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It doesn't require a track to repeatedly accelerate and brake agressively a dozen times in a short period of time, an activity a relatively quick EV practically encourages with its silent operation:

"It makes all of its power at zero rpm, it has perfect traction control, it never squeaks the tires at all, and it's totallly quiet. So, every stop sign you go to, literally like 90% of the times I come to a stop, if it's a straight line ahead of me, I put my foot to the floor and you just get rubber-banded ahead, it's not anti... If I did that with the Testarossa, it was anti-social, I mean people could hear me three miles away when I would get on it on that car so it's just not something that you do every little corner on there." - John Carmack speaking about his Tesla Roadster [1]

I think most people won't expect to have to replace their brakes after a single charge worth of likely shenanigans.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L51eoUFp_YA

⬐ dpark

It doesn't take a track, just an aggressively inappropriate driving style. In a family sedan. :\

Flooring it between lights is stupid and unsafe and to the extent that it's causing massive brake fade you should detect it (and stop) unless your recklessness is accompanied by incompetence.

If you're driving so aggressively that you manage to destroy your brake pads in a few miles, you're either on a track or an utter moron.

⬐ newnewpdro

There's no shortage of jalopies throughout automotive history which would want their brakes serviced after a single agressive stop from highway speeds.

That was before they carried a floor full of batteries and accelerated with their peak torque from 0 RPM. This situation is exacerbated with the paradoxically affordable, massive, and quick (in a straight line) EVs.

It won't surprise me one bit if Tesla's first "budget" electric car for the masses cut enough corners to join that list. Skimping on things like brakes in favor of retaining impressive, car-selling acceleration and range figures.

⬐ dpark

It would surprise me very much if the Model 3 couldn’t handle a single stop from highway speed since it took 4 laps to fry the brakes at Laguna Seca.

⬐ newnewpdro

There's a big difference between brakes being worn to their service limit and wanting service due to runout caused by overheated pads depositing pad material on the rotor surface.

Most people (I suspect) would take a vehicle in for service when the brake pedal pulsates or the steering judders under braking. This is fairly easy to cause on heavy vehicles with undersized brakes.

We'll see what happens with the Model 3 as the numbers climb and we begin to get a real sense of just what Tesla has been selling to people.

⬐ greglindahl

Given that most Tesla owners rarely use the brakes, I suspect you won't find much of a problem. I have 40k miles on my car, and the original brake pads are in great shape.

⬐ newnewpdro

Possibly, but I presume you're driving a Model S or X?

It's already been noted by multiple reviewers that the regenerative braking of the Model 3 is less significant than previous models.

They did switch to a completely different motor architecture in part to cut costs, the two may be related.

Edit: More significantly there have been numerous reports of Model 3s disabling regenerative braking altogether due to thermal constraints in fairly normal climatic conditions like 68F ambient temps.

What I think is most likely is the Model 3 just won't have particularly good service intervals for the front brakes. They at least appear to have a performance-oriented brake configuration with four piston front calipers, they will probably just wear quicker than expected.

⬐ greglindahl

I don't observe very many Tesla owners braking aggressively -- you can easily accelerate aggressively and do almost all your braking with regeneration. Personally I have 40k miles, original brake pads in pristine condition.

I never knew Carmack was such a delinquent badass. And he's still a sports car hobbyist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L51eoUFp_YA