No reason to buy Tesla. They don't have any technology that every other auto manufacturer already has access to.
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Apple Car's Rumored 2020 Launch Target May Have Slipped to 2021
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No reason to buy Tesla. They don't have any technology that every other auto manufacturer already has access to.
Apple have access to Skylake mobile processors and Broadwell-EP Xeons, but that hasn't benefitted Apple's customers, has it? They had access to Haswell-EP Xeons, but again, no benefit to Apple's customers.
Likewise, no other mainstream manufacturer except Chevrolet has offered a full EV with 200+ miles of range, and the Chevy Bolt, while likely a great car, is far from the sexy beast that will be the Model 3. (I know, neither is in production, but the Bolt is only a few months out and I've seen them on the road already here in MI, one of them being driven by the Bolt chief engineer
)
IF Apple are making a car - I hope it's like a much more stylish version of something like the Carver or Pursu. Unfortunately, the Carver company has gone out of business now but they do licence the patents on the tilt mechanics. Take a look here:
Apple will release a car themed watchband, it will have a picture of a car on it. Such innovation
Really - Apple won't be able to drop support for any car - no matter the year - I have both a 2002 and 2008 honda's and both are getting recall airbag replacements
Oh really? How about their vast network of Superchargers? Other manufacturers can make an electric car, sure. But what are they going to do / what have they done about nationwide charging? Tesla already has the network.
And what about batteries? Where are these manufactures going to get their batteries on a large scale? Tesla has already built a dedicated battery factory whose output will soon eclipse the output of all current lithium ion battery manufacturers.
And how about their autopilot which utilizes fleet learning from every single Tesla on the road. What other manufacturer has done or is doing that? None that I know of.
I have no doubt that other manufacturers will be able to compete with Tesla. But in many respects, Tesla is way, way, way ahead of the game.
You'll be crying even more when he starts to gut the liberal establishment as they are brought to court.
I know a few that want to file Friend of the Court to testify that a lot of the environmental weather archives were rigged leading to false conclusions over the global warming myth.
Get your popcorn ready, a new Sheriff is in town and it'll be a shooting gallery!
Tesla has significant IP concerning electric vehicles. Electric cars have been fought at for decades.
Something like 80% of all automobiles are driven less than 100 miles a day. The battery technology is finally here were we can have a mass network of daily driving cars recharging in millions of garages across the country.
However, that would kill of 80% of the gasoline market totally compromising the oil companies. Oil companies has been effectively a cartel keeping petroleum dominant for the vehicle energy market.
Other alternative energy sources (grain alcohol, electricity battery, low friction flywheels, fuel cells, compressed air and -- my fav -- miniature Thorium reactors) have been suppressed to keep the the oil volume flowing and the per unit cost low. Things are changing. How Apple enters into this is a big question.
Exactly. For most people, there's a huge difference between wanting to buy a Tesla and being able to afford one.
There's a big difference between long-rumored and long-ago rumored. I haven't heard anyone float the Apple Television rumor in quite some time.
Well don't let us stop you.
The Tesla Model 3 starts at $35k. Before government incentives.
After incentives, $27k.
Oh, and Tesla has taken $5K deposits on 370,000+ Model 3s.
What are you waiting for?
Yes, because we all want a car that wont let us change the battery or a car that wont start after a "bad update" from Apple's crack QA team. "Sorry, your car will be drivable again with the next update"
This is where the Tesla Model 3 breaks that cycle. They are approaching a half million units of pre-orders. That puts them in the high volume line matching the major automotive manufacturers. Thus, Tesla becomes big oil's worst nightmare. That is a daily driver electric car that middle America can afford while it noticeably compromises big oil's volume. Apple sees this trend and wants to be a part of it.
There's already a vast network of chargers for electric vehicles. Not fast chargers, but still widely available (far more installations then there are Superchargers). And based on industry standards, not proprietary. Besides, Tesla has talked about opening up their superchargers to other manufacturers. That's because Tesla lacks the resources to deploy them on a wide scale, which is why they're willing to give away their IP. Much better for Tesla if all the major companies also start building out charging networks that also work on a Tesla vehicle.
Batteries are a commodity item that numerous companies can make. Tesla doesn't own any patents on super-duper amazing lithium batteries that make theirs better than anyone else.
All major companies have their version of Autopilot. They have all the necessary sensors, cameras and processing to enable Autopilot if they desired. Unlike Tesla, none of them are stupid enough to release a "beta" version of a vehicle system that has the potential for catastrophe if it fails.
That's the point. It seemed like a sure thing that the Apple Television would be a reality, but it was ultimately cancelled. I think the car will have the same fate.
There's no proprietary IP for electric vehicles. The AC induction motors Tesla (and others) use are all built the same. They have to be, based simply on the laws of physics. These motors have been used in industry for decades, and their principles of operation are very well understood (actually first understood more than 100 years ago).
The motor controllers for these are also old, and well understood. They are simply variable high frequency drives that have also been used for decades in industry. Their principles of operation are also very simple and well understood. Today I can buy a microcontroller specifically made for driving and controlling a 3 phase AC induction motor for $5.00. All I need to do are add the necessary output stages to handle the high voltage/current. Thankfully, these components are also widely available from numerous semiconductor manufacturers (ST, Infineon, for example).
The rest of what you wrote is pure conspiracy BS.
Given Tesla's beta testing on actual consumers, I'm okay with them taking as long as they need to.
Actually, the first to that mark is very likely to be Chevrolet. The Bolt is supposed to hit the market in early 2017, possibly as much as a year before the Model 3. Oh, and the Bolt features CarPlay support.
That's the projected cost, but it's for the stripped down model. Different drivetrain/battery options and cool stuff like that glass roof will likely push it up to $60K. And it remains to be seen how "stripped down" the Model 3 is - if it's still well-outfitted then that $35K will be more "real". From Musk's comments about the final interior design (which hasn't yet been introduced) it sounds like it will be.
I remember a report somewhere that Tesla plan to roll out the more expensive Model 3 versions first, which makes good sense. Keep volume relatively low at first to work out production bugs and then as production scales they can offer the lower margin versions. Far better to go slow than to be hit with reliability problems on a 100,000+ fleet of Model 3s.
The $35K model will be a stripped down version unlike what was shown. The demo model has a glass roof, but Musk said the base car comes with a standard roof. The initial cars are going to be $50K and up, so you'll be waiting awhile before you see the $35K ones. And those cars won't be as well-equipped as people think.
The deposits are only $1K, not $5K. And since Musk has stated they are 100% refundable, then there's really no commitment required of those "buyers". So I guess you could put a deposit down "just for the hell of it".
Edit: Ninja'd