Norbert
TSLA will win
Agreed its nice not to have to stop at gas stations. However, do you believe that Tesla's helped or hurt the brand by ascribing an imputed default value of $100/hour to waiting at gas stations so as to imply the net value of a psuedo-lease is $500/month? :wink:
Probably this question is meant more as a rhetoric one, however I thought about what an honest answer would be. I think Tesla's situation is that they'd like to sell more than about 20,000 this year. The Model S appeals only to a certain percentage of customers in the first place, but many don't even know about it yet. They recently added a second option, in the calculator, for business use. It appears it is targeted to appeal especially towards specific groups. In order to get attention which includes these groups, they need to get widespread media attention, also to leverage the step into profitability Tesla has just made. The calculator includes a clear number for the monthly payment itself, so I think talking about potential "brand damage" is way overblown and part of the anti-EV sentiments which make it into the EV community itself. Expect Elon to play more attention-getters in the future, as Tesla is still widely unknown and (free) media attention is crucial for laying a fundament for the future. Early adaptors are often ready to buy a new product from a new company, however many people need to become familiar with the idea of buying an electric car from Tesla, at an early point, before they might then suddenly make a buying decision in 2014 or 2015.