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At this point the charging infrastructure is the biggest differentiator for me. I don't particularly care for Elon Musk, and I don't think Tesla vehicles are m

by cwhiz 6y ago

At this point the charging infrastructure is the biggest differentiator for me. I don't particularly care for Elon Musk, and I don't think Tesla vehicles are made particularly well. However, is there any competitor that has even 25% of the charging network that Tesla has? Also, Apple can't even convert my voicemails into text. They seem like 3-5 generations behind the competition in machine learning. People believe they'll have a self driving car in a little over three years? Mmmmmmkay.

loceng 6y ago
It's a strategy: let the market mature some, allowing others to make mistakes, giving you a view of what works best, and then launch a product and launch it to your existing consumer base. For example, how long ago did Apple Music come out, with how many existing competitors, and how successful was it? Apple has deep pockets, can do packaged deals for subscriptions as well as your iPhone, Apple Watch, laptop, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple didn't get into a few other markets that Elon is targeting as well, though Apple's careful to not launch too many products at once - it may put them at a disadvantage over decades; of course they can always buy companies in a market they want to be in.
- cwhiz 6y ago
  Apple had a long history in music prior to Apple Music. I have no doubt that Apple could make a car. But I do doubt that they could make a self driving car. Google is still trying to figure it out after a decade of research and development.
rootusrootus 6y ago
> is there any competitor that has even 25% of the charging network that Tesla has? Well, EVgo claims to be the largest DC fast charging network in the US. I don't know if that's true, and I don't know if they're excluding Tesla's proprietary network. They claim to have 800 fast charging locations, and I think Tesla is a bit over 900. Tesla has more stations per location, however, I'm pretty certain of that. Collectively, I think there are more non-Tesla DC fast charging locations than there are superchargers, and the gap is expected to widen significantly over the coming years. Tesla had a great head start, though, so they command the mindshare. And some of the standardized DC fast charging stations have acquired a reputation for unreliability. But ... superchargers break regularly, too.

by cwhiz 6y ago

loceng 6y ago

It's a strategy: let the market mature some, allowing others to make mistakes, giving you a view of what works best, and then launch a product and launch it to your existing consumer base. For example, how long ago did Apple Music come out, with how many existing competitors, and how successful was it? Apple has deep pockets, can do packaged deals for subscriptions as well as your iPhone, Apple Watch, laptop, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple didn't get into a few other markets that Elon is targeting as well, though Apple's careful to not launch too many products at once - it may put them at a disadvantage over decades; of course they can always buy companies in a market they want to be in.

cwhiz 6y ago
Apple had a long history in music prior to Apple Music. I have no doubt that Apple could make a car. But I do doubt that they could make a self driving car. Google is still trying to figure it out after a decade of research and development.

rootusrootus 6y ago

> is there any competitor that has even 25% of the charging network that Tesla has? Well, EVgo claims to be the largest DC fast charging network in the US. I don't know if that's true, and I don't know if they're excluding Tesla's proprietary network. They claim to have 800 fast charging locations, and I think Tesla is a bit over 900. Tesla has more stations per location, however, I'm pretty certain of that. Collectively, I think there are more non-Tesla DC fast charging locations than there are superchargers, and the gap is expected to widen significantly over the coming years. Tesla had a great head start, though, so they command the mindshare. And some of the standardized DC fast charging stations have acquired a reputation for unreliability. But ... superchargers break regularly, too.