How Audi, BMW & Mercedes plan to compete with Tesla

lol if there was a service centre near me I'd apply. I could sell a product I believe in

Perhaps I should think outside the box. Why isn't there a service centre near ME? My area is affluent, it's the 2nd highest purchaser of eco vehicles outside of London. We have a high proportion of homes with driveways compared to many properties in London. I'd also say we're more open minded to new things, but I would say that.

 

I agree Renault is taking the wrong path. I do think the battery lease option can help sales at this time. I also think the option will fade away as BEVs become more acceptable to the public at large for the reasons lease only doesn't work.

 

How they plan to compete with Tesla you ask! Diesels of course!

 

Well, it is a little ways from you, however according to their site they are opening both a store and service center in Manchester.

I'm a bit jealous as my closest store is still 500-600 miles away

 

The point of view you have is of the average present car owners.

The viewpoint needed for future EV production is not determined by present car owners. The viewpoint needed is of the car makers. They are examining the market with a look of what the future brings, the constraints they companies face, and the consequences of planning wrong. None of them are making EVs for any other reason than the future realities of remaining profitable. This is the same motivation resulting in the Prius. It was designed for what Toyota thought would be essential for the future car market...a market they wanted a profitable car to offer.

Be aware that CAFE standards have no effect whatsoever on a car buyer, it is the auto maker that has to navigate these requirements. The same is true with costs. What happens when batteries cost far less than engines? What happens when EVs are warranted for much longer and have much higher proven reliability than ICE vehicles? What happens as gas prices continue to climb faster than electricity prices? What happens if national programs or other states decide to require a certain percentage of non-polluting vehicles to sold in each state?

As you can see, no owner spends much time thinking about those questions. Even if the are affected by them, they can buy a car the day after changing their mind. The auto makers must think about these question or they will eventually go out of business. The present EV offerings are a response to the above thinking.

 

lol that's the one I was refering to!?!

A 60 mile each way commute might happen in the US, but remember we pay $7/$8 a gallon. There again, if I were successful in the job I'd have an S to drive. Hmmm, that sounds much more viable

That's also one of the benefits of the UK, everywhere is within 500/600 miles away.

 

Of course, my apologies. Cost of my travel has become a bit automatic for me. Round trip that would cost me about $3 USD

 

gc, how much do you pay for a kWh?

 

agreed, but what i'm saying is, the only reason they think there might be some type of alternative fuel vehicles in the future marketplace, is because of toyota, prius, and the growing family that they have spawned. toyota came up with the idea on their own, these other companies are just reacting to the current marketplace.

 

The Prius success has had influence, but I would say Telsa has had more influence. At the end of the day the Prius is still 100% a gas car. The only Telsa drawback of real significance for many car buyers is price. Refueling ease at home, fuel cost, space, acceleration, support, quality, etc. seem to be enhanced by EV attributes while price and very long range drives are the remaining hurdles. This is what Telsa has demonstrated. What the Prius has demonstrated is fuel efficiency and battery incorporation can make a better car than not having these attributes.

 

The Prius came out of the MITI LEV program which started with BEVs. Because of the limitations on cost of traction batteries at the time, NiMH was the best they worked with, the Japanese companies and government deemed BEVs to be non-viable. It seems that thinking still persists there today, despite what competitors have brought to market. That have influenced Toyota's design decisions regarding the eQ, and definitely did in regards to FCVs.

 

Personally? £0.15p a kwh ($0.24c). My electric company also offer a slightly lower rate for BEV owners as well as access to a free, nationwide charge network;

Discount For Electric Car Drivers - For The Road - Ecotricity

Our Electric Highway - For The Road - Ecotricity

This particular company generate most of their own electric and ensure all electric they purchase in is renewable. You can get alternative companies that give cheap overnight tariffs but they charge more during the daytime. The prices vary but it's about £0.08 night and £0.23 day or something like that. My utility company works out about £50 a year extra to be 100% renewable. I find that an acceptable extra.

 

agreed, but without prius, would there be tesla? we'll never know.

 

and we don't yet know if they are wrong.

 

As 'demonstrator', I agree:

• After ramp-up, the Prius achieved no more than a 2% market share (USA)
• The Tesla and all other EVs are still in ramp-up, about 0.7% market share (USA)

Yet we see in the surveys that half of all non-hybrid owners are still not convinced in 2014. The same old phobias and fears still keep them away. Call it 17 years from the NHW10 or 17 months with the EVs, the technology is not getting through.

Bob Wilson

 

it will take something dramatic, that's for sure.

 

But, it costs $10,000 to change the battery!

 

Exactly.

People still think you have to plug a hybrid in, though with the PIP about, the waters are even more muddied. People think the battery will only last a few years before needing expensive replacement, because their phone/cordless drill/solar lights all need new batteries in such a period. The salesman saying "oh it'll last the life of the car" without explaining how, leaves many in doubt.

Companies offer an 8 year warranty but they need to stress how and why their batteries last longer. Not all people are fools and a simple explanation would help. But I think that's the problem too, the marketing people don't really get it so how can they portray that to customers?

 

Tesla isn't a child of a prius at all. Their first car was a roadster, and it was built on the ashes of the EV-1, with some clever engineering on consumer lithium cells so they could have something as good as the ovonics nimh cells without violating the patents. This was a choice that excited people enough so that they would pay for the technology and invest in the company. Mangement thought about the prius in the development of the model S originally as a phev, but ultimately rejected that idea, and stuck with a bev hoping batteries would go down in price enough to be pofitable, and they have.

Telsa already has had more influence than the prius. GM said the roadster helped get them to green light the volt, and nissan said the same of the leaf. It has developed cars with toyota and mercedes, although toyota has dropped them, for now. Toyota and Mercedes also invested in tesla, Mercedes recently selling its shares, not because it didn't belive in the company but because they had already made over a 3000% profit and thought it was now getting over valued. BMW was definitely influenced and is now likely to make an investment.

 

i don't think elon musk made his decision to start an electric car company based on the ev1.