Slightly off topic but...

Am going to be trading in my 2012 Range Rover Sport (5.0 V8). Drove a new full size Range Rover, RR Sport and a Tesla Model X.

The Tesla absolutely blew me away - the technology, the way it drove, the speed, handling (very flat). Was frankly shocked at how far ahead of the competition they seem to be. Placed an order for one so am going all green and tree hugging.

The concept of getting regular software updates over the air keeping systems current and unlocking new features is a breath of fresh air too.

If Elon manages to deliver on the Roadster with the claimed performance (0-60 in 1.9 seconds) will be a total game changer.

No plans to sell the V8S anytime soon so by going electric for one of my cars I feel I am balancing back the climate damage I am causing by having 2 x 5.0 V8's

 

What's the wait time for a Model X? I assume you'll install one of their fast chargers in your garage?



Slightly on-topic...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/a...mo-review.html

 

They are telling me July but I am betting August or later. Will install a 240v outlet at home, enough for a full charge in around 8 hours. There's also a number of superchargers close to where I live.

 

Cool, Supercharger stations are getting hard to find...

 

 

 

 

You might want to rent one for a weekend first. The X is pretty buggy, the iPace, on paper, is much better. Tesla has been having some pretty severe quality control problems and the X was way, way too complex.

 

Cant speak for the quality, but I had a friends Model X over a week and that thing blew me away with how it drives.. I never thought I would enjoy an electric car till I actually drove it, its a blast! And yeah, lets face it, we will all be driving these cars sooner than later!

 

All? No sir.

 

 

Did you try a fiat 500E ... ..hear you can lease it in the USA for USD115 for a 3 year contract.. I drove one here and they are funny. Not a sports car, but hey, keep the F-Type for the ICE-goodtimes..

 

I had a BMW i3 as a loaner for a week while my film was getting redone. Interesting, but I missed my V8.

 

I-pace, when they make an "R" version...

 

I found your post quite interesting. I jumped on the electric bandwagon as well with BMW in late 2016. More because of the novelty than anything else and of course the "experiment" was over a few months ago.
Much like Unhinged said, the idea that you may be "greener" than ICE cars is untrue as the electric power comes from a fossil burning plant most likely. I had a solar setup on the roof, anyway but I still disliked the long charging time.
I then moved to a less "popular" area and the lack of DCFC (DC Fast Chargers) caused long charge times when driving around. This, along with lots of technical issues killed it for me. Yes the lightning fast acceleration was great, the total silence (when the small engine was not running was great but for an EV to be practical, you need to have a great charging infrastructure in the area of use.That 30-50 minutes (best case scenario) is VERY long. I am awaiting the delivery of my I-Pace at this point but it's just another toy and certainly not replacing the RR for daily driving.... at least not yet.

 

You haven't considered the downside of this. Your car is connected to the internet and has ability to remotely enable, disable, and control features. Someone could, for example, remotely change your brake pedal to work as accelerator. The functionality is there, unlike in a traditional 'hardware' car.

Now, Tesla is unlikely to abuse thier power in the near future. However, imagine in 20 years they are dominant electric car player. They could decide to disable your old car "for safety and regulatory reasons". Alternatively, they could End of Life support and leave your car exploitable. Cars expected to last 15-20 years, could you count on Tesla supporting them? What if they go out of business or get purchased? Imagine driving security-equivalence of Windows XP, when any teenager can download an app to mess with your car.

What if Tesla loses control of their network? Even banks get hacked. It isn't too far fetched to expect that your car will start sending spam, mining bit coins, or demand bitcoin payments to unlock doors to let you out.

Last but not least, there are privacy implications. Your car's location, speed, occupant conversations are collected. In light of FB scandals, why would you trust any company with all this data?

Connecting car to the internet is deeply foolish move. There are some upsides to it, but these are dwarfed when compared to all the downsides.

 

I work in technology. Specifically running large data centers and all the compute, storage and networks that reside in them for a multinational. I work very closely with our security teams to ensure we are securing these environments appropriately.

Increasingly cars are going to be Internet connected. There is no getting away from that. Next gen cars from pretty much any manufacturer are going to come hooked up online. The next gen JLR models will be no different. Everyone is competing for self driving and smart capabilities. The world is changing.

There's plenty of devices we carry with us already that are tracking us. If you use a smart phone you gave up control of your privacy already. No matter how much you believe you have locked down your settings.

As to longevity of the car - I wouldn't anticipate keeping it 20 years. 6 to 7 at the most. If Tesla run into issues I believe they (their IP, supercharger network etc) will be bought up by one of the big players. I don't see it as a high risk. Time will tell if I made the wrong call on that one.

 

I too work in technology, specifically InfoSec. You might be the best at your job, your organization can be very good at what they do, and still it is only a matter of time until one of your data centers suffers a breach. Fundamentally, attackers can try many times and succeed only once, while defenders can succeed many times and only need to fail once.

There are also differences between Tesla connected an normal car connected. Tesla is a network appliance with hooks into every system.. or smartphone with wheels. Other connected cars only have infotaiment systems that is internet connected. After Miller and Valasek work in 2014 automotive manufacturers smartened up and segregated access to CAN bus. So the range of possibilities is vastly different.

Last but not least, I disagree with your "There is no getting away from that." If you don't like what IoT crap, then solution is to not buy it instead of lamenting that it is inevitable. This is true for insecure connected TVs, toasters, fridges, thermostats, speakers... Cost vs. benefit analysis is simply not in consumer's favor. If we don't buy it, they will stop releasing insecure crap.

 

Don't disagree with you there - as you can imagine we run regular pen tests and red team exercises. You can also imagine the types of results we get. Which is why I said we secure our environments appropriately given the ever changing threat landscape. You could bankrupt the company chasing the impossible dream of guaranteeing against a breach.


You are in the minority. 99% of people out there have no concepts about security or data privacy, they just want the latest connected gadget designed to make their life easier / automate stuff / keep them better connected to increasing numbers of social networks. Sure there is uproar once in a while (Facebook) but that is quickly forgotten. As long as the majority are buying, companies will continue to sink their R&D budget into IoT / connected devices - paying lipservice to security. As you know, adding **adequate** security adds to the bottom line.

 

I am beginning to think electric is short lived there is only very limited lithium available unless they develope alternative batteries my money is on hydrogen