Tesla Reports a Profit (Sorta) While Elon Musk Regrets Mentioning Hyperloop

Post by marssaxman » Thu, Aug 08, 2013, 11:23 PM UTC

mparr4 wrote: post #22

mtgx wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving may be a bigger revolution in the end, but getting everyone off oil is also a huge revolution on its own. Yes, I know they're not the only ones to have an electric car ever, but without Tesla everyone would be dragging their feet with this. Heck, they are still doing that. Just look at BMW i3. BMW is still treating electric cars as some sort of "concept cars" for the mass market, rather than "real cars"…

I'm not quite sure if the Tesla is to electric cars as Apple is to smartphones analogy works just yet. Perhaps it will, but I live in the US and have still never even seen a Tesla vehicle. I've seen Nissan Leafs and Chevrolet Volts. My town even has charging stations. Maybe that's how things will shake out, but I don't think they're there yet.

It must be a local thing. Here in Seattle, I see a Model S on the road at least a few times a week. It's not just the same car, either - I've seen them in black, white, grey, and red. Two of my co-workers have them!

Post by mtgx » Fri, Aug 09, 2013, 7:52 AM UTC

mparr4 wrote: post #22

mtgx wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving may be a bigger revolution in the end, but getting everyone off oil is also a huge revolution on its own. Yes, I know they're not the only ones to have an electric car ever, but without Tesla everyone would be dragging their feet with this. Heck, they are still doing that. Just look at BMW i3. BMW is still treating electric cars as some sort of "concept cars" for the mass market, rather than "real cars"…

I'm not quite sure if the Tesla is to electric cars as Apple is to smartphones analogy works just yet. Perhaps it will, but I live in the US and have still never even seen a Tesla vehicle. I've seen Nissan Leafs and Chevrolet Volts. My town even has charging stations. Maybe that's how things will shake out, but I don't think they're there yet.

Apple only had 1 percent of the smartphone market in the first year (which was much smaller than it is now). It took a few years to become what it is now. And even now Apple only has 13 percent market share globally with the iPhone.

The car market is also much slower to change, since you don't buy a car every 1-2 years, but once every 10 years. Plus, they are much more expensive than phones. That's why we're talking about thousands of cards vs millions of smartphones.

Re: Tesla Reports a Profit (Sorta) While Elon Musk Regrets Mentioning Hyperloop

Re: Tesla Reports a Profit (Sorta) While Elon Musk Regrets Mentioning Hyperloop