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Model S/X as a taxi or fleet vehicle
- Thread starter Steph
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- ev taxis Tesla Inc.
The problem I see with adoption for a taxi company is that the Taxi company is used to buying a $5000 'beater' and making it into a taxi. Spending $50,000+ on a new vehicle will be a stretch for many companies!
This might be better served on a thread called "Uptake of the Model S Taxi (fleet sales)"
While the upfront cost would be very high compared to other taxi's, the payback of a base model, and/or the 85kWh battery with unlimited mile warranty, could pay for itself rather quickly.
Hypothetically, if you drove 250 Miles a day and saved $50 in comparison to your "beater" that only gets about ~18MPG. In a month that's 50*30 (assuming you work everyday to pay off the ridiculously high priced taxi) *12= $18K/year. The 85kWh battery is nearly paid off! And you still have 7 more years of warranty left!
If you had working capital to purchase a fairly large fleet to cover a section of a normal city I could really see taxi companies jumping on board.
Wonder if TM has a fleet sales contact for this type of support?
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
I don't have mod privileges here, but I suggest we move it to a thread called 'Commercial uses for the Model S'. Because otherwise we'll end up with a ton of new threads, all discussing the same thing.
This discussion on commercial use of model S can be started elsewhere but it would be nice to keep it here. It allows investors to understand a bit better the potential of this company.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
The same could be said for a lot of the threads on the forum ... info about the factory, estimated delivery dates, etc. It's all helpful information for investors.
Why buy a gas guzzler when you can get the best car in the world for free?
Even if the headroom is a little short, who cares. I don't foresee many customer complain, maybe those giant football players but the average height of people in north-America is about 5'8". I am 6'1" and I'm used to be cramped in taxis. Model S will be great to be in, even if my head touches the roof a bit.
Agree. I would open a thread on "who" would benefit more commercially by leasing or buying a model S.
This is not about investing at all.
I'd say the S is fair for Taxi head clearance(a pano roof required) but a taxi has a very wide opening and is easy to get in and out of. Shoppers with packages tall people, large people, handicapped people all must be catered to. You have to make it easy as possible to enter and exit. Not that the S has any problems in this department, it just does not excel at this. A Roadster would make a terrible taxicab. A Van would be better.
ETA:
Having looked at the Taxicab wiki page I am totally wrong. Any car is used as a taxi. Some have great big back doors and sliding doors and some are super fuel efficient. An S would work fine. Though the limo and towncar market are more upscale and suited to Tesla's brand.
I'd say the S is fair for Taxi head clearance(a pano roof required) but a taxi has a very wide opening and is easy to get in and out of. Shoppers with packages tall people, large people, handicapped people all must be catered to. You have to make it easy as possible to enter and exit. Not that the S has any problems in this department, it just does not excel at this. A Roadster would make a terrible taxicab. A Van would be better.
ETA:
Having looked at the Taxicab wiki page I am totally wrong. Any car is used as a taxi. Some have great big back doors and sliding doors and some are super fuel efficient. An S would work fine. Though the limo and towncar market are more upscale and suited to Tesla's brand.
smorgasbord
Active Member
Some cities (e.g. here) have bylaws restricting the age of a taxicab, to avoid having everyone driven around in beaters.
If I was a taxi driver and you told me this car was "free" I'd laugh in your face. The car is not free. It costs between 60 and 90 thousand dollars, depending on trim line, and the lowest trim line does not have enough range, plus electricity, tires, whatever else. Anybody can put tires on, but only a Tesla tech can diagnose problems and repair the complicated stuff.
Now there is charging. A fleet can install a super charger and schedule charging efficiently, but an individual private taxi driver cannot afford a supercharger, so his car will be out of service at least 5 hours for charging for those 300 km of driving. Any time I take a taxi, if I ask, I find that the car has two drivers who trade off to keep the car in service. So instead of a car that operates 24 hours, you have a car that operates 19 hours. That's a 20% reduction in service time and revenue.
Apparently the first 4 years of annual maintenance is free (unlike the Roadster, where it's $600, compared to my Prius which gets a $38 oil change once a year). But after that, presumably it's $600 per year.
You are making an argument that the S will cost less to operate than a gas car, but you are simply being dishonest when you call it "free."
Finally, you are ignoring depreciation. You said, I think, that in Montreal, taxis must be new cars. That means they'll be sold early in their life. Buyers will be wary of the used high-mileage battery pack, so re-sale value might be low. That's a BIG hit on cost.
When I bought my Xebra the dealer was giving out a sheet showing how it would be the cheapest car ever to operate due to cost of electricity and lack of maintenance. It was actually the most expensive car I ever owned before the Roadster, per mile driven, due to the depreciation at re-sale.
The car is not free. You remind me of the promise of a "free" jar of designer popcorn when I bought my corn popper. It turned out to be a coupon good for 5 jars for the price of 4. It was not a free jar. It was a 20% discount on a purchase of 5 jars.
The S would make a very good taxi. But there are many trade-offs, not the least of which is a very high initial cost and uncertain re-sale value. And until people are convinced of the long-term reliability of the car, and the durability of the battery pack, adoption into taxi fleets will be slow.
Are you kidding??? Big Oil owns both parties. Regardless of which party wins, Big Oil will continue to receive billions of dollars a year in subsidies. Democrats and Republicans alike have kept these subsidies in place for decades. That's not going to change. Gas prices will rise as world demand outstrips production and we continue to burn the easiest-to-extract oil. But there's no way our gangsters (sorry... politicians) are going to cut the subsidies.
I demonstrated with numbers on the first post of this thread that the car is free for a taxi driving 300km per day and 300 days per year. If you want to argue on numbers, fine. But if you just throw words out of the blue just like that, the debate is not served.
When I say it's free, it means gas price are equal to the payments of the lease of the model S for an average taxi. Yes the car is "free".
Where does it say you need a supercharger? 40kw gives you 250km, the average taxi driver can top off at lunch to get the 50km he needs for the day or he could plug-in every time he is a his station. No taxi drives 300km in a row. If they do, then the supercharger will be there.
My cost analysis does not take into account maintenance. All point to a lower maintenance fee for EV's compare to ICE.
See above.
Yes, i am ignoring depreciation. My numbers are for a lease. Pure expense.
A Xebra??
See above.
It's free!
That's pure rhetoric.
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