Hands-on video with Tesla’s electric Model X

http://gigaom.com/cleantech/hands-on-video-with-teslas-electric-suv-the-model-x/

by drey • 14 years ago

56 27 14 years ago

xxbondsxx• 14 years ago

Way too cool to deserve the "minivan" title

I was thinking not useful enough to deserve the "minivan" title. Minivans, like station wagons before them, are the world's schleppers. A big, flat bottomed, flat topped box that you can yank the seats out of and fill with junk... and then bungee more junk to the top.

Its a fine first step, but the winner in this space is going to be the company that makes a simple box with batteries, motors and seatbelts that's so simple and so cheap, it will make its IC predecessors look like steam power. I'm betting Hyundai comes out of left field with something and surprises everyone.

rythie• 14 years ago

Tesla is trying to make a car company not an electric car company.

The electric part is just the new bit, every car will have electric in the future. You can clearly see them innovating with the touch screen display, luggage space, performance etc.

jstclair• 14 years ago

Agreed; the largest advantage of electric car production is the comparative simplicity of the underlying "sled" (can't link directly, but you can see it if you go to http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/interior and scroll down to the section "safety"). After several iterations of that, producing cheap cars will be a no-brainer. I'd also expect rising differentiation between "car companies" and "electric car sled producers".

hospadam• 14 years ago

I can't help but thinking - when I was a kid, this is the kind of car I thought we would have when I was an adult. I recently watched "Revenge of the Electric Car" which heavily features Elon and Tesla. It's definitely an interesting story - and one that deserves to be told.

Electric cars obviously have many (and some major) problems. But I can't shake the feeling... I want cars like this to win. I still personally don't think I would want to spend this much on a car... but I'm really excited that we're finally getting true innovation in the auto industry.

SeanLuke• 14 years ago

I'm not sure if the coolness factor of the gull-wing doors (as opposed to, say, sliding doors) compensates for their incompatibility with a roof rack.

georgieporgie• 14 years ago

I'm also wondering how well they keep water out when you're loading your kid in during a winter rain storm in the Northwest.

jonah• 14 years ago

I don't know about yours, but I know they wouldn't open in my garage...

Aloisius• 14 years ago

Wow. That is kind of weak. Then again, my snowboards tend to ride inside and frankly, I'm not sure an electric vehicle is going to make it up the mountain to Tahoe anyway.

ericd2• 14 years ago

Why wouldn't it? This thing will have torque that makes most gas cars look like go karts, and have adaptive AWD to boot.

JanezStupar• 14 years ago

I agree.

I can already see the reviews: "This car is mega awesome, but what were they thinking with the doors?".

Sliding doors are mega awesome.

JulianMorrison• 14 years ago

Having more inside space probably compensates.

mike-cardwell• 14 years ago

The doors completely ruin this car. They're absolutely hideous.

jakeonthemove• 14 years ago

Now this is an electric car I would definitely buy! The Roadster was meh (not a fan of compact sports cars), the Model S was good, the X is excellent - can't wait to see what they have in store next (a full sized SUV, maybe?).

nextparadigms• 14 years ago

The next one is Bluestar set for launch in 2015, a year after Model X. It will be a $20,000-$30,000 sedan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_BlueStar

klausa• 14 years ago

I know that it doesn't matter much, but as 19yo kid, it's the first mini-van/SUV/whatever, that I have I want it feelings towards to.

wazoox• 14 years ago

Too bad that clearance in underground parking spaces means you'll be trapped inside...

wr1472• 14 years ago

The glare on that 17inch touchscreen was quite bad. I think the angle it's mounted at doesn't help either.

freshfey• 14 years ago

The front looks beautiful, but the back (which is ugly) reminds me of a SsangYong Actyon (http://www.netcarshow.com/ssangyong/2006-actyon/800x600/wall...). I'd love them to design the back similar to a BMW X6, which is also a Crossover-SUV, but looks great. The performance and the price point is quite impressive though and I'm heavily rooting for them.

tfh• 14 years ago

I really thought that the people at Tesla were smart enough to make usable electric cars. Not toys for rich people.

jomohke• 14 years ago

The Model S is a more conventional sedan (no wing doors) and starts at $49,900 – which is getting closer to the middle class. Like with any new technology, prices will come down with time.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/options

corin_• 14 years ago

Really hated this video/interview. Sometimes when someone is being interviewed it feels like they are directing the interview in their favour - in this interview it feels like Musk is directing the interview because the interviewer was incapable of doing it herself, and he was having to help her out.

jskopek• 14 years ago

It's a shame the interviewer didn't know more about cars - there were some pretty interesting questions that were left unanswered in that video.

For anyone wondering, 0-60 in 4.4 seconds isn't just fast for a minivan, it's fast for any car. The 2012 BMW M3 - a race tuned sedan version of the 3-series - will do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds on average. The gull wing doors are impractical and (depending on who you ask) pretty hideous, but Tesla may have stumbled into a huge market of young professionals who need a large car but don't want to give up performance. Let's hope for their sake Tesla's spent as much time working on safety!

Hands-on video with Tesla’s electric Model X

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