Milestones compared to other car startups

Kardax · Apr 2, 2009

Kevin Harney said:
also depends on if you count the number sold or the number delivered. Model S has already past all the same numbers if you only count the deposits. But that is not really fair. Model S and Roadsters combined would put us past RAV4 and EV1 already.

You don't even have to combine them... new orders are still coming in for the Roadster even as the existing ones are being filled. So I think in terms of "total orders", the Tesla Roadster is already ahead of the RAV4EV and EV1. Or extremely close.

I think actual vehicles delivered are more important... it's pretty easy to rack up a large number of orders on hype alone; it's the deliveries that separate the players from the posers in this game.

-Ryan

vfx · Apr 2, 2009

Kardax said:
... it's pretty easy to rack up a large number of orders on hype alone...

Easy? At $9,000 a pop!?

Kevin Harney · Apr 3, 2009

How many orders do they have for the Roadster that are unfilled ? I have not heard that number increasing lately. But If they are putting out 20-30 cars a week and that number is constant that is a good thing.....

graham · Apr 3, 2009

I do not believe they have announced their Roadster waiting list numbers recently. I would expect that (in the current economic climate) it is probably not growing as fast as they are delivering cars. This may still change as they get closer to the end.

Palpatine · Apr 3, 2009

If you are just counting orders, Aptera has over 4,500 orders at $500 per deposit.
That is limited to only California customers. They do not even accept orders from other states.
If they opened it up nationwide, I suspect they would get 20,000 orders at $500 per deposit.

They are scaling their factory to produce 4,000 per year.

vfx · Apr 12, 2009

The published park of this book talks about the Electric Citi Car and delivering of 2.300 cars through dealerships all across America.

If this tale is true then Tesla is third after the EV1 not second.

Within months, the CitiCar -- two feet shorter than the VW Beetle -- was born, midwived in the middle of an Oil Embargo. Americans panicked about their fuel-dependent autos. The media found their way to Beaumont: Newsweek, People Magazine, Time, Popular Mechanics. And TV crews. And commentators. Beaumont and his electric CitiCar hit sound-bite heaven. People queued in line to buy. Dealerships spread across the United States. Eventually, nearly 2,300 would be shipped -- not to back-alley wannabe EV hobbyists -- but to prestigious car dealerships. Soon, the perky little car was on America's showroom floor.

The car captured the public's imagination. Millionaires lined up to finance Beaumont's dream. The U.S. Government opened its coffers. A major battery company, and a multinational conglomerate staked this one-man-dream of an automotive revolution. Soon Congress came calling. They wanted Beaumont as an expert witness.

Yes it's a punishmnet car (especially if you read the crash results and quotes like

People want comfort, ease, style, and speed. None of these exist in the CitiCar."

It's almost as if the Citi Car is the Poster child of Punishment cars with a lot of the Electric Car bashing quotes we hear originating from this one car.

But the point of this thread is volume. How many cars Tesla has to sell to have the largest number of production EVs sold.

Other amusing stoies include the founder going on to try a hot sports car the Tropica Roadster.

This is priceless:

One day, industrial designer Jim Muir read a clip about the car and saw immediately -- it was God-awful ugly. He called Beaumont; scheduled a meeting, unveiled a slick eye-catching electric cheese-wedge wrapped in football-helmet-strength plastic -- and Beaumont walked onto the Florida factory floor and halted production.

What the heck did it look like BEFORE??!!!

And then there is this:

the U.S. Government paid $13.5 million dollars for two electric cars ...Beaumont had offered them 500 cars for 1.7 million dollars. He was turned down.

I hope we get it right this time.

The book looks like it might be a fun (non factual?) read. There is a used one at Amazon for $120!

graham · Apr 12, 2009

vfx said:
If this tale is true then Tesla is third after the EV1 not second.

Third or second of what? The top speed of the CitiCar was 39 mph, so this was a golf cart, not a highway capable car...

But the point of this thread is volume. How many cars Tesla has to sell to have the largest number of production EVs sold.

If that is the case, we need to add in the numbers of all the GEMs, the ZENNs, the golf carts etc....

However your point is valid. The CitiCar was a low-volume startup, and reasonable to add to our list of milestones, regardless. I am not sure about the "third after EV1 part" though.

Kevin Harney · Apr 15, 2009

So have we passed the number of Rav4's SOLD ?!?!?! Looks and sounds like it ....

dpeilow · Apr 15, 2009

Ah yes - I was going to post this and forgot. I saw the same thing posted in a comments section elsewhere yesterday. Looks like Tesla may now have the most sold highway-capable EVs.

Kevin Harney · Apr 15, 2009

That seems like it would be a worthy press release !!!! Why does TM try to sweep these things under the rug. Or more to the point not take advantage of them. They are important milestones in progressing the advancement on EVs. Gives them future credibility. Confused by this behavior ?!?!?!!?!?!

rsquared99 · Apr 15, 2009

I'm not sure what advantage it would be for TMC to brag about small milestones when they are trying to portray themselves as a small company growing large. Better to leave it to us "fan boys" to point out these things. :biggrin:

doug · Apr 15, 2009

rsquared99 said:
I'm not sure what advantage it would be for TMC to brag about small milestones ...

I basically agree. I think it's better Tesla wait till they meet their own self defined milestones, such as 500th car delivered, and then reinforce it with a "most highway-capable EVs sold" statistic. Probably better as part of a larger press release that includes some other news as well.

Off topic: I should mention that within this forum, we tend to use TMC to refer to us, Tesla Motors Club, and TM to refer to Tesla Motors. Outside the forum, TMC likely means Toyota Motor Corporation (or perhaps an optical table vendor for those who work with lasers). Btw, Tesla Motors the company is officially "Tesla Motors, Inc." which might be abbreviated as TMI, but that (like this post) would be too much information. :wink:

graham · Apr 19, 2009

How many of the Ranger EVs were sold? That is a number we haven't been tracking on this list.

With more Teslas on the road than most other electric cars, it seems like many places which put in EV charging back in the day might be convinced to consider adding an HPC

TEG · Apr 19, 2009

graham said:
How many of the Ranger EVs were sold?

The number is rather fuzzy... Perhaps a few hundred. Like the Rav4EV, many were fleet leases, and many were crushed and never sold after the lease was up. Some lease returns were eventually sold though.

This article said:

Most of the 1,500 Ranger EV's went to commercial fleets, but Ford also leased about 200 to individuals and sold a few. Only 180 or so remain in fleets; about a dozen are still in private hands.

TEG · Apr 19, 2009

This article said:

...Ford built around 1500 electric Rangers and sold them from 1998 to 2002 to a relatively few private individuals and a number of fleet customers. Today, less than 100 have avoided the crusher...

Tessier · May 15, 2009

Production #'s?

Any update on how many roadsters have been delivered to date? I know they are still a long way off from production on the Model S but you would think they would keep up with the press releases to keep them selves in the eyes of the Media. American is well known for our short attention span I think Tesla would be better off jumping at every chance they get to say look at me look at me since they are trying to be the leader of am emerging market.

graham · May 15, 2009

Last week they mentioned in an interview that they had delivered more than 400 Roadsters. I imagine they will make some sort of announcement when they hit 500. Probably within the next 4 weeks or so at this pace if they run into no snags.

WarpedOne · May 15, 2009

About 400.
Number 500 is supposed to be acompanied with a small or big delivery party as it should be.

Tdave · May 15, 2009

That's also the end of the 2008 model year. 2010 cars have already begun production in Hethel.

vfx · May 15, 2009

graham said:
Last week they mentioned in an interview that they had delivered more than 400 Roadsters. I imagine they will make some sort of announcement when they hit 500. Probably within the next 4 weeks or so at this pace if they run into no snags.

Remember that there were 27 Founders cars so VIN#473 is the celebration number.

Milestones compared to other car startups

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