this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Tesla
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Discussion of Tesla, Inc
About Tesla
Tesla Inc. (formerly Tesla Motors) is an energy + technology company originally from California and currently headquartered in Austin, Texas.
They produce electric vehicles (with a heavy focus on autonomy), batteries, and energy/solar products for the grid.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
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Fuck yeah, subscription-unlocks for existing features on cars should be illegal, and until it is I fully support all jailbreaking/hacking of these companies’ products
…am I having a stroke? Isn’t the subscription-model literally “forcing people” to pay a higher base price because the car includes expensive (but disabled!) components that you then have to pay more money to unlock?
It’s a question of paying extra for a car with costly (to manufacture) subscription-locked features that you don’t want and won’t use vs being able to buy a stripped-down, base model with hand-crank windows, no?
Am I getting whooshed rn? That’s the only explanation that makes sense, that I’m missing the sarcasm or something.
I understand the theory behind the production-line savings, but 100% do not believe that those savings will be passed on to the consumer, and am unconvinced that it actually is more cost-effective/materially efficient (incentive-wise, it’s in the best interests of the car manufacturers to convince us that this will be a good thing for us in the long-term).
They’re manufacturing the various components (like seats) on totally separate lines from the car and then assembling them. If every single component manufactured is the fanciest, priciest version—if every seat has a heater, a fan, and internet connectivity so it can be activated or locked—that’s certainly going to result in a more expensive base vehicle price vs manufacturing lower-tier components and feeding them into the assembly line as necessary.
A great example would be the Tesla batteries. They’re absolutely not putting the same battery in each car and then locking the ability to charge it beyond a certain point. Materials costs are a huge factor.
A non-vehicular example would be phones. There’s a reason why every iPhone doesn’t have the same components that are just subscription-locked.
The FSD side of things does feel different, though, I agree with you there. You’re paying for a consistently-updated, software-based service, but that’s not at all comparable to having to pay the original manufacturer to activate, say, the blind-spot indicators on a used car (unless they’re coming out and upgrading your mirrors from time to time).