Here’s the summary straight from the beginning of the
article:
- In the 20th century, General Motors out-competed Ford.
- Ford was the early innovator, but GM was able to improve on Ford's achievements to become dominant.
- The same dynamic is now playing out between GM and Tesla, with electric cars and autonomous vehicles.
My own analysis of this economic issue: I think the author presents a fair point. Tesla will maintain its cache as a luxury EV brand, but will never manage to have the mass market appeal of GM. Although Tesla was the first to create a commercially-successful electric car, their advantage of being the first into the market is fading, and other brands are learning from Tesla’s success. I actually hope for this to be true. Tesla simply does not have very high manufacturing capacity and cannot provide electric cars for all those who want them. We need other manufacturers to create attractive products so that everybody has access to good electric cars.
Every manufacturer seems to be more interested in electric cars, but do you think that Americans are interested in buying them?
If you had the money, would you buy an electric car?
If yes, would you want it to be a Tesla, even if it was more expensive?
9 comments:
I think electric cars appeal to a very specific type of person. Tesla's tend to appeal to the upper and middle class who like the idea of feeling like they're helping the environment and are OK with spending some money. I think other electric cars that car company's are creating tend to appeal to a wider range of people. My family actually owns a Tesla, funny enough, it was my Dad's "mid-life crisis car." As much as I love the look and feel of how a Tesla runs, we have run into a multitude of problems over the years such as air gaps in the windows, problems with tire pressure and basic movement of certain gadgets of the car. I agree that Tesla is going to remain very famous and still on the market but car company's that have been in the game for generations are considered much more reliable by the general public, therefore, people will tend to stick with what they know and like even when buying an electric car.
I think if electric cars can be produced in a way in which they are the same price or cheaper than regular car, and charging stations can be easily set up at home or made just as readily available as gas stations, there would be no reason why consumers would not start to choose electric cars over regular cars. I personally believe these are the only two major factors currently stopping people from buying more electric vehicles. For the most part, electric vehicles look and run the same as regular cars and are just as safe. My family actually owns an electric car made by Chevy, and we love it. We are actually happier with this car than our previous gas car.
Personally, my family owns a part electric and part gas car (a ford fusion energy and a toyota prius prime). I like this combination of gas and electric better than solely electric because, if you run out of electricity you can still use the gas. Also, it is still much faster to fill a car with a tank of gas than charge your car fully. So, if I had the money to buy a Tesla I would still rather have a electric and gas car. Even though Tesla is a more luxurious brand, I would rather have the security of a gas tank to speed up road trips.
I agree that Tesla will remain a mostly luxury EV company, even though they're trying to reach lower income markets with the new model that recently came out. From what I've read and heard over the past few months, Tesla has a lot of inner turmoil, especially with how their head battery guy left to make his own battery company. They've been suffering from production issues for years now, unable to manufacture enough batteries or cars to keep up with the huge demand. I think that they did a great job of introducing the world to what a more sustainable community can be like, but they will definitely be outcompeted in the oncoming years. Elon Musk's gigafactory isn't working out so well, even though it is/will be a huge feat in the technology world. I think that living in California, especially the Bay Area, where Tesla originated, we have a very biased view of how popular electronic vehicles are. It seems live everyone who's cool has one, like it's a normal thing. But then you go 1000 miles, or even 100 miles to the East and Teslas are nowhere to be seen. Obviously this is due to the drastically different income averages between Bay Area families and those of other areas. I think that companies like GM will definitely capitalize in the area of making affordable electronic cars, because affordability has been their goal for decades. What Elon should do is focus more on autonomous driving and his other company SpaceX, because those will be where the next technological breakthroughs will happen, and he is definitely already leading the way.
I think Americans will only be interested in buying electric cars if electric cars were cheaper and there are more charging stations set up, because while buying an electric car would be a better choice for the environment, it is very expensive and most people cannot afford it. If I had the money, I would most likely not buy an electric car because there are not many charging stations nearby and I think electric cars run out of power much faster than cars that run on gas and it would be inconvenient to charge for long road trips.
I do believe that people are interested in buying electric vehicles especially because in the past years I've seen a very noticeable increase in the vehicles. I do agree with you though because Tesla is a very luxury brand and although there are a lot of Teslas on roads I see, they are very expensive. Furthermore, people say that Tesla Model X is the only car that's truly worth it because it has the best mileage. I believe that it is honestly in the best interest of other car companies to come out with cheaper electric cars, because it would be more likely that the number of electric cars dominate in the coming years.
I believe cars are made to make the lives of people more efficient and honestly, I don't see how the idea of electrical vehicles are efficient. Like stated above, it lets people charge their cars at home and such but other than that, it's quite hard to find a charger elsewhere. I see more and more parking lots having spots for people to charge their cars but when it comes to long road trips, you really can't find a charger out in the middle of no where. At least with gas, you can bring gallons with you and pour when necessary. In addition, I'm not very informed as how long it takes for an electrical car to be charged but I don't believe it is faster than filling up a tank with gas. Lastly, I truly think that electrical cars are quite ugly and doesn't have the grit that regular cars have.
I think that Americans are interested in buying electric cars as I've seen plenty in the Bay Area. However, like others said, it's not as convenient due to a limited amount of charging stations, and if you're driving in a state where electric cars are uncommon, it'd be difficult to charge your car. I would consider buying an electric car if it were a hybrid or if charging stations were as populous as gas stations. Though I probably wouldn't buy a Tesla unless it was much more affordable.
I believe as though America is getting into the idea of buying electric cars. It's only a matter off time since environmental ads and speeches I keep hearing/seeing everywhere. Car manufactures are still working on the electric car (You know to have longer battery life and smoother engine controls) and eventually a company will somehow have the cars to be much cheaper in the future. As of right now, I wouldn't get a full electric car especially Tesla, way too expensive but I would get a hybrid, it's not the best but gas mileage is pretty good.
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