California Trip

[cargaritaville]

Just got back from 10 days in California. LA to Paso Robles to Big Sur to Carmel By The Sea to Monterey to Napa Valley to Sonoma to Yosemite to Sequoia to Lost Canyon to Santa Barbara , back to Paso Robles and then back to LA. Beautiful State. The people we met all take apathy pills every morning. $7.09 for gas! Incredibly high taxes on everything! Stupid real estate prices. Teslas everywhere! Tesla charging stations backed up forever. No where is a cop from anywhere to be seen. Crime everywhere. I was told not to wear my Rolex while visiting California or for my wife to wear her diamond. Good advice. Crazy drivers. People wearing masks everywhere! And this guy wants to be president? God help us....Back to Florida and I will never complain about anything here ever again. I love this place. Now I know why here in Lakewood Ranch the majority of the people moving in are from California, New York & New Jersey.

[backupr9]

As with many Kalifornians, you had a “bad trip”. Welcome back to Florida and the South!

[MikeInTexas]

The problem we see here in Texas with those moving in from the peoples republic of Kali, is that they bring their politics with them.  The same politics and thought processes that is destroying that state and they can't recognize it as being their fault.  Austin and a few other places here are just about lost to the loonies.


.

[DDGator]

Teslas everywhere! Tesla charging stations backed up forever.

So...  Fun fact.  I recently bought a Tesla.  I love technology, and the cars are basically a rolling computer that use tech that no other cars do.  It's also crazy fast.  Teslas are truly amazing machines.

Now listen -- I know people who don't like EVs are afraid the government is going to make them give up their F-350 Diesel for a SmartCar.   I'm not in favor of government getting bigger or making more restrictive laws on much of anything, no less car ownership.

But don't blame the poor Teslas!   

[tracker]

Do you still have your BMW that you bought in Germany?

[cargaritaville]

Teslas everywhere! Tesla charging stations backed up forever.

So...  Fun fact.  I recently bought a Tesla.  I love technology, and the cars are basically a rolling computer that use tech that no other cars do.  It's also crazy fast.  Teslas are truly amazing machines.

Now listen -- I know people who don't like EVs are afraid the government is going to make them give up their F-350 Diesel for a SmartCar.   I'm not in favor of government getting bigger or making more restrictive laws on much of anything, no less car ownership.

But don't blame the poor Teslas!   

[/color]


Not blaming Teslas. Not enough charging stations if you go on a trip. Charging stations at the National Parks backed up for hours. Hotel charging stations reserved for hours.

[tracker]

I see many more Teslas in Houston than I do on I-45 between here and Dallas. A prolonged traffic jam could be a problem. Also, Hertz is experiencing high repair cost on Teslas. One repair shop showed me eight Teslas with front end damage. His explanation was that drivers became so focused on the large dashboard screen that they forgot to look out the front window.

[DDGator]

Do you still have your BMW that you bought in Germany?

No -- that was a leased car and I turned it in back in 2018.  Maybe my favorite car experience though!

[DDGator]

Not blaming Teslas. Not enough charging stations if you go on a trip. Charging stations at the National Parks backed up for hours. Hotel charging stations reserved for hours.

I have only charged at home, and it's not really an issue here.  Charging demand is a temporary problem though, I think.  The network keeps expanding.  By 2025 all EVs are going to use the Tesla style charger, so charging stations will be more plentiful.  In fact, BP is now starting a campaign to put Superchargers in all its gas stations.

These are growing pains that will sort themselves out -- but agree it can be a problem right now!

[DDGator]

I see many more Teslas in Houston than I do on I-45 between here and Dallas. A prolonged traffic jam could be a problem. Also, Hertz is experiencing high repair cost on Teslas. One repair shop showed me eight Teslas with front end damage. His explanation was that drivers became so focused on the large dashboard screen that they forgot to look out the front window.

Tesla has a huge factory in Austin, so I would think you would see a lot -- despite the love for oil in Texas! 

A traffic jam isn't really a huge problem, for the most part -- unless you are really pushing the range of the car when it happens.  Low speed stop and go is pretty efficient with the regenerative braking.  Sitting in traffic isn't that bad either.  The best way to road trip an EV is to stay between 20% and 80% all the time -- meaning only very short charging stops are required.  The car will go well below 0% if needed, so it would be super bad luck to run out of juice in traffic.

I saw the Hertz story too.  The losses seem to be caused in large part by the fact that Tesla cut prices and Hertz had to reflect that "loss" in their inventory values.  Repair costs can be an issue compared to legacy automakers, but I think that is probably growing pains too that will sort themselves out.  Generally speaking there is much less maintenance cost on an EV -- tires and wiper blades mostly.

[MikeInTexas]

I have a close friend that got his first real job at the Tesla factory in Austin.  It's only going to get bigger, expected to quadruple in size in the next few years.

He was fully indoctrinated in the Tesla family, drinking the entire cup of KoolAid when he first got there.  However he's changed a bit over the last year.  He's working in the Quality control arena, and I can understand why their ratings in that area are dismal.  (Comment based on the 2020 JD power ratings, the last year they paid, and thus got rated in that area) They seem to place more emphasis on corporate culture and pep rally's, and not really on some of the nuts and bolts of being a good workers.  Met some of his coworkers and they are a 'Austin' bunch.  I think it's a good thing they don't drug test, or they would have very few folks working on the assembly line.

.

[DDGator]

I have a close friend that got his first real job at the Tesla factory in Austin.  It's only going to get bigger, expected to quadruple in size in the next few years.

He was fully indoctrinated in the Tesla family, drinking the entire cup of KoolAid when he first got there.  However he's changed a bit over the last year.  He's working in the Quality control arena, and I can understand why their ratings in that area are dismal.  (Comment based on the 2020 JD power ratings, the last year they paid, and thus got rated in that area) They seem to place more emphasis on corporate culture and pep rally's, and not really on some of the nuts and bolts of being a good workers.  Met some of his coworkers and they are a 'Austin' bunch.  I think it's a good thing they don't drug test, or they would have very few folks working on the assembly line.

.

That's an interesting perspective about someone who works there.  Austin is that kind of town, but Elon is an anti-woke hard charging guy who expects blood, sweat, and tears from his workers.  I got the impression it wasn't an easy place to work.  He walks the assembly line and challenges everyone about everything and fires the people who don't "get it."  The Issacson biography is pretty interesting on this point.

The more tech forward cars tend to get a lot of JD Powers initial quality issues.  I wonder sometimes if it's user error, or people who can't adjust to the new stuff.  Tesla's only real knocks on quality that I have personally seen or heard about are related to body panel gap and fit/finish cosmetic issues.  I had a hatch alignment issue from initial delivery and Tesla mobile service fixed it at my house.

Call me indoctrinated, but this is a pretty great car. 

[MikeInTexas]

He's actually met Elon Musk, tells me he was working his station and felt a crowd behind him and turned around.  The big man was standing right there, and my buddy said he froze, could not say anything, LOL.  My friend is not woke by any means, however he is involved in other parts of the Austin experience.  His family and I hope he grows out of it, not looking good with the constant reinforcement he gets from his roommates and friends.  He's turned down Teslas offer to pay for college courses. SMH.

I've driven one, and it was great.  Fun to drive car.  Under the right circumstances I would like one.

[tracker]

Outside of the assembly line it sounds like the move to "Keep Austin Weird" is alive and well. I attended O.Henry JHS and Austin High School there and things have changed considerably.

[DDGator]

Outside of the assembly line it sounds like the move to "Keep Austin Weird" is alive and well. I attended O.Henry JHS and Austin High School there and things have changed considerably.

I have never been, but I get the feeling that Austin is not actually in Texas.