Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk tells Bloomberg TV (video) that the automaker will start...

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Dan Fichana Comments (350)
 
Good call about Norway and germany

Imagine if gas in the US went to those prices- people would be jumping ship to EVs like crazy.

EVs specifically longer range EVs should do very well in Europe.

There was a graph a while ago that showed the competitiveness of EVs, but they stopped short of European prices, but if its extended, EVs are already competative in some European countries.
27 Feb, 09:40 AM Reply Like

Michael Bryant Comments (3494)
 
My German friend still uses her diesel car. German and Italian automakers have great technology for diesel engines. So how much would it take them to switch?
27 Feb, 09:41 AM Reply Like

weekendmoe Comments (135)
 
WHO has concluded that diesel exhaust increase the risk of cancer, and they`ve also concluded that gasoline exhaust most probably increase your risk of cancer.

Why people would buy diesel cars when research shows that it increases your risk of cancer is beyond me. But people live today and don`t care about their health tomorrow....

Fiat i.e. has stated quite clearly that the electric Fiat 500 is only a compliance car. They obviously have no faith in EVs, but they`ll be bankrupt soon anyways....
28 Feb, 01:37 PM Reply Like

Tony Petroski Comments (6373)
 
"Norway will be a target market initially..."

Who is the marketing guy at Tesla? Al Gore?

Norway is cold and batteries freeze there.

Roll out your target in Monaco.
27 Feb, 09:43 AM Reply Like

jeepeebee Comment (1)
 
Norway is a rich and environmentally friendy minded country...
27 Feb, 10:14 AM Reply Like

Michael Bryant Comments (3494)
 
So is Denmark.
27 Feb, 11:41 AM Reply Like

Michael Bryant Comments (3494)
 
But doesn't the climate in Norway stay milder than expected due to the North Atlantic Current moving warm water from the Gulf of Mexico toward the North Sea? Imagine if that current was shutdown due to Global Warming like in the movie The Day After Tomorrow.
27 Feb, 11:45 AM Reply Like

weekendmoe Comments (135)
 
Norway isn`t as cold as one would think. Of course, some places in Norway experience extended periods of below -15C, but i.e. Oslo (the capitol) seldomly have below -10C for long periods.
It`s not uncommon for places like "Røros" in Norway to experience -35 and below, but few people actually live there.

From what I`ve read it seems as large parts of Canada has a colder climate than Norway.

And one more thing; I read that Roadster owners who live places with cold climate actually experience less degradation than people in hot climates.

Here`s statistics for the temperatures in Oslo:
http://bit.ly/V9TKpc
27 Feb, 12:46 PM Reply Like

Hellz Comments (160)
 
Norway is filthy rich and has the largest EV subsidies in the world. The model S will almost be same price as a gas guzzler there
27 Feb, 06:08 PM Reply Like

weekendmoe Comments (135)
 
Model S starts at about 78.000USD in Norway.
For 78.000USD in Norway you can buy a well equipped Golf, Passat or Mondeo with a 2 liter diesel engine. A base line BMW 520 or Audi A6 is in the same price range.

BMW M5 and other Model S competitors cost about 300.000USD. The Norwegian goverment has understood that polluting should be punished, and zero emisson cars running on hydro power (like in Norway) is by far the best choice. Looking forward to getting those polluting gas guzzlers off the streets!

EVs on the road in Norway:
http://bit.ly/144UVpq
28 Feb, 01:32 PM Reply Like

123man Comments (257)
 
Norway is a relatively small country - range anxiety? - 85kw battery pack even @ 20% energy loss - who will have it? -
At its widest point it is 267 miles across - and here are some other interesting stats -
"If Norway were your home instead of The United States you would...
use 2.2 times more electricity
have 65.59% more chance at being employed
experience 44.44% less of a class divide
have 42.18% less chance of dying in infancy
make 26.29% more money
consume 25.09% less oil
have 21.19% less babies
spend 32.74% less money on health care
live 1.84 years longer
be 83.33% less likely to have HIV/AIDS - - -"
The electricity and oil use stats are particularly interesting -
27 Feb, 10:31 AM Reply Like

bbor55 Comments (109)
 
Must be pretty cold there... driving up electricitiy use on average, compared to say, South Carolina where I assume heat is used rarely.

21% less of a baby though.. they must have some funny looking children.
27 Feb, 11:14 AM Reply Like

Michael Bryant Comments (3494)
 
Norway uses a lot of hydroelectricity. Of course, they have the mountains for it.

I bet the employment is higher due to their oil industry.
27 Feb, 11:50 AM Reply Like

Steve Funk Comments (339)
 
Norway is the worlds second largest natural gas exporter and seventh largest oil exporter. Since they are blessed with mountains and rivers they have the luxury of 90% hydro electric generation. Norway is slightly larger than Boston metro area. So I don't think that this is going to be a huge volume breakthrough for Tesla. Rather ironic that Norway gets rich off selling oil and then can use their money to buy expensive EV's and charge them with hydro electric that the rest of the world does not have. Norway is very fortunate and I am happy for them, but you cannot translate anything that happens in Norway to general worldwide demand.
27 Feb, 12:37 PM Reply Like

123man Comments (257)
 
Norway is interesting on another front - they are extremely wealthy due to oil production and export and yet they are smart enough to use less and instead rely more heavily on electricity - cleaner, I suspect so -
27 Feb, 10:35 AM Reply Like

Cassina Tarsia Comments (259)
 
Norway already has the most electric vehicles per capita of any country on earth - all you naysayers need to catch up on what's happening here. This is the simple reason why Tesla is going there first.
27 Feb, 10:47 AM Reply Like

Michael Bryant Comments (3494)
 
They probably have the infrastructure for an electric vehicle. Few recharging stations make electric vehicles less in-demand in the U.S. Once we have the infrastructure, EVs will pick up. Bet electricity is cheaper than a gallon of gas.
27 Feb, 11:57 AM Reply Like

vshpun Comments (12)
 
Norway's taxation of carbon is not very friendly to ICE cars, especially ones with powerful engines. The EVs, on other hand, do not have any tax burden. As a result if this Tesla Model S costs less than comparable ECI cars, on par with the less up-scale vehicles.

BMW M5 costs in Norway three times more than Model S Performance model.

Model S with 60kWh battery costs the same as VW Passat TDI, while being more upscale and a larger car (5in wider and 5 in longer), with much better 0-60 acceleration (5.9s vs. 8.9s), having twice the luggage space, while costing more than 3 times less per mile to operate.

Norway is a country populated by practical people, and, perhaps, do not have journalists exhibiting "problems with precision and judgement" writing about EVs. The population of Norway is approx. 5.5 million people, but it has more than 1000 reservation for Model S.
27 Feb, 01:14 PM Reply Like