Tesla rolls out new Model S and X cars with software-locked batteries

[brucek]

I'm not sure why everyone is freaking out about this.

This was/is common practice with CPU makers. Make a chip with 4 physical cores, but disable 2 cores and sell it as a dual-core.

It's cheaper for Tesla to have the same sized batteries and then lock them down at a software level the same way that Intel/AMD/Nvidia don't have to reinvent the wheel when releasing new chips.

Because unlike the CPU, the unused extra battery is costing real extra money, is taking up real extra space that would have have been better used as more cargo or cabin room, and is adding real extra weight that is a performance drag on the car. When the market for these cars is mature, a competitor not stupidly throwing away battery and space will be able to offer a noticeably better car at a lower cost.

By the way, in the case of CPUs, it is often the case, especially early in a given technology's production, that the cores are not so much "disabled" but genuinely unusable despite the manufacturer's best efforts. Chip manufacturing has an error rate and creating SKUs to sell the ones that came out only partially usable is an important part of making the industry work at all.

 

[iamcts]

Because unlike the CPU, the unused extra battery is costing real extra money, is taking up real extra space that would have have been better used as more cargo or cabin room, and is adding real extra weight that is a performance drag on the car. When the market for these cars is mature, a competitor not stupidly throwing away battery and space will be able to offer a noticeably better car at a lower cost.

By the way, in the case of CPUs, it is often the case, especially early in a given technology's production, that the cores are not so much "disabled" but genuinely unusable despite the manufacturer's best efforts. Chip manufacturing has an error rate and creating SKUs to sell the ones that came out only partially usable is an important part of making the industry work at all.

But it's not a waste of money, space, or performance. You can actually use it if you pay for it.

Why have so many different SKUs of a component when you can just have one SKU and lock it down? That's how you cut costs and engineering resources.

People love to complain that Tesla cars are expensive, but then complain when Tesla cuts down on manufacturing costs.