The story of Elon Musk and GM's race to build the first mass market electric car

[Grendal]

I just posted a lengthy lament about how GM can't even sell the Volt with its amazing customer satisfaction. Now they think they can sell a 200 mile EV? Sorry. It's not going to happen. It's all talk and no action. Even if they do manage to build a few of these cars they won't sell them since they seem to have absolutely no clue how to sell the innovative products they already have. This is from a person who has only owned GM cars for the last 30 years. I have faith in Tesla to do what needs to be done. GM? Not so much.

- - - Updated - - -

Tesla Motors 'fell short' because the EPA changed their testing from 2-Cycle to 5-Cycle. Then they rated every Model S version at 90% of what they actually achieved driving them. Tesla won't try to just 'squeak by' with Model ≡ as some have suggested. They will blow away the 200 mile range barrier with the Generation III.

I'll bet Tesla has two battery packs just like they did with the Model S and X. I think the base version will EPA around the 200 mile mark and the larger pack will blow away the 200 mile barrier. Otherwise Tesla will be adding too much cost to the car and not make enough profit to justify the $35K price. When Elon makes one of his firm promises then I expect Tesla to do its very best to meet it. We'll see what happens soon.

 

[Jeff N]

GM's Triple Assault on Tesla -- Including a Range-Topping Cadillac Plug-In

 

[flashflood]

Microsoft's Triple Assault on the phone market. Ooo, I'm scared.

 

[Grendal]

GM's Triple Assault on Tesla -- Including a Range-Topping Cadillac Plug-In

The fact that this is a Street article tells you that this is just someone's opinion. He is looking for any excuse to justify his own desires for Tesla's future. GM will not have anything closely competitive to the Model 3 in the next 5 years. That is my opinion and I'm willing to bet on it too. GM can't even sell the Volt, and people LOVE the Volt. Why do they think they can create an EV that is even remotely competitive to the Model 3? GM answer to the Model S is the ELR and the sales of that car are worse than horrendous. They can't give that car away and it really looks good. The problem is that it pales in comparison to a Model S at the same price. Customer's know that it is just a Volt in nicer clothing for double the price.

 

[Breezy]

hahahahahaha. If by leap frog he means other ICEs.....ok.......silly GM. Can't wait to see this 200 range EV though.....

I imagine he's referring to other plug-in hybrids. Still, the Volt is already head and shoulders above other PHEVs so it would probably have been better to say "leave the competition in the dust."

- - - Updated - - -

I think it's pretty clear that GM will be first to market with a mass-market 200-mile EV. The Model S will be priced too high to be truly mass market. The GM BEV will likely be a FWD sub compact, and the Model 3 a RWD performance-oriented car.

So it's important to separate offering a 200-mile BEV from offering a Model 3 competitor. It's not the same thing. I don't see anything on the horizon from GM that competes with the Model 3.

 

[brianman]

I think it's pretty clear that GM will be first to market with a mass-market 200-mile EV.

Disagree. I don't think it's clear at all that GM even knows how to deliver an EV that it won't crush, much less one that has any "legs" with Tesla around.

 

[Jeff N]

I don't think it's clear at all that GM even knows how to deliver an EV that it won't crush

That's just silly. EV-1 was lease-only. GM doesn't have any lease-only electrified vehicles now so they couldn't crush the Spark EV, for example, even if they wanted to. Even BMW has now moved beyond lease-only and crushing EVs now that they have production EVs for regular sale.

The era of "lease-only crushers" has moved on from EVs to fool-cell vehicles except nobody will cry when the proverbial "H2-1" vehicles get crushed.

 

[Breezy]

Disagree. I don't think it's clear at all that GM even knows how to deliver an EV that it won't crush, much less one that has any "legs" with Tesla around.

Okay, well you're alluding to a good point there. GM's 200-mile BEV will have the potential to be mass market car, but it all depends on market response. They will build to demand and they aren't going to be putting out any forecasts of 100,000+ sales per year. The people will decide. Right now, GM is having a tough time building enough Tahoes and Escalades for the enlightened masses.

 

[igotzzoom]

I'm actually intrigued to see what the 200-mi BEV turns out to be. Consensus is that it's going to be some variation of the Sonic, which I think makes a lot more sense than the Spark EV, which while fun-to-drive, is really too small to be of much use to a lot of buyers. The key will be that it not sacrifice too much interior space in the process (like the first-gen Volt.) If the Soul EV had a 200-mi range, I'd probably buy one today, but 92 mi is still a tad shy of my comfort zone for a daily driver (my periodic commute is 100-mi round-trip.)

 

[Red Sage]

Cars like the Scion xB, Kia Soul, and Ford Transit Connect would be perfect on the Tesla Skateboard Platform as long range EVs.

Tesla Motors may release the Model ☰ with two, or three battery pack sizes. I imagine that 60 kWh and 85 kWh capacities are a given. I would hope for a high end 135 kWh battery pack. But it recently occurred to me that they could get away with just a single battery pack capacity if the numbers were right... I imagine that if they could reach the mythical $100 per kWh mark, that would translate to a 100 kWh battery pack, even at a base price of $34,900. Every trim level above that would be for accessories and features. So fully decked out, with leather, power everything, premium sound, panoramic roof, and AWD, would come to $49,900. Naturally, Supercharger access would be gratis. I'd like that. A lot.