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Tesla Model 3 Is Heading To Europe (bloomberg.com)
The Tesla Model 3 has cleared its last regulatory hurdle in Europe and will soon go on sale in the continent home to Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. "Deliveries should start in February for the Long Range Battery version of the midsize sedan -- the same variant first sold in the U.S. -- according to Tesla, after Dutch vehicle authority RDW issued the OK," reports Bloomberg. From the report: The European launch is crucial for Tesla as it navigates what Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk called a "very difficult" road ahead. The company is cutting jobs so it can profitably deliver lower-priced versions of the Model 3, Tesla's first car targeted for the mass market. Musk has pointed to sales of the sedan in Europe and China as a main reason he isn't concerned about any potential setback caused by a halving of the U.S. federal tax credit, to $3,750, on Tesla purchases as of Jan. 1.
With the Model 3, Tesla also has an opportunity to broaden its attack on the premium car market dominated by Germany's BMW AG, Daimler AG-owned Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG's Audi. Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, said in its third-quarter shareholder letter that "the midsized premium sedan market in Europe is more than twice as big as the same segment in the U.S." The Model 3 became the top-selling luxury car there last year, outstripping the Audi Q5, BMW 3 Series and other well-known models. Analysts and industry executives, however, have observed that competition with Tesla cuts across traditional categories.
With the Model 3, Tesla also has an opportunity to broaden its attack on the premium car market dominated by Germany's BMW AG, Daimler AG-owned Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG's Audi. Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, said in its third-quarter shareholder letter that "the midsized premium sedan market in Europe is more than twice as big as the same segment in the U.S." The Model 3 became the top-selling luxury car there last year, outstripping the Audi Q5, BMW 3 Series and other well-known models. Analysts and industry executives, however, have observed that competition with Tesla cuts across traditional categories.
To play a nice game of "Missing the Joke": Model 3s are traveling to Europe on the Glovis RORO ships. They load up at Pier 80 in SF weekly. The furthest ahead one is the Glovis Captain, passed through the Panama Canal a day ago and is now en route to Zeebrugge. The second ship, Glovis Cosmos, is passing the tip of Baja en route to the canal. The third ship, Glovis Symphony, is at Pier 80 now. It's not certain, but they may be bringing in a second carrier for the China exports; we have to wait and see.
Electric-powered non-stop transoceanic shipping is impractical with today's battery energy density; although cargo ships are very efficient, Atlantic trips would have their cargo capacity seriously slashed, and it'd be hard to cross the Pacific at all. The battery packs would also dramatically increase the cost of the ships, to impractical levels. That said, building oceanic "gigachargers" every ~700km using floating wind turbines (which exist, although they cost more than other wind turbines at present) and/or floating solar (starting to become common in reservoirs in China, and there's some small coastal pilot plants) could certainly do the trick with today's battery tech. Battery max charge rates are independent of battery size (in this case, about a gigawatt hour per ship), as are the rates in which a modular battery bank can discharge (the more modules for more storage capacity, the more power you can output). The same "0-80% in half an hour" that applies to cars can also apply to ships. The limiting factors for a ship would be docking time and connecting/disconnecting the (very) massive liquid-cooled cable with a crane. Stops would be once per day.
A Maersk Triple-E class ship with a gigawatt hour pack, by the time that battery production had scaled to the point of being able to supply such ships (already dropping under $100/kWh, probably $50-70/kWh by then at those scales), should run a similar cost to an existing Maersk Triple-E (~$190m). Deepwater wind / floating solar, although more expensive than near-shore and land-based alternatives, should still fuel ships at a cheaper cost than bunker fuel, particularly now that they're being forced to phase out sulfur-heavy fuels and putting their fuel in direct competition with diesel (there's also the advantage that one of the things that makes current deepwater wind projects expensive is the cost of connecting the turbines to shore, which is eliminated in this case). Having many GWh of storage sitting in port would also be a huge buffer to coastal power grids. Lastly - while it's hard to estimate (because you're factoring in widely varying ship rents atop all the existing price uncertainty of the above), some back-of-the-napkin calculations suggest that you could even "export power" (e.g. to disaster areas or areas that are temporarily overloaded) over distances of a few hundred kilometers for a cost of a couple cents or so per kWh.
But as for nonstop trans-oceanic shipping of goods on electric power today? No, that's not realistic on today's battery tech. Electric ferries and the like may be starting to take over short-range shipping markets in parts of Europe, but long-distance goods transport is a different story.
Hey, guys, I'm just pleased as punch to report that it's a fleet of a hundred Vogon Battle Destroyers!
Joined up thinking puts an end to bullshit charging format wars.
Tesla has long stated that it plans to pay off the bonds in cash. Their FCF in Q3 alone was nearly as much as the value of the bonds. It's a total non-issue.
Hey, guys, I'm just pleased as punch to report that it's a fleet of a hundred Vogon Battle Destroyers!
After VAT (~20% in most of Europe), yes. Although some parts of Europe (such as Norway) don't have to pay VAT on EVs like they do on ICE vehicles. When you see the price of a car in the US, remember that there's no nationwide VAT over there.
The cheapest version you can get in Europe also has a 560km WLTP, AWD, comes with the premium package and does 0-100kph in 4,8 seconds.
Hey, guys, I'm just pleased as punch to report that it's a fleet of a hundred Vogon Battle Destroyers!