The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.
Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced. In hindsight, this should have been our policy from the beginning of the Model S program. If we truly believe that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable than gasoline engines, with far fewer moving parts and no oily residue or combustion byproducts to gum up the works, then our warranty policy should reflect that.
To investors in Tesla, I must acknowledge that this will have a moderately negative effect on Tesla earnings in the short term, as our warranty reserves will necessarily have to increase above current levels. This is amplified by the fact that we are doing so retroactively, not just for new customers. However, by doing the right thing for Tesla vehicle owners at this early stage of our company, I am confident that it will work out well in the long term.
New station in Egerkingen allows convenient long distance travel in Switzerland – for free
Official Ribbon Cutting at the new Supercharger Station in Egerkingen, Switzerland Photo courtesy of Tesla
Today, Tesla opened its second Supercharging site in Switzerland.
The new Supercharger is located at the motorway A1 in Egerkingen and energizes the routes between Zurich and Bern, Basel to Central Switzerland, and the South of Germany to the Tessin. The new Supercharger further enables Model S owners to travel to their favorite business or holiday destinations, for free.
Switzerland’s newly energized routes also showcase the importance of the European market for Tesla. The new site is another step towards an extensive Supercharger network in Tesla’s major European markets, including Scandinavia, the DACH region, the UK, Benelux, and France.
Superchargers are strategically placed to allow owners to drive long distances with minimal stops. Supercharging sites are located near amenities like roadside diners, cafes, and shopping centers so road-trippers can stop for a quick meal and have their Model S charged by the time they’re done.
The Tesla Supercharger is one of the most powerful charging technologies in existence, providing up to 135 kilowatts of DC (Direct Current) power directly to the Model S battery using special cables that bypass the on-board charging equipment. Superchargers replenish half a charge in about 20 minutes.
Model S drivers can drive from Stockholm to Cote d’Azur for free
Photo courtesy of Tesla
Tesla marked the continued rapid expansion of its fast-charging network last week by opening its 50th Supercharging location in Europe. The unveiling of the new site in Narbonne, France, is another step towards an extensive Supercharger network in Tesla’s major European markets, including the UK, Scandinavia, the DACH region, Benelux, and France.
Tesla’s Supercharger network in Europe has expanded quickly since the first installation in Norway in August 2013. Supercharger routes now enable free electric travel between major cities and the most popular highways from Scandinavia to the French Riviera. Routes covered include Oslo-Stockholm-Copenhagen, Hamburg to Geneva and Berlin to Frankfurt. In France, the “Route du Soleil” runs from Paris to the Cote d’Azur and new locations in the north are coming soon to allow travel to Amsterdam. In the UK, new Supercharger sites open in London and Birmingham this week.
Tesla recently energised its 168th Supercharger worldwide, making it both the largest and the fastest-growing fast-charging network in the world. In July, the European Supercharger network alone delivered more than 600 MWh of energy to Model S vehicles. That energy accounts for a collective 2.2 million miles driven, the equivalent distance of driving to the moon and back four and a half times. In this same month, Superchargers in Europe have saved more than 380,000 litres of petrol and offset up to 1,100 tons of carbon dioxide.
For more details on the continued global expansion of the Supercharger network, visit http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger & http://www.teslamotors.com/findus.
Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.
Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.
When I started out with my first company, Zip2, I thought patents were a good thing and worked hard to obtain them. And maybe they were good long ago, but too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors. After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible.
At Tesla, however, we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.
At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all.
Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day.
We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.
Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard.
