Quantcast

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
Tesla Motors' Dirty Little Secret Is a Major Problem


Tesla's made a name for itself as the future of "green" cars, and as of the time of this writing, its stock price is trading as if that's true. However, according to Climate Central, in 46 states Tesla's Model S is the least climate-friendly EV, and it's worse than all but two hybrids when it comes to CO2 emissions over 100,000 miles of driving.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
BMW’s Electric Car Crushes Tesla on the Sales Charts

On the fourth month of BMW selling its all-new, from-the-ground-up electric car, the numbers show sales of BMW's i3 are 70% higher than Tesla's (TSLA_) in the U.S. market. According to industry authority insideevs' best estimates, Tesla sold 600 cars in the U.S. in August compared to BMW i3 sales of 1,025.

Part of this story is not just BMW's sharp increase in electric car sales but Tesla's spectacular collapse in U.S. sales this year. Tesla's August number represented a 54% decline over last year
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
Great journalism. That comparison is about as relevant as comparing Honda Civic sales with BMW M3 sales.

Expensive economy EV sales beat really expensive high performance EV sales.
But BMW!!!!

I found the 56% drop in sales year over for Tesla to be more telling than "More people buying anything than Model S" comparison as well.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
But BMW!!!!

I found the 56% drop in sales year over for Tesla to be more telling than "More people buying anything than Model S" comparison as well.
http://insideevs.com/august-2014-plug-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/

Drop was likely artifactual due to production line shutting down for Model X switchover (and boosting throughput). Check back after September numbers hit.

In other news, it looks like Toyota may run out of new RAV4 EVs to sell before my wife's LEAF lease is up. If we don't end up buying a house in the spring and rent another year then I might try to snap up one of the last new ones to import to Colorado. If we end up buying a house I will feel poor and will stall and look for a used one in July.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
A 2014 update to the Union of Concerned Scientists' MPGghg map, which shows the equivalent MPG of a BEV charged off of the regional grid:



Relevant to the above is that I think I signed up for Xcel Energy's Windsource program, effectively greening up the Rocky Mountain region's dirty power. I know I called them and signed up for it, but I don't see it marked clearly on my bill.
 

BAH

The Red Baron
Sep 29, 2005
1,046
8
America
My wife retired and doesn't ride to work anymore, but still does 90 percent of her errands on her electric edgerunner. It's electric assist and (at full assist) she can jet along at about 20 mph with approximately a walking effort
 

BAH

The Red Baron
Sep 29, 2005
1,046
8
America
This is my first choice of transportation to work (about 5.5 miles one way)

Evolve electric bamboo longboard. Handheld bluetooth remote, top speed about 23-24 mph
 

BAH

The Red Baron
Sep 29, 2005
1,046
8
America
My second choice to work- if I have to cart something around or have inclement weather
Surly big dummy, same motor as wifes

 

BAH

The Red Baron
Sep 29, 2005
1,046
8
America
Just picked up a second (all terrain) electric longboard - no glamour shots yet but here it is on a quick test ride yesterday

 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,289
5,029
Ottawa, Canada
I'm not really a car race afficionado. so it's not clear who was in the wrong. It seems like the guy in the lead couldn't see the guy behind him, and the guy behind him hadn't really established his "ownership" (if you will) of the inside line. Seems like the douche moves in 4x where if you don't get the hole shot, you gun for the inside line of a berm, and hope that in taking out the leader, you stand yourself up and carry on...
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Tesla announces real lease program (as opposed to their previous in-house half-assed offering). I ruminate on the vehicle's cost, and link to the C&D article from which I grabbed my numbers.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ToshiClark/posts/6iZSZ2tJfTx

Cliffs Notes: Expensive cars, whether electric or not, are still expensive when you calculate their depreciation in the hard light of day. I came to a figure of $777/month in depreciation for the base 60 kWh Model S.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
Tesla announces real lease program (as opposed to their previous in-house half-assed offering). I ruminate on the vehicle's cost, and link to the C&D article from which I grabbed my numbers.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ ToshiClark/posts/6iZSZ2tJfTx

Cliffs Notes: Expensive cars, whether electric or not, are still expensive when you calculate their depreciation in the hard light of day. I came to a figure of $777/month in depreciation for the base 60 kWh Model S.
So when does Tesla start offering Certified PreOwned with warranty?
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
They are starting their CPO program soon.

Relevant to this thread, surprisingly:

 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,862
4,159
Copenhagen, Denmark
Not bad I would love that engine gearing in my Volvo. My brother just ordered a 2015 Audi A6 with a 190HP diesel which I already thought sounded pretty good but 268 that is another level.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Here's the PNAS study itself for the curious: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/12/10/1406853111.full.pdf

I'd say the summaries I've seen in the popular press are not quite on target. Here's a quote from the paper itself, emphasis mine:

>>>>>

We find that, in some cases, such as for EVs powered
by natural gas or WWS, considering air quality impacts alongside
climate impacts increases the apparent environmental benefit of
the alternative fuel relative to gasoline; in both cases (EVs from
natural gas; EVs from WWS), the air pollution benefits relative
to gasoline are larger than the climate-related benefits. Other
fuels, such as corn ethanol [the climate impact of which is unclear
(32)], are more damaging than conventional vehicles when
air pollution impacts are considered alone or when air pollution
and climate impacts are considered together. The difference
between the least- and most-polluting electricity generation
options for EVs increases almost sixfold when air pollution
damages are considered alongside climate impacts, instead of
when climate impacts are considered alone. Our findings thus
reinforce the benefit of pairing EVs with clean electricity
.