Tesla Again!?

UPDATE December 2015:  Wow!  0-60 in 2.6 s.  Truly, well, . . . , ludicrous! see Here.  Another good video.

UPDATE August 2015:  Tesla just got the highest consumer reports rating ever, 103 see Here .

Tesla just keeps doing brilliant things.  In many cases one wonders why these things didn’t happen sooner.  Here is the many examples of how they leave no stone unturned in making truly great cars:

http://gas2.org/2013/08/20/tesla-aims-to-eliminate-side-mirrors/

But the most important thing that Tesla is doing is establishing once and for all that EVs are here to stay.

They had the brilliant idea of getting rid of side mirrors saving 5% on fuel efficiency.  While the initial reaction is to not allow it, I have no doubt that as it gets analyzed it will turn out to be safer when implemented smartly.

Just as in the olden days of Apple, these guys just keep innovating ahead of the curve.  This isn’t a bunch of engineers adding toys in their playpen.  These are well thought out innovations executed with skill and quality.  Silicon Valley, welcome to the car business!

The most important thing that Tesla is doing is establishing once and for all that EVs are here to stay.  And, because they are 5 – 10 years ahead of the curve, we can start to plan based upon their innovations.  For example, based upon Tesla and the last 5 years of data and information we can observe dramatic improvements in battery cost and endurance as well as increases in capacity.  Exactly when we will hit the tipping point is unclear but I am guessing we will see EVs hit the price point, where sales take off, in less than 10 years.

We are almost to the point where one does not need to be a visionary to see where this is going = V2G.  V2G stands for Vehicle to Grid and that is the game changer.  V2G is the ability of a car to feed power back into the electric grid.  The stumbling block for renewables has long been the absence of massive grid storage.  With V2G that problem is solved.  See this post that includes some ‘sanity check’ calculations showing that, from a technical standpoint, the numbers work.

More Cool Tesla Stuff –

THE BEST SELLING – UPDATE:  Feb 8 2015 – Tesla now tops Leaf as the best selling EV in the US.

THE BEST –  It is the Best   according to consumer reports.

FAST – They are fast, faster than most Ferrari s.  And the model S just got faster -0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds with the P85D!  Udate: Feb 2015 – Even faster with a firmware update now 0-60 in 3.1 seconds!

GOOD CITIZEN – They showed how government and industry can work together to do good things repaying their government guaranteed loan 10 years early.

SAFE – And they are safe – very safe

UPDATE – FIRST SUCCESSFUL CAR STARTUP IN 90 YEARS – See this link

UPDATE – LARGEST BATTERY MFG. – In order to stay on their roadmap to mainstreaming EVs, they had to get into the battery business.

UPDATE – BATTERY LIFE LOOKING GOOD – fEB 2015 –  This article suggests that Tesla batteries are holding up quite well.  This one is better, has owner data and good links.

UPDATE – I have been watching the developments in the Li-ion battery market more carefully.  Developments since I wrote this post lead me to believe that the EV industry will experience hyper growth by 2020 i.e. considerably less than the 10 years I suggested.

A fun, though long video review of the P85D – Skip to the end if you want to see the speed demo.