Tesla Aims For $30,000 Price, 2017 Launch For Model E 247
An anonymous reader writes The biggest complaint about Tesla Motors' electric vehicles is that they're far too expensive for the average motorist. The Roadster sold for $109,000, and the Model S for $70,000. Chris Porritt, the company's VP of engineering, says their next model will aim for much broader availability. The compact Model E aims to be competitive with the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series, which both start in the low $30,000 range. To reduce cost, the Model E won't be built mostly with aluminum, like the Model S, and it will be roughly 20% smaller as well. The construction of the "Gigafactory" for battery production will also go a long way toward reducing the price. Their goal for launch is sometime around late 2016 or early 2017
Re:What about range on this smaller car? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you could rent a car for the few times year you need to travel more than 200 miles. Some people almost never travel that far. Some people go that far every weekend.
From discussing this very solution, it seems people (At least american flesh-people) are very opposed to the notion of renting a car for the purpose of driving long-distances, or carrying large things around or just about anything.
Instead, most insists on having a vehicle that can solve every imaginable situation, even if most of these situations come up once yearly (or even not-at-all).
Re:What about range on this smaller car? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What about range on this smaller car? (Score:4, Insightful)
If they go with steel instead of aluminum that'll probably cost them about 10% range (matters less for big structural elements, but overall it has a significant weight difference), which means more batteries. Seems weird that this would work out to be overall more economical.
Re:Who designed this one? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's an interesting opinion, considering the planned revealing is at the Detroit auto show in 2015.
Re:What about range on this smaller car? (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree. Most people don't have a car that can move furniture or large appliances. They just pay to rent a vehicle for those occasions. I find it odd that they don't apply the same logic to EVs. No car solves every imaginable situation. A good furniture mover's not likely to be an affordable commuter. Both will likely suck on the track. All three of those will likely suck off road. Etc. Vehicles come in radically different varieties for precisely that reason.
Actually, my preferred solution for EV range is like the AC Propulsion Long-Hauler trailer - a small self-steering (aka, easy to drive) genset trailer. You could own one, rent one, borrow one, have a group of friends/neighbors that share one, whatever. You've got range when you need it, and are otherwise you're pure electric and not having to haul around an engine that you don't use and which takes up space and weight in your vehicle (aka, PHEV).
The main problem with all elec (Score:3, Insightful)
Eventually that issue will change. But for today, how can I buy an all electric if I have no where to plug it in?
Even if it were sold for $300, I still cannot plug it in!
Re:As a Quebecer... (Score:5, Insightful)
"With our hydro electric resources, we should be pioneering electric cars."
Montreal citizen here...
We did. In mid-90s Hydro-Quebec developped an electric wheel hub. Tech derived from that research (TM4 engine, 96% efficiency) is now being tested by the Societe de Transport de Montreal for buses. I've seen one of those buses, and besides being ugly as hell they do the job and are *completely* silent (besides being too low for sidewalks and curbs while turning :).
Will they be reliable during the cold-as-hell north-pole winter? I dunno, but as a geek I can appreciate an all-electric bus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [wikipedia.org]
What I'm still wondering is why they don't use hybrids. A city bus would be the *perfect* application for an hybrid vehicle. All that stop-and-go would help keep the battery running, and the Diesel engine would recharge the battery if it gets too low. Combined with the fact that Bio-Buses run on biodiesel made from (mostly) trash, that would seem like the logical application.