers that they don’t have to buy the $6,500 battery outright—they can also choose to allow GMP to share access to the battery, which will run customers a mere $37.50 per month with no upfront costs. Or, a GMP customer can buy a Powerwall outright for $6,500 and share access with GMP, receiving a $31.76 monthly credit, which a GMP press release says "represents the value of leveraging the battery to help lower peak energy costs." In an e-mail to Ars, a GMP spokesperson said that Tesla’s Powerwall is the first stationary storage product that they’ve offered to their customers, but the company is currently talking to other battery companies, too. Many of similar offerings have sprung up since Tesla’s announcement in April. Daimler has been working on building a stationary battery product of its own (as well as a macro-project in which it uses old electric vehicle batteries as stationary storage for utilities). And just last week, German company Sonnenbatterie announced an all-in-one solar-panel-plus-stationary-battery system for €9,999 ( or $10,645). That price includes a 2kWh battery, a solar panel, an inverter, an “intelligent control system,” and 19 percent sales tax. It doesn’t include the price of installation, which varies depending on the installer. GMP says it’s pushing forward on more experimental grid arrangements with stationary storage playing its part. "We see a future with community microgrid—and have one in Rutland (Stafford Solar Farm) we are building,” the spokesperson told Ars. The Stafford Solar Farm is the first micro-grid in the US to rely solely on solar power and battery backup. Tesla has also been vocal about its goal to move our current, aging grid infrastructure to a “smart microgrid” system, where energy sources are distributed and include a mix of renewable energy sources, stationary storage, and traditional sources like diesel generators. The advantage of a microgrid is that energy sources can be more flexible, and in the event of a natural disaster, it’s less likely that a single station can leave thousands of homes without power, as in the case of Superstorm Sandy in New York in 2012. That 38K waiting list for Powerwalls is impressive, given the markup in price.
Interesting to see the mention of two competing German products with the same utility company. Competition is what that market needs. Vermont utility says it will be the first to install Tesla powerwalls in the US
Green Mountain Power will offer 7kWh daily cycling machines for $6,500.
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