Preorders approaching 400,000

[CButterK]

What ICE cars are comparable to the Volt in terms of size, capacity, fit & finish, level of luxury, etc? What then is the 'EV' premium that someone has to pay for the EV aspects of a Volt?

2016 Chevy Cruz, which looks very similar to the new 2017 Chevy volt, also has very similar dimensions and performance to the Volt as well, and starts at $16,620, to the volts starting price of $33,220. So, one can argue the "EV Premium" is $16,600... Basically double the price of it's ICE counterpart!

 

[GoTslaGo]

How many M3s is Tesla supposed to produce a year? A 100,000 M3S a year means these people in the 400s won't see their car until 2022. Who is going to wait four years to get a car? I was a day one reservation and I'm giving Tesla until end of 2018 then I'm dumping the reservation. I simply can't wait three to fours years for a car and by then there probably will be something better.

A more affordable option by then will be a CPO Model S. Earliest models will be 5-6 years old. Earliest APs will be 3 years old. Friend of mine is already planning to trade in his 85D with AP for a loaded 3, once they come out. He prefers smaller cars.

 

[Steepler2k]

Will any of those iterations magically cause a nationwide charging network to suddenly appear out of thin air?

Nothing at all to worry about. Tesla has a true monopoly with the Model 3 for N+2-3 years, where N equals however many years another provider takes before committing to a strong, nationwide charging network.

There's still the option of buying into Tesla's network, to reduce the time involved in "N".

 

[S'toon]

I don't think Chevy actually wants to compete with the Model 3. I also don't think they'll produce 30k of them before mid-2017. If the Bolt really takes off maybe that will change, but my personal opinion is that the Volt is a much more practical vehicle. I know there are people completely averse to ICE, but they make up a very small proportion of the population.

I think if GM were serious about the Bolt making a competition with Tesla then they'd put an effort into building a charging station infrastructure. But GM has outright said they won't do that. So the Bolt is just a compliance vehicle which they're pretending is a real effort into building a competitive EV. It's the EV-2. "Oh we built an EV, nobody wanted it. <shrug> Oh well. EVs are a vehicle nobody wants. We'll just go ahead and build a bunch of gas guzzlers."

 

[EVie'sDad]

I think this says more about Chevy than it does about electric cars. I have seen a couple of "Bolt is better than Model ≡" pieces, so maybe they are putting an effort into propaganda.



The Volt didn't exactly fly off the shelves in 2015. 15,232 sales in the US, I bet there were more Model ≡ pre-sales just while Elon was talking.
The Volt is a nice car, it just needs a better parent.

Thank you kindly.

It was GM who killed the EV1 platform, collected and crushed all the cars from their owners and now they want us to forget that? I didn't even own one, but feel they have done nothing but stifle the development of alternative vehicles for the past 50 years. I don't care if they make the best car on the planet, I'm not buying what they're selling.

 

[Jayc]

I think Elon and his team will be thinking about a new delivery plan. As the article says, Tesla has earned itself a great position with 400k pre-orders and a cleverly designed car which, in marketing terms, is precisely targeted at a certain demographic. Now the ball is in Tesla's courts and the way they go from this point onward will decide how well they can capitalize on their initial success. More than wishful thinking, I honestly believe Tesla will be drawing out a clever plan to expedite production throughput because in reality it is unlikely that those who pre-order today will actually wait for 3+ years for their car. They might be determined to do so now at the point of pre-order but as time goes, people will find it hard to wait - this happens in most situations where people wait for the next generation of a car etc...

 

[GSP]

This is another issue, yes. Even if we assume that the Bolt sells 50,000 vehicles by the end of 2017 is that enough incentive for the private companies installing CCS to build out a strategic charging network within a reasonable amount of time?

IMHO, the answer is absolutely not.

I agree.

Automakers had to put tens of millions of diesel cars and light trucks on the road before the economics were compelling enough for many gas stations to add a diesel pump or two. Those vehicles have to buy 100% of their fuel from gas stations, while EVs can get 90-99% of their fuel at home, at less cost and more convenience. It may take 100 million EVs before third parties find it profitable to install EV fast charging networks. Tesla's business model of using profits from car sales to pay for fast charging stations is the only business model that will work with a small number of cars on the road.

GM's plan to leave fast charging stations to third parties will almost certainly be a failure. However the Bolt EV will still be compelling enough to meet their modest sales goals and keep them in compliance with government regulations, but nothing more.

GSP