Elon Musk Envisions Tesla Electric Car as Low as $20K
Shortly after Tesla held a press conference Wednesday morning touting its $250 million planned plant in San Jose, Calif., Tesla chairman Elon Musk presented his vision of Tesla’s leadership role in the auto industry at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference. Musk said that Tesla has the ability to accelerate the auto industry’s progress toward the adoption of electric vehicles by 5 to 10 years. Lighting even that small fire could be very important if you consider what a decade of delay can do for climate change, he said.
Tesla’s efforts to spur the auto giants will include a third-generation, low-cost electric vehicle that could possibly be priced as low as $20,000, (he mentioned $30,000 as an option, too) a price point that is “super affordable,” he explained to us in a phone interview. The company has discussed plans for a third-generation car before, suggesting prices closer to $30,000. Tesla could produce the low-cost, third-generation electric car in partnership with other major auto makers, Musk said in his speech. He also noted the company’s previously announced partnership with Daimler and said that the connection could possibly turn into a larger deal. Details haven’t been announced about the deal with Daimler, but Musk confirmed with us that Tesla’s partnership with Daimler won’t focus on its Model S. So does that mean a future Daimler/Tesla EV partnership could deliver one of its third-gen lower-cost options? We’re not sure, but it sounds like a possibility.
Musk gave a few details on Tesla’s second generation Model S sedan, which he said the company will unveil early next year. Drivers will be able to swap the battery pack out of the Sedan, and in his talk Musk envisioned battery swap stations that could offer the same convenience as visiting a gas station. He explained to us that it was not that hard to design the battery to be swappable and that it made the car easier to service.
Battery-swapping made us think Tesla might be getting on board with Shai Agassi’s Better Place, but Musk said that at this point the two startups are focusing on different markets — Better Place currently has deals with Israel and Denmark.
On the topic of electric-vehicle competitor Fisker, Musk had some strong opinions. He said that the startup had copied a strategy from Tesla, but that it was using the wrong one (the Fisker-Tesla brawl headed to arbitration in June). We asked him what he thought the market would look like in 2010, when many of the large auto makers are first launching their electric vehicles, and he said it would be significantly later than that before any serious contenders came onto the market.
Musk is living on Mars, apparently. A low cost producer like Mitsubishi will be able to produce, at best, a 100 mile electric next year with a $20,000 battery pack. The car, of course, will cost $40,000.
Musk must be drinking heavily these days.
If I didn’t know better I’d think Kerry Bradshaw AKA Kent Beuchert AKA Tom C Gray et al was unaware that the Mitsubishi iMiEV was set to retail in the $27,000 neighborhood.
Can’t believe everything dis-information agents post on the netz.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/08/mitsubishi-mo-1.html
Kerry,
Are you still dating Big?
more vaporware!!!
None of the above has a car that will run far enough to get out of it’s own shadow.
[...] Elon Musk Envisions Tesla Electric Car as Low as $20K « Earth2Tech Shortly after Tesla held a press conference Wednesday morning touting its $250 million planned plant in San Jose, Calif., Tesla chairman Elon Musk presented his vision of Tesla’s leadership role in the auto industry at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference. Musk said that Tesla has the ability to accelerate the auto industry’s progress toward the adoption of electric vehicles by 5 to 10 years. Lighting even that small fire could be very important if you consider what a decade of delay can do for climate change, he said. (tags: electric car auto tesla 2008) [...]
[...] battery-swapping-station scheme. We hope it also has the ability to accept a quick charge.[Source: Earth2Tech / greentechmedia] Permalink | Email this | [...]
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Folks, you can talk about Musk’s competitions all you want, i.e., Mitsubishi. The point here is WHEN WILL ANY MASS PRODUCED ELECTRICS HIT THE USA? Never as long as the Big Oil companies control the market…and they DO control the market. Electrics get pushed back each year. They think Americans won’t buy three wheelers so they let them on the market. I am getting ready to buy a Triac. I am not kidding myself. Good for Tesla for moving forward. If they were serious competition for the Oil Companies, though, some mysterious things would start happening to their plant and possibly their leaders.
Nissan will have highway-capable battery electric vehicles (EVs) in US fleets next year. Tesla’s Roadster will probably be mass-produced next year, with the S follow-on selling in 2010. At least a dozen new EV makers with good products have been negotiating for financing, factories or mass-production partners all year and some of them will break through next year.
By 2011, we’ll have a choice of three or more highway-capable EVs with 100+ mile range for under $30,000.
See EVWorld.com for more info; my EVolution guest blog on that site refutes several anti-EV myths that continue to be promoted by petroleum interests (and some automakers.)
[...] the foot of its last weeks announcement about its 250 million dollar plant deal, Tesla went ahead and spoke a little about its soon-to-be-launched electric car, which he termed as [...]
[...] JB Straubel, Tesla’s CTO, said the company may partner with an OEM to scale up production of its affordable family vehicle, codenamed “Bluestar” – [...]
[...] JB Straubel, Tesla’s CTO, said the company may partner with an OEM to scale up production of its affordable family vehicle, codenamed “Bluestar” – [...]
[...] Did this fly under the radar? Elon Musk Envisions Tesla Electric Car as Low as $20K Earth2Tech [...]
se nessuno comincia a fare auto elettriche a basso costo anche solo per la città e da città a città a costo quasi zero, continueremo a farci comandare dai proprietari del petrolio. è bene che questi ultimi si convincano (cosi anche chi li usa o si fa usare -politici? o chi per esso ), che dovranno accontentarsi delle ricchezze acquisite e questo vale per tutti i settori e campi, se si vuole essere veramente felici e migliorare la qualità di vita senza danneggiare altri esseri umani, altrimenti non ci distingueremo piu per la nostra intelligenza, bensi per l’accomunamento agli animanli senza mente e anima, e questo, a
PRESCINDERE dal credo religioso. ritorniamo quindi ad essere utili l’un l’altro. cerchiamo energie pulite che creano comunque lavoro, ridistribuiamo le ricchezze e staremo tutti bene, a che serve tu abbia miliardi e non hai rispetto per te stresso e l’amore degli altri, a niente non è questo il rispetto e l’essere grandi, ma lo è nel dare il neccessario a tutti e debellare le invidie, gelosie, rabbie, che non sono affatto sane, ma sono demoni che ci portiamo dentro, l’essere sano è sorridere nel vedere un bimbo felice, una coppia che si ama, le persone che si vogliono bene veramente, non nell’apparenza e ci si vorrà sempre piu bene, quando ognuno di noi non avrà piu bisogno del superfluo o quanto meno del necessario per stare bene perchè no, ma tutti insieme. e chissà forse è proprio la terra il paradiso. se sapremo cogliere queste piccole cose, che ci farebbe tutti indistintamente grandi. non ci sarebbe piu bisogno di revival e cazzate varie per mettersi in mostra, perchò saremmo tutti protagonisti o angeli e il o i capi facciamolo fare a chi è piu altruista di altri perchò comunque sarebbe sotto il controllo di tutti e nei fatti. torniamo quindi all’energia pulita, facciamo bene al nostrto pianeta e a noi stessi che lo usiamo. se queste mie, serviranno a riflettere ben vengano. grazie. vogliamoci bene tutti.fine.
adesso che avete manipolato le infornazioni cosa ne avete ricavato? avete coinfermato quanto scritto nel commento, avete bisogno di questo per sentirvi protagonisti, ma in modo errato, lo si è semplicemente nella semplicità e nella sincerità.
[...] sought a guarantee on loans for its sedan factory (then planned for New Mexico) by arguing that an affordable electric car could replace today’s gas-guzzling, emissions-belching vehicles, thus preventing greenhouse [...]
[...] — Fisker Automotive, GM and Tesla revved their engines for an EV race years ago, and Tesla is rumored to have a deal with a large automaker (likely Daimler) for its third-generation vehicle. But Lotus also has an [...]
[...] do — Fisker Automotive, GM and Tesla revved their engines for an EV race years ago, and Tesla is rumored to have a deal with a large automaker (likely Daimler) for its third-generation vehicle. But Lotus also has an [...]
[...] has long maintained that he envisioned Tesla as one day offering a mainstream, even $20,000 or $30,000 electric vehicle, to the masses, and only started building the high-end $109,000-priced [...]
[...] projected ‘electric cars for the masses’ they’ve envisioned? Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk [...]
[...] seems that way, but when will Tesla make their projected ‘electric cars for the masses’ they’ve envisioned? Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk insists that the way into the electric vehicle market is through [...]
[...] seems that way, but when will Tesla make their projected ‘electric cars for the masses’ they’ve envisioned? Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk insists that the way into the electric vehicle market is through [...]
[...] Smart car will retail for around $20,000 — the “super affordable” price point he envisioned for a third-generation Tesla vehicle (after the Roadster and Model S) last year. He said in September that the car could be produced [...]
[...] Elon Musk Envisions Tesla Electric Car as Low as $20K [...]
[...] partnership, or something else — there’s potential for it to cast a shadow on any hopes for a larger deal between Tesla and Daimler. On the other hand, an expanded deal for Tesla could provide a nice boost [...]