Re: Tesla fanbois
"The reason traditional car companies waited to do electrics wasn't because they needed stoner Musk to show them it could be done. They were waiting until they felt they could make money."
"You can't railroad until it's time to railroad" ~Can't remember which author penned that.
DIY EVs have been around for quite some time, but loading the bed of a pickup with lead acid batteries to get 40 miles of range wasn't a good solution. Things starting heating up with Li and NiMh cell prices started dropping to the point where it was just mad and not totally insane to put them in an electric car. The prices dropped some more and "mad" went down to "a bit nuts". Tesla got into the game when one off cars like AC Propulsion's T-Zero showed what an EV could be. GM's EV1 was a good foray, but it was too expensive and only worth it as a hedge against a pending California law that would have required auto makers to have a certain percentage or zero emission car sales to be able to sell cars in California. Politicians were bought off, the law repealed and GM pulled the leased EV1's back to the barn for crushing to preserve their IP that they'd spent millions on and didn't want to show the competition.
Tesla has been a good company to break trail for the other manufacturers. Lots of questions are being answered about charging, optimum ranges, pricing, etc. Munro is analyzing Tesla offerings down to the last bolt and selling the data to anybody with a stack of cash to hand. What they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Not making the same mistakes can be a bigger money saver than knowing what does work. Tesla also release tidbits such as over 90% of people do their charging of Tesla's at home. That tells other makers that it might be a waste of money to build their own charging network. It's probably better to invest in third party companies that are installing chargers and insist on covering certain areas with a certain number and type of charger so sales of EV models in those areas will be easier. You don't see BMW coming up with their own fuel and selling it at BMW petrol stations so why should they build their own charging network to dispense bog standard electrons?
The flood gates are opening on EVs. I just test drove a Hyundai Kona EV and it's very nice. There is very little about it that marks it from it's petrol brother in looks and operation. I just belted up, switched into drive and drove it like any other car. I didn't need a driving course, just a couple of tips from the salesman on what to expect and to not try to floor it. Even Ford has announced the venerable V-8 F150 will be electrified and for sale in a couple of years. I expect they won't be discontinuing the ICE versions anytime soon.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
