Cars used to have DC generators, which charged the battery directly. Now they use alternators, which generate alternating current, as their name implies. The alternating current has to be rectified (converted to direct current) to charge the battery, but I guess the system as a whole is more efficient that way.

They used a DC generator prior to the alternator, batteries wouldn't charge so well at idle with a full electric load load.

If it’s good enough for Al Bundy it’s good enough for me. NP.

Deleted scene from Cars?

Based on what metric?.. by the accounts I’ve been reading they are for more reliable than most cars and need far less maintenance.

Completely untrue.

Understand, not making money due to capex is not the same as selling at a loss. I would expect them to post a negative quarter again with the China factory and expansion at Fremont and Sparks for Model Y and the Semi productions. Additionally, they are doing a lot on the battery side of things. The time to worry about…

annnnnd it already broke down, literally on the way home for the guy who bought it

Looks like the old FJ Cruiser blue 

You could probably get a new Kona for 20k but if you need something bigger you will have to go used. To get a Toyota or Honda for this price it will be at least 3 years old and out of warranty 

I hear you. We’ve all seen an endless parade of pretty renderings of “bold new visions” that go nowhere, and it’s easy to get jaded about it all.

But they did... bringing the costs down as far as they have (with the potential to bring it down even more) is pretty revolutionary.

“. . . Hyundai’s lengthy warranty.”

The Starship/Super Heavy design looks janky right now (get with the stir-welding, man!) but I expect the stainless will perform like a champ in executing the hardest job on Earth: leaving Earth. Pretty sure that rings/plates could give way to 3d printed continuous manufacturing that may be even cheaper and require…

What is its purpose? Aside from being the dream of a very rich man who can build his dream, this thing can lift a space station greater in habitable volume than the ISS in one launch. (It’s taken over 40 missions to build the ISS) It could lift five or six James Webb Telescopes into orbit without having to fold up the…

Its not BS. The math works out on everything Elon is doing. The stainless steel was a stroke of genius. Material-wise a base starship will cost between 3-5 million dollars to make material wise - with a similar amount in labor, with a maximum of 1.5 million dollars worth of stainless steel. Granted after fitting for…

Jim Bridenstine isn’t allowed to complain about Spacex delays seeing as SLS is Billions of dollars over budget and decades in the making while in a decade Spacex revolutionized space flight by building the first orbital, reusable rocket. I have no doubt that in the coming decade Spacex is capable of doing it again by…

Now yours sounds like a truck I can appreciate. Honest, hardworking, and not the size of a fucking aircraft carrier. Most new trucks are just incredibly stupid with their space management.

Somewhat related. My neighbour bought a new F150. Then his wife said it was because they were thinking of having a baby and needed a “family car”.

$13k for the least reliable vehicle in the history of vehicles, with a bonus side of extra complication from a turbo? What could possibly go wrong?