Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbird45
Repeatedly the issue of cost keeps coming up. If you live in TV you might have noticed Corvettes, Farries, Jaguars none going over 30MPH . Motorcycles darned with everything short of a bed and Golfcart so pimped up it's beyond belief. I think in TV a cost of an EV is not a factor.
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Thank you - LOL. I think Uh Duh, is somewhat appropriate.
But, I will say, Tesla is priced as HIGH as Tesla thinks they can price it and still sell them. They seem to have guessed right (or possibly a little low - they seem to be leaving some money on the table), since they are backordered. It is perfectly normal for a new high end product to be priced high. That is how the company expands to upgrade its mass production.
And I used to find it so frustrating (but now just find it humorous), how so many demand over and over that a product that is 100 years old with international mass manufacturing and massive spinoff support products that are highly refined be compared to a product that is a decade old and still growing, and no where near mass marketing and no real international production yet. Uh Duh, the existing product will almost always win in every comparison. Duh. But, every day that comparison slips a little more in favor of EVs.
And even more so, use cases are evolving. Musk is frequently talking about how once EVs are established and FSD is available he is considering not selling Teslas, but instead starting a Robotaxi company. If it is what he suggests, I for one am ALL IN. The concept, if I understand it correctly is to operate like a time share. Basically you pay a monthly (hourly, daily, annual) rental for using the "taxi". When you want to go someplace, you summons a car using your cell phone and in 5 or 10 minutes it arrives, takes you to your destination, drops you off and goes and charges while waiting for another summons. You will be able to schedule cars to pick you up at specified times, say you have a doctors appointment, or want to go to a show, etc. There will be changing stations in each service area and the number of floating cars will be determine by usage.
I am ALL IN on that. No paying $30K to $50K up front for a vehicle to sit in my garage 90% of the time. No maintenance, no insurance, just summons a car when I want it, and it is maintained, charged and ready whenever I want it.
That idea would also make a HUGE difference in the number of cars required to serve everyone. Which results is a massive reduction in the number of batteries recycled every year, which results in a massive reduction in the rare minerals required to make batteries. I have no idea HOW many cars would be required to do this, but even if it was only a reduction in half, that is 150 million cars we don't have to build and power.
Obviously this will not work for everyone. I lived on acreage about 15 minutes from a tiny town (Live Oak, population about 3,000). I would not have been happy waiting 30 minutes for a car to arrive. So, I would not have been a potential Customer then. But, here in TV, I would jump on the beta of that project!
The next 3 to 5 years are going to see a LOT of EVs enter the market. There are a LOT of issues to be resolved. They will be resolved as they are discovered.