Red Sage
The Cybernetic Samurai
Tesla Motors is not a luxury car company. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, AUDI, Acura, Infiniti, Lexus... All of those are marketed as luxury marques. In fact, if you go to their websites, almost every single traditional automobile manufacturer from Chevrolet to Ford, Honda to Toyota, or Hyundai to Kia posts the word 'luxury' all over the place. Stop by the Tesla Motors website and it doesn't appear there at all. Not in their brochures, not in their e-mails, not in their press releases, not on twitter, or YouTube, or Facebook, or Veoh, or Vimeo... Tesla Motors sells premium electric cars that are currently cost a lot to buy, are fun to drive, and don't burn any gas. The Model S and Model X are expensive, performance, economy cars. The Tesla Model ≡ will be an affordable, performance, economy car series.
No. The reason why Elon Musk opened up the patents held by Tesla Motors is that he realized the traditional automobile manufacturers had no interest whatsoever in pursuing electric cars in a manner that was not limited, gimped, or just plain stupid. He got the patents to begin with because he was afraid larger companies would attempt to steal the market from under them. He now realizes they had no intention of doing that at all. They believed their own negative propaganda, that Tesla was just angling to get themselves bought pit by a larger entity, in order to 'save' the company, and get a payday for its principles. They never once believed that Elon was being honest and sincere in his quest to build affordable, long range electric cars that were compelling.
Opening the patents was not done for the sake of the 'big boys'. It was done in order to foster the efforts of smaller, fledgling EV companies. It was to make it so that they no longer have to reinvent the wheel just to avoid being sued by Tesla Motors. As long as they operate in good faith, with an intention to make fully electric cars with the technology, instead of hybrids, and strive to release vehicles with over 200 miles of range, they have nothing to fear. Tesla Motors finally realized that trying to get the traditional automobile manufacturers to switch to electric drive was like going to a major livery stable company in the late 19th century and trying to get them to invest in the horseless carriage. It is better to set up a separate, parallel electric vehicle industry that usurps the existing ICE automotive industry.
If the current cost of batteries for Tesla Motors is ~$200 per kWh today... Then the batteries from the Gigafactory, yielding a 30% cost improvement from the outset, will be ~$140 per kWh... THREE YEARS FROM NOW. That beats the hell out of the skeptical ANALysts' projection of $167 per kWh in ten years. Even if Tesla's price for batteries is currently as much as ~$238 per kWh, they will beat that 'report' on day one of the Gigafactory by being under the $167 per kWh mark that guy predicted for circa 2025.
Thus, a 60 kWh battery pack in a $34,900 vehicle would represent roughly 24% of its cost. I believe Tesla Motors will do better than that. And as the Gigafactory ramps up production, it will only improve over time, and well ahead of skeptical observations and prognostications. Wouldn't it be nice if the car debuted with a 100 kWh battery pack standard at $34,900 with Supercharging included in a car every bit as well appointed as a Lexus ES?
So why was this article written? Oh, yeah... Click bait.
No. The reason why Elon Musk opened up the patents held by Tesla Motors is that he realized the traditional automobile manufacturers had no interest whatsoever in pursuing electric cars in a manner that was not limited, gimped, or just plain stupid. He got the patents to begin with because he was afraid larger companies would attempt to steal the market from under them. He now realizes they had no intention of doing that at all. They believed their own negative propaganda, that Tesla was just angling to get themselves bought pit by a larger entity, in order to 'save' the company, and get a payday for its principles. They never once believed that Elon was being honest and sincere in his quest to build affordable, long range electric cars that were compelling.
Opening the patents was not done for the sake of the 'big boys'. It was done in order to foster the efforts of smaller, fledgling EV companies. It was to make it so that they no longer have to reinvent the wheel just to avoid being sued by Tesla Motors. As long as they operate in good faith, with an intention to make fully electric cars with the technology, instead of hybrids, and strive to release vehicles with over 200 miles of range, they have nothing to fear. Tesla Motors finally realized that trying to get the traditional automobile manufacturers to switch to electric drive was like going to a major livery stable company in the late 19th century and trying to get them to invest in the horseless carriage. It is better to set up a separate, parallel electric vehicle industry that usurps the existing ICE automotive industry.
Tesla Motors will never used 'independent franchised dealerships'. For now, while they are still fighting for the right to open up Service Centers, Tesla Stores, and install Superchargers nationwide, they must at least make it seem as if the door is open to the possibility of using the traditional dealership model. In reality, they will never have to do so.
That would be the ticket.
If the current cost of batteries for Tesla Motors is ~$200 per kWh today... Then the batteries from the Gigafactory, yielding a 30% cost improvement from the outset, will be ~$140 per kWh... THREE YEARS FROM NOW. That beats the hell out of the skeptical ANALysts' projection of $167 per kWh in ten years. Even if Tesla's price for batteries is currently as much as ~$238 per kWh, they will beat that 'report' on day one of the Gigafactory by being under the $167 per kWh mark that guy predicted for circa 2025.
Thus, a 60 kWh battery pack in a $34,900 vehicle would represent roughly 24% of its cost. I believe Tesla Motors will do better than that. And as the Gigafactory ramps up production, it will only improve over time, and well ahead of skeptical observations and prognostications. Wouldn't it be nice if the car debuted with a 100 kWh battery pack standard at $34,900 with Supercharging included in a car every bit as well appointed as a Lexus ES?
So why was this article written? Oh, yeah... Click bait.
