Their competencies are in Software and the Supercharger/Battery Infra. No one is going to come close to that in 5-10 years at a minimum.
> 595 Supercharger stations with 3,465 Superchargers
https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
This doesn't include destination chargers at hotels, restaurants, and other establishments.
That's why Tesla is 5 years ahead.
One is 1/3rd the speed of the other in real-world usage.
I can tell you charging chademo on a Model S is much slower.
As I said elsewhere, the Chademo connector can support higher currents when there is a need. When there are Leafs (and Souls? I think think those are the only two in the US on Chademo) with 200mi range batteries, I'm sure we'll see the existing chargers upgraded to the higher current capability.
I'm not aware of and chademos above 60kw today while Tesla has a while infrastructure deployed right now.
Also there is no currently deployed charging standard that comes closer to SuperCharger. Chademo is 60kW spec but usually 40 or 50 depending on how downrated the charger has been. I've never seen less than 118kW on a Supercharger and had multiple Chademo's that have throttled down to 35kW in some cases.
It's going to take years to build out that infrastructure while Telsa continues to deploy SuperChargers and Destination Charging.
Chademo deliberately selected 50kW as being optimal given the cars using the charger and the infrastructure available; the connector is designed for up to 200A (up from 125A at present) which would yield 100kW.[0] My understanding is that the CCS connector is being deployed at 200A now. I don't know what you're definition of "close to" is, but I would consider 100kW and 118kW to be close.
Tesla superchargers require less real estate footprint and are next to freeways and frequently next to Starbucks and some casual restaurants.
Tesla has a simple streamlined operation: They do almost everything in house and they only have to focus on electric cars. No other distractions.
They also have a sort of hidden weapon in the form of SpaceX. They have higher expertise than any other car maker on working aluminum from reusing the knowledge gained from SpaceX. Elon Musk can trickle down a lot of know how from his SpaceX operation. Most car companies are not using synergies from spaceship companies :-D
Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemingly confirmed on Tuesday that the company is working on a strategy for getting into transportation services.
During Tesla’s third-quarter earnings conference call, Musk was asked if the company was planning to get into an Uber-like business. Musk tried to keep mum, but when pressed he hinted that the company was at least entertaining the idea.
“There is a right time to make announcements and this is not that time,” Musk said during the call.
He added that the strategy for such a service was not yet “fully-baked,” which implies the company does in fact have some semblance of a strategy.
Tesla will be consuming 2013's entire world production of lithium batteries in ~2 years. Please, enlighten me, where is BMW going to source cells from? Where will you find these youth drivers who don't want autopilot, and prefer "the ultimate driving experience"?
BMW's goal in EVs is to hold on to the segment of the market that they have. Tesla's goal is to capture a market that they don't currently have - and that's harder. It's much harder when they have many legitimate competitors, and it is starting to look like they will have much more competition very soon.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/01/15/1-large-luxury-car-in-us...
Tesla doesn't publish very detailed sales figures and there isn't that market research into it (at least public one) yet, currently it seems that many people are buying a Tesla as a second (or even 3rd, 4th etc ;)) car as people who can afford to buy a 100,000$ car usually will have more than 1.
From anecdotal experience I've also noticed that quite a few of the people who buy through finance / lease a Tesla really can't afford one but like many people who end up buying a 800$ phone do - simply because it makes them feel better.
Tesla owners currently enjoy quite a bit of perks that traditional car owners do not, the insurance rates tend to be quite preferable (most likely partially subsidized by Tesla it self), the finance options are also one of the best in the market (In the UK I can pretty much get a 100% finance on a Tesla which costs about my yearly pre-tax income, considering the cost of living and the taxes I pay I would technically will not be able to afford it, I can't get any thing close to this for other cars which cost 100K GBP for example), this is not that dissimilar than how Apple pushed a very expensive handset at the time through their partnered carriers but phones aren't cars so it yet to be seen how it will work out.
Most Tesla owners haven't owned the car for longer than a year atm, the average life span of a car in the US is still about 10 years, there isn't enough data currently to know how the Tesla secondary market will work out (the current "secondary" market sells cars that are usually couple of months in use for almost the same price as a new one), what will the end TCO of a Tesla be after say 5 years to both the end consumer and the company.
Luxury cars in the US have a very well established secondary market with buy backs and dealerships that specialize in reselling cars that tend to hold the value quite well (this is especially true to the more boutique cars like Jags). Some cars are have also very specific markets in the US (and any where else) e.g. while pretty much anyone will want to drive a BMW 5/7 series or a high end Audi not that many people will go for a Jag or a range rover these days.
Tesla has had a very good market penetration but it's really too early to tell what it means, and with a large part of it's costumers buying it because it's cool and because of it's environment impact (or lack there off) could also quite likely look at other EV options when some actually arrive on the market.
Fully loaded versions are very expensive because luxury manufacturers feel they can charge whatever they want and get away with it. Those things cost a pretty penny - a navigation system add-on in BMW, for example, is just under $2k (as if you'd buy a luxury vehicle without navigation system in 2016). A backup camera from Mercedes is optional even in "luxury" edition of their vehicle, and is $770. Blind Spot Monitor is another $750.
And we excluded ultra-luxury sporty manufacturers like Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini, as they represent comparatively tiny segment of the luxury market. However, "performance" versions of Acura, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and even Nissan (GT-R) and Chevrolet (Corvette), if that's what you're after, are priced above "performance" versions of Model S.
Then there're the maintenance costs, more or less mandatory at dealer prices if you ever want to sell your car for decent resale value. Then subscriptions for things like maps, navigation and XM real-time traffic. Then, of course, the cost of gas - even if you assume oil falls down to $0 (perhaps a free tank of gas with a purchase of a hot dog at the gas station, if current price trends persist), you're still getting pretty close on the TCO front for 4-5 years.
GM and BWM would be the android device manufacturers - assembling 3rd party components, poorly differentiated, initially not competitive on quality but eventually catching up, while competition w/ each other prevents any of them from achieving profits comparable to Tesla.
Tesla stock is over priced, once the German Luxuries esp. BMW arm themselves with batteries there is going to be stupendous completion that would not justify their market value. On top of this, you have Apple getting into the think of things, at least rumors of it.