Electric Vehicles (EV): One Man's Opinion

Ford’s investment in electric vehicles (“EVs”) will only make Tesla look smarter. Ask yourself these questions: [1] Will Ford have a nationwide network of publically available chargers that can recharge a vehicle's battery in minutes? [2] Will Ford be investing some of these billions in a battery gigafactory? [3] Will the price, design and range of a Ford electric vehicle be attractive enough to be the purchase of choice of today's BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and other high end automobiles? I suspect that none of these answers will be yes. And yet, Ford has a decade of experience seeing Tesla go from zero to one of the most watched automobile manufacturers on the planet. [1] Vehicle Charging People who buy any vehicle expect that they will be able to refuel their vehicle away from home in a reasonable amount of time and obtain a reasonable travel range. Tesla built it’s battery recharge network to be everywhere and to charge quickly. What is the Ford plan for EV ch...

The website called "The Futurist" had a recent post that discussed major technological changes that will have dramatic societal and economic impact. From  http://www.singularity2050.com/2017/08/atom-award-of-the-month-august-2017.html : "... Hence, the first three factors, and possibly the fourth, combine by 2032 to generate a disruption that will be so comprehensive in the US that the inability of government to change zoning laws and permitting at anything close to the speed of market demand will be greatly exposed..." The first two are Battery Technology & EVs and the second is fully autonomous Self Drive Vehicles ("faSDVs"). The post is worth a read and below are comments I made in response to this article: --------------------------------- I strongly agree with the forecasted strength of the disruptions but I do think there is some additional points that might make for a faster arrival. Batteries The biggest missed point is the re...

Why does Tesla receive the most attention when other companies are also producing electric cars? Other companies are ‘bolting on’ electric drive technology. They are simply modifying existing gasoline vehicles as best they can. The Chevy Bolt: Tesla is a ground up electric vehicle. No gasoline engine / drivetrain residual technology. Really new is interesting and often exciting. Tesla is both. Which is why they get all the publicity and popular attention. ---------- Note: This originally appeared as an answer on Quora.com on 2017 08 08.  The question answered was " Why does Tesla receive the most attention when other companies are also producing electric cars? "

A view on the future of Automobile Manufacturing and the impact of Tesla Tesla's eventual success will cause its doom and likely the doom of most other passenger vehicle manufacturers. The advent of cost effective electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacture might mean hundreds of vehicle manufacturers rather than dozens. Maybe even thousands! Automobile Manufacture Will Move Away From Current Mega Corps And Become Fragmented There are two characteristics of electric vehicles that will drive fragmentation of manufacture: [1] EV’s are very simple when compared to internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicle construction. An EV very simple electric motor drawing power from a battery package with some straightforward control electronics. The EV might have a couple dozen unique parts in the core motor / drivetrain / power components and only a few of which actually ‘move’. The ICE vehicle will have many thousands that require much complicated engineering and most of them move or are subj...