Comments on: Tesla talks sedan prices, in case you missed it

Electric sedans may not be cheap, but they don't use gas.

[theBike45]

Long Recharge Times

Driving ranges are important, but more important are the recharge times for electrics. The Phoenix can recharge in 10 minutes with the right high-powered electric feed , while the Tesla needs 3 1/2 hours. Also the Tesla batteries last about 5 years and cost $20,000, while the Phonix batteries will outlast the vehicle, at least 12 years. Don't assume, as this articel does, that all of the new electric vehicles are real similar. They're not.

[Plug In America]

Long recharge times

Having driven an EV with a 120 mile range and a charging infrastructure that limited the number of charging sites to only a handful in the LA area, I can attest to the fact that charging times are pretty much a non issue. An EV with a range of 150 miles, and the ability to charge at any 110 or 220 outlet, will suffice for over 90% of American's daily driving. This is not trivial. Considering the benefits of EVs: virtually silent, non polluting, no need for foreign energy, etc., the range limit is trivial.

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!

[tonybelding]

Daytime Recharging

It's never that simple. . . Fast recharge time isn't helpful if there
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.

[wavejumper_mi]

$60k+ = 10% of the market? No way.

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.

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.