Posted on 03/04/2019 5:58:39 AM PST by artichokegrower
Tesla is abandoning its dealerships and slashing prices to survive after its monthly sales tanked by 77 percent since the December 31 cut in federal all-electric car subsidies.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Sat at a red light behind a Tesla the other day. The fit on the body was substandard. I was surprised.
“but, until you can drive 300-400 miles, and recharge in 10 minutes or less, and have abundant infrastructure to support that recharging, its a non starter.”
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And that battery has to perform at that rate throughout its lifetime. But that’s the problem with batteries: the older they get, the less charge they hold before they have to be recharged again. And they’re expensive to replace, and hazardous to the environment.
Tesla stock down $7 already today even with the positive SpaceX news over the weekend. Could be a good week for day trading.
That’s a lesser issue, as long as you are getting a decade or more out of the battery packs, which they can do... Yes there are limits to how many charge cycles a battery has, and yes, they do decline on how much charge they hold over cycles... but even combustion engines lose performance as they age.. unless rebuilt or replaced... as various wear and tear take place.
The real limitation on battery, is the same one that batteries got dropped in cars long long ago (yes there were electric cars in the early age of Autos, but Combustion beat them out of the market place, for the same reasons they are not a major player today).
As a commuter vehicle a full electric vehicle is fine, 50-100 miles between charges is fine for most folks just commuting to and from work... but the reality is cars are expensive purchases, so most folks are not going to or are willing to buy a vehicle that is limited, at least as their primary vehicle.... so a commuter only vehicle has limited appeal. A second vehicle, perhaps, or someone who is willing to accept their only vehicle will ONLY let them drive a limited range. That’s just not the major market.
Tesla attempting to mainstream their cars, will likely BK the company. They are going to go from a toy for the wealthy who enjoy status symbols, into, if they are successful, a commodity, which will destroy their margins, and they don’t have the capacity to produce vehicles in quantities to make it up in volume.
Tesla has as far as I can see it 2 exist strategies... electric does find a place in the market, enough for a big player to slurp them up.... or it doesn’t, and they go bankrupt, if they keep gunning for mainstream vehicles... the other option is to continue to be a niche player making high performances, high margin vehicles in low quantities.
Time will tell how this all plays out... But now that they have gotten rid of their “stores”, not that they had many to begin with, how do the propose to provide service to their vehicles if they are successful and mass market?
Etc etc... You buy an expensive exotic car as your toy/status symbol, you aren’t going to like not being able to get service.. but may tolerate it for the exclusivity... But you buy it as your main vehicle and you can’t get service or costs a fortune to be service, you will move on....
I don’t hate Tesla, or Elon, but until the recharge/infrastructure issues are dealt with, I just don’t see how you become more than just a niche player....
Saw one of the newly designed Tesla’s on the road over the weekend. Fugly! That’s what it was! Fugly! No wonder they’re losing sales. And, OUR money to boot!
SpaceX is a different outfit.
They are connected only by the person of Elon Musk.
SpaceX is privately held.
That said, at some point Musk may have to sell SpaceX to cover his personal liabilities.
Sorry, the facts say otherwise. Tesla would have gone under long ago without all the subsidies and free tax money to retail buyers. If it actually does become self sufficient, that doesn't change that fact. As long as it is getting freebies from us, it isn't self sufficient.
I find it interesting that people who make a LOT more money than I do, and can afford a much more expensive car than I, are entitled to thousands of dollars of taxpayer's money as a reward for buying a car.
While I consider electric vehicles to be as or more polluting than ICE and basically an environmental boondoggle, I have no problem with Tesla or any other EV maker selling them WITHOUT taxpayer money. IF and it's a big if, they can make & sell profitably a vehicle at a price people are willing to pay AND do it without money confiscated from taxpayers. That's not been the case.
Sorry, the facts say otherwise. Tesla would have gone under long ago without all the subsidies and free tax money to retail buyers.
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Sorry, but the facts are they could have stayed smaller and concentrated on the higher end and more expensive cars.
“Tesla is one of the most innovative companies in America.”
I’m not anti-Tesla though I’m anti-government-helps-Tesla.
What is particularly innovative in the Tesla cars? Maybe very good batteries but I’ll bet not much better than other car battery packages.
I’m all for people buying Teslas for whatever their reason. They’re stylish, fun cars.
Its easy to throw rocks at the guy, but I won’t. The amount of things he’s accomplished is just mind boggling. Amazon didn’t make money for forever. They focused on a superior user experience and a superior offering, and they delivered.
Seems to me Musk is doing the same thing with Tesla. Focusing on building the best car he possibly can. All the reviews I’ve seen are very very strong, and i’m seeing more and more Teslas in my corner of the world.
Regardless, the Tesla vehicle will not go away. Its too good a product. He’ll either get financing, somehow, or someone will take it over.
Well that’s conjecture, but nonetheless the facts are they wouldn’t be where they are now without taxpayer money. And that is wrong. I don’t care how Innovative or cool or anything else the company is they don’t get my money.
And they become crematoriums in accidents that those in regular cars would probably survive
Followed by a press release announcing the sale of a couple bridges, cheap ;-)
Tesla Model S is a 7 year old body design. For those in the high tech world where they trade in their iPhone every six months for the latest issue it makes no sense to be driving in yesterday’s dated technology.
Well that’s conjecture, but nonetheless the facts are they wouldn’t be where they are now without taxpayer money. And that is wrong. I don’t care how Innovative or cool or anything else the company is they don’t get my money.
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Tesla is playing by the rules of the game. They get the same opportunity as their competitors.
Your ire should be directed towards the politicians who made the rules.
Tesla would be smaller without the subsidies but they would have been much less affected than their competitors with cheaper products. Subsidies make up a much higher percentage on the cheaper cars.
Years ago I saw an old nudist magazine in which every interesting part of everybody pictured in the magazine had been airbrushed out so they looked like smooth featureless space aliens. That's what the front of the new Teslas look like. Horrible design.
But ugly cars appeal to the greenies, because they think that efficient cars should be ugly.
And the product is awesome. I really hope they’d sort things up.
Green always requires lots of taxpayer subsidizing green.
They have a good design with poor manufacturing and service.
Musk planned on a fully robotic factory that didn’t work and now they have stopgap processes.
GM tried that back in the 80s and found out people are pretty important to the production process.
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