Lots of people rave abotu Teslas, particularly those who own them. Pretty astonishing that an automaker can come out of nowhere, and produce an incredible car that revolutionizes the car business…all in about 10 years.
Or have they?
I’ve often said that electric just doesn’t work. The only way it makes any sense to own an electric car is if you pay a fortune for it to bury the exorbitant costs of making a car this way. This is why Tesla made an upmarket Model S. It’s competing with the Audi A6/BMW 5er and MB E class. It’s $70,000 to start, and around $120,000 if you want the good one. Just like the Germans. Only it’s not as good. It’s not as nice, it’s not as high quality, and frankly, it doesn’t work. It’s fast off the mark though, and that’s about all you’ll ever hear from a Tesla owner or follower (or the company for that matter). “Watch my mom’s face when I accelerate at a green light!!” (even though my cupholder plastic is flaking off after 9 months and the AC won’t come on without the radio being on AM)
The germans use high powered petrol and diesel engines. Want economy? Their 2.0T and 3.0T diesels have you covered. They’ll take you 500 miles on $60 of fuel, and if you need to ‘re-charge’ you can do so in 3 minutes at one of 80,000 gas stations in every city. Want performance? Get an M, RS or AMG. Still great ‘range’, but now it looks great, sounds great, and goes like crazy.
The electric model, the Tesla S, says that you don’t need petrol…you just recharge. How much is that? Well if you breakdown delivery costs, kwh costs you’re probably at $10-20 per charge. About $40 in Hawaii. That charge will probably get you 150-250 miles, depending on how you drive it. If you charge it and leave the car each night without plugging in (like a normal car) and just commute with it, your range shrinks drastically. Owners reported around 100 miles per charge. Tesla said they were going to create a software update to change that. They didn’t. It’s still deplorable. To get good range, you need to drive 200 miles plus in one shot. Slowly. If you go fast, your range shrinks drastically. If you add passengers, your range shrinks drastically. So it’s kinda cheaper for electricity than it is for German car petrol or diesel…but not really significantly cheaper.
And when you’re buying a $70,000+ car, are you really all that worried about saving $1500/year on fuel for your conveyance? I don’t think you are.
The other problem with Tesla S, is that in order for my neighbour to buy one and for Tesla to pretend it is good business, the government takes tax dollars from everyone on the street and gives a grant to my neighbour and gives further grants to Tesla. THis can be as much as $13,000 depending where you live. For what…for a guy to buy a fancy car? WTF? I don’t remember getting that when I bought my Audis. Oh, but the Tesla is good for the environment. Riiiight…so that electricity doesn’t come from coal fired generators or whatever your region uses. And those batteries don’t ruin the air quality in sudbury and fuck the lakes up when they’re mining for the key components of the gigantic, expiring batteries.
I guess the fact is the government has for whatever reason decided that shitty environmental impacts of electric cars are better because they’re not buying oil and sending money to Saudi Arabia who flew jets into US landmarks 14 years ago next month.
Problem with that explanation is that America is now the largest oil producer on earth, and doesn’t really do much oil business with the middle east. IT gets its imported oil from Canadian oil sands now. So now what?
“We’re supporting a great, viable American business”
Last time I checked their financials, Tesla hasn’t paid a nickel in taxes, whereas Ford, GM and Chrysler Corp have employed a gigantic number of Americans for decades…and paid an absolute fortune in taxes.
Why isn’t Tesla paying any tax? Because you have to make money to pay tax. What is Tesla doing?
Tesla is losing $4,000 for every car they sell.
Wait…what? THey’re losing money on these things…even though they are overcharging, they’re getting government grants, their customers are getting government grants…???
How are they running the business? They’re burning cash and selling a pipe dream, mainly generated by selling stock at grossly optimistically inflated prices to retail investors.
Good stuff.