Oct

13

Tesla Motors, from Bud Conrad

October 13, 2007 |

TeslaI went to a presentation by Martin Eberhard, co-founder and President of Tesla Motors, on Wednesday. I've seen one of the eight cars built and it is slick: 0 to 60 in 3.86 seconds with no shifting. And Eberhard is a slick presenter. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered a car.
 
But they have a huge mountain to scale with gargantuan problems, not the least of which is the distribution and service. They have taken the unprecedented step of making a completely new car that is to be status symbol and new technology at once. It is a complete design from bumpers and fenders to suspension and the electronically controlled antilock breaks. I think they have bitten off too much. Battery technology is the latest lithium, but with stacks and stacks of cells, it is a huge battery. It takes all night to charge from a 220 electric dryer but does go for 250 miles. The electricity is cheap at pennies per mile. The car is expensive at over $100K. Divide that by 100,000 miles of useful life and you have capital costs of $1/mile.
 
Great breakthroughs in technology, but the take-out is a rich Asian car company with lots of dollars. Reminds me of Tucker Car that after WWII developed the best technology but was squashed by the big guys.

Alan Millhone adds:

Nice to see something new and innovative in the automotive area! My first car was a 1964 Mustang fastback that was raven black with a white interior, 289 H.P. and a Hurst shifter and Hurst mags. I ordered it from the factory for $3,105! I still have the original owner's manual, bill of sale and a sterling Mustang tie-tack (still on the card). The car is gone, but the memories of taking possession of that car at the dealership will stay with me like it was yesterday. America has always had a love for the automobile and I hope the Tesla will have its own following.

J.P. Highland remarks:

For $100,000 I would rather buy a Porsche Cayman and a Toyota Tundra, one for the fun and the other to be my workhorse.


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4 Comments so far

  1. dan howard on October 13, 2007 10:33 pm

    Electric-only vehicles are of no use to apartment dwellers above the first floor - there is no way to run a line from a wall socket to recharge the vehicle on ground level. Antilock brakes or no, only homeowners will find the Vectrix electric scooter ($11k) or this car possibly useful.

  2. Eric Blumenschein on October 14, 2007 5:52 am

    The battery is expected to have 100,000 miles of useful life not the whole car so your capital costs of $1/mile is just wrong. In addition, that website states, “After that point, the battery will see only gradual drops in performance over time.” In regards to charging the battery, from the website: “Plug your Tesla Roadster into its at-home charging unit, and you’ll be fully charged in about 3.5 hours. But we consider this a “worst case” for someone starting with a completely dead battery. Even after a 100-mile trip, you can be completely charged in less than two hours. ‘With a home charging station installed operating at 70 amps’”

  3. Bedford on October 14, 2007 9:55 pm

    The battery car is a century old. GM more recently tried the EV 1 which used lead acid batteries. The mass market probably wants a charge time of 10 minutes or less and that it is not in sight. That is why GM is going the fuel cell route. Electric battery cars will be niche vehicles until the faster charge is achieved. Check out the very expensive Venturi Fetish - it is on the internet.

  4. Greg Rehmke on October 14, 2007 10:10 pm

    Tucker: Squashed by the Big Auto Companies or by Big Government?

    Some years ago, after watching the movie, I researched the Tucker automobile. I argued that it wasn't so much the big auto firms hurt Tucker, but instead the SEC and other government agencies bent by the political influence of Michigan congressmen.

    The full articles is here. www.economicthinking.org/Americanhistory/tucker-greg.html

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