Tesla Model 3 Sets New EV Cannonball Run Record

I drove the Model 3 last week. It’s a properly good car in it’s own right - It reminded me of the MOdel 3 from BMS in how it handles, of course the performance curve is totally different. The rethinking of the dashboard is perfect for the cell phone age. It’s Apple Good (back when Apple was good).<p>The performance curve - the instant power at any point is addicting. The seats were comfortable, and the trunk space was ample.<p>The build quality, at least on the unit I saw is _better_ then the S or the X right now. This is primarily due to the simplification of the assembly compared to the S and the X. Honestly, having driven both, I would buy a 3 before buying a S. The only killer feature I see missing is the air suspension, and we know that is coming for the 3.<p>They are going to sell a million of the 3s.<p>For the record, I’m not a EV or a green evangelist. I don’t have a snarky license plate, or solar on my roof. But I will be picking one of these up. It’s perfect for my use cases. People will compare it with the Bolt, but people forget that SUperchargers are Tesla only right now. Want to get from LA to NY? Easy in Tesla. With a Bolt, there are places that you just can’t go.<p>It looks like (judging by VIN allocations, which is not a great method, but also by drone videos) that Tesla hit 1k a week the last week or two of December. Assuming no huge bottlenecks remaining, that takes them solidly half way up their ramp, with one more huge jump - to 3-5k a week - remaining.

Arguably, Tesla &amp; Elon Musk already achieved their goal of speeding up the adoption to EVs away from combustion engines: all car companies are working now on or have plans for electric vehicles.<p>Elon Musk has already succeeded big big time.

I&#x27;m a Tesla fan, but in the middle of the article, it says:<p>&quot;The two completed the cross-country drive in 50 hours and 16 minutes, setting a new electric Cannonball Run record.&quot;<p>That&#x27;s not quite the same as the headline...<p>It looks like petrol cars have done it in under 27 hours<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thetruthaboutcars.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;03&#x2F;ny-la-26-hours-28-minutes-gt-r-powered-dual-control-infiniti-q50&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thetruthaboutcars.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;03&#x2F;ny-la-26-hours-28-m...</a>

While I appreciate the record, the GPS fast forward video shows frequent texting while driving. Is this legal in the US? Here in the Netherlands we have statistics showing car accidents up after a downward trends with texting while driving as the leading cause. It makes me wish people were back to using cellphones without carkits, at least people had more chance of eyes on the road.

There is so much negativity about Tesla. Watching Tesla reminds of the the quote<p>&quot;We hoped for flying cars, but what we got was 140 characters&quot;<p>(or something similar, I don&#x27;t remember it verbatim)<p>Every time I think about Tesla, I am reminded of the thousands of brilliant engineers toiling away in Silicon Valley trying to optimize online advertising. Maybe we could be a bit more closer to Fusion energy, maybe we could be a bit more closer to lesser carbon footprints. That small bit really is crucial, especially when we are fighting a losing battle with mother earth. Perhaps the world has too much information. When information flow is cheap, the cost of propaganda is low enough to create legitimate confusion. Imagine a world without Google, FB or Twitter, perhaps there would be concerted efforts by governments towards educating the masses about global warming. Perhaps such efforts could not be subverted by foreign governments or fringe groups. Looking back, the true value addition by SV will be companies like Tesla, Solar City &amp; SpaceX.<p>Here is a guy who is scarily close to being a real-life Iron Man, doing something that has shown verifiable results and actually progresses humanity far more than FB&#x2F;Twitter and to some extent Google.<p>But all I feel is constant negativity. I really feel sorry for Musk. I sincerely admire him for what he is struggling for and I really wish he&#x27;d get more support.<p>Note : I do understand his background and that the seed money for SpaceX was from paypal and all, but even then, paypal was a different business than just online ads.

It&#x27;s interesting what would be the equivalent result for Chevrolet Bolt, as it&#x27;s pretty much an equivalent car, but without the advantage of Tesla&#x27;s supercharger network.

How much time spent charging?<p>Charging time is what make petrol win. Drive 500 miles, take 5mn to charge up and you&#x27;re good for 500 more miles.<p>Until EV can do this (surely through charging stations like petrol cars) they won&#x27;t good at anything more than daily commute if you can plug your car at at home and at work.<p>So battery technology is where the interest should be. We already know how to make efficient electric motors, we know how to make small vehicles. All wee need is fast charging energy stores. All some kind of electrical rails available on highways EV could use. Maybe setup specific separated lanes with no speed limit, EV rail but only if using some autonav which responds to the highway command to optimize the flow. Yes, you&#x27;d get something like trains for individuals.

It will be interesting to see how the next Roadster is able to do once it actually becomes available. With a 600 mile range and likely the ability to charge significantly faster, it should be able to smash this number. Eventually.

I agree. Summer time would consume less energy than Winter time.<p>But waiting might not be an option if you want to be the first!<p>It&#x27;s an awesome record for Model 3 that has only 310 mile range which is less than Model S with 335 mile range!

OK, what was the previous EV Cannonball Record?

Nice news, but when will they deliver? Maybe its time they start to answer that question first.