The future of Tesla?

The Tesla Roadster was jointly engineered by Tesla and Lotus. Will Tesla ever outsell Lotus in the U.S. (2,604 cars in 2007) or will its fate more closely resemble that of DeLorean?

This is an awesome car.

Tesla is a great idea with great backers.  Even if they take 5-10 years to bring innovative products to market, it'll be many times faster than the existing batch of manufacturers.

 

Fisker Karma is to me a much more desirable car. Tesla will burn itself out unless it can develop a better battery quickly.

Despite the wealth of positive publicity the future of Tesla as a major manufacturer, or even a niche manufacturer, for that matter seems in doubt. The latest announcement, about the desire to build a medium size sedan, seems awfully grandiose for a company that seems to be having difficulties delivering its first vehicles.

Tom Ripley:

... The latest announcement, about the desire to build a medium size sedan, seems awfully grandiose for a company that seems to be having difficulties delivering its first vehicles. ...

 

 Tesla was touting their plans to produce midsize at under 40k price range since day one.

I fundamentally disagree with their aproach to popularise electric with extremely expensive niche sporty cars. US needs mass production of affordable and practical electric cars for middle class. Tesla may be getting a lot of publicity but there is not much good if it sits in a huge garage along other exotic cars of some hollywood star car collector.

My friends, we are witnessing an industry revolution in the making.  Most likely, oil prices will not retreat to the level of sub-$2 gallon.  As a result, the evolution in automotive technology will keep progressing.  And it is a welcome change considering that the internal combustion engine has been around for over 150 years (with relatively minor modifications to the original form).  Which other technology you use everyday has lasted this long?  The VCR?  The cassette tape?  Film?  Even computers have made tremendous strides (doubling in computing power every 18 months).

Electricity is the future, and new car companies can and will now rise to challenge the old ones.  As anyone with an engineering degree can tell you, making an electric car is a pretty simple endeavor, with the constraint being battery capacity.  It is simply a life-sized version of an electric remote control car that we've played with as kids (no transmission and much fewer moving parts).

Remember what digital cameras did to Kodak?  Kodak went from an 80,000+ employee company to a company of under 30,000 employees and got removed as a DOW component within 5 years of the popularization of digital cameras.  But the industry grew.  Instead of people spending billions of dollar on Kodak's film, people now spend  much more to buy and replace digital cameras from all the major consumer electronics firms.  Film was around for just about as long (150 years+ since the first Daguerreotype).

High gas prices will do the same to the internal combustion engine.  Companies will rise and make electric cars, and revenue will flow to these companies instead of oil companies and the Middle East.  Firms that engage in battery and energy research and production will also benefit.  Electric motors are superior to gas engines in every way possible (less noise, more efficient, less maintenance required, better performance).  Go to youtube and you can find plenty of videos of homemade electric cars demolishing the likes of Ferrari and Porsche in drag racing events.

Tesla is only the forefront of this tidal wave of change.  Others will follow.  Can you say Schumpeterian Revolution?

The future of Telsa depends if it can market a car under 40 large. Without it the larger manufactures will create a car at the price point and crush them.

I'm afraid even if they put out a car at $40K they will have a very, very difficult time.  I think many people underestimate how hard it is to manufacture and market cars.

neutrino - well said. I think that the future of energy is in alternatives and the next boom could quite possible be in alternative energy, including electrics:

http://greenertrends.com/2008/07/27/the-case-for-an-alternative-energy-driven-boom/

I think Tesla has a very bright future.  Their Roadster is at a reasonable price point for the higher end cars (thinking of the Lexus 450h).  Just today news has come out that Tesla is hiring some high profile names in the industry.

http://www.kbb.com/kbb/green-cars/articles.aspx?BlogPostId=684

I am excited to see how Tesla Motors does in the coming years.

Tesla designs are actually looks great! Tesla should get these EV's on the streets now. Since Tesla, Ford (ford parts) and Nissan receive electric car development loans from US government. If I want a car, then I would buy Tesla car.