Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bread
Well, we're in the i3 forum for one. The i8 is more like the Prius in that it has a very limited electric range. You say you could just buy a gas powered car, but for many folks, the Tesla is more appealing than a 7er, A8 or S Class, as recent sales are proving. So yes, $50 for 600 miles of range may be (sort of) similar to filling up a large sedan with gas, but when that large sedan is more fun to drive than the gas powered one, what exactly are you giving up?
Further, and again with my personal speculation, most folks with six figure cars don't drive 500+ miles, they fly. So this is mostly a moot point, and for the one or two times a year they may break that rule, they will soon have an infrastructure to support them taking their Tesla, should they want to, not that they probably don't have another car if they wanted to avoid any range anxiety.
I do fully agree with Efthreeoh that this is amusing to discuss, none of us actually discussing it own a Tesla, an i3 or i8, but the simple fact that we are discussing it signifies that it's gaining momentum and changing the way we each consider buying future cars.
Tesla has paid a huge part of the current infrastructure and I imagine they either have existing partnerships for their battery/charging technology or expect to secure significant partnerships soon. Otherwise they'll be looking at a Fisker sort of story, which would be a real shame.
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I really meant it is fun. I love talking about this kind of stuff. I really think the Tesla is quite an amazing car. I'd own one for my next car if it didn't cost more in total ownership cost than my current E90. I've done the math on it and the Tesla costs about $20K more to operate over the lifetime (of 200,000 miles) than my E90. Granted, it's not the same class car, but it's all Tesla offers at this time. Tesla says it's coming out with a smaller 3/5 series car by 2017 that will cost $40-ish. That would make the Tesla the better daily driver for me; I need a range of at least 200 miles per charge.
The issue I have is battery longevity. I've been keeping up with the SAE studies on battery longevity and it seems that hybrid cars do quote well. I like to run my cars to 200,000 miles minimum, so if the Tesla battery needs replacement at half that mileage, or if the battery looses capacity over time and drops the range, then it's not as good an idea to own one. None of the electric manufacturers really discuss battery longevity.