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>a huge supply chain and R&D costs around combustion engines You mean largely trouble-free engines that run on ultra-cheap gas? ICE has environmental issues,
by drzaiusapelord 10y ago
>a huge supply chain and R&D costs around combustion engines
You mean largely trouble-free engines that run on ultra-cheap gas?
ICE has environmental issues, of course, but the idea that electric is universally superior is questionable. There's no range anxiety with gas and any backyard mechanic can fix most issues. Your locked down $100,000 IoT car is a completely different beast.
>Much of this will be of zero value in the near future.
Says who? If anything everyone is bearish on electric since gas prices have fallen and how range and recharge times will always be less convenient. Electric might replace gas but it won't be in the near future and nothing stops Ford from launching an electric line of its own. Electric cars are a solved problem if you can convince people to pay the premium and deal with the range anxiety and long recharge times. Ford has already announced an electric Mustang and F-150 on top of the $30,000, pre-rebate, 2017 Focus you can buy today. Tesla has no monopoly on electric tech. The barrier to entry is non-existant for other car companies.
edit: saying that the government will ban ICE isn't a market statement its a regulatory hope and for most nations a far off proposal. The idea that Tesla can only succeed with the government literally making their competitors illegal isn't actually a pro-Tesla argument. You guys are much less convincing than you think you are.
- cmarschner 10y ago>Says who It is foreseeable that ICEs will become banned, at least in Europe. Right now there is still too much lobbying by the traditional car makers, but long term there is no other choice for reaching climate goals. Edit: See e.g. http://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/the-end-of-the-internal-combustion-engine http://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/the-end-of-the-internal... https://www.autoevolution.com/news/germany-asks-eu-to-think-about-banning-internal-combustion-engines-by-2030-111988.html https://www.autoevolution.com/news/germany-asks-eu-to-think-...
- aanm1988 10y agoThat would never work in the US. It would be both impractical and politically impossible. Most people don't have 35k to drop on an electric car, and even if they did the infrastructure doesn't exist.
- dwaltrip 10y agoThings change. The car will landscape will look pretty different in 20 years.
- cmarschner 10y agoIf American car companies want to sell in the EU, which is about 500 million people, they will soon have no other choice.
- Arizhel 10y agoGas isn't "ultra-cheap" in most other parts of the world, especially Europe and Japan. Norwegians are buying Teslas at an absurd rate. Watch for Europe to switch to EVs sooner; their main roadblock is the charging infrastructure. Unlike here in America, where suburbanites all have garages that can be easily retrofitted with a charging port, Europeans don't have that luxury usually. They're a lot like the eco-conscious pro-EV city dwellers here in America who park on the street and have no garage.
- mantas 10y agoNorwegians are buying Teslas mostly because of tax breaks and parking/toll discounts.