Tesla Could Make a $25,000 Electric Car in “About 3 Years,” Says Elon Musk

Dayaks said:
If I lived someplace warm where electrics make sense maybe I’d care... hybrids made sense to me in Pennsylvania when I did the math. All electrics very much did not.

My main problem with hybrids is that they are worse in the snow.
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At the end of the day a hybrid is a more efficient gas vehicle and when they are decked out identically, not sure its a massive change except cost. Electric cars represent a paradigm shift.
 
DustMite said:
From reading the title of the article, my first thought was define the meaning of the word "about". About 3 years could mean one thing to many people and something else entirely to someone else. I believe nothing without proof and even then I'm skeptical. ;)
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You can get the car out in about 3 years?
Yes, in around 5 years.
So you're saying 7 years, then?
Yes, the car will be ready to buy in 10 years.
 
He's literally working on that right now.

I don't understand why it's unacceptable to think about the future while you're working on the present. It would be foolish to not think about the future at all, it would make it impossible to plan.

RPGWiZaRD said:
Elon needs to stop talking about future all the time (seems like his favorite subject) and focus on gettings his present business rolling smoother first.
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I've watched the video, and it's worth pointing out this video isn't intended to announce any products. The statement was a hypothetical estimate, not anything official.
 
HockeyJon said:
Sounds feasible, given the fact that the $35,000 Model 3 is still nowhere to be found and they seem to have a chronic habit of missing self-imposed deadlines.
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For a second there, I thought you were talking about a Star Citizen ship and CIG.
 
BloodyIron said:
I've watched the video, and it's worth pointing out this video isn't intended to announce any products. The statement was a hypothetical estimate, not anything official.
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I don't believe that has been interpreted as anything but that, it's that Tesla's timelines as well as actual price points for vehicles they're willing to produce makes a $25k car from them in 3 years seem like a joke. Especially since people are still waiting on the $35k car that has been in production for a year(that you can get, as long as you make it a $45k+ car).
 
jpm100 said:
At the end of the day a hybrid is a more efficient gas vehicle and when they are decked out identically, not sure its a massive change except cost. Electric cars represent a paradigm shift.
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A paradigm shift in that they cost significantly more, have shorter ranges and take much longer to refuel. All negatives for most people.
 
nutzo said:
A paradigm shift in that they cost significantly more, have shorter ranges and take much longer to refuel. All negatives for most people.
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OTOH notice how it's been a while since gas was $5? The industry is not intimidated by hybrids. They are by EVs.
 
jpm100 said:
OTOH notice how it's been a while since gas was $5? The industry is not intimidated by hybrids. They are by EVs.
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Competition is good, I just disagree on giving people a large tax credit because the are buying an electric.
 
Wierdo said:
He eventually gets there, it's just his timelines are optimistic, add a couple years to them.

It's not for lack of trying, he just likes to set aggressive standards, works hard toward getting there, and then understandably fails to hit them, but it does motivate him to get there faster nonetheless even if late by his own estimate.

This is another good reason to go private, as he can continue to aim higher and risk failing but achieving greater progress, instead of chasing short-sighted quarterly results.

People are used to short term thinking, it's a mental cancer inhibiting innovation, nobody wants to be a risk taker, it's become some kinda bad word.
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Yes, he also says a lot of things that are flat out BS, like “you can upgrade the software on your car to make it self driving”, when Nvidia says that’s impossible, or “funding secured” when he actually doesn’t have investor money up front. I’m a big fan of some of his ideas, but I’m not a big fan of him saying things that are completely unrealistic or false. I don’t see the objective behind him doing so. There is a big difference between “this is our goal”, and “this will absolutely happen” when it comes to how seriously people will take him going forward on these things. I’m sorry, but that’s flat out wrong when you have customers buying your product and investors buying your stock based on what might turn out to be false pretences, and he doesn’t get a free pass for doing so just because he’s Elon Musk.
 
3 years to make the first one, another 15 for people to be able to actually get them. He'll it will be about 3 years to be able to walk into a showroom and buy a model 3 and get it in a reasonable time.
 
Chunder said:
Beats American taxpayers subsidizing this "self-made" billionaire for his personal gain ($8 billion and counting), while NASA, which has given us overwhelming returns on our small investment even when not properly funded, gets more and more funds stolen...

Musk apologist attack with logical fallacies in 3... 2... 1...
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NASA is 100% American Tax payer subsidized to the tune of billions of dollars per year.....I don't see this as a very good comparison.....
 
A cool followup video posted:


Shows what's going on inside the factory.

Nice to see an American startup do its thing against so many odds even in its home soil let alone abroad. It's a wonder how they can even give BYD - the true giant in this industry of the future - credible competition on the world stage.
 
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There are targets that Tesla/SpaceX/others have aimed for, and missed. But there are targets they have hit too. Just because you fail, doesn't mean you are incapable of succeeding.

Yes, it may seem currently infeasible, but I know there's plenty things he knows, we don't. Which is common for CEOs.

Merc1138 said:
I don't believe that has been interpreted as anything but that, it's that Tesla's timelines as well as actual price points for vehicles they're willing to produce makes a $25k car from them in 3 years seem like a joke. Especially since people are still waiting on the $35k car that has been in production for a year(that you can get, as long as you make it a $45k+ car).
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BloodyIron said:
There are targets that Tesla/SpaceX/others have aimed for, and missed. But there are targets they have hit too. Just because you fail, doesn't mean you are incapable of succeeding.

Yes, it may seem currently infeasible, but I know there's plenty things he knows, we don't. Which is common for CEOs.
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Right...
Which ones have they actually ever met?
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BloodyIron said:
Well for starters, they actually landed rockets on a barge...

Seriously? Do you actually need me to give you a comprehensive list of targets they've hit? Go find it for yourself.
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We're talking about Tesla, not SpaceX. This is a thread about possible future vehicle production, not rockets. I don't care if Elon publicly set a target for a fully automated panini press and then beat that target by 6 months, we're talking about cars. The fact that you have to tell me to make your point for you(which I'm not going to do, you can do that yourself) when the one thing you bring up isn't even about the same industry is just amazing.
 
travisty said:
What subsidies are you talking about here? If it's the EV car credit Tesla will no longer have that come the end of the year (all other car brands except probably GM will still have it)

If you're talking about SpaceX and the deals with NASA, it was a great investment by NASA as SpaceX has cut the cost of launches tremendously.
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Let's say all of them... the roots go well before but let us say even the industrial revolution. I'm fully aware of how far Tesla's subsidies and how long they are intended to last (or in the case here in Canada, how they can get ripped away at a moments notice) but my inquiry was with Chunder and his position. I genuinely wanted to know what his issue was without making assumptions but it does not appear I will get that clarification.
 
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