• Government grants £40 million for EV incentives to several English cities
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[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;49607978]I don't think manufacturers WANT to maintain the stigma against them, but more like the stigma against them means that manufacturers won't pump as much money into R&D as they do technology they know will be easily accepted, thus resulting in crappy EVs that drive the stigma. It's a never ending cycle, and only manufacturers like Tesla, who actually put the money into R&D will see good returns on their investments.[/QUOTE] It comes down to batteries. No previous automaker has been willing to invest heavily in new battery technology, so they take off-the-shelf batteries and the price remains expensive. Nobody is willing to brunt the upfront cost of making battery electric cars economical. The reason the Model S is so expensive is because its a fast, good, long-range EV. That's why cheap EV's are generally trash. They suffer in range, quality, to make up in price. So the regular automakers have been apathetic towards the whole industry as a waste of their time right now. There's a quote from Elon in his biography written by Ashlee Vance that goes something like: "Nobody else is willing to build the fucking thing so we have to." Referring to the Gigafactory that will produce more battery's than the rest of the world combined(with a partnership from Panasonic). Making batteries cheap is the only way EV's will ever hit the mainstream. [editline]25th January 2016[/editline] There's also a thing about car dealers not actually wanting to sell EV's. [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/science/electric-car-auto-dealers.html?_r=0[/url] [quote]Industry insiders and those who follow the business closely say that dealers may also be worrying about their bottom lines. They assert that electric vehicles do not offer dealers the profits that gas-powered cars do. They take more time to sell because of the explaining required, which hurts overall sales and commissions. Electric vehicles also may require less maintenance, undermining the biggest source of dealer profits: their service departments.[/quote]
[QUOTE=ScottyWired;49607534]Tesla Model III is gonna be about 35'000, which puts it in reach of the middle class. By the time I've got the income to afford a new car, Tesla will probably be in my budget The future is exciting[/QUOTE] The Model III isn't going to be anywhere near as fast as the Model S. The Model S is fast because it's chock full of [I]expensive[/I] batteries and powerful motors. A middle class affordable car will have less batteries and a weaker motor. It's probably going to be marginally faster than the comparable EVs put out by Ford or other automakers; power equivalent to a basic four cylinder.
[QUOTE=Saber15;49608248]The Model III isn't going to be anywhere near as fast as the Model S. The Model S is fast because it's chock full of [I]expensive[/I] batteries and powerful motors. A middle class affordable car will have less batteries and a weaker motor. It's probably going to be marginally faster than the comparable EVs put out by Ford or other automakers; power equivalent to a basic four cylinder.[/QUOTE] That's why they're building a massive battery factory in conjunction with Panasonic in the Nevada desert so they [I]can[/I] keep the cost of batteries down. The Model 3 should have around a 200 mile range but might not be made of aluminum like the Model S, so it will be heavier. (but it's also physically smaller). I would expect similar performance to the Model S. It will have the same battery cells, and probably the same motors as the S and X.
Musk already said the 3 will have quick acceleration. However the motor is supposedly (and everything else) completely new for the 3. The battery will be using a moderately improved chemistry over the current one, however it will probably be a bit smaller so it will probably output less power. Probably slower than the S/X but I would bet the base model will have a 0 - 60 time of <= 6 seconds, which would be amazing for it class.
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