Tesla unlocks full battery capacity so Florida residents can escape Hurricane Irma

[Shawn Knight]

Hurricane Irma is wreaking havoc on Florida as we speak. State officials issued mandatory evacuations for certain communities days in advance, theoretically giving residents plenty of time to get out of harm’s way.

If you’ve paid attention to news reports, however, you know that evacuating can be a task in and of itself. Congested roads, supply shortages and price gouging all make fleeing easier said than done. Fortunately for select Tesla owners, range anxiety won’t be as much of a concern as it otherwise might.

Electrek is reporting that Tesla recently unlocked the full battery pack capacity of Model S/X 60/60D vehicles belonging to owners in the path of Hurricane Irma. In a move to cut costs, select Tesla vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs were sold with said packs software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The idea is that, later down the road, owners could pay to have the additional capacity unlocked via firmware update.

Tesla since discontinued the 60 kWh option as it found that most users were opting for higher-range models (they also wanted to make room for the Model 3). The extra 15 kWh of unlocked capacity results in an additional 30 to 40 miles of range according to the publication. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that its 70 kWh vehicles are also receiving the update.

The added range will reportedly be unlocked through September 16.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70921-tesla-unlocks-full-battery-capacity-florida-residents-can.html

 

[SirChocula]

Should have been a permanent unlock imo. That would give them much better press and it costs them nothing.

 

[davislane1]

In a move to cut costs, select Tesla vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs were sold with said packs software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The idea is that, later down the road, owners could pay to have the additional capacity unlocked via firmware update.

On-disc DLC for your $80,000 electric car. My sides are in orbit right now.

 

[oldikes]

In a move to cut costs, select Tesla vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs were sold with said packs software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The idea is that, later down the road, owners could pay to have the additional capacity unlocked via firmware update.

On-disc DLC for your $80,000 electric car. My sides are in orbit right now.

this is hardly any different than desktop processor pricing (especially for things like ryzen with very high yields) - lots of budget processors have the extra cores intentionally sabotaged. The point is that alot of the cost is R&D and by pricing to a wider audience you make more sales to cover it.

 

[davislane1]

this is hardly any different than desktop processor pricing (especially for things like ryzen with very high yields) - lots of budget processors have the extra cores intentionally sabotaged. The point is that alot of the cost is R&D and by pricing to a wider audience you make more sales to cover it.

There is a fundamental difference between something that is physically disabled and something that is software disabled. It's DLC...for your car...that's already installed...that you have to pay to unlock...that you already have the capacity to run.

 

[Nobina]

In a move to cut costs, select Tesla vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs were sold with said packs software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The idea is that, later down the road, owners could pay to have the additional capacity unlocked via firmware update.

On-disc DLC for your $80,000 electric car. My sides are in orbit right now.

At first I though it was due to safety or some **** like that.

 

[oldikes]

this is hardly any different than desktop processor pricing (especially for things like ryzen with very high yields) - lots of budget processors have the extra cores intentionally sabotaged. The point is that alot of the cost is R&D and by pricing to a wider audience you make more sales to cover it.

There is a fundamental difference between something that is physically disabled and something that is software disabled. It's DLC...for your car...that's already installed...that you have to pay to unlock...that you already have the capacity to run.

Theres hardly a fundamental difference in the why here, which is what matters. Processor manufacturers intentionally take the extra time to laser chips, which you could argue is even worse. In the end the R&D costs are higher than most, and you cant cover it by simply pricing based on cost to produce.

 

[davislane1]

At first I though it was due to safety or some **** like that.

I believe a case was made for this some time ago. At least, that's how it was portrayed in the comments. The Verge article mentions it as a $3,000 upgrade for owners who want more range.

This makes me wonder... Does Musk plan to include micro-transactions in future models?

If so, what will be the pricing on special "range packs"?

 

[davislane1]

Theres hardly a fundamental difference in the why here, which is what matters. Processor manufacturers intentionally take the extra time to laser chips, which you could argue is even worse. In the end the R&D costs are higher than most, and you cant cover it by simply pricing based on cost to produce.

It's DLC, bro. DLC costs more to develop over the standard game so it is typically offered to players who are willing to pay for a season pass for a modest fee of $19.99 to $49.99, or whatever the individual licences cost bundled. On occasion, this "additional content" already exists on your hard drive, locked until said licence is verified. Musk is using the exact same model.

 

[oldikes]

Theres hardly a fundamental difference in the why here, which is what matters. Processor manufacturers intentionally take the extra time to laser chips, which you could argue is even worse. In the end the R&D costs are higher than most, and you cant cover it by simply pricing based on cost to produce.

It's DLC, bro. DLC costs more to develop over the standard game so it is typically offered to players who are willing to pay for a season pass for a modest fee of $19.99 to $49.99, or whatever the individual licences cost bundled. On occasion, this "additional content" already exists on your hard drive, locked until said licence is verified. Musk is using the exact same model.

you can call it whatever you want, I don't really care, but the reasoning is justified (well, the concept is anyway, I don't really know Tesla's numbers or trust any company to be ethical) and fundamentally different.

I don't care what labels people put on it, as its just a name (and for some reason people are obsessed with them), but saying its DLC and laughing said product out the door in a almost-comically different market, product type, and price is rather lame - unless im misunderstanding you. Its comparing apples to mountain lions.

 

[captaincranky]

Musk is a greedy, self absorbed, pr!ck. There's no surprise here. I'm sure people will catch on someday. OTOH, if they haven't caught on to Apple's assault on their intelligence, they likely won't get his effrontery either.

And now the real editorial content. Motorcycles, (which usually don't have gas gauges), have a "reserve" position on their gas petcocks. Which means, if you screw up and run out of gas, you still have another 30 to 50 miles of fuel, which should get you to a service station to "fill 'er up", as it were.

IMO, the "reserve" on the Tesla, should be wired to provide the same margin of error as the bike's fuel system, without having to pay through the nose for its use from Tesla Motors.

And for all you millennials in the audience who believe this is, "no different from locked cores on a CPU", your parent's time is sorely wasted teaching you to walk upright. Their time would be better spent, teaching you to walk with your hands wrapped around your ankles.

The primary difference between this issue, and the CPU, is that the Tesla battery could conceivably be a matter of life and death. Whereas as your crappy trash bin CPU, won't overclock, so you'll have nothing to brag to your 'friends" about... Aw, poor babies.

 

[Puiu]

At first I though it was due to safety or some **** like that.

I believe a case was made for this some time ago. At least, that's how it was portrayed in the comments. The Verge article mentions it as a $3,000 upgrade for owners who want more range.

This makes me wonder... Does Musk plan to include micro-transactions in future models?

If so, what will be the pricing on special "range packs"?

As much as needed. Why are you even surprised? It's a smart move. Tesla doesn't have to develop multiple batteries which keeps costs down and buyers have the option to save money if they don't need the bigger battery.
Why are you pretending that it's a bad thing? Not all "DLC" is bad.

And it's been discontinued anyway because, lo and behold, people who had that kind of money didn't care about a small reduction in price.

 

[captaincranky]

@Puiu I'm thinking we should get statues like this gold plated, and have an Technological achievements annual awards ceremony. Sort of like the Academy Awards "Oscar", we could call the statuettes "The Techster"

 

[CaptainTom]

Hmmm much like Vega 56 owners, a bios flash may be in order for Tesla model 60 owners

 

[hahahanoobs]

When the comments are more entertaining than the story...

 

[Puiu]

@Puiu I'm thinking we should get statues like this gold plated, and have an Technological achievements annual awards ceremony. Sort of like the Academy Awards "Oscar", we could call the statuettes "The Techster"

Yes, yes, we all know just how much you hate Elon Musk. He destroyed your life and now you are taking revenge by doing troll posts.

You hating Elon Musk because of how he runs his company and liking Trump is so weird. It's the most obvious case of double standards I've ever seen. Especially since Trump is even worse

 

[captaincranky]

Yes, yes, we all know just how much you hate Elon Musk. He destroyed your life and now you are taking revenge by doing troll posts.

Aw, did I insult your hero? There, there, now, everything's gonna be alright. Elon's gonna take you to Mars with him, give you a free designer spacesuit, and a Tesla Model S to drive around while you're there.

And now for the reality check; Musk is so full of crap, the helmet of that spacesuit will turn brown the very instant he tries to talk in it.

You hating Elon Musk because of how he runs his company and liking Trump is so weird. It's the most obvious case of double standards I've ever seen. Especially since Trump is even worse

Wrap your head around this, I didn't start or provoke the discussion of US politics, you did. Not to mention the fact you just got out from under the USSR's thumb, (compared to the lifetime of civilizations), that which amounts to the day before yesterday. Consequently, you look at your own country 's "now democratic government" as a shining beacon, uncorrupted, and as an example for the rest of the world. Well, have I got a few million Africans and Mexicans for you...Show them the way, show them the light, give them your job, make it known in both word and deed that you care deeply for all human kind.

Me you ask? Unfortunately, I'm a sociopath who is completely unable to develop attachments with others, particularly illegal aliens. Bail me out here will ya?

FWIW it's worth, Trump scares the hell out of me, I simply hate him less than either Elon Musk, or Hillary Clinton.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Further evidence that Musk is just a fraud and a shill. What a terrible business model, from top to bottom.

 

[Puiu]

Aw, did I insult your hero? There, there, now, everything's gonna be alright. Elon's gonna take you to Mars with him, give you a free designer spacesuit, and a Tesla Model S to drive around while you're there.

And now for the reality check; Musk is so full of crap, the helmet of that spacesuit will turn brown the very instant he tries to talk in it.

Wrap your head around this, I didn't start or provoke the discussion of US politics, you did. Not to mention the fact you just got out from under the USSR's thumb, (compared to the lifetime of civilizations), that which amounts to the day before yesterday. Consequently, you look at your own country 's "now democratic government" as a shining beacon, uncorrupted, and as an example for the rest of the world. Well, have I got a few million Africans and Mexicans for you...Show them the way, show them the light, give them your job, make it known in both word and deed that you care deeply for all human kind.

Me you ask? Unfortunately, I'm a sociopath who is completely unable to develop attachments with others, particularly illegal aliens. Bail me out here will ya?

FWIW it's worth, Trump scares the hell out of me, I simply hate him less than either Elon Musk, or Hillary Clinton.

Ahhh, did I just hit a nerve? As soon as his name is spoke you go on a mad frenzy like you've just met your first born's killer.

You can insult him all you want, I don't care about Elon Musk, but I am indeed a fan of what he did with SpaceX. It's pretty much the only thing I like.

And I didn't make it political, you did, but it's what usually happens when someone starts seeing red because of anger. I put in Trump as a businessman and compared how he does business to Elon Musk because that's the reason you dislike him so much. You've defended how Trump does business in past comments.

 

[davislane1]

As much as needed. Why are you even surprised?

Amusement and surprise are not the same thing.

 

[captaincranky]

Ahhh, did I just hit a nerve? As soon as his name is spoke you go on a mad frenzy like you've just met your first born's killer.

Not really. Musk is a turd, and I keep trying to pound the concept that he's a fraud, a con man, and an epic bullsh!t artist, into some very unwilling heads around here.

You can insult him all you want, I don't care about Elon Musk, but I am indeed a fan of what he did with SpaceX. It's pretty much the only thing I like.

Basically what he did with Space-X, is spend a crapload of everybody's, (including the US government's) money, to to 'invent' a recoverable booster stage. Does that benefit the environment? No? Does it do anything other than offer the opportunity for him to put more money in his pocket" Absolutely not!

And I didn't make it political, you did, but it's what usually happens when someone starts seeing red because of anger. I put in Trump as a businessman and compared how he does business to Elon Musk because that's the reason you dislike him so much. You've defended how Trump does business in past comments.

Oh stop. Trump is president of the US. It's not possible to so much as mention his name outside of a political context. My man, your feeble attempt at, "plausible deniability" simply isn't going to fly with me.

The only defense(s) I believe I've made of Trump are as a political figure, and only then in the context of comparison with Hillary Clinton.

TBH, the US was ready for a throttling down of the liberal agendas being pursued by the Democratic party. If the Republicans had another candidate who actually had a shot at being elected, I would have gladly voted for him, or her. Are you old enough to remember the utter disaster for the Republican party that was Sarah Palin?

 

[EClyde]

Ha Ha Ha on all the fools that bought the crap

 

[Puiu]

Not really. Musk is a turd, and I keep trying to pound the concept that he's a fraud, a con man, and an epic bullsh!t artist, into some very unwilling heads around here.

Basically what he did with Space-X, is spend a crapload of everybody's, (including the US government's) money, to to 'invent' a recoverable booster stage. Does that benefit the environment? No? Does it do anything other than offer the opportunity for him to put more money in his pocket" Absolutely not!

Oh stop. Trump is president of the US. It's not possible to so much as mention his name outside of a political context. My man, your feeble attempt at, "plausible deniability" simply isn't going to fly with me.

The only defense(s) I believe I've made of Trump are as a political figure, and only then in the context of comparison with Hillary Clinton.

TBH, the US was ready for a throttling down of the liberal agendas being pursued by the Democratic party. If the Republicans had another candidate who actually had a shot at being elected, I would have gladly voted for him, or her. Are you old enough to remember the utter disaster for the Republican party that was Sarah Palin?

So basically you're just mad that he actually made something that works with the money he got.
Saying that SpaceX is "nothing" is just you trying to find faults in something good. The reusable rocket that they made (which everybody thought to be impossible to be viable) brought the cost of sending a rocket into space down by 5 to 10x (from over 50 mil to under 10 mil). It pretty much destroyed the competition. The russian Proton rocket is pretty much out of business and even ULA, which was until recently was the only US Army contractor, had to cut prices in half.

SpaceX got its funding mostly from private investors (like 1 bil from Google). NASA made a deal of around 500mil with them, the majority of it for flight contracts and they also got some national defence contracts.

Let's not downplay just how important SpaceX's success was. They changed the entire rocket market and the reusable rocket is one of the biggest innovations since maybe the Apollo 5

And I do remember Palin. She's kinda Trump's role model when it came to how to gather fans and how to speak. Wasn't she one of the first to say "screw political correctness" and accused Obama of working with terrorists?
But that's enough of political talks. It's worthless now.

 

[wiyosaya]

Theres hardly a fundamental difference in the why here, which is what matters. Processor manufacturers intentionally take the extra time to laser chips, which you could argue is even worse. In the end the R&D costs are higher than most, and you cant cover it by simply pricing based on cost to produce.

It's DLC, bro. DLC costs more to develop over the standard game so it is typically offered to players who are willing to pay for a season pass for a modest fee of $19.99 to $49.99, or whatever the individual licences cost bundled. On occasion, this "additional content" already exists on your hard drive, locked until said licence is verified. Musk is using the exact same model.

Once again, you are blowing wind from the place where the sun does not shine. I have worked developing software for companies that license software in various configurations. The software has all the features in it as it is; so it does not cost, contrary to what you might believe, extra to develop the software. The license for the extra features is what cost more.

Just like this BS here - it has a 75kWh battery pack so the 60kWh and the 75kWh cars cost the same to produce, and the 60kWh price is probably a price that they are making a decent profit. The extra $3k to enable the 75kWh limit is gravy.

 

[captaincranky]

So basically you're just mad that he actually made something that works with the money he got.
Saying that SpaceX is "nothing" is just you trying to find faults in something good. The reusable rocket that they made (which everybody thought to be impossible to be viable) brought the cost of sending a rocket into space down by 5 to 10x (from over 50 mil to under 10 mil). It pretty much destroyed the competition. The russian Proton rocket is pretty much out of business and even ULA, which was until recently was the only US Army contractor, had to cut prices in half.

The US always has had more success with aerospace engineering than the Soviet Union, even before Elon Musk got involved. With that said, we started to fall behind when the Dems rerouted tons of research money to the ghetto, to breed more voters for themselves

SpaceX got its funding mostly from private investors (like 1 bil from Google). NASA made a deal of around 500mil with them, the majority of it for flight contracts and they also got some national defence contracts.

You have my deepest gratitude for winning my argument for me.

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, ...... On the horizon of NASA's plans is the MAVEN spacecraft as part of the Mars Scout Program to study the atmosphere of Mars".

So unless you're trying to claim that a half billion dollars from NASA is merely a "token contribution", and that also collecting money from the Department of Defense, isn't "double dipping", you should most likely quit while you're not ahead.

Musk's major contribution to any of "his projects", is pretty much reading a few sci-fi comic books, after which he picks up his bullhorn and announces that he is "a visionary". After which, it would seem that his workers are bullied and burdened with the task of cashing the checks his mouth writes.

The Russian economy has had plenty of ups and downs since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and I would be very hesitant to give Musk sole credit for the failure of any of their . rocket programs. Perhaps he could be a contributing factor, but solely responsible, I'd have to see that on paper.

As far as the longevity of Musk's reusable boosters, I haven't seen any figures as optimistic as yours. Which is not to say you're wrong, just to say I haven't seen hard copy. And as you're well aware, I'm certainly not taking Musk's word for it.

Believe it or not, I see an odd similarity between Musk's booster stages, and vehicles used in the service of Uber. Sure, Uber's all profit as long as you have a new vehicle, and plenty of extra miles until you reach the lease agreement limits. But, when you start using your car and drive for Uber as an occupation, you start to get hit with all the expenses that befall a typical cab company.

With Musk's rockets, it's highly unlikely that he's, "telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", when it comes to operating expenses and booster longevity. He just doesn't have then strength of character to do so. But here again, I suppose I could be wrong.