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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Re:The only question left? (Score:3, Informative)
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 vehicle over its life outside of oil changes/tires/batter etc.
That being said, I'll never buy a new car again, and will buy cars that are mechanically sound towards the end of their lifes. If I get two years, and sell them for any value at all, I'm way ahead of people who like new car smells and get stuck in forever paying for vehicles. In fact, I'm looking right now for my next $2-3K car. I'm patient and am willing to wait to find the "right one". :-D Yeah, I'm tight.
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.