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Tesla Roadster

Gas2 Week in Review, February 11: Tesla’s Dreams, Progress, and Woes

If you listened to CEO Elon Musk on the Tesla Q4 post-investor letter conference call, you might think that Tesla’s dreams are all coming true. He started out by calling 2017 “obviously a big year for Tesla.” He described a very sophisticated automated parts conveyance system at the Fremont vehicle plant. Excitement about how the company is designing the Model Y. The competitive strength of Tesla long-term when centered on the factory. 100,000 units a year as a reasonable expectation for the company’s production in the next four years. It was an all-smiles, let’s-get-happy afternoon of sharing good news for investors and for the media frenzy who love to love All Things Tesla.

But should we examine only Tesla’s dreams as we anticipate the 2018 full Tesla financial picture?

Let’s take a look in this edition of the “Gas2 Week in Review” at Tesla’s dreams, yes, and its progress, certainly, but also its woes from the perspectives of the Tesla insiders as well as how others less embedded within the Tesla culture interpreted the company’s statements.

Tesla’s Dreams: Too Much or Just the Right Amount of Optimism?

Martin Viecha, head of investor relations at Tesla, opened up the February, 2018 conference call by pointing out the day’s objectives to outline “our business outlook and make forward-looking statements.” The intensive hour was dominated by the intellectual visionary Musk, who punctated the dialogues with light humor, a bit of sarcasm, and sharp insights.

With only a $3.04 loss per share in Q4 2017, Tesla did skate by analysts’ more dire predictions, and, with revenue for automotive sales up 36% compared to the same quarter a year ago, the 35% increase in deliveries seems pivotal to the company’s long-term success. Automotive revenue for the year was up 52% over last year. The company booked $170 million from sales of zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) credits in Q4 in contrast to the previous quarter in 2016 in which ZEV revenue was $20 million.

So far, so good.

February 11, 2018 0 comment

Pictures Surface of Tesla Roadster Ready to Launch

written by Jo Borrás

When Elon Musk promised to launch “the silliest thing imaginable” into space on the first launch of Space X’ Falcon Heavy rocket back in April, nobody really took him seriously. When rumors surfaced that he’d be launching his personal Tesla Roadster into Mars orbit, even Musk laughed. When pictures surfaced on Reddit of the Midnight Cherry Tesla Roadster mounted on the Falcon’s payload pod last night, though, it signaled that things were about to get weird.

When the Going Gets Weird the Weird Turn Pro

This new Falcon Heavy next-gen rocket should be capable of lifting more than a 140,00 pound payload into low Earth orbit, or a 37,000 payload all the way to Mars. As such, the thing is more than capable of blasting the Tesla into Martian orbit … but, really!?

Ol’ Musky insists that it’s so …

Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

… but I still don’t believe him. Of course, I have a long history of questioning Tesla’ motives. Despite being demonstrably wrong most of the time, though, I still can’t shake the feeling that this is all just a crazy PR stunt. Even if that’s all it is- I have to give Tesla that it’s an effective PR stunt, to be sure! What do you guys think? Do you think he’s actually going to do it? Do you think the car would make it to Mars? How would we know, anyway!? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Source | Images: Reddit, via Gizmodo.

December 22, 2017 3 comments

Tesla Roadster Versus Mercedes Project One –Who Wins?

written by Steve Hanley

The car mags love to do side by side comparisons — Mustang versus Camaro, Bolt versus Model 3, Trabant versus Borgward Isabella. Those stories often wax eloquent about the goodness of each. Then at the end, the testers get to vote which car they would prefer if they were paying for it out of their own pocket. What would happen in a head to head comparison between the second generation Tesla Roadster and the mighty Mercedes Project One, we wondered? Which is the better car? Which one would we spend our own money on, assuming we had any?

The Mercedes Project One is as close as you can get to a street legal Formula One car. Like the Mercedes F1 car, it has a 1.6 liter V-6 engine coupled to an electric motor. It also has a version of the paddle controlled transmission built by Xtrac for the race car. Car and Driver estimates the engine in road trim will put out about 520 horsepower. According to Car and Driver, the electric motor, which doubles as a generator during deceleration, adds another 161 horsepower to the mix.

November 30, 2017 7 comments

Twitter Map After Tesla Semi Reveal ID’s Areas Of Interest

written by Steve Hanley

If you read this blog, chances are you are a committed fan of electric cars, which means you think everyone else is, too. Following the reveal of the Tesla Semi last week, the people at Gearheads, using software with direct access to geotagged Twitter data, tracked the number of “Tesla” tweets over the past month. Then they ran their software again but searching this time for the keywords “electric cars and electric vehicles.”

The results from the second analysis were virtually the same. Then the results from both were combined into the chart you see above. Notice anything interesting? Yup, interest in Tesla and electric cars in general varies considerably by state and region. If you live in parts of the country where radio stations are required by law to play Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” at least once an hour, interest is almost nonexistent.

On the other hand, if you live anywhere along the Left Coast or Illinois, interest is strong. California, it appears from the data, is ground zero for rabid Tesla and electric car fans. It would be interesting to correlate the data with information about EV incentives available in the various states. Colorado has a generous incentive program. The Dakotas? Not so much.

The folks at Gearheads also did another interesting thing with their Twitter data. You may recall that Elon Musk interrupted the Tesla Semi event to introduce the next generation Tesla Roadster. The graphic below shows the number of tweets during the event. Those about the Semi are shown in blue. Those that mention the Roadster are shown in red. Notice anything interesting? (Click on the image to see what happens when the Roasters appears on stage.)

Yup, the Twittersphere was pretty active during the Semi event but it went totally beserk when the Roadster showed up. I have seen comments recently from people who think the Roadster is a total waste of time and resources. This graphic makes it abundantly clear why those who think that way are wrong. Elon is all about marketing. People are interested in the Semi but they are positively blown away about the Roadster. Well played, Elon.

Hat tip to Ryan Taylor at Fresh Mechanism who passed these images along to me via e-mail.

November 22, 2017 2 comments

Musk Hints At Even Quicker Tesla Roadster

written by Steve Hanley

Following the unexpected reveal of the next generation Tesla Roadster last week, Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to announce to his faithful followers that the 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds quoted at that time is for the “base model.” Which leaves these intriguing questions unanswered:

How quick will the Roadster be when the upgrade package is added?
When will the upgrade be available?
How much will the performance upgrade cost?
Is the upgrade included in the price of the Founders Edition cars?

Should clarify that this is the base model performance. There will be a special option package that takes it to the next level.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2017

There are no answers to those questions at present but given Elon’s habit of dribbling out bits of information over time, expect more news on this subject in coming months. Since the car is not even scheduled for production for another 3 years, there will be plenty of time for Musk to fill in such details.

Tesla is known for offering performance upgrades, beginning with the Plus version of the Model S and continuing through Insane Mode to the top performance version available today — Ludicrous Mode. Since Musk is an avowed fan of the campy Mel Brooks spoof Spaceballs, most Musk watchers expect the performance version of the Tesla Roadster will be called Maximum Plaid.

Will the upgrade include a larger battery? That seems unlikely, since the new Roadster already packs a 200 kWh battery into a chassis smaller than the Model 3. Past performance boosts have come via software upgrades that allow the battery to release more energy in short bursts.

Musk followed up his first Tweet with another that is far more cryptic.

Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …

Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2017

Rocket tech? Flying short hops? What in the world is Musk talking about? No one knows for sure (except Musk himself, of course) but he spends a significant part of his considerable brain power thinking about transportation issues and how to solve them.

Flying cars have been much in the news lately. Uber is pursuing a flying car program as is Workhorse and several other companies. The idea of being able to leapfrog over traffic congestion is highly appealing to many futurist. Musk himself began talking earlier this year about using rockets from SpaceX to whoosh people from one side of the globe to the other in less than an hour. Could his “enable it to fly short hops” statement be related somehow?

That’s a stretch, but with Musk you can never be sure what ideas are flitting around in the back of his mind.

November 20, 2017 5 comments

Gas2 Week in Review, November 19: Tesla Semi Steals the Show

written by Carolyn Fortuna

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the Tesla Semi — that fully electric Class 8 vehicle powered by a massive battery and capable of hauling 80,000 pounds— on Thursday, November 16, 2017 at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California headquarters. And the Tesla Semi been all that alternative energy transportation folks can talk about this week. That’s because it will have a range up to 500 miles. Its carbon fiber cab will improve aerodynamics and fuel economy. Some say the Semi will cut through the wind more efficiently than some sports cars. We’ll see about that.

But, in the meantime, the Tesla Semi, which is reported to have self-driving capacity on the highway, should start production in 2019, Musk says. Wired calls it “the most electrifying gamble yet.”

Tesla Semi pic.twitter.com/7VLz7F46Ji

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2017

The relevance and temporality of the Tesla Semi announcement cannot be minimized. Electric trucks are one of the most significant elements in the larger equation to solve climate change and mitigate air pollution.

“Heavy-duty vehicles make up a small fraction of the vehicles on the road, but a large fraction of their emissions,” says Jimmy O’Dea, who studies clean vehicles at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In California, for example, heavy-duty vehicles make up 7 percent of vehicles but 33 percent of NOx emissions from all sources and 20 percent of global warming emissions from the transportation sector. They emit more particulate matter than all of the state’s power plants.

On California’s grid today, a heavy-duty electric vehicle with middle-of-the-road efficiency has 70 percent lower life cycle global warming emissions than a comparable diesel and natural gas vehicle. Electric vehicles also don’t have any tailpipe emissions of NOx, particulate matter, or other pollutants. O’Dea argues that communities, especially those near freight corridors, will have lower risks from the harmful consequences of dirty air.

So we’ve devoted this edition of the “Gas2 Week in Review” to the impact of the Tesla Semi and the stories that emerged as a result of this long-awaited reveal.

Megacharger For Tesla Semi Has 8 Pin Connector, More Than 1.5 MW Of Power

The upcoming Tesla Semi has room for an 8 pin connector, which is four times as many pins as the Tesla Supercharger for passenger cars. Moreover, the Class 8 heavy hauler will have a range of either 300 or 500 miles, depending on the size battery installed. If a company wants to pay less, they’ll choose the smaller battery. If they need the 500 miles of range, they’ll pay the extra cost for the added range. But, setting aside the pervasive imagery we hold about long-haul trucking being cross-county, most heavy duty trucks provide service to local and regional operations. That means 100 to 200 miles of range can meet the needs of many trucking companies. Success at the local level is a starting place for Tesla to assure the trucking industry of the function and financial stability of transporting freight over longer distances with zero-emission vehicles.

November 19, 2017 3 comments

Tesla Roadster 2.0 Will Amaze And Astound You

written by Steve Hanley

Tesla’s first production car was called the Roadster. Built on a heavily modified Lotus chassis, it was a direct descendant of the tZero, itself a modification of an existing sports car chassis. The tZero was manufactured by AC Propulsion, a small company near Los Angeles, and it used conventional lead-acid batteries. Its primary feature was that is used an AC motor — a revolutionary idea at the time.

In 2oo3, Martin Eberhard asked AC Propulsion to replace the lead-acid batteries with 6,800 lithium-ion laptop batteries. They did and the car was transformed. Shortly thereafter, Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors. One of the early drivers of the tZero upgraded with lithium-ion batteries was a young entrepreneur named Elon Musk. The rest, as they say, is history.

Since its introduction, the Tesla Roadster has become a bit dated. Its performance — stunning at the time — now lags far behind the Tesla Model S P100D. It suffers from a range that can only be called “modest.” As an historic vehicle, it is still important, but it is no longer quite as outré as it once was. Last produced in 2012, Elon Musk has been hinting a replacement was in the works for several years. On November 16, at the end of the splashy reveal for the Tesla Semi, Musk disappeared from the stage and the whole thing seemed to be over … until a few moments later when a pre-production version of the next-generation Roadster unpacked itself from a Semi (well, Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen drove it out).

The Roadster 2.0 takes everything Tesla has learned about building electric cars, remixes it, and then doubles it. If the Corvette is the halo car for Chevrolet and General Motors, the new Roadster will be the halo car for Tesla. It is insanely quick — 0–60 mph in 1.9 seconds right out of the box in “base” configuration. That will make it the fastest production car ever made. It’s also fastest going 0–100 mph and in a quarter mile sprint.

Tesla watchers know Elon is a big fan of Spaceballs, the Mel Brooks send-up of Star Wars. The movie features a spaceship that can go faster than lightspeed in Ridiculous mode, Ludicrous mode, or — hold onto your light sabers — PLAID! There is little question Musk and his band of merry pranksters will have a hotted-up optional Plaid mode ready for the Roadster once it actually goes into production.

The other specs for the 2+2 style sports car are a 0–100 time of 4.2 seconds and a quarter mile time of 8.9 seconds. There are professional drag racers who have never gone that fast in the quarter mile. The car will have three motors — two in the rear and one in front — for true all-wheel-drive capability.

The Roadster won’t see production until 2020 at the earliest. Tesla has offered no clues about where it might be made, although we know it is busy adding new production facilities at its Fremont factory location. The Roadster is not likely to sell in high numbers, so the company would not need a large assembly line to manufacture the cars.

In the meantime, those interested in owning one of the $200,000+ cars can plunk down a $50,000 deposit now to get on the waiting list. The first Founders Series cars will come fully loaded and retail for $250,000. If that seems like a lot of money, the Bugatti Chiron — a car with similar performance to the Roadster (but not quite as fast) — sells for $2.5 million. Better performance for one tenth the price? Where do we sign up?

When it arrives. the new Roadster will have a top speed of over 250 miles per hour and a range of more than 600 miles, meaning it can drive from LA to San Francisco and back again on a single charge. How can it go so far? Simple. It has a 200 kWh battery pack. That’s double the size of the largest battery Tesla now includes in a Model S or Model X.

What does that suggest about future batteries for the Model S and Model X? Officially, nothing. Tesla has not suggested it is thinking of increasing the size of the battery packs in its regular production cars. In fact, we know that a 100 kWh battery can’t even fit into the new Model 3 midsize car.

Musk was his usual ebullient self as he told the audience about the new Roadster. “The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars,” he said. “Driving a gasoline sports car is going to feel like a steam engine with a side of quiche.” Musk has made it clear from the start that his goal is not to manufacture the best electric cars money can buy but rather to manufacture the best cars, period. His mission in life is to deal a knockout blow to cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines.

With this latest addition to the Tesla model lineup, it’s a safe bet that there are lots of aspirin and AlkaSeltzer being passed around in the executive suites of the world’s major automakers this morning.

Update: Below is a video taken by Gas2 and CleanTechnica colleague Kyle Field yesterday at the Tesla Roadster reveal. Ever wonder what 0–60 in 1.9 seconds looks like? Check this out!

November 17, 2017 1 comment

Elon Musk Tweets Up A Model 3 And Model Y Storm On Twitter

written by Steve Hanley

Before leaving for the Space Coast to watch the first ever launch of a reused Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX, Elon Musk took to Twitter to drop lots of hints about what’s ahead for Tesla and the Model 3 and other things that are happening in the Tesla universe.

Tesla Model 3 News

Musk began the day by tweeting this video of a black Tesla Model 3. The car is what is called an early release candidate, meaning it is one of the first to be built on the actual assembly line that will be used to manufacture the production cars. Yeah, it’s only 6 seconds long but that’s enough to get the fan base fired up. Feast your eyes on this, Tesla fans!

First drive of a release candidate version of Model 3 pic.twitter.com/zcs6j1YRa4

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017

There has been a lot of speculation about what the interior of the Model 3 will be like. The prototypes on display at the launch celebration a year ago showed no instrument cluster and no conventional controls. All those cars had was one touchscreen mounted horizontally in the middle of the dashboard. Rumors of a heads up display in front of the driver were rampant. But apparently, that single screen is all the Model 3 will have.

The more autonomous a car is, the less dash info you need. How often do you look at the instrument panel when being driven in a taxi?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017

That sure makes it sound like Musk expects the Model 3 to be ready for autonomous driving when production begins later this year. He also took the occasion to emphasize that the Model 3 is not a Model S. “Model 3 is just a smaller, more affordable version of Model S w less range & power & fewer features. Model S has more advanced technology.” He added later, “Only Model S will have the seven seater option, more cargo space, plus higher range, acceleration, two screens vs. one, auto extend handles …”

Musk refers to the current Model S as Version 4 and says it is the car he personally will prefer to drive even after the Model 3 is released. Clearly, he is trying to lower people’s expectations a bit. The Model 3 will be an “everyman” car like the Mercedes E Class, not the premium near limousine vehicle that the Model S and Mercedes S Class are.

Model 3 Battery And Performance

Musk surprised some people by tweeting that the first Model 3 cars off the assembly line will be rear wheel drive only. Dual motors are a popular option and Musk had said previously that the highest profit cars would be built first. His Tweet set forth his latest thinking.

No, we are minimizing configuration complexity to keep the production ramp on schedule. RWD only for early production, just like Model S.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017

That news was distressing to some Model 3 reservation holders. In a recent survey by Model3Tracker, only 7% say they want a base model of the Model 3. Dual motors, a larger battery, and Autopilot were the most popular options but it appears they may not be available at the start of production. The dual motor option will not be available for “6 to 7 months,” according to Musk.

The top battery selection will be 75 kWh — the same battery that is now standard in the least expensive Model S. Musk says that is the largest battery that will fit, given the shorter wheelbase of the Model 3 and the energy density of battery cells currently available. He hinted yesterday that the larger battery will not be available until next year.

Tesla still has not said what size the standard battery for the Model 3 will be, but Musk assured his followers that the car will have at least as much range as the Chevy Bolt, which features 238 miles of range. Cars with the 75 kWh battery are estimated to go more than 300 miles on a full battery charge given their lighter weight and excellent aerodynamics.

What About The Model Y?

The world may not be cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs anymore, but it sure is crazy about SUVs. The percentage of sedans sold in America has dropped from 60% a few years ago to around 35% today while sales of SUVs have surged. That’s a problem for Tesla. The Model 3 is svelte and stylish but is has smallish trunk lid. Some have referred to it somewhat unkindly as a “letter slot.”

Musk has said in the past that Tesla is working on an SUV version of the Model 3 to be called the Model Y, thus completing Musk’s long running inside joke that the complete Tesla lineup will be S-E-X-Y. Ford ruined the party when it obtained a trademark on the Model E nomenclature, but all good Tesla fans know the Model 3 was really supposed to be called the Model E.

The Model Y — with or without the swoopy falcon wing doors found on the Model X — won’t be arriving anytime soon, though.

Oh Model Y is coming too in a few years. Kinda have to.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017

The Fastest Tesla

Elon wasn’t done, though. When asked if the Model 3 with the larger battery will outrun a Model S, he replied, “Model S will always be the fastest Tesla until next gen Roadster, which is a few years away.” With Tesla, there is always good news just around the corner, it seems.

March 25, 2017 0 comment

Martine Rothblatt Creates First Full Size Electric Helicopter

written by Steve Hanley

Martine Rothblatt is not your typical person. She is the founder of Sirius satellite radio and vehicle navigation company GeoStar. When her daughter was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening form of pulmonary hypertension, Rothblatt formed United Therapeutics to market medication for others suffering from the same disease. Because pulmonary hypertension often requires a lung transplant, she next created a division of her drug company that focuses on developing artificial and transplantable lungs from pig genetics.

But the helicopters that deliver those artificial lungs are loud and not particularly environmentally friendly, so Rothblatt decided it was time to invent the first full-size battery-powered electric helicopter to deliver the transplantable organs more cleanly and quietly. Helicopters can burn 500 pounds of aviation fuel every hour, leaving a trail of carbon emissions in their wake.

Rothblatt is also a certified helicopter pilot. She says the inspiration for the electric helicopter came from Tesla Motors. She is a big fan of Elon Musk and owns seven Tesla automobiles. At the grand Gigafactory dedication last summer, she gave a presentation to the audience about her battery-powered helicopter concept.

November 1, 2016 2 comments

Tesla Roadster, Everyday (w/ Video)

written by Jo Borrás

The Tesla Roadster was of the first electric cars to make it seem like an EV revolution might actually happen in our lifetimes. Unlike the EV1 and other offbeat electric rides that came before it in the 1990s, the Lotus-based Roadster was a good-looking, desirable, and downright fast car that looked right at home on Rodeo Drive. Ten years (!?) have passed since the cars hit the road, however, and their owners have had plenty of time to think about what life with a Tesla is really like.

That seems to be the thinking behind a video called “Tesla Roadster Everyday” that popped up on YouTube a few days ago. Answers to the question of “what’s it like” elicit answers that range from things like “there’s always somebody who wants to talk about the car” from Graham, VIN 435, to “there is almost no maintenance” from Ron, VIN 450.

Ron seems pretty excited about his Tesla ownership- and it seems like all the Roadster owners are enjoying a bit of “rockstar” attention (Roadstar?). Take a few minutes to watch the video for yourself, below, and let us know what you think about it in the comments. Enjoy!

Tesla Roadster, Everyday

Source | Images: Motorhit, via Amped.

April 16, 2016 0 comment

The Tesla Roadster Turns 10 This Year

written by Steve Hanley

Set your way back machines to 2006, boys and girls, and enjoy this video reveal of the Tesla Roadster. The first thing you might notice is the poor quality of the video. Did we imagine back then that cameras would exist in a few short years that would make self driving cars possible? Heck, most of us thought Netscape was a leading tech company and was a good investment! Goes to show how much we knew, huh?

The Tesla Roadster came about because an engineer named Martin Eberhard thought electric cars would be a good way to wean the world off fossil fuels for its transportation needs. Even though the people at the head of the country have changed, that basic principle remains at the core of everything Tesla Motors does. At the unveiling, Eberhard told AutoBlog Green, “You can have a car that’s quick and you can have a car that’s electric. Having one that’s both is how you make electric cars popular.”

That statement was prescient. At the time, electric cars were little more than glorified golf karts. Eberhard knew instinctively that people love high performance vehicles. Even after he an Elon Musk had a falling out about how to move the company forward, that understanding remained at the heart of the succession of Tesla products that have made headlines — the Model S 85+, the S P85, P85D, P85D with Insane Mode, and the latest full bore nutso car from Tesla, the P90D with Ludicrous Mode.

These cars that have appeared in hundreds of YouTube videos drag racing against everything from polo ponies to race prepped Ferraris and ignited a storm of enthusiasm for electric cars. If the Tesla Model S had the same acceleration as a Chevy Malibu, Tesla would have missed out on at least 50% of the favorable publicity it has enjoyed over the years.

Tesla founders Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning are still working in the EV industry. Recently they made a major investment in Alta Motors, makers of Redshift electric motorcycles. Ian Wright now makes the world’s most efficient electric garbage trucks. He thought Musk was wrong to pursue electric automobiles when diesel trucks are such a major source of carbon pollution. Only technical chief JB Straubel remains from the original Tesla team.

It is worthwhile to look back at the Tesla Roadster, if only to mark how far the electric car industry has come in ten short years. Who would have thought the day the Roadster first appeared that Elon Musk would be talking about cars that can drive themselves cross country a decade later? The changes between then and now have been dramatic, but the core principal of Tesla Motors remains the same — to lead the world to a fossil fuel free future, regardless of what the Kook Brothers may say.

February 20, 2016 2 comments

Electric Cars That Most Excite Potential Electric Car Buyers

written by Zachary Shahan

In our 4th article pulled from Electric Cars: What Early Adopters & First Followers Want — a new report from CleanTechnica, EV Obsession, and GAS2 — I’m jumping into which electric car models respondents were most likely to buy and most excited, as well as some implications regarding certain car companies.

Without surprise, current EV ownership matched historical EV sales fairly well — 33.9% had the Nissan LEAF, 21.4% the Tesla Model S, 16% the Chevy Volt, 6.5% the BMW i3, and then much smaller percentages had numerous other electric cars.

Importantly, I think this indicates that the EV-driver respondents are quite representative of the broader EV consumer market, which bodes well for making broad generalizations from this report.

More interesting than the cars people currently have (which we already basically know anyway) were the electric cars people intended to buy and were most excited about. Naturally, these results weren’t a huge surprise either, as there are just a few very exciting electric models publicly planned for market in the coming few years, but it was interesting to see how the preferences were split. Breaking out results for each model, here are the 7 hottest electric vehicles:

Model 3

39% owners expect to buy next
55% of potential owners expect to buy
53% owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV
56% of potential owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV

Model X

12% owners expect to buy next
17% of potential owners expect to buy
13% owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV
15% of potential owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV

Model S

10% owners expect to buy next
20% of potential owners plan to buy

Chevy Volt (1.0 + 2.0)

7% owners expect to buy next
23% of potential owners expect to buy
5% owners more excited about Volt 2.0 than any other new/coming EV
5% of potential owners more excited about Volt 2.0 than any other new/coming EV

Chevy Bolt

6% owners expect to buy next
17% of potential owners expect to buy
8% owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV
4% of potential owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV

Nissan LEAF (1st-Gen)

6% owners expect to buy next
8% of potential owners plan to buy

Long-Range Nissan

5% owners expect to buy next
33% of potential owners expect to buy
10% owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV
6% of potential owners more excited about this than any other new/coming EV

There are a few other long-range and competitively affordable electric cars tentatively planned for market, but their release dates are less certain, which likely caused them to rank lower.

However, another reason they don’t have as much buyer interest or enthusiasm may be due to Nissan, GM, and Tesla benefiting from “first-mover advantage.” The Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Model S were the first genuinely mass-market electric vehicles in the United States. Many more of them have been sold than any other electric car models. Both early adopters and EV enthusiasts eager to join the EV movement seem to trust these companies and want to reward them for their leadership in this sector.

Potential EV Drivers

Current EV Drivers

Tesla clearly stands out, even far above Nissan and GM, in consumer interest. I had a little fun with a couple of questions about the electric car company, and the results were impressive: 54.2% of EV owners/lessees self-identified as fanbois/fangurls (typically derogatory terms), and 28.6% said they were “perhaps” fanbois/fangurls. Interestingly, almost the exact same percentages came out of non-owner/lessee responses — 54.5% and 29.10%.

It’s unspecified why respondents were so enthusiastic about Tesla and its products, but there are several likely reasons. One is that Tesla is 100% focused on fully electric vehicles. Not only does it not produce fossil-fuel-gulping cars; it even stays away from fossil-fuel-sipping plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles. This, by itself, must endear it to EV enthusiasts.

The company, mostly via well known CEO and product architect Elon Musk, is passionate about combating climate change, air pollution, and oil dependency. This is important to many people, and we like Tesla more for its passion on this front.

Tesla has also demonstrated the ability and desire to produce extremely high-performance and innovative vehicles. The Tesla Model S has broken many auto industry records and turned the general concept of electric cars on its head. Additionally, Tesla is the only company with a super-fast charging network in place, a topic I’ll come back to later in the report.

Tesla has long held plans to release a long-range and affordable electric car. It is widely assumed that Tesla’s batteries come at a lower cost per kilowatt-hour than any other EV batteries on the market. Making that assumption, when Tesla does bring a mid-market car to production, many potential buyers believe they will be able to get “more car for the money” from Tesla than from any other automaker.

Given the reviews of the Tesla Model S and Model X, as well as Tesla’s Supercharger network, many EV enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting a Tesla model they can affordably get their hands on. Even those who have bought or plan to buy a higher-cost Model S or Model X are enthusiastic because the Model 3 will presumably bring long-range, fully electric transportation to millions of people — if all goes as planned. That would mark a huge step forward for the electric vehicle movement.

You can download the full “Electric Cars: What Early Adopters & First Followers Want” report here.

Report sponsors include Cost of Solar, Plugless, the Low Voltage Vehicle Electrification Event, and Pono Home.

January 26, 2016 1 comment

Teslapedia: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tesla

written by Jo Borrás

Offering readers everything they ever wanted to know about Tesla vehicles from the Roadster to the Model S to rumored future models, the newly-launched Teslapedia site promises to be your one-stop shop for all things Tesla.

Set up by the people behind Teslowjuice, the largest, privately-owned EV charging network in the UK, the new wiki will cover more than just facts and figures. The Teslapedia will also feature blog-style articles that will range from range-extending tips and tricks to a lifetime cost analysis comparing various Tesla models to their nearest market rivals. For example, is a Tesla Model S cheaper to own than, for example, a Mercedes S500 Hybrid?

You can head on over to the Teslapedia page using this link. While you’re there, take a look around, then come back here and let us know what you think of the new EV enthusiast resource in our comments section at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

About Teslapedia

There is an incredible sense of enthusiasm and community-spirit amongst Tesla owners (and prospective owners) and a huge amount of knowledge-sharing about vehicle functionality, experiences and lessons learned. But there is no single place you can visit to find holistic, accurate and current information, and answers are often buried deep in forum threads and social media services and can be difficult to locate.

We have therefore created a searchable database of curated articles, written by Tesla owners, for the use of Tesla enthusiasts all over the world.

The site is (and always will be) free to use.

Source | Photos: Teslapedia, James Lipman.

November 13, 2015 0 comment

Detroit Electric Isn’t Coming to Detroit, After All

written by James Ayre

As we reported recently, the first electric car recently rolled off the production lines at Detroit Electric’s manufacturing facility in the UK, bringing the anticipated electric sports car one step closer to wide release. As many no doubt predicted following the company’s scrapping of plans for production in the car manufacturing hub of Detroit, Michigan (from which Detroit Electric gets its name, natch), it seems that the company may well end up not releasing the new electric vehicle (EV) in the US at all.

That’s right. At this point the “Detroit Electric” name appears to be little more than a means of selling Americana to Europeans. The same goes for cowboys, Camaros, country/honky tonk, blues music, jazz music, etc. The BBC News provides more:

Even though the first SP:01 has rolled off the line and been sent on its way to an unidentified buyer in an unidentified location, the company (which is headquartered in The Netherlands, by the way) has yet to announce the car’s retail price. One thing is certain, though: the figure won’t be in American dollars. Despite its name, a nod to a defunct US-based maker of electric carriages from 1907 to 1938, the Detroit Electric sports car won’t be available in Detroit — or anywhere else in America. The company plans to sell the SP:01 only in Europe, Asia and few other select markets, including Iceland and South Africa.

Detroit Electric’s CEO, Albert Lam, who announced the SP:01 with stars-and-stripes-waving enthusiasm back in 2013, doesn’t take the company’s geographic incongruity lightly. “We are Detroit Electric, not London Electric,” said Lam, former CEO of the Lotus Engineering Group. “Our commitment to the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and the United States is as strong as it ever was.” But as the saying goes, love is a verb, and whether Lam can turn affectionate words into action remains to be seen. The company has promised that if things go well for its UK-built sports car, it will open a production facility in its namesake city to build a clean-sheet electric sedan.

You can count me as skeptical that the Detroit Electric SP:01 will ever actually be available for general purchase in Detroit. Oh well, at least we still have Tesla to showcase the (seemingly asleep) “American entrepreneurial spirit.” And, yes, I’m aware that CEO Elon Musk could be called “South African”.

Originally published by EV Obsession.

November 9, 2015 0 comment