Tesla talks sedan prices, in case you missed it
Tesla Roadster: second engineering prototype
(Credit: CNET Networks)If you want an all-electric sedan, start saving now.
Tesla Motors has more fully discussed its price goals for WhiteStar, an all-electric passenger sedan coming in late 2009 or 2010. The premium model will cost between $65,000 and $70,000, a company representative said, while the standard model will cost closer to $50,000.
The cars will differ by more than fancy seats. The company has said that the premium version will go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 6 seconds and go about 200 miles before needing a charge. The standard version will accelerate from 0 mph to 60 mph in just 6.7 seconds. Of course, these performance figures and prices could change before then.
Auto manufacturers and electric car manufacturers, though, will likely closely eye the sales of the more premier model. The 200 mile mark is sort of a magic figure for electric car makers, UC Berkeley Researcher Tim Lipman told us in a separate interview (about hydrogen cars) recently. Consumer surveys indicate that consumers are more willing to buy an electric or hydrogen car when it can go 200 miles. (A year ago, Tesla was mostly talking about a $50,000 sedan; it's unclear when the more expensive model was added.)
Is there a big market for $65,000 cars? Apparently so. Cars that cost $65,000 or more account for about ten percent of cars sold in the U.S. according to Todd Turner of Car Concepts, which conducts market research. 20 percent of U.S. cars cost more than $50,000.
Buyers, though, get a lot of car for that amount of money, Turner added. Companies like BMW, Mercedes and Land Rover dominate the category. Turner says he is a bit skeptical about consumers flocking to electric sedans in this price range just yet.
2007 is shaping up to be a big year for electric cars. Think Nordic, a Norwegian company, is coming out with an electric town car in Europe this summer. The car will cost $17,000 but consumers will have to lease the battery for an additional fee. Pheonix Motorcars will begin to deliver all-electric SUVs to municipalities. Tesla will also start shipping its sports car, the Tesla Roadster, to consumers toward the end of the year. It costs $92,000 and a few hundred people have put down deposits already.
We aren't saying EVs are for everybody, just about 50%-75%. That's about 9-13 million vehicles per year. This is anything but a niche market!
are no high-current charging stations around to take advantage
of it. How many such stations have you seen recently?
With a 200-mile range, the vast majority of charging will be
done at home, overnight. It's only when taking long trips that
recharging "while you wait" will matter. When taking long trips,
realistically, the best charging station you are going to find in
the near future is probably a 50-amp RV hookup. I suspect the
Phoenix vehicle will take hours to recharge from one of those
too.
Things will improve as battery capacity increases (resulting in
less need for daytime recharges) and businesses start setting up
high-current charging stations around the country (so charge
times can be reduced). Both of those happenings are still a few
years off.
I do think that electric vehicles as they exist today, with their
well known limitations and costs, are already good enough to
meet the needs of a fair percentage of people -- enough to start
building a business around, as companies like Tesla and Phoenix
(and ZAP and Hybrid Technologies and others) are doing.
- $60k+ = 10% of the market? No way.
- by wavejumper_mi May 10, 2007 11:01 AM PDT
- Is there a big market for $65,000 cars? Apparently so. Cars that cost $65,000 or more account for about ten percent of cars sold in the U.S. according to Todd Turner of Car Concepts, which conducts market research. 20 percent of U.S. cars cost more than $50,000.
- Reply to this comment
-
(4 Comments)Better recheck your facts, the total luxury nameplate market in 2006 was 1.5M vehicles or roughly 9% of the total US market. That includes all of the vehicles that Lexus, Lincoln, BMW, etc sell. Considering the majority of those vehicles are priced around $40K, there is no way that 10% of the US market is $60K+ vehicles. You can look it up on Automotive News website. Autonews.com.