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Tesla Model S

The Journey to Owning the Tesla Model S

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Can the Tesla Model S endure 7 years of constant usage? Can it see 200,000 miles of reliable use? Those questions and more have yet to be answered yet people are still lining up to take that $100k leap of faith. This is their story and journey to owning the Tesla Model S.

Research and Test Drive

Tesla Motors does very little marketing, if any at all, and most people learn about the Model S through word of mouth or by seeing it first hand at one of the many Tesla stores scattered across shopping malls of America. I can almost guarantee that once you come into contact with a Tesla, you won’t stop thinking about it. I first heard about the Model S about six months before I started down the path to ownership and once that seed of information was planted into my mind – pure electric, pure speed, grace, and serenity, it grew like wild fire that led to a phase of obsessive research, and finally culminating into a test drive. People approach research in a variety of ways, either through the Tesla forums, Tesla news & resource sites or independent bloggers. For many the finances may pose as  a big hurdle but if you do the math the cost of ownership can actually make sense.

Journey to Owning the Tesla Model S

Ordering

Journey to Owning the Tesla Model SOnce you’re convinced that you absolutely need to have a Tesla, as many of us do, it’s time to place the online order which starts with a fully refundable $2,500 deposit. The order can be placed directly after your test drive or from the comfort of your own home, and the process is no different than buying a product from any traditional e-commerce store. Configuring your Model S has never been simpler and it’s done directly through the Tesla Motors web site. There’s no price haggling needed and you can reconfigure your car as much as you’d like up until the time your place your credit card deposit. For me, I ordered my Model S in the Massachusetts Tesla store right after my test drive.

Confirmation

A two week count down clock starts shortly after placing your order. During this time you can decide whether you want to proceed with the order or cancel it in exchange for a full refund. You’re also given the option to forego the chance of a refund and confirm the order in order to speed up the delivery process by two weeks. The VIN to your new Model S will be assigned shortly after the order is confirmed.

Sourcing Parts

Journey to Owning the Tesla Model S

This is the longest and most painful part of the waiting process that starts right after confirmation. There’s not much information provided on what’s going on behind the scenes, but your Model S is basically in line to be built. Don’t expect the delivery or sales teams to be very engaged at this stage other than providing some guidance with items that require longer lead times such as financing and obtaining insurance.

In the background, Tesla is coordinating production so that cars of similar configurations are built together. This part of the process takes on average of four weeks in the US but known to be much longer for international orders. Many future owners of the Model S second guess their choices during this wait time and make last minute changes.

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Production

After what seems like an eternal wait time, the car finally enters production. National Geographic put together an excellent documentary showing the robotic manufacturing process for the Model S.

Waiting for delivery

The final and somewhat painful stage for owners is after their car has been built and they’re waiting to pick it up or have it delivered. It is very hard to think about the car you had custom designed sitting somewhere waiting for you. For those overseas this wait involves transatlantic shipments, boats etc and a lot more time. For those on the East Coast its waiting for the next batch to leave CA heading eastbound on a car carrier. For us East Coast guys, this transportation process takes about 2 weeks.

Delivery

Delivery can take place either at the Tesla factory in Fremont, CA or at the local Tesla Delivery Center. A Tesla Service Rep goes through a full walkthrough of the vehicle with the new owner during delivery (walkthrough videos). If you’re fortunate enough to take delivery in California you can also arrange for a factory tour at that time.

Timeline Summary

  1. Research and Test Drive – Time varies greatly, start now!
  2. Order – Often happens on the same day of the test drive or within a couple of days after.
  3. Confirm – By default this is 2 weeks from the date the order is placed, but can be accelerated if one choses to forgo the refundable deposit (quick confirmation) and initiate the next step of the order.
  4. Sourcing parts – This seems to take approximately four weeks.
  5. Production – It typically takes Tesla about two days to build the Model S to your specifications.
  6. Delivery – It takes about two weeks from production complete to delivery in the US.

The total time from order to delivery with quick confirmation is about 6 weeks in the US.

Tesla Motors has a great “what to expect” timeline which describes this journey to owning the Tesla Model S in further detail.

 

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Image Credit: Tesla Motors, National Geographic

"Rob's passion is technology and gadgets. An engineer by profession and an executive and founder at several high tech startups Rob has a unique view on technology and some strong opinions. When he's not writing about Tesla

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Tesla confirms massive hardware change for autonomy improvement

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

Tesla first introduced a front-facing camera on the front bumper with the Cybertruck.

Then, the Model Y “Juniper” received the hardware update. The Model S and Model X both received the front-facing camera with its latest update, which was officially revealed last week.

Tesla used new language with the release of the front-facing cameras on the Model S and Model X, confirming they will assist with several things, including “using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities”:

“Enhanced visibility when parking or using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities.”

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This tiny feature on the new Tesla Model Y is perhaps its biggest addition

This is the first time Tesla has used this sort of language, as it was a completely different description with the launch of the new Model Y in January.

When Tesla launched this vehicle, it said the front bumper camera “provides a wider field of view for automatic assisted driving and advanced Smart Summon.”

Tesla switched from using cameras and sensors to only cameras with the launch of Tesla Vision several years ago. The company’s utilization of cameras comes from Tesla’s belief that Ultrasonic Sensors (USS) are not needed for self-driving efforts:

“Along with the removal of USS, we simultaneously launched our vision-based occupancy network – currently used in Full Self-Driving (FSD) (Supervised) – to replace the inputs generated by USS. With today’s software, this approach gives Autopilot high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility and the ability to identify and differentiate between objects. As with many Tesla features, our occupancy network will continue to improve rapidly over time.”

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CEO Elon Musk has said that sensors were only a crutch and that self-driving would be solved through the use of cameras:

“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person.”

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Tesla launches new Model S and Model X, and the changes are slim

Tesla’s newest versions of its flagship vehicles have arrived with some slim changes.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has officially launched the newest versions of its flagship Model S and Model X vehicles, but the changes are pretty slim, which is something we expected when a couple cars were spotted during public testing recently.

The new “refreshed” Model S and Model X were spotted recently by The Kilowatts, and the changes appeared to be a new front camera, a new color, and only a handful of other changes.

Tesla officially announced the launch of the Model S and Model X on Thursday night, and here’s what it listed as the changes to the two vehicles:

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  • Frost Blue paint color
  • Up to 410 miles of range (Model S Long Range – our longest range Tesla yet)
  • Even quieter inside: less wind + road noise & more effective Active Noise Cancellation
  • New wheel designs & improved aerodynamics = more range
  • Front fascia camera for better visibility
  • Dynamic ambient lighting that brings unique animations along the dash & doors upon entry
  • An even smoother ride thanks to new bushings & suspension design
  • Adaptive driving beams
  • New exterior styling for Model S Plaid, optimized for high-speed stability
  • More space for 3rd row occupants & cargo (Model X)

We expected most of these changes, especially the new Frost Blue paint color, as it was spotted by The Kilowatts in its initial coverage of the cars being spotted a few weeks back. Here’s what it looks like officially:

Some of the changes are familiar from the Model Y Refresh, which featured the quieter interior through acoustic-lined glass, a front fascia camera, new bushings, and suspension improvements for a smoother ride.

However, Tesla did refine the Model S Plaid’s exterior for “optimized high-speed stability.” You can see the difference between the two below:

The front-end air diffusers are much deeper, and the front end is more boxy than the previous iteration of the Plaid Model S.

Here are some more images of the Model S that Tesla released in a teaser video:

Tesla sells such a low volume of the Model S and Model X that it was probably less than likely that the company would put endless manpower and effort into completely redesigning it. CEO Elon Musk said a few years ago that the two cars would only stay in production for “sentimental reasons.” 

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While they are very special to the Tesla family, they are not incredibly important to the mission of the company.

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Tesla teases new color while testing refreshed Model S, X

Tesla teased a new color that could be coming to the United States with the new Model S and Model X.

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Credit: @supergeek18 | X

Tesla appears to be teasing a brand new color while it was testing the refreshed Model S and Model X, which was spotted last week in California.

Tesla currently offers six paint options in the United States, but they are all pretty basic. This has not been a problem for owners as wrapping the vehicles is a common practice, but some people would likely see more versatility from Tesla in terms of their standard paint colors.

This is especially relevant as Europe has been able to have both Midnight Cherry Red and Quicksilver, which were, at one time, exclusive to the market.

Quicksilver made its way to the United States, and Tesla did release a new Red last year with “Ultra Red,” but Midnight Cherry Red never made its way outside the walls of Gigafactory Berlin.

Last week, as the first spy images of the new Model S and Model X were taken and released by The Kilowatts, there was a very noticeable difference with the vehicle, as other changes seemed to be relatively underwhelming: a new paint color.

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Many believed this was simply a wrap, but Ryan Levenson of The Kilowatts, a former Tesla employee, dispelled that rumor after several questions about it.

He said that this is absolutely a factory paint color and not a wrap:

More images were shared by @supergeek18 on X:

Tesla released a new color earlier this year, but it was just a revision to Black, now called “Diamond Black,” featuring speckles that give a reflection and refraction of light as a diamond would.

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However, this new color is certainly quite different than anything Tesla has previously offered in the U.S. before. It is relatively similar to Glacier Blue, a color Tesla launched in Asia. Earlier this year, Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Designer, talked about bringing the color to the U.S.:

“Glacier Blue is just a color that we’ve been talking about with our team — the team is like right through that window by the way — and we were looking at the impact of silver, how do we get pigment into silver and really add a little bit of personality to it. If you look at our palette, you know it was either darks or white, and so we were looking for something in between. Blue is always a fairly popular color.”

It would be a refreshing addition to the options Tesla currently offers, and a breath of fresh air for those who have been wanting a different look altogether.

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