OK this is going to a fairly long post so grab a cup of coffee and sit back. Hopefully all of the info will be worth reading.
I had several nice long chats with Elon, Franz, Dirumund and Joe Powers (East Coast Sales Manager) at the April 1st event and the following is a combination of things that were said by some or all of them. I will say that for the most part when I asked the same questions to different people that the answers were in general the same. So either the talking points for TM are very well rehearsed or they are actually accurate.
First The White Model S and the Silver one. Neither one is considered to be an EP. The White one was not at all what I expected. It is simply a model or "rolling " model of the car. It has absolutely NO interior at all. When I was there early for the event I saw them taking a wheel off the car to do something but I was on the wrong side to see what was behind the wheel. I did not really see the inside of the car until later and it made me wish I had walked around to see what was back there. The inside was simply black cardboard or foam. Asked several people if they considered the Silver one to be an EP. The answers varied in response but the overall answer was emphatically NO. It is what they are calling an Early Prototype. I learned several things about this car that I found interesting. First and foremost the structure of the car is not really completed properly. The supports necessary for rigidity are not really in place is the best way I can describe it. When these supports are finally in place the interior of the car will be "much larger" than the current version. The interior will be 4 " wider and 1" taller. In actuality the floor pan will be lowered 1" and the doors will be narrower to gain the increased space.
In connection with the floor pan being dropped 1" lies the plan to implement the rear facing seat. Two things are going to happen here that will make the seat possible. First the lowering of the floor pan and second the battery pack will stop at the rear axle. So all of the space behind the rear axle can be used for leg room. At this point, they are relatively confident that the rear seat will be available from the beginning with the Signature Series. As an aside I got the impression that this is kind of a pet project for Elon - kinda like the door sills in the Roadster. So I a m pretty confident it will happen. Nobody flat out said that it was just the impression that I got from the way conversations went.
It seems from all of my conversations that all of the features that they have listed WILL be availble from the beginning and car #1 EXCEPT AWD. AWD is seeming to be a priority for MY #2 or #3. They have not started working on any of the technical parts of AWD yet. However, they did say that it would be done by adding a motor to the front of the car that would use the current battery and PEM. They are not planning on using 4 motors one at each wheel and they are not planning on adding a drive shaft connection between the front and rear axle.
They do not have a list of the Standard and Optional Equipment for any of the levels of cars yet.
It appears that the Signature Series will in fact be different from the Standard Series. The plan is currently slightly different from the Raodster Signature Series. Of course the plan might change but currently they are planning on the Signature Series to have unique badging and they believe that the Signature Series will have some features and options available that the Standard Series will not have. Carbon Fibre Accents on the inside of the car was the only thing mentioned. The main difference from the Roadster SS is going to be that all of the Model S SS will be totally loaded with options. In a sense the only options on the Signature Series will in fact be DOWNGRADES not upgrades.
Pack swapping will be available from car #1 and will be available for all 3 pack sizes.
Quick Charging will be available from car #1 and on all 3 pack sizes.
The 300 mile pack will be available from Car #1 and will probably be standard equipment on the Signature Series - in conjuction with being fully loaded.
No blue prints or CAD drawings are made available at this point in time.
The Silver car has the battery located in the floor pan of the car already.
520 models S' had been sold as of the afternoon of April 1.
On an interesting side note. When I arrived at the event early I had a chance to look inside the Silver model S very closely and I took particular notice that the dash looked IDENTICAL to the screen shots I saw of it from the unveiling party. 241 miles and 85% charge etc. This led me to believe that it was a static display. However, later (during my test ride) when I looked at the car all of the numbers had changed and the GPS display in the center of the car was of Washington DC. And the Speedometer appeared to be working as we drove around the track. So either they have put a lot of attention into making the appearance that it is sort of working or at least some of it is functioning.
The chassis on the current car is not the one they plan on using. Right now the plan is to develop their own chassis using Aluminium. I think Franz said that it would be "bonded aluminium" or "laminated aluminium" but I can not remember exactly what he said. Development of that chassis is currently in progress.
I am quite sure that I will remember other things to add here but for now that is all I can think of. If I missed anything from your questions please let me know because I really tried to get all of the answers. There was no information on any EU pricing.
OH yeah - some other stuff. First they think that they are going to expand the Signature Series to 2000 cars instead of 1000 and they did say that the EU cars and the US cars would be intermixed in that 1000 or 2000. There would not be a specific 500 or 1000 for the US and an additional 500 or 1000 for EU
Enough rambling for now I am sure I will add more later. I do have to say that I like the car MUCH better in person than I did in the pictures and videos released from the unveiling. The front grill is not any where near as bad as I thought it would be. The proportions are correct for the car. In general I was very pleased with what I saw and heard. I am still probably going to wait until they get the govt loans before I put down a deposit.
I had several nice long chats with Elon, Franz, Dirumund and Joe Powers (East Coast Sales Manager) at the April 1st event and the following is a combination of things that were said by some or all of them. I will say that for the most part when I asked the same questions to different people that the answers were in general the same. So either the talking points for TM are very well rehearsed or they are actually accurate.
First The White Model S and the Silver one. Neither one is considered to be an EP. The White one was not at all what I expected. It is simply a model or "rolling " model of the car. It has absolutely NO interior at all. When I was there early for the event I saw them taking a wheel off the car to do something but I was on the wrong side to see what was behind the wheel. I did not really see the inside of the car until later and it made me wish I had walked around to see what was back there. The inside was simply black cardboard or foam. Asked several people if they considered the Silver one to be an EP. The answers varied in response but the overall answer was emphatically NO. It is what they are calling an Early Prototype. I learned several things about this car that I found interesting. First and foremost the structure of the car is not really completed properly. The supports necessary for rigidity are not really in place is the best way I can describe it. When these supports are finally in place the interior of the car will be "much larger" than the current version. The interior will be 4 " wider and 1" taller. In actuality the floor pan will be lowered 1" and the doors will be narrower to gain the increased space.
In connection with the floor pan being dropped 1" lies the plan to implement the rear facing seat. Two things are going to happen here that will make the seat possible. First the lowering of the floor pan and second the battery pack will stop at the rear axle. So all of the space behind the rear axle can be used for leg room. At this point, they are relatively confident that the rear seat will be available from the beginning with the Signature Series. As an aside I got the impression that this is kind of a pet project for Elon - kinda like the door sills in the Roadster. So I a m pretty confident it will happen. Nobody flat out said that it was just the impression that I got from the way conversations went.
It seems from all of my conversations that all of the features that they have listed WILL be availble from the beginning and car #1 EXCEPT AWD. AWD is seeming to be a priority for MY #2 or #3. They have not started working on any of the technical parts of AWD yet. However, they did say that it would be done by adding a motor to the front of the car that would use the current battery and PEM. They are not planning on using 4 motors one at each wheel and they are not planning on adding a drive shaft connection between the front and rear axle.
They do not have a list of the Standard and Optional Equipment for any of the levels of cars yet.
It appears that the Signature Series will in fact be different from the Standard Series. The plan is currently slightly different from the Raodster Signature Series. Of course the plan might change but currently they are planning on the Signature Series to have unique badging and they believe that the Signature Series will have some features and options available that the Standard Series will not have. Carbon Fibre Accents on the inside of the car was the only thing mentioned. The main difference from the Roadster SS is going to be that all of the Model S SS will be totally loaded with options. In a sense the only options on the Signature Series will in fact be DOWNGRADES not upgrades.
Pack swapping will be available from car #1 and will be available for all 3 pack sizes.
Quick Charging will be available from car #1 and on all 3 pack sizes.
The 300 mile pack will be available from Car #1 and will probably be standard equipment on the Signature Series - in conjuction with being fully loaded.
No blue prints or CAD drawings are made available at this point in time.
The Silver car has the battery located in the floor pan of the car already.
520 models S' had been sold as of the afternoon of April 1.
On an interesting side note. When I arrived at the event early I had a chance to look inside the Silver model S very closely and I took particular notice that the dash looked IDENTICAL to the screen shots I saw of it from the unveiling party. 241 miles and 85% charge etc. This led me to believe that it was a static display. However, later (during my test ride) when I looked at the car all of the numbers had changed and the GPS display in the center of the car was of Washington DC. And the Speedometer appeared to be working as we drove around the track. So either they have put a lot of attention into making the appearance that it is sort of working or at least some of it is functioning.
The chassis on the current car is not the one they plan on using. Right now the plan is to develop their own chassis using Aluminium. I think Franz said that it would be "bonded aluminium" or "laminated aluminium" but I can not remember exactly what he said. Development of that chassis is currently in progress.
I am quite sure that I will remember other things to add here but for now that is all I can think of. If I missed anything from your questions please let me know because I really tried to get all of the answers. There was no information on any EU pricing.
OH yeah - some other stuff. First they think that they are going to expand the Signature Series to 2000 cars instead of 1000 and they did say that the EU cars and the US cars would be intermixed in that 1000 or 2000. There would not be a specific 500 or 1000 for the US and an additional 500 or 1000 for EU
Enough rambling for now I am sure I will add more later. I do have to say that I like the car MUCH better in person than I did in the pictures and videos released from the unveiling. The front grill is not any where near as bad as I thought it would be. The proportions are correct for the car. In general I was very pleased with what I saw and heard. I am still probably going to wait until they get the govt loans before I put down a deposit.