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by sharpercoder 3089 days ago
I think Model S solved electric driving. Car reviewers seem to think so, the industry seem to think so (most manufacturers announced electrical models). Range, comfort, charging locations, safety, all solved problems.

How is Tesla's supposed claim they solved electrical driving misleading?
2 comments
lumberjack 3089 days ago
For the past 15 years people had been trying to make the mass market EV. The envisioned future was that the every day man would be driving this basic EV instead of their $15k ICE commuter car. That was the goal, obviously influenced to a great extent by both fuel prices and climate change concerns. All EV car models before the Tesla Roadster were trying to target this market.

The Model S targeted a new market entirely. Nobody had tried to do a luxury sedan EV and kodus to Tesla for spotting that niche, but that was not the goal that everyone else was chasing. It was something else entirely.

From an economics and from a technology point of view, building an $80k EV with decent range is insanely easier than building a $15k EV. Even if it has to be a luxury car and look good. It still gives you that $20k leeway to equip you car with a massive battery.

The misleading part was trying to claim that they had solved the problem that everyone else was working on, when in fact they had not. And they still have not today as evidenced by the $35k price tag of the Model 3.

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mmsimanga 3089 days ago
Perhaps everyone was chasing the wrong goal. Just about all "new" technologies start off being expensive. This is true of the telephone, cellphone, car ... In time when manufacturing processes catch up they become available to the masses. I presume the first devices are expensive to cover the R&D costs.
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username223 3089 days ago
> I think Model S solved electric driving.

Not so much: The actual Cannonball record is a bit over half the EV one -- 28 hours and 50 minutes -- and Roy himself drove it in 31 hours and 4 minutes. I'll be curious how much of their journey was charging time, a figure someone will probably extract from their GPS track soon.

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