You Can Brick Your 109k Tesla Roadster

It's always a bummer when your Air Conditioning Parts or AC Compressor quits out on you - you're stuck in the heat for a few days while you order another one and have it installed. It is a decently easy fix though, and (depending on where you shop) a not-so-costly repair. Other repairs are more expensive - as a few Tesla Roadster owners found out when their lithium-ion car batteries died and discovered a replacement runs $40,000.

 Yes, you read that right. After placing a $5000 deposit and then coughing up an additional $104,000 a few hundred people have driven home in a fully electric Tesla Roadster. The batteries that are used to power the Roadster are not unlike the ones used to power your cell phone - rechargeable, and apparently, once flat dead they cannot be revived.

Some technology enthusiasts will recognize the term "bricking" - it means when a piece of technology is rendered completely unusable, making it about as useful as a giant brick. Five Tesla Roadster owners so far have discovered that not only can they brick their Roaster, but the only solution is to purchase an entirely new and un-discounted battery from Tesla for 40k.

Surely, with such dire consequences it must be really difficult to brick a Tesla, right? Unfortunately, the parasitic load from the cars subsystems will render any unplugged Tesla a brick in time. With a full charge, that might take up to six weeks or so, but if the battery was already run down it could take as little as one week. Even plugged in, if the voltage going to the car isn't sufficient it can brick anyway as one unfortunate Tesla owner found out.

Insurance won't cover it, either. Tesla is no better - they specifically state in their terms upon buying the car that they are not responsible for "neglect" of the battery. You would think Tesla would recognize the danger here and go to great lengths to warn customers about this issue, but it is markedly absent from any of the paperwork and manuals given to new Tesla owners.

Given this information, buying a Tesla leaves you open for a huge un-insurable liability. There are those who want to go green while maintaining serious style, but with $40,000 in the balance, is it worth it?

Tesla Model X

The best thing that cars have done for the environment since the invention of the catalytic converter or cat converter has been the electric car. And, the most exciting electric car company has been Tesla, whom recently rolled out its new SUV crossover, the Model X. Similar to the other Tesla vehicles the main distinct feature is that it is electric.  It comes with either 60 or 85 kilo-watt-hour battery.  The 60 kWh has a range of 200-210 miles, while the larger 85 gets 260-270 miles. Although, the electric aspect of the Model X makes it comparable the other Teslas, there are a few features that make it unique.

The first is its size. The Model X can fit up to seven full sized adults, unlike the Roadster which could fit only a rich man and his tiny trophy wife.  However, the big stand out feature which Tesla is pushing is the rear Falcon Doors.  The doors lift and fold upward, making it much easier for a person to enter and exit the vehicle.  With the doors up, a person can be standing up in the backseat.  Tesla has not made a safety statement yet, but I highly recommend not driving around with the rear doors up and a passenger standing.

Unfortunately, another aspect that differentiates the Model X from other Teslas is its styling.  The Roadster has looks that would turn your head so fast your neck would break. The Model X’s styling on the other hand is almost as exciting as watching grass grow. “Almost,” which I guess means it is as exciting as watching trees grow? There are no aggressive lines or anything that makes it stand out from the rest of the crossovers.

There are not any official specs out yet but Tesla says the Model X will go 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. Pricing has also not been released but the assumption is it will be in the range of the Model S, $67,000 to $77,000.  Customers seem to be OK with that price, because Tesla just announced it has already got $40 million worth in presales for the car. The deposit to reserve one is $5,000 for the base, and $20,000 for a Signature Edition.  Deposits are fully refundable if a customer wants to back out, and first deliveries are set for late 2013.