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The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

teslamotors.com

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Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#31

Post by marshallp »

shortlived wrote: post #27
Gring wrote: post #16

"The Product Specialists (...) goal and the sole metric of their success is to have you enjoy the experience of visiting so much that you look forward to returning again." This is not the experience I had. Walked into a Tesla store, said I want to test drive a Roadster. Salesman went into that profiling mode that all car salesmen do constantly and no customer likes, asking me all kinds of questions to find out how mu…

How _should_ Tesla sales prevent any random techie from asking for a test drive?

They should simply have an upfront test drive fee. Book a test drive online.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#32

Post by cryptoz »

wmf wrote: post #28
salimmadjd wrote: post #26

I admire Musk and tesla. However, I see two paths for them and none are good. A - fully-electric cars are still too early and will get crushed by hybrids or more efficient diesel/fossil fuel cars. Tesla becomes irrelevent. B - fully-electric is all the rage, and every brand will have one. Tesla will become the victims of their own success. I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because…

Every brand may have electric cars using licensed Tesla technology .

Isn't that already the case? http://gigaom.com/cleantech/tesla-to-supply-powertrains-for-...

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#33

Post by marshallp »

ericdykstra wrote: post #14

Of course vested interests in old industries will do whatever they can to block innovation. We're seeing it with all major industry disruptions. It used to be enough for the vested interests to write laws to block out, limit, or otherwise hinder additional traditional competitors (taxi medallions, ridiculous license requirements for florists[1], etc). Now we're seeing these same groups try to initiate and bring in ne…

Hackers can defeat these entrenched interests. Set up online websites that work through these problems in a structured manner (like a mechanical turk for anti-corruption).

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#34

Post by HCIdivision17 »

sbierwagen wrote: post #23

In case your eye skipped over the “for free” part, I would like to emphasize that again – owning a Supercharger enabled Model S really does mean free long distance travel forever on our high speed charging network. I really wish they'd stop saying this. They're essentially committing to building a nationwide electric car charging infrastructure for $nodollars, and never charging customers to use it, ever. Which means…

My take on it is that it's being used to subsidize SolarCity. If the charging stations really are break-even in operating costs, then it could be a viable plan. At the least, I'd guess the stations are much cheaper than traditional gas stations, so proliferation may not be as expensive as it seems.

Then again, I'm not a business expert, so perhaps there's bookkeeping shenanigans here as well.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#35

Post by marshallp »

salimmadjd wrote: post #26

I admire Musk and tesla. However, I see two paths for them and none are good. A - fully-electric cars are still too early and will get crushed by hybrids or more efficient diesel/fossil fuel cars. Tesla becomes irrelevent. B - fully-electric is all the rage, and every brand will have one. Tesla will become the victims of their own success. I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because…

Tesla are the Apple of cars. Elon Musk is the new Steve Jobs. The other car companies will have non-tech retards as ceo's and will always be playing catch-up. Tesla only has to fear techie's like google or apple itself entering the space.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#36

Post by brk »

w1ntermute wrote: post #5
OldSchool wrote: post #3

He certainly presents a calm and thoughtful reply to dealerships, which they will certainly ignore. I can't see how Tesla can expect to afford free supercharger stations forever though. Maybe there are more failures that I'm not aware of, but generally I've noticed that full-size franchise automotive dealerships tend to last forever and are somehow tremendously profitable for their owners despite what looks like a ti…

> I can't see how Tesla can expect to afford free supercharger stations forever though. Because they sell more power back into the grid than they use up. I'm guessing they'll just add more solar panels (a fixed cost) as the number of charging stations at a given Supercharger goes up.

Because they sell more power back into the grid than they use up.

That doesn't make sense. The breakeven point for a solar panel is around 10 years (assuming you're using it solely for your own power generation purposes, that is how long it takes for the panel to "pay for itself" in offset electricity costs).

The charging stations are there to charge vehicles. To keep them breakeven on power (forget about land/rent/taxes/maintenance) they would need a field of solar panels.

Hardly seems like a logical approach.

My guess is more that they will sell "upgrades" to the vehicles, they mentioned the large touchscreen and upgradability in the article. Perhaps certain future software enhancements will be paid, in order to generate some residual revenues.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#37

Post by salimmadjd »

marshallp wrote: post #35
salimmadjd wrote: post #26

I admire Musk and tesla. However, I see two paths for them and none are good. A - fully-electric cars are still too early and will get crushed by hybrids or more efficient diesel/fossil fuel cars. Tesla becomes irrelevent. B - fully-electric is all the rage, and every brand will have one. Tesla will become the victims of their own success. I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because…

Tesla are the Apple of cars. Elon Musk is the new Steve Jobs. The other car companies will have non-tech retards as ceo's and will always be playing catch-up. Tesla only has to fear techie's like google or apple itself entering the space.

Althiugh agree with the visionary status of Musk. But, your comment speaks to my point directly regarding the differing customer acquisition models. Apple's growth comes from entering an emerging market. Very different than the car industry. The emerging market of the car industry started with another visionary, Henry Ford.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#38

Post by cryptoz »

marshallp wrote: post #35
salimmadjd wrote: post #26

I admire Musk and tesla. However, I see two paths for them and none are good. A - fully-electric cars are still too early and will get crushed by hybrids or more efficient diesel/fossil fuel cars. Tesla becomes irrelevent. B - fully-electric is all the rage, and every brand will have one. Tesla will become the victims of their own success. I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because…

Tesla are the Apple of cars. Elon Musk is the new Steve Jobs. The other car companies will have non-tech retards as ceo's and will always be playing catch-up. Tesla only has to fear techie's like google or apple itself entering the space.

I don't think Google will enter the space of actually building cars - but they most definitely will partner closely with some of these companies for their self-driving cars.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#39

Post by salimmadjd »

cryptoz wrote: post #32
wmf wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every brand may have electric cars using licensed Tesla technology .

Isn't that already the case? http://gigaom.com/cleantech/tesla-to-supply-powertrains-for-...

Actually, their deal with Toyota is a better example and ultimately might be the future of tesla

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#40

Post by gknoy »

brk wrote: post #36
w1ntermute wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't see how Tesla can expect to afford free supercharger stations forever though. Because they sell more power back into the grid than they use up. I'm guessing they'll just add more solar panels (a fixed cost) as the number of charging stations at a given Supercharger goes up.

Because they sell more power back into the grid than they use up. That doesn't make sense. The breakeven point for a solar panel is around 10 years (assuming you're using it solely for your own power generation purposes, that is how long it takes for the panel to "pay for itself" in offset electricity costs). The charging stations are there to charge vehicles. To keep them breakeven on power (forget about land/rent/t…

There are more ways to generate solar power than with solar panels. Presumably, they could invest in solar power plants. Heck, the highly illuminated towers of a solar power plant can be seen for miles, and could even be used for publicity: "Free power beacons on the road for Tesla cars..."
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