So this is how it breaks down: tesla $100,000 It is like the Lotus in that it is the smallest car in america, is all aluminum and uses a li-ion battery pack(the best out there but expensive). Has only 2 seats and a 200 mile range(lowered from the original 250+). Will this new car be lighter? no Will it have a longer range? no Will it have better batteries? no So explain to me how it will be $30,000 and actually useful?
Maybe they are getting a bunch of cheap compact car chassis and using that as a start. Like a Civic, Focus or Sentra as a base? Or maybe something like an older Mercedes Benz C-class, Nissan's FM platform, BMW 3, Audi A3/A4 or something?
I don't get your post. The Lotus is smaller than any of those car and is all aluminum. Have you seen a elise? it's smaller than a Miata. It weighs 1900lbs with a little engine. The Tesla weighs 2700lbs even with the aluminum and li-ion advantage! If they make it really really slow like a Prius they should be able to get another say 40 miles from the same design(probably not). To get the price down something will have to give and for a $30,000 car everything would have to give a lot. The Prius sells for $25k in mass production and it would probably cost over $10k more to add li-ion batteries. And that would not be fully electric. Unless there is a way better battery or a way cheaper one I think this is FUD.
@chris fredette I think you are a bit mixed on low volume manufacturing and high volume manufacturing. The Elise SC (0-60 4.4 secs) probably the closest to the Tesla Roadster (0-60 3.9 secs) in performance already costs $55k base price. And it still uses a cheap toyota engine. Compare that to a corolla @ $15k or a yaris @ $12k. The difference in cost is very large between low volume manufacturing and high volume manufacturing. Also the roadster uses expensive carbon fiber. Also the range is 220 miles not 200. The Roadster is also burdened with being the car that is supposed to generate revenue of Tesla to use to fund the company. As you see with the Whitestar (or Model S), once things get going in higher volume the margins will be lower.
He's talking about a car that's 4 years away. 4 years is a long time for technology to evolve. We are on engadget right now, you should know that. He also didn't mention how many seats the $30k car will have or the performance or any details. Mitsubishi can make a 4 door EV and Subaru can make a 2 door one for ~$20k-$25k, maybe less, I don't see why Tesla can't make a useful EV for $30k, 4 years later.
Yup, we sure are *talking*. For a company that makes one car a month, they sure are good at press releases. If I were running Tesla, I's shut up for a while and get some cars on the road. When you have 100s of people lining up to buy at 100k/per, why do you even *need* press releases? Maybe I'm getting too jaded, but I've been reading press releases from electric car companies for a bit too long. SHOW ME THE WHEELS!
Re "now we're talking". Yup, we sure are "talking". For a company that ships one car a month, Tesla sure is good at press releases. My suggestion to Elon is to shut up for a while and get some cars on the road. With 100s of people lined up for cars at 100k/per, why does Tesla even *need* press releases. Maybe I've gotten too jaded, but I've been reading electric car company press releases for 5 years. SHOW ME THE WHEELS! When will I see an Engadget post about a car you can actually get.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh @ Jun 30th 2008 3:10PM
now we're talking...
Vidit Bhargava @ Jun 30th 2008 3:19PM
so they heard engadget's blogger's calls for a cheaper vehicle ;)
SITEiNK @ Jun 30th 2008 3:22PM
bring it on...
chris fredette @ Jun 30th 2008 4:08PM
So this is how it breaks down:
tesla $100,000
It is like the Lotus in that it is the smallest car in america, is all aluminum and uses a li-ion battery pack(the best out there but expensive). Has only 2 seats and a 200 mile range(lowered from the original 250+).
Will this new car be lighter? no
Will it have a longer range? no
Will it have better batteries? no
So explain to me how it will be $30,000 and actually useful?
Al @ Jun 30th 2008 4:26PM
Maybe they are getting a bunch of cheap compact car chassis and using that as a start. Like a Civic, Focus or Sentra as a base? Or maybe something like an older Mercedes Benz C-class, Nissan's FM platform, BMW 3, Audi A3/A4 or something?
chris fredette @ Jun 30th 2008 4:37PM
I don't get your post.
The Lotus is smaller than any of those car and is all aluminum. Have you seen a elise? it's smaller than a Miata.
It weighs 1900lbs with a little engine. The Tesla weighs 2700lbs even with the aluminum and li-ion advantage!
If they make it really really slow like a Prius they should be able to get another say 40 miles from the same design(probably not). To get the price down something will have to give and for a $30,000 car everything would have to give a lot. The Prius sells for $25k in mass production and it would probably cost over $10k more to add li-ion batteries. And that would not be fully electric. Unless there is a way better battery or a way cheaper one I think this is FUD.
carl @ Jun 30th 2008 5:36PM
I don't think FUD means what you think it means.
jake @ Jun 30th 2008 5:43PM
@chris fredette
I think you are a bit mixed on low volume manufacturing and high volume manufacturing. The Elise SC (0-60 4.4 secs) probably the closest to the Tesla Roadster (0-60 3.9 secs) in performance already costs $55k base price. And it still uses a cheap toyota engine. Compare that to a corolla @ $15k or a yaris @ $12k. The difference in cost is very large between low volume manufacturing and high volume manufacturing. Also the roadster uses expensive carbon fiber. Also the range is 220 miles not 200. The Roadster is also burdened with being the car that is supposed to generate revenue of Tesla to use to fund the company. As you see with the Whitestar (or Model S), once things get going in higher volume the margins will be lower.
He's talking about a car that's 4 years away. 4 years is a long time for technology to evolve. We are on engadget right now, you should know that. He also didn't mention how many seats the $30k car will have or the performance or any details. Mitsubishi can make a 4 door EV and Subaru can make a 2 door one for ~$20k-$25k, maybe less, I don't see why Tesla can't make a useful EV for $30k, 4 years later.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/29/mitsubishi-shows-off-sporty-all-electric-i-miev-car-tesla-puts/
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/26/subaru-ev-could-arrive-as-early-as-2009/
The car Tesla just announced is going to be around $60k in case you are confusing this $30k promise with the $60k Model S.
Al @ Jun 30th 2008 5:50PM
Knowing Subaru their car is going to be awd standard. But the Mitsu you showed is a 2dr not a 4dr like you stated?
lens42 @ Jul 1st 2008 1:53AM
Yup, we sure are *talking*. For a company that makes one car a month, they sure are good at press releases. If I were running Tesla, I's shut up for a while and get some cars on the road. When you have 100s of people lining up to buy at 100k/per, why do you even *need* press releases? Maybe I'm getting too jaded, but I've been reading press releases from electric car companies for a bit too long. SHOW ME THE WHEELS!
lens42 @ Jul 1st 2008 2:03AM
Re "now we're talking". Yup, we sure are "talking". For a company that ships one car a month, Tesla sure is good at press releases. My suggestion to Elon is to shut up for a while and get some cars on the road. With 100s of people lined up for cars at 100k/per, why does Tesla even *need* press releases. Maybe I've gotten too jaded, but I've been reading electric car company press releases for 5 years. SHOW ME THE WHEELS! When will I see an Engadget post about a car you can actually get.