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If this was half the price, say £3,500, I'd probably get one. The price seems wildly out of line with what you get. Also I wonder about modding - larger battery, a roof rack and a bright orange paint job to compensate for lack of safety features.
Its ugly! A key to Tesla's success is that its cars look like cars, not abominations. Many electric car makers seem to hate cars.
All elements of the car were made to be as perfectly symmetrical as possible and interchangeable.
The so-called abomination has a hope of driving poorer people from A to B, while your beauty pageant Tesla remains a car for the wealthy. Because for all the talks about environmentalism from Musk, he has never cared about that. He has never cared about bringing cheaper green transportation to the larger public. It's all about wealth.
Its ugly! A key to Tesla's success is that its cars look like cars, not abominations. Many electric car makers seem to hate cars.
It's ugly because it was made to be as cheap as possible. For example, the "passenger" side door is the same door as the driver side, so the driver's door opens like a suicide door, while the passenger one opens like a conventional door. All elements of the car were made to be as perfectly symmetrical as possible and interchangeable. The so-called abomination has a hope of driving poorer people from A to B, while you…
This is not Musk specific. Legacy automakers can’t bring cheap EVs to market that compete with Teslas either. They are glorified golf carts because they must be. Cheap out on batteries and motors and your warranty reserves and costs are exorbitant and destroy profitability, so you cheap out on fit and finish (Tesla does, and demand is still…robust) or safety (not great!). Go Google for what the Porsche Taycan battery warranty requires for it to remain in effect, and this is a premium vehicle supposedly.
Regarding “it’s all about wealth”, let’s set aside who Musk is for a moment and reflect on a $1B global dc fast charger network (“Superchargers”) and an EV manufacturing flywheel that continues to ramp (approaching 3 million units built and sold pa), together which has convinced major nation states to enact or pull forward their new vehicle combustion vehicle sales bans. Someone can be a pathological liar and greedy and yet have moved the needle. Tesla’s board recognized that he was irreplaceable, and that’s likely true. Obsessive people are motivated but there are costs personality wise.
High level, let’s recalibrate Tesla to not be just Elon Musk. Consider that he brought the funding, he ran the ship through the storm, but humble JB Straubel was the CTO and was a significant component in Tesla’s success (wrt battery engineering and manufacturing), along with countless decent, passionate engineers and ancillary roles over two decades. Tesla =! Musk. There is nuance.
(Tesla is building their own lithium refinery in Texas to drive down battery costs; point me to an automaker that is doing the same, they can barely source batteries at the scale they need)
> it has zero airbags. No crash crumple zones. Not a single electronic safety aid. It doesn't even have anti-lock brakes
FWIW, that's wrong: only people born before 1985 ~ (i don't know the exact date) don't need any license. People born after that do require a license, which is much much lighter than standard driving license in France, but still requires several hours (I think it takes a whole day?), which I think is equivalent to what actual driving license in some countries.
Its ugly! A key to Tesla's success is that its cars look like cars, not abominations. Many electric car makers seem to hate cars.