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Comment by bostonpete | Hacker News Reader

I get why you'd say that about SpaceX, but why is Tesla in that category?

Consumers have been very reluctant to drive electric vehicles / hybrids instead of regular combustion-engine vehicles. It has huge implications for the petroleum business as well as the future of transportation.

Tesla is focused on a niche: Luxury / high-performance cars, which is a tiny fraction of the market in units, and even if they were wildly successful they would not even make a blip in the carbon emission statistics.

It is for now, but see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5310911 for discussion from the weekend about Elon's post from a few years ago about his plans to enter the mainstream with Tesla.

Isn't that a category error? From what I know Tesla is interested in building good electric cars, where luxury/high-end gives them the profit margins to enable further improvements. Though I'm sure it plays some role in their marketing, I don't know that they are currently measuring their success in terms of overall carbon emission statistics.

Sorry for the multi-day delay in responding. The electric vehicle thing is only one aspect of their innovation.

They also have a direct sales model that removes the pain of negotiating with car salespeople and dealerships. You can buy the cars online and everyone pays the same price! I bet they don't charge extra for floor mats and undercarriage rust protection.

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