Tesla Used A Third of All Electric-Car Batteries Last Year 236
cartechboy writes "We've heard about Tesla building this new gigafactory to produce battery packs for its electric cars. Heck, the company's current bottleneck is its ability to get battery packs for its electric cars. In fact, last year Tesla used a bit more than one-third of the auto industry's electric-car batteries, and that was with only selling 22,477 cars last year. Tesla is expanding its model lineup as quickly as possible with the introduction of the Model X crossover next year and a compact sports sedan in 2017. With the rapid expansion of its vehicle line, Tesla is going to need a crazy amount of battery packs, and quickly. Thus, the Silicon Valley upstart is building the gigafactory to engineer and produce battery packs in much larger quantities. If Tesla can remove the battery production bottle neck it's currently facing, the only question left will be market acceptance of a mainstream electric car."
When?? (Score:3)
last year Tesla used a bit more than one-third of the auto industry's electric-car batteries, and that was with only selling 22,477 cars last year.
So this was last year? :p
Be careful (Score:4, Funny)
At current projected usage, Tesla is threatening to use up all the supply of batteries by 2016, and then there'll be trouble. I foresee a US invasion of Fremont in the near future as mayor Gus Morrisson continues to engage in belligerent talk and saber rattling related to commercial zone redistricting and increased parking fines. Rumors still abound regarding the untimely demise of his predecessor Bob Wasserman. Was it pneumonia, or something far more sinister?
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Does Fremont, CA have one of those too, or are you a confused Washingtonian?
(The concept of the Fremont, WA troll wandering onto a battlefield swinging it's old VW bug around is pretty entertaining, though.)
The only question left? (Score:2, Interesting)
the only question left will be market acceptance of a mainstream electric car
No, I do not think that is even an unanswered question at this point. The biggest question I have is, will there be a STANDARD connector for quick charging batteries so that after driving 200 miles, can we re-charge the batteries in a few minutes no matter what brand of car we're driving?
Right now, the ONLY thing that is preventing me from getting a Tesla is that I have to travel longer than 500 miles a few times a year, and renting a car for a week, three times a year is too expensive an option.
However, I
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In a few minutes? What energy source will you use for that? Lightening bolts?
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Right now, the ONLY thing that is preventing me from getting a Tesla is that I have to travel longer than 500 miles a few times a year, and renting a car for a week, three times a year is too expensive an option.
However, I do see the possibility of all this changing how we travel. Especially if the Autonomous automobile becomes a reality. This would allow people to travel by train / airplane and "rent" a vehicle only for getting to / from transportation hubs and local travel.
That is a whole lot of stupidity in one sentence. Even disregarding the fact that you are talking about a $60k car, renting a car for a week costs, what, let's say $300 cause you want a nice car. So $900 dollars a year. How much do you spend in gas in a year?
It's a rhetorical question since your math skills are clearly not up to simple addition.
YGTBFKM (Score:5, Insightful)
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
"Right now, the ONLY thing that is preventing me from getting a Tesla is that I have to travel longer than 500 miles a few times a year, and renting a car for a week, three times a year is too expensive an option."
Renting a car for $500/pop three times a year is "too expensive" for a guy who has no problem dropping $90,000 on a car? I could see that the inconvenience might be a reason, but cost? We rented a mini-van a couple times a year for our family vacations because the sedan wasn't big enough. NBD.
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We rented a mini-van a couple times a year for our family vacations because the sedan wasn't big enough.
Why? The cost difference between a family sedan and a minivan plus the small additional cost of fuel is less than renting a minivan one week a year, let alone multiple weeks. I know, I've done the numbers and while I'd like to get my wife a more fuel efficient vehicle for her next one it makes zero economic sense when we take 2-3 weeks of long distance trips (we've been to 38 states so far, most by car).
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Then you have to drive a minivan all year. I'd rather drive a Yugo.
Re:The only question left? (Score:4, Informative)
Right now, the ONLY thing that is preventing me from getting a Tesla is that I have to travel longer than 500 miles a few times a year, and renting a car for a week, three times a year is too expensive an option
Odd.
I'm a pretty firm believer that if you're going to drive 500 miles, renting a car is almost always a better option in terms of the wear and tear on your own car. [Obviously if you're leasing and under your mileage quota, things change, etc. etc.] I suppose it breaks down to what a week is (3-5 days? 7-10 days?) and how far longer than 500 is. Car rentals for non-luxury vehicles, especially for anyone who rents regularly are easily had in the sub-$40 range. Econoboxes are cheaper, but rarely enough cheaper to justify. On a whim, with no notice or club status, It's $44 a day for me to pick up a "mid-size" or "intermediate" (Sentra, Corolla, Fusion, Malabu) right now in my town.
At $334 a week, if you're only driving 500 miles, you're probably not ahead.
But 5 days and 600 miles -- Those 37c/mile probably come out ahead nicely with actual wear and tear on your car. AAA thinks so. *shrug*
Even if it's only a small loss over driving your own car (in terms of big picture wear and tear), it might be overall worth it after switching to a Tesla.
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I have a Mercury Grand Marquis that I paid 1700 for two years ago, bought tires and serpentine belt for. It has 90K miles on it now. I recently replaced the brakes myself (simple job). In total, I've spent less than $2500 for two years of driving (plus gass). Nice ride, mechanically sound engine/tranny but it does have its issues with the automatic windows. It is a very nice ride.
My last vehicle was bought brand new for about $20k, lasted 20 years before it just fell apart. I put in about $2000 on that veh
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Right now, the ONLY thing that is preventing me from getting a Tesla is that I have to travel longer than 500 miles a few times a year, and renting a car for a week, three times a year is too expensive an option
OK, so the serious answer is that in a decade, when someone wants to get rid of their Tesla and get the latest model, you will look at it, and decide that since you still have to occasionally rent a car a couple times a year, that you will have to spend more than $1000 per year on it and so therefore you are not interested.
I understand wanting to save money on the car, but that still doesn't bring a $90k vehicle down into the $1k per year range. On the other hand, for the last several years, I have deducted
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Part of the Tesla's magic is a USB connection where you'd expect an ODB2 port.
My Leaf, at least, still has an ODB2 connector, and I can read the individual battery values with my $12 bluetooth ODB2 dongle and my phone.
That said, I wonder how they do vehicle "emissions" testings. Here in Arizona, you just pull up, the plug in by ODB2, make sure you don't have faults, and send you on their way. [I'm sure there's a process. I just wonder what it is.]
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The gas used by a Grand Marquis/Crown Vic/Town Car in a full day's drive might be enough to power a neighborhood...
That said, it's one of the most comfortable symbols of American excess I've seen.
Teslas come with several plugs including SAE J1772 (Score:3)
. The biggest question I have is, will there be a STANDARD connector for quick charging batteries so that after driving 200 miles, can we re-charge the batteries in a few minutes no matter what brand of car we're driving?
Why do people keep harping on this? This was the top rated comment last time a Tesla was mentions as well. Is it really that hard to go to Tesla's website and click on "charging"? The Tesla comes with a couple of standard plugs, including the common SAE plug. https://en.wikipedia.org/wik [wikipedia.org]
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Their new battery factory is trying to drop the price significantly.
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Battery Swap stations solve nothing, unless there is a universal battery standard format, usable in all cars, not just Tesla.
We wouldn't accept Ford making ICE cars that can only use Ford Fuel from Ford Fueling Stations, why is this acceptable for Electric Cars?
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It's acceptable because Tesla is building out the infrastructure with their own money. If somebody else paid for it, then it'd be a different story.
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You get yours back on the return trip (this is not optional). Like you'd have known, if you'd done any research instead of running your gob off. If you're returning via a different route, don't use the swap stations unless you're willing to head back to them shortly afterward.
Also, I'm pretty sure they would test the batteries before swapping them into a car. It's not as if this is difficult, or as if they have any vested interest in giving you bad batteries. I know it's probably very unusual and painful to
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Yes, and they won't be buying Tesla's any time soon because they believe electricity is Satan's work.
I've read about those flyover people, with their sixguns and bibles and Chick-fil-a sandwiches.
Trust me, it's better they not get any Tesla's.
And by the way, Tesla was a terrific market play this past couple of weeks. I put on a call spread and didn't even get all the upside, and it still made my 2014 for me. I may just take the month
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Actually, most GDP is produced on the East Coast. New York [wikipedia.org] rules the roost, producing almost as much GDP as LA, SF, and Seattle combined. And the high-tech cities of SF, Seattle, and San Jose combined don't even add up to 60% of NYC's GDP.
Comparing GDP per capita, Washington DC is number 1, just barely beating out SF, and Boston beats out Seattle. NYC rounds out the top 5, and the next West Coast city, LA, is barely in the top 10, with less GDP per capita than Philly.
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Wall Street financial manipulation doesn't count. It's not contributing anything of value. It's just stealing from the rest of us who actually work for a living.
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That is GDP per capita [wikipedia.org], where the east coast still wins in any comparison. It was addressed in my second paragraph, but I'll repeat it here:
Comparing GDP per capita, Washington DC is number 1, just barely beating out SF, and Boston beats out Seattle. NYC rounds out the top 5, and the next West Coast city, LA, is barely in the top 10, with less GDP per capita than Philly.
The only question left? (Score:2)
Really? Marketplace acceptance when they can get $90k for a sedan?
No, the real question(s) left are - can you make it affordable and can you accelerate and standardize recharging, because most people out there wouldn't care if their cars ran on donkey shit if it was affordable, quiet, efficient, and you could "fill up" whenever and wherever you needed to.
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Tesla can be charged on a standard 3-prong outlet (NEMA 5-15) [teslamotors.com]
Doesn't get much more standardized than that.
Of course, charging with 110 is a slow process. A Tesla requires a bit more juice than your smartphone, but it's still an option for overnight. Especially if you're not maxing out the distance every day. The recommended 240 plug is the same thing you've probably got running to your dryer (NEMA 14-50) so still pretty standardized.
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Charging from an american husehold outlet is about the same as charging your phone with a small windmill driven by you blowing on it.
110V * 12A makes for a very pitiful 1.320W. I've seen hair dryers that sucked more power than that.
I believe they said something like 14 hours for a full charge (sure, you'd rarely need a full charge) from a 220V * 16A outlet, so you can imagine how painful the experience would be at half the voltage and a lower current.
High-power AC plugs are standardized, so that doesn't req
Consumer acceptance? (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's see about the benefits.
No cooling water
No oil
No flammable liquid fuel
No brake fluid
No grease
No "fan" belts
No noise of consequence
No engine and drive train with 2000 parts
No internal combustion engine repairs/adjustments
Very low brake pad usage (unless you are 18 years old)
Re:Consumer acceptance? (Score:5, Informative)
Don't go crazy. There is still brake fluid in an electric car. And they still have radiators of various types for cooling purposes.
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The leaf is really only suitable for areas like all of Japan, and most of mid europe and America. Otherwise, it gets too hot or too cold. The leaf does NOT deal with thermal issues, so they have serious battery issues.
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I have a Leaf, there is no radiator of any kind. Heat comes from resistance (pre 2013) or heat pump (2013 and beyond).
Heat pumps still require radiators. They are much simpler and less maintenance then a typical automotive radiator - but they are still there. Just look at the back / bottom of your refrigerator for an example.
Re:Consumer acceptance? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Consumer acceptance? (Score:4, Informative)
The mechanical brakes get less use because of regenerative breaking, but they still need fluid and pads occasionally. But besides those two things, I want to say that the only other scheduled maintenance in the first 10 years is cabin air filters- which you can easily do at home.
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You missed one.
Replace battery pack for $12000 when it becomes worn out. Depending on how and how often the battery is charged this could be a relatively short time,
There is a lot less periodic maintenance but there is a very big one that comes along.
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I've been in (several) taxi Prius with over 400,000 km on the clock. These cars spend most of their life on battery mode so they (likely, perhaps) get as intense a battery workout as the Tesla. The average car is kept 3 years. Unless you plan to keep it ten + years, is this really a concern?
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I've been in (several) taxi Prius with over 400,000 km on the clock.
Being in a Prius make you an expert on how they work?
These cars spend most of their life on battery mode
What is this based on? The electric range of a Prius plugin [wikipedia.org] is less than 23 Km. I was a taxi driver and drove upwards of 300 km/ day. Most of the electricity used during the day is from regenerative braking but there is still a lot of gasoline used.
The average car is kept 3 years by the original owner.
FTFY. After that cars go on the used market and are in service for many more years. I drive a 2002 Hyundai Elantra. Are you advocating trowing away a $100,000 car after 3 years?
Unless you plan to keep it ten + years, is this really a concern?
It may not be a concern for the o
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is there something wrong with wanting a large investment to last 10 years? most normal cars last that long or longer and didnt take a $100,000 investment to get into.
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Apparently average ownership up to 57 months now, recession, better reliability and all....point still applies: you don't plan for engine swaps, why plan for battery swaps?
http://www.kbb.com/car-news/all-the-latest/average-length-of-us-vehicle-ownership-hit-an-all_time-high/2000007854/
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If you are replacing your car every 3 years you clearly don't care about saving money. Why then would you be so hyper sensitive to fuel costs to get an electric car?
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And in 10-15 years, battery packs will be around $2K.
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And in 10-15 years, battery packs will be around $2K
Assuming that scarcity of materials to build those batteries has not driven prices up.
Also, care to quote your source of statistics?
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An
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No brake fluid
The Model S has electrically pumped hydraulic brakes. Regenerative brakes can't apply enough force in all cases.
No cooling water ... oil ... grease
There are other fluids as well. The sealed gear box has gear oil (both 1.0 and 1.5 versions.) The batteries, motor/PEM/inverter and cabin are all cooled/heated using antifreeze with the requisite pumps, lines and heat exchangers in three fluid loops. The AC system also has fluid to exchange heat.
Your point is valid and very appealing; electric vehicles have fewer failure modes and maintenance
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There is grease, but they are in sealed areas. IOW, they are not expected to wear out.
Brake pads are expected to be changed about every 100K miles. Not bad.
Re:Consumer acceptance? (Score:5, Informative)
We did buy the maintenance plan (good for everything except tires for 8 years) and I'm sure it will need something, but so far its been basically nothing.
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I hear posts like yours a lot. I believe you about your maintenance needs, but its not that big a deal.
The last new car I bought needed no maintenance in the first year except for an oil change or two. My current car I bought 3 years used and it has needed no maintenance except for oil changes, air filters, and wiper blades. Modern ICE cars don't require a lot of work when they are new. Sure you need to change the oil, but I do that myself for about $30.
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The only thing worse than a General ICE, is a parallel hybrid. Worst idea going.
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A Tesla still has many parts that can be expensive to repair or replace We really need some time to sort out what the true cost to own one is.
It has an electric motor. Those do wear out over time. Unknown how many miles to wear out, and unknown cost. Similarly it has a transmission. A Wikipedia entry indicates its a single speed, so it should last a long time, but mechanical gear boxes do wear over time. There's a large battery pack. I don't know the life span of this, all indications are it is a lon
Re:Consumer acceptance? (Score:5, Informative)
It has an electric motor. Those do wear out over time.
Brushless AC induction in this case. As long as they used durable chemicals in the windings and relgulate/cool it correctly, I'd expect the chassis to rust out before it needed more than a new set of bearings.
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I'd expect the chassis to rust out before it needed more than a new set of bearings.
Given that said chassis is mostly aluminum [scientificamerican.com] that'll be a while...
But then again, I've heard of motors made during Edison's time still being in service, and AC induction motors, properly treated, are about the longest living electric motor as well...
I wonder if we might see a return of reupholstery/interior refurbishment places - rather than replace your Tesla, swap the battery for a new one while you have it repainted, seats replaced, and dash fixed up a bit?
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Or are you just a liar?
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Gigafactory - thous. mill. times typical Detroit? (Score:3)
Is a 'gigafactory' one that is a thousand million times bigger than a typical Detroit automobile factory? I am not quite sure I understand the term....
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I think the point of the name is the capacity in watts of the proposed factory.
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how does a factory have a capacity in watts?
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It's the amount of battery capacity in KWH it will make in a year or something like that. Not very accurate but does have some relationship to the business....
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Giga, as in many Giga Watts of cells produced per year.
Whoa, that's a lot of batteries... (Score:4, Funny)
Tesla is going to need a crazy amount of battery packs
Lucky they don't need a gigacrazy amount of battery packs, they'd have to build a super-duper-gigafactory.
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i believe next would be terafactory followed by a petafactory
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Not all Lithiums the same (Score:5, Interesting)
It's an interesting article for perspective but somewhat inaccurate. The article fails to point out that not all Lithium batteries are the same. The Volt for example uses such a different battery chemistry that it tends not to catch on fire even when punctured. The one simulated in lab fire occurred from the battery coolant catching on fire after it had a chance to dry out. (Took about a week.) The trade off is that the Volt's battery has lower power density which means that it holds less power for a battery its size. The Tesla S uses laptop batteries which have great battery density but have the obvious trade-off of catching on fire when punctured. An Iphone uses a Lithium Polymer battery which has some of the highest energy densities of all Lithium batteries. The downside is they explode when punctured. In a small device like a phone or tablet this isn't a big deal but in a Car which this would give it some amazing range, if it crashed it would literally be a bomb on wheels.
Re:Not all Lithiums the same (Score:5, Insightful)
>literally be a bomb on wheels
No it is neither literally, nor figuratively a bomb on wheels. It will catch fire though, with plenty of warning and safety features, if punctured. As I understand if you were in the Tesla when it caught fire in the battery packs, you probably wouldn't burn to death.
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>literally be a bomb on wheels
No it is neither literally, nor figuratively a bomb on wheels. It will catch fire though, with plenty of warning and safety features, if punctured. As I understand if you were in the Tesla when it caught fire in the battery packs, you probably wouldn't burn to death.
But the comment you're replying to wasn't talking about the Tesla. It was talking about a hypothetical electric car powered by lithium polymer batteries, of the same chemistry that an iPhone uses. One of those may very well be a bomb [youtu.be] on wheels.
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An Iphone uses a Lithium Polymer battery which has some of the highest energy densities of all Lithium batteries. The downside is they explode when punctured.
So if I shoot at an iPhone, it'll function like an exploding target? Really?? (Don't lie to me and get my hopes up!)
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Although, I guess you'd need to consider the speed at which that energy can be released, and I'm not sure how LIPOs compare on that front given that gasoline needs to be sufficiently mixed with oxygen.
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Far more likely, is the fact that Tesla carries more than 4-5x more KWH what the volt does and has sprea
Gimme a cheap car (Score:3)
Gimme a barebones Yaris like car, not the ugly ass 2013 Yaris for say $12-15K CDN and I'm in.
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I don't think that's going to happen this decade, and maybe never if there's not some fundamental discovery in battery chemistry. The Leaf has an incredibly short range and costs $29k US, even Musk is only targeting 30-40% reduction in battery (not system) costs this decade.
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Agreed- forget about buying a car you are buying a battery wrapped in an automobile.
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At the EU and Asian auto shows, Tesla was talking about 2015 west coast introduction of a $36k version, as well as something in the $60k range.
Credibility on a 36k Tesla is low, but hey, I'd love to be proven wrong.
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However, will has his time frames and models mixed up.
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The Model X is the Cross over that will be out early next year (was supposed to be this summer, but....). I am guessing that it will be starting at 75K.
The Model E which is out end of 2016, will be 35K base.
I'll buy one when... (Score:3)
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Oh, and battery swaps out on the tesla are expected at 10-15 years.
tesladot (Score:2)
Just Like Digital Cameras 20 Years Ago (Score:4, Insightful)
EV batteries will get cheaper and more powerful over time. Range will go up, vehicle prices will go down. Economies of scale and technological progress will see to that. As they get cheaper and better, they will make more sense to more people. People who might not buy a $40k car with a 120 mile range may well buy a $25k car with a 200 mile range.
Re:Just Like Digital Cameras 20 Years Ago (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is that battery technology is hardly something brand new, and there has been a nearly 50 year need (arguably perhaps even well over a century) of having reduced weight and size of batteries. Some of the very first automobiles (see the Baker Electrics [wikipedia.org] vehicle as an example) were electric even before Henry Ford started to build the Tin Lizzie. If Moore's Law applies after a fashion to battery technologies, instead of the typical assumed 2-3 year doubling/halving time that you are used to with computers, instead it is more like 25-50 years for battery technology.
There have indeed been improvements with batteries with new chemistry coming up with better ways to store a charge. None the less, progress is very slow in coming and I only expect to see perhaps another double of the capacity within the rest of my lifetime. The Lithium-ion cells that used to be in laptop computers and cell phones made it possible to build something like the Tesla Roadster (and subsequently the Model S), which is why those vehicles now have much better performance envelopes than the Baker Motor vehicles I mentioned above. A century of progress does make a difference, but it is still slow in coming.
Economies of scale will also help with the production of the Tesla vehicles, but until somebody makes the leap and builds the automobiles in the first place such economies of scale simply won't happen. Starting a brand new automobile company anywhere, much less in America, is so difficult that it really should be seen as a miracle and nearly proof there is a God all by itself. The current regulatory climate in America and Europe is bad enough that it is a miracle automobile companies even exist at all. For this reason, there is a definite lack of new entrants into the market (not that some people try, but almost all fail miserably). Tesla Motors is an exception and not a typical experience of a brand new automobile manufacturing company.
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As it is, their technology AND value is superior to all of the other car maker's offering
Tesla = Apple (Score:3)
The only question left will be mainstream acceptance??
No, the only question left will be economic. Cars costing > $ 70,000 are not for middle income families. Middle (and low) income families make up the vast majority of the U.S. population.
Tesla offers unique differentiators in their product that may or may not be superior to competitor technologies but command a premium price - not unlike many Apple products.
Loaded out Lenovo or HP laptop? low to mid $1000 range. Comparable specs on a 15" Retina MacBook Pro? Mid $2000's. Differentiators - OSX, higher resolution IPS display, gorgeous unibody aluminum construction, tighter ecosystem between computer & mobile device, unparalleled retail sales & support experience through apple stores, SSD faster than spinny hard drive, better battery life. I unashamedly own one. I occasionally ask myself why.
The $1300 Lenovo with 16gb ram, Nvidia 750 discreet video, quad core i7 cpu, and Windows 8.1 will do everything you need in a laptop and 5x more. You just aren't getting those rMBP differentiators. If they are worth an additional $1000, go for it.
A completely loaded Chevy Malibu gets you a four door sedan with turbocharged engine, full leather interior and tons of options for under $31,000. It will comfortably carry you back and forth to work for less than half the cost of the Tesla, it has more than twice the range, refilling it with energy takes five minutes, and while it is using petrochemical fuel, the Teslas - lets not kid ourselves here - are using electricity overwhelmingly generated by dirty coal fired electric plants.
No one is pretending the Lenovo Y510P laptop is a loaded rMBP, or the Chevy Malibu is the equivalent of a Tesla Model S. But the point is this - the high end Apple laptop & 27" desktop products, along with Tesla's vehicles, are - so long as they occupy their current pricing strata - going to be luxury items that a very narrow percentage of the U.S. market can afford. They will accordingly occupy a small percentage of market share.
Apple and Tesla are both destined to exist as luxury brands that will always be around, always appeal to a certain well-heeled discriminating consumer, but are fated to occupy very narrow market share. Like Rolex, Gucci, Coach hand bags, those red-soled Louboutin heels your wife / girlfriend / both have had their eyes on - they are priced outside the realm of sanity for all but enthusiasts, the foolhardy, or the very well heeled.
If Elon can scale manufacturing to produce a vehicle similar to the Nissan Leaf, improve range to 200+ miles between charges, ++ plus the quality and options a little, and get the price down into the $25-35k range while still making an acceptable profit, Tesla might have something to talk about. Until such time, Teslas sales are going to exist in a range that to companies like Ford, GM, and whatever Chrysler/Fiat is calling themselves this week - is a rounding error on just one of their models' annual sales.
Tesla sold 20some thousands Model S sedans last year? Ford sold, on average, over 50,000 F-150 pickups PER MONTH in 2013. ONE manufacturer. ONE MODEL.
I love Tesla, I admire Elon, but the numbers are just wrong for most of America.
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First off, Last year was Tesla's first year. And they borrowed
OTOH, major car makers borrowed 10's of billions and NONE have paid it back.
Secondly, to compare the F150 to the model S is a joke. might as well compare the number of german shepards sold vs. the Model S. Same worthless comparison.
HOWEVER, in every state/nation where they have showrooms (esp. multiple showrooms), the Model S is outselling all of the direct ICE competitors, such as BWM 5 series.
And th
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No.. No, WindBourne I think you're confused. Here - let me clarify:
GM & Chrysler have fully repaid their TARP "bailout" money.
http://spellchek.wordpress.com... [wordpress.com]
Ford never took TARP money - they did line of credit prior to TARP's existence.
I also think you are confused about the point I was making with the Ford F-150 pickup truck. Let me make it clearer for you:
I am not comparing the F150 to the Model S, or any other Tesla vehicle. What I was doing was demonstrating that Tesla is, and shall remain a sma
WHAT A LOUSY SUMMARY. (Score:2)
If Tesla can remove the battery production bottle neck it's currently facing, the only question left will be market acceptance of a mainstream electric car.
LOL. That is just funny. The Model S has won more awards than any other car. Likewise, it has nearly all reviewers raving about it. There are only a few ppl that have driven it and do not like it.
Now, they are producing at a rate of 30K cars / year, have a waiting list of 3 months in the few states that have showrooms, 3-6 months in parts Europe, and that is with less than 1/10 of the world population.
It is considered by nearly all that it is a better car that any below $150K.
In fact, it has sold more
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30K is not mainstream. I bet they are operating at a huge loss with those numbers. Other cars sell in the millions in America alone, every single year.
And the average person does not read car reviews. they watch advertisements on TV, and occasionally watch news articles. Articles that have primarily been about when a new Tesla car mysteriously catches fire. 90% of everything I have heard about Tesla cars is the different ways they can and do catch fire.
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Other cars sell in the millions in America alone, every single year.
Half that or less. The Ford F-Series was the top seller last year at ~700K units. The Ford explorer was rank 20 with less than 200K units sold. If any one of the tesla models manages to get into several hundred units sold annually, it will not just be mainstream but a top seller.
A Little Math (Score:2)
"last year Tesla used a bit more than one-third of the auto industry's electric-car batteries, and that was with only selling 22,477 cars. "
Also, I just looked it up and it looks like in the US, last year, sold about 15.6 million new cars in 2013.
From what I understand each one of these gets a single battery in general. So that is 15.6 million batteries, by the conventional guys.
Now in addition to that Tesla apparently used half again (aka 1/3 of both combined). => 7.8 million batteries.
And that is in on
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I wish Slashdot had a delete.
I now realise that Electric Car Batteries must not be equivalent to car batteries.
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Why even post something like that? Is uninformed cynicism what passes for a constructive comment these days?
The location of the gigafactory has not yet been announced, but Musk said it would include lots of solar and wind to power it, leading many analysts to assume somewhere in the southwest U.S., such as New Mexico.....
---The Motley Fool [fool.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Why even post something like that? Is uninformed cynicism what passes for a constructive comment these days?
The location of the gigafactory has not yet been announced, but Musk said it would include lots of solar and wind to power it, leading many analysts to assume somewhere in the southwest U.S., such as New Mexico.....
---The Motley Fool [fool.com]
It's completely irresponsible and foolish to speculate that the gigafactory will be built in New Mexico. The obvious location would be in Watts.
Re: (Score:2)
Hopefully they will get the merger of the paper battery, graphene nano tubes,
and super capacitors to the point we can 3d print batteries out of carbon
and paper...
http://news.stanford.edu/news/... [stanford.edu]
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They better hurry then, March is a few days away. Time be marching away from them otherwise.
And Slashdot editors much to the beat of a different drummer.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure if the demand is there, the mining of Lithium can be ramped up to cope, and techniques to extract it that might be too expensive for small scale will be cost-effective on a large scale.
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You have a number of mistakes here:
the quantities required of neodymium (for the magnets in the motors), copper (for the moving coils in the motors) and lithium (for the batteries) to push around 2 tonnes of metal is basically... insane. there's not enough available on the planet. something has to give.
1. AC Induction motors [wikipedia.org] like what are in the Tesla don't need rare earth magnets.
2. There's almost certainly more copper in your house than in a Tesla.
3. Besides's GrahamCox's mentioning that Lithium is actually very common, just generally widely distributed [wikipedia.org] rather than concentrated(makes mining it a bit more painful).
Re: (Score:2)
They just announced a bond issue to pay for it.
It looks like a $1.6 Billion factory... not a Gigafactory.
http://www.businessweek.com/ne... [businessweek.com]