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Tesla Needs a Gasoline Vehicle to be Profitable

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From Tesla's press releases:

ABOUT TESLA
Tesla Motors' (NASDAQ: TSLA) goal is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport with a full range of increasingly affordable electric cars. California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs, as well as EV powertrain components for partners such as Toyota and Mercedes. Tesla has delivered over 15,000 electric vehicles to customers in 31 countries.

Don't see anything there about how an ICE or a Hybrid could "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport". 'nuf said.
 
This is simply a wish that Tesla takes on a gasoline-powered car, destroying their unique market advantage, and thus destroy itself. Ain't gonna happen.

Wall Street Journal:

Tesla Board Member Calls BMW's Electric Car an 'Odd Duck' - Speakeasy - WSJ

In an interview on Fox Business Network’s (FBN) “Money w/Melissa Francis, Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson spoke about the company’s potential plans and said “hybrid cars are not Tesla’s future.”

And the reason is a hybrid car is not an electric car. It’s a common misperception. You have the worst of both worlds in many cases, a gas engine and a battery, all the complexity, all the maintenance, all of the tradeoffs that occur in a hybrid car. It’s what Elon calls an amphibian in a transition from dinosaurs to mammals. It’s an interesting transition species,” Jurvetson said, referring to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Regarding the BMW i3 electric car scheduled to arrive next year, Jurvetrson indicated the car is not a threat to Tesla’s vehicles in part because BMW appears to lack true enthusiasm for electric cars.
 
At this time, I don't think Tesla should invest any resources on a hybrid or extended-range electric vehicle. They first need to complete their Supercharger network, and get the Model X and Gen III out. If they can avoid a gasoline-powered vehicle/EREV altogether, that would be a huge accomplishment.

Agree 100%. In my opinion Tesla differentiate from other automakers because it never built ICE cars. This is a unique feature for Tesla and, in my opinion, if Tesla lost this feature the brand wouldn't be appreciated so much as it is now and as it will be in the future.

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This is simply a wish that Tesla takes on a gasoline-powered car, destroying their unique market advantage, and thus destroy itself. Ain't gonna happen.

Well said Doug.
 
As usual, this attests to the fact that finance guys should not be in charge of product planning.

The article is based on a JD Powers report from Oct 2010 which invariably depends on data gathered before that. That was written in a world before the Tesla Model S and even before the launch of the Nissan Leaf. We already know that the estimates on automotive grade lithium ion batteries at that time were way off. Matter of fact, the 2010 estimates for what lithium ion battery pricing would be in 2020 was probably already achieved by Tesla with the Model S.

Even these folks were way off in 2012:
Battery technology charges ahead | McKinsey & Company


The raw cell costs to Tesla for a Model S is likely already in the $200/kWh range and Tesla charges the customer an overall battery price in the $300/kWh range. The McKinsey report says $200/kWh for the battery by 2020 and assumes the current price is $550-650/kWh. Tesla is likely to achieve < $250/kWh that in the next few years. If you look at the McKinsey chart, $250/kWh battery pack and $3.50/gallon gas is well within the "Battery-electric vehicles are competitive" area.