graham

Nice picture! That Radiant Red is such a nice color for the Roadster! I assume based on how high it is riding that it doesn't have the batteries installed yet.

Joseph

Wow, this is really exciting. I guess we could say that production has finally begun, for real.

I can't wait till I see my first one in the "wild."

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"Success is 99% failure" - Soichiro Honda

mittelhauser

LOL. Come visit Palo Alto. I see an average of 2 a week (some duplicates). It is just pure torture while I wait for mine. :)

-Jon

vfx

Yes Doug, thank you for your "family pictures". It makes the whole thing seem more real.

I volunteer to drive Leo's car down to LA.

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j-g

Doug,

Thanks for the follow up! Having been starved for information for so long, it is great to see it really exists and is moving forward.

Jeff

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JG

TEG

So it seems like there were some suprises about VPs being made after production started. I had assumed that Roadsters would just progress from one type to the next EPs->VPs->Production, but it seems as if the occasional extra VP gets created after customer production already started. I guess they need more demo cars as new stores open (and/or something happens to an existing demo car), so it seems that they make extra VPs as needed. It appears that the VPs have a different VIN sequence but I don't know if there is anything else that differentiates them from production cars.

So, with that thought out of the way I had another thought - what if they aren't getting DT1.5 components fast enough to completely switch over to putting DT1.5 in all cars? It seems like the VPs started to get them before the production cars. I suppose that makes sense as you want to be able to show all the existing customers what they will eventually get. You also want to have the best test drives possible to attract new customers. But, past the VP 1.5s, what about production cars - is/was it going to be a complete switchover? For instance, is there a certain sig100 VIN where everything before starts as 1.0, and everything after is 1.5? Lets say they didn't have enough 1.5s yet... Perhaps it would make sense to put 1.5s in the cars that were being shipped far away (e.g.: to the East Coast) since it would cost so much, and take so much time to have to ship them back for retrofit... So there would be some incentive to have local customers get the 1.0's for a while since it would be easier to get those cars back for retrofit.
I have no idea what is really happening, but this thought occured to me because I am hearing some Sig100 customers are getting 1.0 now, but others (e.g.: Mr. Rosen) seem to be suggesting that they got 1.5 already.
Also, aren't we to the point now where 1.5 is proven so all cars should get it if they could be produced fast enough to keep up with the incoming gliders?

jsa

I received my 1.5 on Tuesday, Sig100#26. I'll post more later, as I've had only limited time with the car.

graham

Congratulations!! Awesome news. Please include pictures!

doug

TEG - There were always some slots in the production line set aside for marketing cars. It makes sense that the VPs were the first to get DT1.5 since it was still being validated, so to speak. I've been told that at this point (probably since a couple weeks ago), all the gliders coming into Menlo Park are being fitted with DT1.5. It's hard for us to guess which Sig100 cars have DT1.0, since the cars aren't necessarily produced or delivered in sequence.

One thing I've wondered about but have forgotten to ask the times I've had a chance is how Tesla is handling the 1.0 to 1.5 conversions. A car with a 1.0 drivetrain is still a working car on the road. The time it takes to remove the old drivetrain, install the new one and redo vehicle verification probably takes as long if not longer than it does for a fresh install in a glider. You'd think the priority right now would be to get the cars in customer hands as fast as possible. So it would make sense to me if Tesla wants to take their time getting around to those upgrades. Then again, those that still have DT1.0 are mostly investors in the company, so they might get some priority.


jsa - Congrats on your car! I'm sure we all look forward to hearing about it. And pics please. (Btw, don't try to upload photos here. Post them on Flickr or some other site and embed or link to the images here.)

Jeff (j-g) - I have more and higher res photos of your car if you want them. PM me with an email address that can handle large attachments (e.g. gmail) if you're interested.

jsa

Thanks, guys... I'll post my experiences on a new thread (so as to not clutter up the production status discussion). Suffice to say for this topic that #26 was delivered. They are finishing up the hard tops, which they wanted some improvements on, as well as the mobile charger (getting UL approval), but otherwise they delivered 100% of what I've been waiting three years for. See my other post for some of my first experiences, and pics to follow in about a week (I'm traveling so it will have to wait until I return).