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Comment by alimbada | Hacker News Reader

They're all full of hot air until they actually deliver a real EV that can compete with the Model S. I saw an article on a Mercedes-Maybach EV concept car the other week which made me roll my eyes. I've always felt concept cars are a silly idea; a waste of talent and resources. Why can't they spend that on creating a real car and delivering it instead?

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Does the BMW i series not qualify as real EV?

http://www.bmwusa.com/bmw/bmwi

The range is a little less than what Tesla offers (150 miles), but here in Berlin I see quite a few of them on the road already. Mercedes has a similar model btw:

http://www.mercedes-benz.de/content/germany/mpc/mpc_germany_...

They probably don't get hyped as much as Tesla, but they seem pretty real to me nevertheless.

Of course it does. It is even mentioned in the article.

Neither of those cars get 150 miles of range. They're both squarely in the under-100 miles category. The BMW only reaches 150 if you get the "range extender," i.e. a motorcycle engine in the trunk that charges the battery. The MB has a "extended charge" mode where you get get a little over a 100 miles, at the expense of using some of the battery overprovisioning.

Also, humorously, that Mercedes B-Class you linked to is, under the body, a Tesla frame and propulsion system. They're buying from Tesla because they don't have their own technology yet. Tesla only sells them 30-something kilowatt battery packs, though.

> They're buying from Tesla because they don't have their own technology yet. Tesla only sells them 30-something kilowatt battery packs, though.

No, they’re buying from Tesla because they invested heavily in Tesla in return for being able to use that IP later on.

Because concept cars are combining efforts into a prototype to test those concepts with. Also, to get a reaction of press and potential customers. Concepts very often contain elements which are adopted by later production models and pointing the way ahead for a whole brand in terms of design language, automotive philosophy and technological advancements. It is far from a waste of talent and resources. Actually, it is necessary for top automakers to stay ahead of the game.

Concept cars are similar to haute couture in fashion. Somewhat far-fetched and sometimes ridiculous, but they're a way to communicate and test concepts and ideas, as well as give a sense of direction and vision. Not a waste of time at all.

Because concept cars are actually pretty cheap, and could even be paid from a marketing rather than engineering budget. Creating a new "real" car to the point where it can actually be manufactured, serviced and sold efficiently is incredibly expensive. It's probably at least a 1000x difference in cost.

Right, because Tesla announces cars, it delivers years later (and always too late)?

One thing is the actual car. I think at least BMW should now know how to build a proper EV. But that still doesn't mean people will buy it. It would need a charging network that can help people out when traveling long distances. Tesla has the supercharger network - no other network can come anywhere near it when it comes to performance and coverage.

It gives direction to new designs within the brand, many design aspects from concept cars are used in one way or another in production later on.

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