Re:Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag
by rcxdude on Thursday April 25, 2019 @09:12AM
(#19747683)
The big problem the big auto manufacturers are having is the battery and cost. A mass-market electric car cannot cost as much as Tesla's offerings, and a huge part of that cost is the battery. Even with the most optimistic cost projections of battery costs in the near future, it's hard to see how to offer an electric car which is competitive on both cost and range with an ICE car.
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Re:Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag
by imglorp on Thursday April 25, 2019 @09:39AM
(#19747925)
True, if they're going to price under Tesla, they'll need the courage to be unprofitable until they have the volume to get positive.
Another issue is subsidies. Carmakers have enjoyed billions from the states... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-toyota-mazda-jobs-factbox...
That's not counting an $80b bailout... https://www.thebalance.com/auto-industry-bailout-gm-ford-chr...
And what about gas prices being artificially kept low with subsidies... https://www.nrdc.org/experts/danielle-droitsch/time-us-end-f...
So the true cost and TCO of an ICE car is not at all obvious to compute compared to an electric.