How Audi, BMW & Mercedes plan to compete with Tesla

That is only part of the issue.
From what I have heard, hybrids don't hold onto consumers.
Study: Hybrid car owners unlikely to buy another - CBS News

Hybrids get you decent fuel efficiency.
They get you tons of efficiency if you give up performance and drive quality.

Electrics get you outstanding fuel efficiency in addition to performance and drive quality.

I don't see how the plugin market won't surpass hybrid market in 10 years, more likely 5.

 

if gas were 5 and 6 dollars now, i bet hybrids would be holding onto customers. ev's have a similar issue. if they can't equalize cost, range and charge time, they will lose existing customers when gas prices decline, or when inflation makes gas look cheaper than it is.

 

Eberhard and Tarpenning created the company in 2003. Musk joined in 2004 as the cheif invester. The prius was not really a sucess when they created the company, but many were inspired by the ev-1 which was cancelled and crushed right when the company was founded.
Eberhard said "Without plug-in capability, a hybrid is just a gasoline-powered car with some fancy hardware", which means to me he wasn't inspired by the prius to form the company.
I don't know for a fact that the ev-1 inspired him, but he definitely was angry that they were crushed. He wanted to start with a fast exciting bev, then make it down to the mainstream when the market was ready.

 

No, he didn't. However, he did use at least one of the early concepts from the same program which was the skate board design. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or not.
I certainly don't see any causual relationship with the Prius though.

My understanding is Mercedes hedged their TSLA investment locking in a minimum $140/share price. However, they also couldn't make anything above $160/share.
Since last year they have been holding the stock to make sure Tesla, as a supplier for them, is stable.

 

No, they don't.
You apparently haven't been reading any of my recent posts.
EVs in general and especially the Model S are simply better.
You could make gas free with the same CO2 footprint and I would still rather buy any EV over an ICE.

The only advantage hybrids have is a 30-50% fuel efficiency gain.

EV advantages:
EVs have a 80-110% fuel efficiency gain over the best hybrid (Prius) and a 125-180% gain over the others.
Performance
Drive quality
Convenience (with some exceptions)
Safety
Cargo and passenger space
Less service needed

 

hmm I didn't know that, but I divided the mercedes procedes by the tesla market value and you are right they didn't get close to full price but $160/share makes sense. Mercedes transfered 5% ownership of tesla (just over half their shares) to Aabar Investments as part of their investment in Mercedes. They may be subject to the same hedging. Still $780,000 isn't bad for a $22,000 investment (Rest of $50,000 investment was transfered to a happy Aabar). If they are then I would expect them to sell their shares soon or they may already have, as they can't make any more money.

 

I am not sure about the use of the word Only here.
Well, try a trip across the country with an EV, or to have more fun, do it during the winter.
You will find yourself not using certain accessories to save energy.

 

One of the core influences upon Tesla was not the Prius but the ACPropulsion Tzero

AC Propulsion tzero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was the car inspiring the Tesla Roadster. Back when the Tesla Blogs were from an upstart company, they put in a lot of postings (before Musk took hard control) making it clear that the Tzero was the inspiration for the Roadster. I wish I had those blog entries to demonstrate this point, but those are long gone.

 

Oh yes, definately "only", although I apologize if I wasn't clear.

Perhaps I should have said "...only advantage hybrids have over regular ICE vehicles...".
Otherwise I would not have mentioned fuel savings over EVs as there are none.

I did do a cross country trip in an EV. Fuel cost me $3 and it was the best road trip of my life. I'm looking forward to my next one. And no, I wouldn't be shutting off any accessories in the winter.

Your point is taken, for some people, for some tasks, hybrids have advantages over EVs. However they have no advantages over EVs that regular ICE vehicles don't have.

 

Also, we are talking about EVs(plural)
But, IMO the only EV right now is a Tesla Model S. The others are not that practical/useful to a nearby town, Orlando to Tampa: 84 miles.
Yeah, I agree with the minimum of 200 mile ev range.

 

I concur.

An 80/100 mile range is useless for most people as that equates to 45/55 in winter. And that's 45/55 from full to totally empty. Personally I'd want to leave at least 10/15 miles as a buffer.

Even the base Tesla with 200 miles would provide 130 realistic miles in the depth of winter - more than most EVs summer/ideal ratings. I'm still dubious why other manufacturers 'insist' on keeping this 100/130 mile range as it just restricts their offerings, unless that's the idea?

And the 300 mile Teslas tick the boxes. You can get most places with that even in the depth of winter and should you wish to go further in one go, you'd be better using the train or plane. Here in the UK a 300 mile Tesla would be perfect as you can pretty much go from one end of the country to the other with no more than 2 super charges.

 

EVs definately need to grow and cost is the largest factor for them.

And that brings us full circle back to why I think it is such phenomenal news that Audi, BMW and Mercedes plan to compete with Tesla! Competition will help spur innovation and lower prices

 

if audi, bmw and mercedes start producing ev's at the same rate as tesla, i'll agree with you. although, musk maybe one of those people who has more competition from himself than anyone else could ever give him.