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Cheap EVs aren’t profitable. If you want to make them cheap, supply chains must spin up to drive down costs, not sell lip stick on a pig death traps. This is not Musk specific. Legacy automakers can’t bring cheap EVs to market that compete with Teslas either. They are glorified golf carts because they must be. Cheap out on batteries and motors and your warranty reserves and costs are exorbitant and destroy profitability, so you cheap out on fit and finish (Tesla does, and demand is still…robust) or safety (not great!). Go Google for what the Porsche Taycan battery warranty requires for it to remain in effect, and this is a premium vehicle supposedly. Regarding “it’s all about wealth”, let’s set aside who Musk is for a moment and reflect on a $1B global dc fast charger network (“Superchargers”) and an EV manufacturing flywheel that continues to ramp (approaching 3 million units built and sold pa), together which has convinced major nation states to enact or pull forward their new vehicle combustion vehicle sales bans. Someone can be a pathological liar and greedy and yet have moved the needle. Tesla’s board recognized that he was irreplaceable, and that’s likely true. Obsessive people are motivated but there are costs personality wise. High level, let’s recalibrate Tesla to not be just Elon Musk. Consider that he brought the funding, he ran the ship through the storm, but humble JB Straubel was the CTO and was a significant component in Tesla’s success (wrt battery engineering and manufacturing), along with countless decent, passionate engineers and ancillary roles over two decades. Tesla =! Musk. There is nuance. (Tesla is building their own lithium refinery in Texas to drive down battery costs; point me to an automaker that is doing the same, they can barely source batteries at the scale they need) |
With this kind of statement I have to believe you're arguing in bad faith. Even manufacturers that haven't jumped onto the full electric bandwagon like Toyota are ramping up manufacturing, see : https://www.thestreet.com/investing/automakers-in-race-to-ma... >The Japanese automaker said on Aug. 31 it will spend another $2.5 billion in its battery plant in North Carolina, called the Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina.
>The investment at its newest North American facility will increase capacity to support battery production. Toyota plans to hire another 350 employees for a total of 2,100 workers.
>Toyota said last year it plans to invest heavily in electrification and plans to spend a total of $70 billion, plus a total of $5.6 billion for battery production, which includes the new North Carolina investment.
> let’s set aside who Musk is for a moment and reflect on a $1B global dc fast charger network (“Superchargers”) and an EV manufacturing flywheel that continues to ramp (approaching 3 million units built and sold pa), together which has convinced major nation states to enact or pull forward their new vehicle combustion vehicle sales bans. Someone can be a pathological liar and greedy and yet have moved the needle.
Tesla totally invested in superchargers for the greater good and not to have a proprietary charging network! if it wasn't for the rules we have in the European Union they would have brought the proprietary chargers they had in America and would not allow competitors to use it.
The needle would move nonetheless, it is no longer a matter of choice but about the continued survival of the species as a whole. In France tesla are a rare sight but small delivery cars like these : https://imgur.com/a/kUUJKYV Have become extremely common sights in the city centre. We are also doing a lot in trying to get people away from cars as much as possible : Montpellier is going to make all local public transportation free.