Has anyone here actually driven a Tesla? Please do and you will understand why the car is revolutionary.
They are talking about hydrogen fuel cells, which are used to generate electricity to power an electric car. In 1997 a 42 inch plasma TV cost $15,000 That was the cost of early adoption. Things change over time.
Sure. Like Moore's law not being valid anymore and battery cost not halfing every few years? Batteries have been around for 120 or so years, and an electric car was able to travel 100 miles in 1900. 100+ years later most electric car still has the same range....
20 horsepower, 20 mph top speed, 100 mile range. 416 horsepower, 130 mph top speed, 200+ mile range. Things change. Batteries will keep improving.
Sure. But ranges don't necessary, as I pointed out the historical stagnation of the range, and don't quote a very expensive machine's range, when the equivalent would be the mass produced 25k-40K electric car, not the Tesla. Now it is quite possible that Moore's law also applies to batteries, thus the improvement will slow down or will not be economical. Sure you can HAUL an extra battery to make an extra 100 miles, but that is not the same car, is it? So until Tesla makes an under 40K car with 200 miles range, we can stop dreaming....
I'm not sure when the revoloution (not using revoloution lightly) in solar power will impact vehicles but if you look at how the price and efficiency of solar power is moving it barely pays to erect an old school generating plant at this point. Solar is either now competitive without subsidy or about to be (depends on who you listen to) and that makes it disruptive. While the entrenched interests in a political system like ours can do quite a bit to hold on, explosive change is already underway. Given I can barely change a flat tire I have no idea how this will affect electric vehicles except that if we no longer burn fossil fuel to produce the power, that, in and of itself, is a big deal.
There is no new information here and, I believe, everone in this thread already believes the stock is shall we say, to be polite, fully priced. http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/2013/09/23/tesla-is-overvalued-let-me-count-the-ways/
"The hyped Gen 3 mass market model isnât even scheduled until 2017." So much about the new battery technology....Back to the future.... best part of the article: "Between the tax credit arbitrage and the accounting shenanigans while Tesla is, according to all the critics, an incredible car, it is a company held together with financial bubblegum. "
Man, you are so far out of the loop it's not funny! BMW is coming out next year with the i3, a $45k electric car which does about 180 miles range. Gm vows to take on Tesla. Vw wants to rule the market. Porch building an all electric. I guess it's all hype and you know best.