Market Currents
CNBC automobile industry reporter Phil LeBeau acknowledges unanswered questions on the ability...
-
Wednesday, February 20, 12:17 PM ETCNBC automobile industry reporter Phil LeBeau acknowledges unanswered questions on the ability of the Tesla Motors (TSLA -1.4%) Model S to ever be a mass market vehicles exist, but comes back from a test drive thoroughly impressed by the car and sees the possibility of it being a game changer. LeBeau on the Model S: "I am convinced that this car is proof a solely electric car can and ultimately will gain acceptance by American drivers."
Other date
Latest Consumer Articles
This news story has 18 comments:
Good to see an automotive expert admit that Tesla has a chance to succeed. I'm waiting for the inevitable "but."
Why is Model S a niche toy? Here in Chicago? RANGE. The Merc could tow a trailer. The Merc could haul the family up to Wisconsin for the weekend. The Merc could do duty running around the city all day or taking a trip to a nearby city. Stops for fuel take 5 minutes, not half a day (without Supercharger).
I'll say it again. I love driving the Model S, but it's not for everybody and it is very expensive.
The small-motor / largest battery version with options and garage charger? Budget about $85K. That's buys a pretty nice SUV, even for Mercedes. The similarly equipped high performance model runs around $105K all in.
Unless you're strictly driving it to work and back or to the grocery, you need a bigger battery, in my opinion.
And loads of people seem to forget the greatest thing about the EV. Most people only go on road trips a few times a year, and the rest of the year you never have to visit a charging station as the battery is always full every morning.
So instead of visiting the gas station 30-50 times a year, you visit a supercharger maybe 5-10 times a year. Why so many seem to overlook the best part of owning a EV comes from lack of experience :)
That's actually not true, as many Tesla drivers admit and was reported in the Consumer Reports review.
The range indicator gives an estimate of the miles remaining but unless you're driving in ideal conditions it's always going to be a significant over-estimate.
Driver beware.
D
Well, it IS true. You can easily get your average consuption up on the screen, and the average consuption tells you quite precisely how far you`ll be able to go.
Maybe you`ve overlooked the fact that there`s more than one way to predict range?
So I'll look at the range on the screen and then I'll go to my average consumption and when the results differ then what?
Which one should I trust? Should I take the average of the 2? Or the tangent? Or maybe the cosine?
Because this is the kind of stuff I love paying $85k to worry about.
D
It's called the blue star.
Out of all the car companies Tesla is the only one to actually obey the laws of economics and product introduction- start off with high priced items and move into moderately and cheaper items. Bad things happen when someone introduces a high cost item and skimps so that the masses can afford it. That's the flaw of Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Ford- they should have introduced it as their luxury line, not the econo line.
Yes, by then, hopefully the batteries would be cheaper and more charge stations on the road. Hope made in America will prosper by then.
Electric cars are a no brainer.
If EV's were the norm, and someone introduced an internal combustion engine, carrying 20 gallons of explosive and belching poisonous exhaust, needing unbelievable precision to run...it would never make it.
Not to mention, money spent on foreign oil pays our enemies handsomely...no oil dependence, no Al queda.
Also, based on their 10Q reports for Q2 and Q3, they only had 11,500 and 13,200 reservations respectively. Once they started production in Q2 they only picked up about 1,700 reservations until the end of Q3. At 400 per week that is only about a month of production for 3 moths of order taking. Not enough to fill their Q4 and 2013 production schedule. Orders will be the critical issue driving the company and that should be the focus for investors. Without adequate demand the company cannot survive.