Tesla has revealed it’s affordable electric car, the model 3. It has a range of at least 215 miles (346 km) and reaches 60 mi/h (96 km/h) in under 6 seconds. It is attractive to look at, and will be extremely safe (there is a build in safety bonus for not having an engine in the front or back, and / or carrying highly combustible fuel around, so the car has more crumple zone than any other).
It is amazing how fast Tesla managed to achieve this, all on the basis of it’s own performance building the Roadster, S and X. The mentality of the company is that the goal is achieved, if it can be achieved, no matter the obstacles. It is a personal victory for Elon Musk.
The Tesla 3 doesn’t have wildly innovative technology, meaning that maybe aside from the sensors used in its auto pilot functionality most of what makes up the car was already there. This means that the big auto manufacturers have been lazy, stupid and ignorant about the potential of electric cars. We all know why that was, there was nothing that could drive the CEO’s out of their comfortable position.
Tesla shows that private enterprise, when not controlled by banks or other political opponents, will adapt to the real market needs and opportunities
Tesla has thought ahead about the transition to electric transportation, and initiated the build of the Giga Battery factory that will make more lithium ion batteries on an annual basis than the existing worldwide production capacity. It will absorb all those batteries in building the Tesla cars and powerwalls, and still buy from outside sources.
If Elon Musk had not generated about $180 million by building internet companies like Zip2 and PayPal he would not have been able to take over the Roadster concept and make it a reality. His teams burned to millions before he took control and made it work. His dual effort to build Tesla and SpaceX, both motivated by a desire to secure the future of humanity, almost collapsed but NASA and Mercedes gave SpaceX and Tesla the trust it deserved, really on the absolute brink of diseaster. SpaceX rockets exploded several times and Elon had to risk all his reserves to try the last time, a all or nothing bet. Nobody can ever claim these developments where a result of a natural trend or movement of the industry. They where a disruption because one person had thought about the future and deemed it necessary to at least try to do what is right.
Because Tesla build the Roadster, S and X cars, other manufacturers started entering the same market. Tesla did not patent its drive train (and build and sold battery packs to Mercedes ) because it wants more EVs to be build. Even at the fastest rate of adaption it will take decades for electric cars to become the norm. We therefore still advocate conversion of IC cars to EVs bu removeing the engine and installing wheel hub motors where the wheels using a standard model dependent conversion set. Also to reduce emissions we advocate the use of ammonia (NH3).
Worldwide the succes of Tesla and the increasingly clear risks to human survival due to the use of fossil fuels should warrant the construction of Battery factories in Europe and China the same size as that of Tesla. Battery storage is more efficient than hydrogen or any other type. It is more advancing to build batteries than to build a grid, which is what the fossil lobby wants us to do. Even though efficiency makes a difference, it does not secure our future and only prolongs the use of fossil fuels.