Tesla Model E Reveal Slated For 2015 Detroit Auto Show
gas2.org
gas2.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_BlueStar
2015 would be on track for the Bluestar, but I remember Musk saying this year that it was basically delayed until 2017, which was pretty disappointing. I wonder what changed.
Either way, $20,000 Tesla in 2018 then? It would follow Tesla's strategy of releasing a new car every 3 years that costs half as much as the previous one. Even a $25,000 one would be very nice. If I were them I'd try to make it my goal to have a $20,000 car by 2020 (like those nice renewable energy goals).
I think in the 2020's electric cars will become mainstream, and most new sold cars would be electric, due to the mainstream price-point they will reach, and the mainstream-level mileage they would get by then.
According to Musk batteries improve the capacity (at the same price point) by 5-8 percent per year, which is a little slow, but still great news for electric cars in the long term, considering they can get batteries for half the price or double the mileage every 10 years.
It's pretty much the same model as the S and X, both of which had 2 year delays between announcement and delivery.
The Model S "starts" at 60k, but the version that isn't nerfed due to a small battery is $90k. The people giving the amazing, raving reviews of the Model S are talking about the high end of the price range model, not the 'starting at' model.
The next revision (model E) won't be an 'everyone' Tesla - In order to be an 'everyone' car, they'd be looking at going head to head with the Honda Civic (18k) and Toyota Corolla (17k).
I want that as much as anyone else - but it's still another tech generation away to get those batteries made at a low enough cost to be viable. I think they can do the 30-60k car merely with economies of scale, but to halve the cost again is going to take a new generation of battery tech that isn't here yet.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28%243.50%2Fgal%29%2F%... http://teslarumors.com/USA-Residental-Energy-Cost-2011-by-St... https://www.google.com/search?q=toyota+camry+cost
Someone should save $10k over 100k miles of driving with an electric car vs using gas. Adding in the $7500 US government tax credit, if Tesla priced the model E at $35,000, it would be very comparable to something like a Camry.
Love Teslas, love macs, but salivating about a product two years out that the company hasn't revealed yet is BS. Model E for economy...
What do you mean by "it wouldn't be a proper Tesla."? I may be wrong, but I believe that's a picture of Tesla's Model X...
At any rate, I'm really excited to see this happen. I wouldn't expect it to be actually available for purchase until 2016-17, but that should still be more than early enough to make my next car a Tesla. Fingers and toes crossed :)
(I'm not sure: the sketch may be an early sketch of the Model X, but it also may be a sketch an auto-enthusiast site commissioned. The half-baked details and the filename made me think it was something they commissioned.)
That graphic is a image of the Model X. http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx
The beltline is a mess, especially the upward kink at the A-pillar. Something unpleasant has happened to the rear, as if the rear lights arc downward into the bumper. It's hard to tell, but the hatchback seems to flatten moreso than the Model X, giving it a Malibu Maxx flair.
If it's an early sketch of Model X from a while back, I am glad Model X has improved dramatically since then.
To reiterate: articles like this should not show a sketch without a proper caption (worse yet, the filename is tesla-model-e.jpg). That's all.
Model E
Model X
its a subreddit