The thing is it was more inconvenient than horse and cart for a long time. ( Early cars broke all the time, costed a fortune and you needed to maintain it yourself - that was basically a toy for rich kid to parade at the country club ) You get absolutely no benefit other than bragging rights for being an early adopter.

I understand that early adopters are damn useful, especially for all the startup creator here on HN. But seriously, "Right side of history" is pushing it. You can buy a regular car today and an electric one next time; it is not like electric car makers will refuse your business because you failed to be on the right side of history 10 year before.

> You can buy a regular car today and an electric one next time; it is not like electric car makers will refuse your business

Precisely. So people need to stop complaining the Tesla S doesn't meet their needs. Wait until it does, then buy one. If it never does, don't buy one, and don't complain about it.

Why is it so common for consumers to complain when a popular company makes a product that doesn't precisely fit their needs?

I personally am happy when I have no use for an expensive product, as it means I don't have any desire to spend money on it, and my $500 car will continue to meet my needs.

The side of history that can't afford a Tesla S anyway. Small-minded of me, I know.

> The side of history that can't afford a Tesla S

Yet.

There were millions that couldn't afford an automobile when they came out too you know..... Give it time, stop thinking a new product has to be everything to everyone so early on.

Range is a significant factor of the Tesla's cost, and it'd require a order of magnitude of efficiency increase to both support a cheaper model while also keeping the same charging range and keeping Tesla's profit margins in place.

Posting this on HN, of all things... processing power improved hundredfold in just 20 years. With every step, Intel just sold more of the things with better margins.

Tesla's deal with Panasonic [1] should bring their costs down by a hefty margin. Current battery tech is improving at around 7% per year. So even without a true "order of magnitude" breakthrough like lithium-air batteries, you're looking at battery efficiency doubling every decade, plus additional savings from economies of scale.

My personal suspicion is that electric cars will hit mainstream sales levels by around 2020 and by 2025 they'll dominate new car sales.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/11/06/teslas-b...

The more you make of something, the cheaper it gets to make each one. The price will come down.

uh-huh, and you can say exactly the same thing about the first cars, computers, commercial (or private) planes, and about 10 million other things.

Why do you think complaining about the Tesla is somehow different from complaining about all those other things when they were in their infancy?

I'm not sure someone who says "If that fits your pace, that's great, but that would have driven me nuts last time I was driving cross-country" is really looking to be on a particular side of history.

Yeah but a different power plant isn't that much of a historical breakthrough. For the planet, sure. But for the consumer? There's no payoff.