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Help / Advice with my Tesla purchase ?


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Hey guys, just want to ask the community (specially Gotway Tesla users) . After weeks of research and watching videos. Ive already purchased one and its on its way here in about a month or so.  but based on what ive read in the euc forums it seems there are stories of random cutoffs (even at 25mph) and quality issues. Should I be worried about this?

 

Also, is the newer batches of Tesla (carbon fiber body shells) more reliable?

 

PS. Im planning to use my tesla more of just a city commute at speeds of just around 15-20mph. My eucs are V5D, V8 and Z6. Ive experience cutoffs on these but only during practicing idling (pendulum) or on very low battery. I was bothered after seeing the video of the taiwanese speeding at around 25 -30mph and hitting just a small pothole. This caused the tesla to just cutoff.

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How many stories are there of "random" cutoffs?

Mine (original version) has been working like a champ. I'm not worried when I ride mine.

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I too can back up what @Marty Backe has stated, regarding the reliability of an earlier version Tesla. I have traveled around 3500 kms on mine without a single issue. 

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The "random cut offs" with today's wheels are mostly people pushing things to the limit.  Example, riding 25mph with a dead battery and your alarms turned off. If you hit a bump or over lean with a low battery you could have a cut out.  .......... or if you push a car with the brakes on for six minutes. 

 

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There are no random cut-offs with today's wheels. Tesla included.

2 ways to get a cut-off:

  1. Ignore/miss warning beeps and speed up until the wheel just can't keep up.
  2. Push a car or do any other ridiculously high stress thing. Maybe the wheel will die before it can warn you. Maybe it will just warn you, in that case 1. applies.

Neither of these are random.

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9 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

How many stories are there of "random" cutoffs?

Mine (original version) has been working like a champ. I'm not worried when I ride mine.

these below are the stories of the basis of my impressions of the Gotway Tesla. Hope you can correct me if i have misundersood some of these

 

  1. quoted from @Hunka Hunka Burning Love " Mine dropped me over a few sidewalk bumps for some odd reason.  I also remember a video of an Asian rider who had his Tesla faceplant him after hitting a small drop.  I'm not sure if there's a firmware flaw that triggers a cutout if a sudden amp spike occurs, but mine only peaked at 80 amps at my fall.  Who knows?"
  2. this post from @Unimike -

     

  3. the taiwanese rider who fell on his tesla (cutoff) during a group ride in taiwan. speeds at around 35kph , rode on a small pothole i think 2-3cm( cant find the video - will post if found)
  4. i also read a post by a username @Shadoz that he fried his mosfet when his unit was just a few months old
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Hi all, first post.

I has included the question in this thread because I think that it alings perfectly with the topic and It's not necessary open a new one.

I was searching information about Gotway Tesla in the forum when I found this thread.  I bought one and I'm waiting for it.

I didn't do a deep investigation about the product prior to the purchase and now after read through this forum I'm very worried about quality issues. In my opinion a fail when you don't use or push product to his limit (speed or battery) is unacceptable. The ratio of failure in common use conditions must be negligible.

Are there new stats from dealers or technical services about Tesla's issues? or same horrible data about quality after 1 year?

I apologize if my english is not correct enough.

Thanks for share your knowledge and experience.


 

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13 hours ago, Blitzwheelz said:

these below are the stories of the basis of my impressions of the Gotway Tesla. Hope you can correct me if i have misundersood some of these

 

  1. quoted from @Hunka Hunka Burning Love " Mine dropped me over a few sidewalk bumps for some odd reason.  I also remember a video of an Asian rider who had his Tesla faceplant him after hitting a small drop.  I'm not sure if there's a firmware flaw that triggers a cutout if a sudden amp spike occurs, but mine only peaked at 80 amps at my fall.  Who knows?"
  2. this post from @Unimike -

     

  3. the taiwanese rider who fell on his tesla (cutoff) during a group ride in taiwan. speeds at around 35kph , rode on a small pothole i think 2-3cm( cant find the video - will post if found)
  4. i also read a post by a username @Shadoz that he fried his mosfet when his unit was just a few months old

Out of how many hundreds or thousands of wheels. Every wheel made can potentially have a random failure. If the Tesla had a design flaw, then given time, every owner would experience a failure. We don't see that with any wheel currently being sold, including the Tesla.

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4 hours ago, Angel Latorre Trabanco said:

Hi all, first post.

I has included the question in this thread because I think that it alings perfectly with the topic and It's not necessary open a new one.

I was searching information about Gotway Tesla in the forum when I found this thread.  I bought one and I'm waiting for it.

I didn't do a deep investigation about the product prior to the purchase and now after read through this forum I'm very worried about quality issues. In my opinion a fail when you don't use or push product to his limit (speed or battery) is unacceptable. The ratio of failure in common use conditions must be negligible.

Are there new stats from dealers or technical services about Tesla's issues? or same horrible data about quality after 1 year?

I apologize if my english is not correct enough.

Thanks for share your knowledge and experience.


 

I have been riding my Tesla now for over a year, while I was waiting for the Z10 to be released. Never had any issues. It is a beautiful, fast and agile ride, very powerful uphill, so I would not worry too much, as long as you don’t ride at extreme speeds. You probably will not regret your purchase.

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5 hours ago, Angel Latorre Trabanco said:

I didn't do a deep investigation about the product prior to the purchase and now after read through this forum I'm very worried about quality issues. In my opinion a fail when you don't use or push product to his limit (speed or battery) is unacceptable. The ratio of failure in common use conditions must be negligible.

Are there new stats from dealers or technical services about Tesla's issues? or same horrible data about quality after 1 year?

The Tesla is not worse than any other current wheel in the safety department. Not sure where this idea comes from. Maybe because the first batch had a few ones where a (bad) mosfet died right at the beginning?

If you wouldn't worry about a 16S or msuper X or V10, you shouldn't worry about the Tesla. And you should wear a helmet anyways as any wheel would crash you if something suddenly fails (or you or bad luck cause a crash).

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1 hour ago, meepmeepmayer said:

The Tesla is not worse than any other current wheel in the safety department. Not sure where this idea comes from. Maybe because the first batch had a few ones where a (bad) mosfet died right at the beginning?

If you wouldn't worry about a 16S or msuper X or V10, you shouldn't worry about the Tesla. And you should wear a helmet anyways as any wheel would crash you if something suddenly fails (or you or bad luck cause a crash).

There are many post in this forum about quality problems with Gotway in general and Tesla model specifically. For example:

Many more similar posts can be found in the forum.

Individual experience is useful but not enough to made a decission about a product, specially if the product could cause severe injuries due to bad quality (desing or manufacturing).

Thanks again.

 

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2 minutes ago, Angel Latorre Trabanco said:

There are many post in this forum about quality problems with Gotway in general and Tesla model specifically. For example:

Many more similar posts can be found in the forum.

Individual experience is useful but not enough to made a decission about a product, specially if the product could cause severe injuries due to bad quality (desing or manufacturing).

Thanks again.

 

When in doubt, don't buy the wheel. There are so many nice wheels available to us now, just buy the one you feel comfortable with.

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6 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

When in doubt, don't buy the wheel. There are so many nice wheels available to us now, just buy the one you feel comfortable with.

Thanks, I have already bought the wheel when I discovered all this issues and I need to decide if it was a good decision.
I don't understand why is so difficult to find this kind of information for all brands/models. I think this data is really important for the final user and a way to force brands to improve their products.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Angel Latorre Trabanco said:

Thanks, I have already bought the wheel when I discovered all this issues and I need to decide if it was a good decision.
I don't understand why is so difficult to find this kind of information for all brands/models. I think this data is really important for the final user and a way to force brands to improve their products.

Because this is a nascent product and it has a long way to go before it fully matures. So for now your knowledge comes with time and lots of reading and watching. You'll eventually come to understand the lay of the land. Look at the wheels in my signature. I ride them all with no fear. I wouldn't worry about your purchase. I love my Tesla.

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In the US, Volvo has a record for safety.  Safe people buy Volvo and make the product numbers even better for Volvo. I think that GotWay has the opposite situation. The risk takers tend to enjoy the power and capabilities of the GotWay wheels. Risk takers push things to the limit and inevitably crash. 

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I actually made a reply to this post yesterday, but I think the original poster deleted the post or something so it all went away.  I can't remember what I said exactly, but in my case, I got caught in a really bad summer rainstorm that hit me out of the blue so my Tesla got soaked, but it got me to shelter about 500 m away.  After the rain past, I rode home uneventfully, and let things dry out.  The Tesla seemed to perform normally until the next ride when I heard a BzzzzzT sound which was quite uncharacteristic for it.  I didn't pay much attention to it as the wheel seemed to function just fine.  It was just after 19.5 km into my 20 km ride that I hit a couple of bumps on a sidewalk that I normally take and have taken many times before without issue.  The wheel just stopped balancing, and I fell forwards.  There was a slight delay in reacting because the wheel has never given me any issues over 1200 km.

After getting up and reseting the wheel, I rode home without any problems for about 500 m.  Maybe it was rider error, but I don't know why something would have changed over that same 5 feet of sidewalk as I've ridden it so many times before.  Maybe this time I went a little too fast at 22 kph?  The current spiked to 80 amps as recorded by Wheellog.  My battery was fully charged at the start of the 20 km ride.  Maybe the water might have affected the power button somehow?  I don't know.  Otherwise it has been a very stable, reliable wheel, and I had ridden up to 49 kph on the same trip without issue.  There could be a very specific firmware issue that not all riders encounter where you have to hit some bumps over 1 inch high (sidewalk heave) at over 22 kph using 62 PSI?  My 48 kph speeds are over fairly smooth roads and pathways with no sudden bumps in them.  That could hide a problem so not all Tesla owners are aware of it.  Hard to say.  I can't rule out rider error, but it was during a routine up a sidewalk transition and straight ride for me.

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24 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I actually made a reply to this post yesterday, but I think the original poster deleted the post or something so it all went away.

@Hunka Hunka Burning Love - sorry for what happened to your post , but what happened was I removed the topic because for some reasons my account posted 2 similar topics. so i deleted the other one.

 

6 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Because this is a nascent product and it has a long way to go before it fully matures. So for now your knowledge comes with time and lots of reading and watching. You'll eventually come to understand the lay of the land. Look at the wheels in my signature. I ride them all with no fear. I wouldn't worry about your purchase. I love my Tesla.

I understand now that it would be unfair base a product's reliability on a very small percentage of defective or even abused units.

 

Since I also have a V8, Z6, V5F.  Cutout do also happen with each but only when I put heavy strain on it like doing aggressive pendulums and riding over 2inch potholes. I think no wheel is immune to cutouts but it only depends on how it was used, human errors and some enviromental factors.

 

By the end of the day, safety is still my main concern. Since we dont know exactly when a cutout or malfuntion is gonna happen. I think I should worry more about my riding skill and safety gear rather than blaming the unicycle.

 

Worrying may even cause accidents so Ill just ride cautiously and safely.

 

Thanks guys for the feedbacks It helped me clear some of my concerns, specially to @Marty Backe

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37 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I actually made a reply to this post yesterday, but I think the original poster deleted the post or something so it all went away.  I can't remember what I said exactly, but in my case, I got caught in a really bad summer rainstorm that hit me out of the blue so my Tesla got soaked, but it got me to shelter about 500 m away.  After the rain past, I rode home uneventfully, and let things dry out.  The Tesla seemed to perform normally until the next ride when I heard a BzzzzzT sound which was quite uncharacteristic for it.  I didn't pay much attention to it as the wheel seemed to function just fine.  It was just after 19.5 km into my 20 km ride that I hit a couple of bumps on a sidewalk that I normally take and have taken many times before without issue.  The wheel just stopped balancing, and I fell forwards.  There was a slight delay in reacting because the wheel has never given me any issues over 1200 km.

After getting up and reseting the wheel, I rode home without any problems for about 500 m.  Maybe it was rider error, but I don't know why something would have changed over that same 5 feet of sidewalk as I've ridden it so many times before.  Maybe this time I went a little too fast at 22 kph?  The current spiked to 80 amps as recorded by Wheellog.  My battery was fully charged at the start of the 20 km ride.  Maybe the water might have affected the power button somehow?  I don't know.  Otherwise it has been a very stable, reliable wheel, and I had ridden up to 49 kph on the same trip without issue.  There could be a very specific firmware issue that not all riders encounter where you have to hit some bumps over 1 inch high (sidewalk heave) at over 22 kph using 62 PSI?  My 48 kph speeds are over fairly smooth roads and pathways with no sudden bumps in them.  That could hide a problem so not all Tesla owners are aware of it.  Hard to say.  I can't rule out rider error, but it was during a routine up a sidewalk transition and straight ride for me.

You relaying this story makes me feel a little better, because it has bothered me what happened to you.

The fact that there was some strange behavior (Bzzzz sound) before hand plus that fact that you had ridden it through the rain makes me think it could be water related. Gotway doesn't coat their control boards (if I remember correctly) and it's amazing how sensitive these electronics can be to moisture.

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I remember someone else mention that they heard the Bzzzzz sound on their Tesla.  I think they said the wheel was working fine still, but they were worried about the noise.  It's like a fairly loud electric short sort of sound, but there was no change in wheel function.  I've got a pretty good memory, and I've been trying to think back at why I got thrown.  I could feel the wheel tipping forward and me trailing forwards to the point where I consciously thought oh great this is where I'm going to fall. 

The thing is though I've only fallen once completely down during my rides prior to this accident.  I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've been launched off my wheel.  Most were run offs, and only once previously have I landed body on the ground over my 2200 km.  One time was on my generic wheel which didn't make it over a sidewalk/road transition bump.  I ran off.  Another was on my Ninebot up a sidewalk slope which I walked off as well.  The body on the ground fall was on my Ninebot at 0 kph when I was trying to ride on an ice patch over a small melting water crevice which was totally rider error.

The rain ride was about a week before my fatal ride as I wanted to let the Tesla dry out.  But the thing is, I rode for 19.5 km without any issues so I don't know if water was a factor.  I'm thinking more the bumps I hit was the cause along with the higher tire pressure at about 62 psi.  I've been back to the sidewalk patch, and I did notice two heave spots where it steps up an inch at each spot about a foot apart.  Maybe there was an accumulation of water in the heaksink tray and the bumps splashed it up and shorted something out?  But the fans are in that area... hmmm I should have checked it... I still don't have a definite reason for the crash...

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7 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

The fact that there was some strange behavior (Bzzzz sound) before hand plus that fact that you had ridden it through the rain makes me think it could be water related. Gotway doesn't coat their control boards (if I remember correctly) and it's amazing how sensitive these electronics can be to moisture.

I agree. We’ve both had experience tearing into Gotway wheels and in my view there was no indication that the mainboards are coated. If so I believe we would have heard about it by now. 

If the ‘waterproof’ rubber gasket positioned between the mainboard’s heat sink and shell were mal-aligned in anyway during the factory installation process (no never :cry2:) then moisture could easily enter the shell. All it takes is a tiny droplet of moisture to short circuit any of the hundreds of electronic connection points. 

I’m not a huge fan of riding in the rain. Actually I would feel safe occasionally riding the V10F though puddles as the moisture issue was specifically addressed. 

 

6 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

The rain ride was about a week before my fatal ride as I wanted to let the Tesla dry out. .........

Maybe there was an accumulation of water in the heaksink tray and the bumps splashed it up and shorted something out?  

Hunka did you ever open up your Tesla to determine if any moisture had infiltrated the mainboard region? In my view if the waterproof enclosure surrounding the mainboard or any of the other electronic components or even the motor can ‘dry out’ after riding in the rain then air circulation and evaporation is present. If that’s the case then there must be an air/water leak somewhere allowing moisture to dissipate. 

I agree with your theory that there may have been an accumulation of water in the heat sink region. 

 

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New Tesla owner here.  I received my new wheel with a bad tube that wouldn't hold air, so I had to take it apart to change it out.  After taking all the screws out, I found the shells were still stuck together, and did a fair amount of head scratching before I finally used a little brute force which ended up defeating the culprit: a piece of black cloth duct tape holding the two halves of the shell together on the inside of the shell just below the control board above the wheel.  It would seem to me that this tape was probably used to create a waterproof barrier from water spray from the tire, as the shell itself where it is adjacent to the tire has an offset lip to keep stuff out, but I doubt it would be water tight without the tape. 

I haven't heard of anyone else having to deal with the tape when taking their Tesla's apart, so it may or may not be in place on every one.  Mine is a pretty recent build with the wider foam pads.   

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12 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

Hunka did you ever open up your Tesla to determine if any moisture had infiltrated the mainboard region? In my view if the waterproof enclosure surrounding the mainboard or any of the other electronic components or even the motor can ‘dry out’ after riding in the rain then air circulation and evaporation is present. If that’s the case then there must be an air/water leak somewhere allowing moisture to dissipate. 

I agree with your theory that there may have been an accumulation of water in the heat sink region. 

 

I did open it up to see if there was any damage.  Just one side cover mount was busted so I epoxied that back into place.  Everything else looked ship shape.  I didn't take out the mainboard as it was still secure, and the wheel was running fine on the way home.  In hindsight maybe I should have taken it out to see if there was any moisture anywhere.  But like I said I had traveled 19.5 km without a hitch on my trip before the fall so I'm not sure water from the week before would have affected things.  Maybe I just went over the two bumps too fast and the current spike triggered a cutoff or maybe a oscillation from jarring the gyro too much.  I was running about 62 psi at the time so there wasn't much cushioning from the tire. 

I turned it on yesterday after not using it for two months, and it booted up just fine.  I'm not keen on testing that patch of sidewalk again at 22 kph!  The thing is, we just don't know the failure thresholds of these wheels in terms of hitting sudden bumps at certain speeds.  Anyone else want to test their Tesla going at 22 kph and hitting a couple of 1 inch bumps?  I've taken the Tesla off-road on some bumpy trails, and it's always been a good performer.  I don't know why a simple couple of bumps on a sidewalk would have ejected me.

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Yesterday I found this updated chart from ewheels.com. Surely this data is not enough to generalize to the whole production but I think that they could be a a good approximation.
Pay attention to the "Controller reliability" row.
I know that if a controller fail it doen't implies a cut off necessarily, but 3% of defective units for Tesla? 10% for Z10!?!?!

What do you think about this data?

 

eWheels-Product-Lineup-29-Oct-18.jpg

 

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That's actually pretty good, and it's probably in the ballpark.  So 2 out of 100 Teslas sold have some control board issues?  Sometimes without knowing all the details it's hard to tell if these are purely manufacture problems with the boards or user influenced failures like riding in the rain :whistling:, riding up too steep a hill frying a MOSFET, or something else.

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24 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I did open it up to see if there was any damage.  Just one side cover mount was busted so I epoxied that back into place.  Everything else looked ship shape.  I didn't take out the mainboard as it was still secure, and the wheel was running fine on the way home.  In hindsight maybe I should have taken it out to see if there was any moisture anywhere.  But like I said I had traveled 19.5 km without a hitch on my trip before the fall so I'm not sure water from the week before would have affected things.  Maybe I just went over the two bumps too fast and the current spike triggered a cutoff or maybe a oscillation from jarring the gyro too much.  I was running about 62 psi at the time so there wasn't much cushioning from the tire. 

I turned it on yesterday after not using it for two months, and it booted up just fine.  I'm not keen on testing that patch of sidewalk again at 22 kph!  The thing is, we just don't know the failure thresholds of these wheels in terms of hitting sudden bumps at certain speeds.  Anyone else want to test their Tesla going at 22 kph and hitting a couple of 1 inch bumps?  I've taken the Tesla off-road on some bumpy trails, and it's always been a good performer.  I don't know why a simple couple of bumps on a sidewalk would have ejected me.

My God Man! That poor wheel :cry2: 62-psi on a Gotway tire is like running on a tire made of steel. I run mine at the max listed pressure (45-psi) and that feels plenty firm.

The electronics probably can't handle that kind of vibration ;)

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