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2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

automobilemag.com

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Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#31

Post by salimmadjd »

Tesla is still a niche luxury car, and I still think they will not remain in business in their current form. Several top-name brands are hot on their heels which will put a lot of pressure in their customer acquisition prospects.

As for the Automobile endorsement, I don't like how they are misleading consumers with their data. The test vs. M5 was designed to take account Tesla's sweet spot of performance, "...drag race to 100 mph with a 560-hp BMW M5". At 0-60 M5 will beat Tesla, and Telsa hits the top speed 130 mph and M5 is limited at 155. So it's really around 100-120 mph where Tesla has the edge. This doesn't even include racing them on a track to include handling aspect of a car. I would have preferred the article stating something like:

in one aspect, Tesla is even faster than the BMW M5, the drag race to 100 mph.

In general I'm seeing a downtrend among publications when it comes to educating consumers, especially educating them on how to think about data. This will have a long-term consequence on how consumers can be duped by faulty advertising, especially with political ads.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#32

Post by salimmadjd »

Tesla is still a niche luxury car, and I still think they will not remain in business in their current form. Several top-name brands are hot on their heels which will put a lot of pressure in their customer acquisition prospects.

As for the Automobile endorsement, I don't like how they are misleading consumers with their data. The test vs. M5 was designed to take account Tesla's sweet spot of performance, "...drag race to 100 mph with a 560-hp BMW M5". At 0-60 M5 will beat Tesla, and Telsa hits the top speed 130 mph and M5 is limited at 155. So it's really around 100-120 mph where Tesla has the edge. This doesn't even include racing them on a track to include handling aspect of a car. I would have preferred the article stating something like:

in one aspect, Tesla is even faster than the BMW M5, the drag race to 100 mph.

In general I'm seeing a downtrend among publications when it comes to educating consumers, especially educating them on how to think about data. This will have a long-term consequence on how consumers can be duped by faulty advertising, especially with political ads.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#33

Post by CamperBob2 »

kalininalex wrote: post #27
CamperBob2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big Tesla fan, but I disagree. The only way electric cars can possibly make sense is if the batteries are swappable. The electric cars being built now are evolutionary dead ends, IMHO.

The battery on Model S IS swappable, in fact quick-swappable, at least per Reuters ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/idUS24518959652011... )

I actually didn't know that. Interesting, will read some more.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#35

Post by sahaj »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #14

They need a lot more dealerships. Look at the map of their dealers and there's a huge hole in the middle of the country. A couple in Chicago, one in Denver, and one in Houston. That's it. If you live in say Tennessee you're looking at close to a 10 hour drive to even see one. http://www.teslamotors.com/locations

It's a population thing along with limited monetary resources.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#37

Post by Xcelerate »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #23
martythemaniak wrote: post #6

Even if Tesla do not survive, ten years from now every new electric car will be a descendant of the Model S in all the major ways - floor-mounted battery pack, lack of physical buttons, etc.

I'm a big Tesla fan, but I disagree. The only way electric cars can possibly make sense is if the batteries are swappable. The electric cars being built now are evolutionary dead ends, IMHO.

If room-temperature superconducting ever becomes a reality, then each car will be loaded with a SMES unit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnetic_energy...) that charges instantly.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#38

Post by jblow »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #23
martythemaniak wrote: post #6

Even if Tesla do not survive, ten years from now every new electric car will be a descendant of the Model S in all the major ways - floor-mounted battery pack, lack of physical buttons, etc.

I'm a big Tesla fan, but I disagree. The only way electric cars can possibly make sense is if the batteries are swappable. The electric cars being built now are evolutionary dead ends, IMHO.

The "Supercharger" already works pretty well. It's the first attempt at such a thing. I would expect that maybe subsequent attempts would be even better?

So I don't understand why you are saying "the only way they can possibly make sense" is if the batteries are swappable. There is already sort of an existence proof otherwise, in California, right now.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#39

Post by prostoalex »

jblow wrote: post #38
CamperBob2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big Tesla fan, but I disagree. The only way electric cars can possibly make sense is if the batteries are swappable. The electric cars being built now are evolutionary dead ends, IMHO.

The "Supercharger" already works pretty well. It's the first attempt at such a thing. I would expect that maybe subsequent attempts would be even better? So I don't understand why you are saying "the only way they can possibly make sense" is if the batteries are swappable. There is already sort of an existence proof otherwise, in California, right now.

I think he's referring to 8-year lifetime of the battery pack. Current car economics (used market, resale value, TCO) don't work as well when a few years down the road the car turns into a brick.

Re: 2013 Automobile of the Year: Tesla Model S

#40

Post by prostoalex »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #14

They need a lot more dealerships. Look at the map of their dealers and there's a huge hole in the middle of the country. A couple in Chicago, one in Denver, and one in Houston. That's it. If you live in say Tennessee you're looking at close to a 10 hour drive to even see one. http://www.teslamotors.com/locations

Tesla will not do dealerships, only direct-to-consumer sales http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/tesla-approach-distributing-...
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