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Tesla Deal Boosts Chinese Presence in US Auto Tech (reuters.com)
From a Reuters report:China's Tencent has bought a 5 percent stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla for $1.78 billion, the latest investment by a Chinese internet company in the potentially lucrative market for self-driving vehicles and related services. Tencent's investment, revealed in a U.S. regulatory filing, provides Tesla with an additional cash cushion as it prepares to launch its mass-market Model 3. Tesla's shares were up 2.9 percent at $277.03 in midday trading on Tuesday, enabling it to rival Ford as the second-most-valuable U.S. auto company behind General Motors. The deal expands Tencent's presence in an emerging investment sector that includes self-driving electric cars, which could enable such new modes of transportation as automated ride-sharing and delivery services, as well as ancillary services ranging from infotainment to e-commerce.
Since you asked.... and speaking strictly for myself of course, because I am probably not in Tesla's (or any electric car manufacturer's) target demographic for an electric car. I live in an apartment, and I can't charge it at home because the parking stalls for the building residents don't have individual electrical outlets. Basically, anyone who lives in an apartment building that wasn't built in about the past 10 years or so is probably in the same boat. I know that newer buildings do have outlets in the parking stalls, but there's still one hell of a lot of older buildings around that aren't going anywhere.
I would totally get an electric car if I lived in a place where I could charge it over night, but that's just not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It depends on what Tencent is allowed access to.
The company that my wife works for was bought by a foreign company and that foreign company is basically only allowed its share of the profits as an owner. For anything else it wants, it has to "buy" the information as part of a product transaction just like any other company, and even the executives of the foreign owners are not allowed uncontrolled access to the facility.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
It's going to be awhile before it's under $30,000. They're projecting $35,000 for the entry-level models, presumably with fairly short ranges and lower power output levels compared to what most electric car buyers will actually want.
If the Model 3 proves as successful as they're hoping then I expect other car manufacturers to look increasingly toward electrics, but I doubt that conventional internal combustion vehicles will be entirely out of production by the end of my lifetime. There are too many situations where a vehicle doesn't have access to the power grid when it needs fuel, or too many situations when a vehicle needs more range without recharge-delay to spell the complete end of the gasoline or diesel engine in passenger cars and light trucks, and then there's the cost factor. Right now it appears to cost more to manufacture an electric than a gasoline-burning veihlcle. This becomes especially important in the low-end, where buyers that want new cheap cars shop. Until that market is satisfied then I don't see the end of ICE powerplants on the horizon.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
"Once they release that model 3 for under 30,000"
That's going to take a while. They'll be fortunate to get it released at the promised $35k - although they were promising $30k some years ago and then quietly upped it.
There are more than a few Tesla-bashers who complain extensive auto experience that have been saying that selling the base model at even $45k would be barely profitable, if at all.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
There are more than a few Tesla-bashers who complain extensive auto experience that have been saying that selling the base model at even $45k would be barely profitable, if at all.
If there's one thing I learned from the dot com bust; it's if you're losing money on each unit sold, you just need to sell more of them and make it up on volume. ;-)
Well, aside from it looking fugly.......I think I read its 0-60mph times are like 11+ seconds???
Nope..I want a performance car, that looks good too. I'd like something like the original Tesla Roadster...or something in that ballpark for looks and performance but in the range of a Corvette price.
I don't really give a damn about pollution or mileage, but if I could get good looks and performance in an electric car for a reasonable price, I'd do it...
Range is a big deal too...as that I need to be able to bug out of NOLA when hurricanes come this way and often that means long times in traffic if you don't leave quite early enough, on a HOT summer day where AC is a necessity.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
It is going to be a while (a long while) before you start seeing electric sports cars with any decent range. The problem is the batteries. Batteries are still extremely heavy, which makes trying to make an electric version really difficult that handles at the same level as a gas electric car. Sure, you can make it look sporty, but it'll still have handing issues that gas cars don't have to deal with.
For example, a new corvette stingray is ~3200 pounds, while a tesla model S is ~4800 pounds. That extra 50% mass hurts when you are trying to change directions.
Just like you or I could (except in much higher volume). Unless a special arrangement is made, they don't get anything other than minority voting rights, a share in stock price appreciation and (at least eventually?) dividends.