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> While Tesla is still the "coolest" brand of car, there are better/cheaper electric cars from many non-Tesla companies already widely available today. No, th

> While Tesla is still the "coolest" brand of car, there are better/cheaper electric cars from many non-Tesla companies already widely available today. No, there are a very small handful of cheaper electric cars that may be subjectively better for some uses but worse for many others. Bolt, i3, Leaf - that's about it for mass-produced cars being bought in any volume, and the manufactureres are taking a bath on them. GM is reportedly losing ~$7,500 for each Bolt they sell, how long do you think that would go on if Tesla were to disappear overnight?

yread 9y ago
there is also Prius Prime, Clarity, Volt, Fusion, Ioniq, Outlander and more https://insideevs.com/april-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ https://insideevs.com/april-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sa...
- twblalock 9y ago
  And the German brands are getting in on electric in a big way.
- djrogers 9y ago
  You’re conflating plug-in hybrids with pure EVs here, and even then most of the ones you lost won’t ship 1000 cars per month, let alone 5k. Those are peanuts. My point is, the needle is just barely starting to move toward EVs - it’s not pegged yet by any means.
dingaling 9y ago
At worst we would revert to hybrids as the dominant low-emission platform. Which is still much, much better than IC-only. Tesla dates back to 2003 by which point Toyota and Honda had been selling hybrids for six years. But given that Nissan and Renault had EVs on the market for as long as Teslas has, I wouldn't be too concerned about the post-Tesla EV market.
twblalock 9y ago
> GM is reportedly losing ~$7,500 for each Bolt they sell, how long do you think that would go on if Tesla were to disappear overnight? I think they would sell more Bolts because without the Model 3 there would be less competition in the Bolt's price range. Everything I've seen indicates to me that GM is very serious about this, and the German brands are also investing a lot -- the rise of electric cars is coinciding with the decline of diesel, and they are moving their money from one to the other.

yread 9y ago

there is also Prius Prime, Clarity, Volt, Fusion, Ioniq, Outlander and more https://insideevs.com/april-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ https://insideevs.com/april-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sa...

twblalock 9y ago
And the German brands are getting in on electric in a big way.
djrogers 9y ago
You’re conflating plug-in hybrids with pure EVs here, and even then most of the ones you lost won’t ship 1000 cars per month, let alone 5k. Those are peanuts. My point is, the needle is just barely starting to move toward EVs - it’s not pegged yet by any means.

dingaling 9y ago

At worst we would revert to hybrids as the dominant low-emission platform. Which is still much, much better than IC-only. Tesla dates back to 2003 by which point Toyota and Honda had been selling hybrids for six years. But given that Nissan and Renault had EVs on the market for as long as Teslas has, I wouldn't be too concerned about the post-Tesla EV market.

twblalock 9y ago

> GM is reportedly losing ~$7,500 for each Bolt they sell, how long do you think that would go on if Tesla were to disappear overnight? I think they would sell more Bolts because without the Model 3 there would be less competition in the Bolt's price range. Everything I've seen indicates to me that GM is very serious about this, and the German brands are also investing a lot -- the rise of electric cars is coinciding with the decline of diesel, and they are moving their money from one to the other.