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by general_ai 3424 days ago
Because if you drive a Tesla hard, battery overheats and it shuts down. Plus once you run out of battery (even if it doesn't overheat) you need several hours to recharge it. Plus Tesla is only "high performance" in a straight line. I believe they had an episode with a Tesla. It ended up on a tow truck.
2 comments
dlp211 3424 days ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted. The Tesla S handles like a pig and you can't track the car because the battery can't handle it. These are valid criticisms. Though, the towing part of that episode I think was played up for the show.

That said, for 90+% of people, the Tesla S, and almost assuredly the Model 3, will be more than sufficient vehicles for people. The focus on acceleration is an amazing selling point and most people will never track their car. The ranges on these cars are pretty excellent and charging stations are becoming more and more common.

These cars aren't for me though, I'll gladly keep driving my BMW. The Tesla feels soulless while driving it and the skinny tires and the extreme weight shifts prevent you from hammering through corners which is were I believe driving is the most exhilarating.

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freehunter 3424 days ago
I'll add a link to prove your statement is true: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/tesla-model-s-p85d-at-l...

Anyone who doesn't believe it, watch the video. Car and Driver took a Model S onto a track and in less than a minute it was limping in low-power mode as the batteries were overheating. They also ran into an issue where the brakes stopped working. This was just during one lap of a small race track.

The Model S is a luxury performance sedan, not a race car. It can't handle being pushed to its limits for any period of time. It just wasn't designed for that.

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general_ai 3424 days ago
You only need basic knowledge of physics to see why a high performance car without large radiators would overheat when expending a ton of energy per unit of time. Sadly a lot of people here lack it.
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ethbro 3424 days ago
> high performance car without large radiators would overheat when expending a ton of energy per unit of time

... I feel like there's a valid counterpoint here that asks "Then what did you engineer?"

It's a fair question if you're bragging about performance but unable to endure even moderate track conditions.

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