Filed under: Tesla Motors, Detroit Auto Show
Tesla's Martin Eberhard wraps up the Detroit Auto Show
Over on the official Tesla Motors blog, CEO Martin Eberhard has a new blog post where he summarizes his impressions of the Detroit Auto Show. Eberhard noticed that lithium ion batteries seemed to be everywhere this year, in spite of the fact that not so long ago, most car-makers said that LiIon may not be right for cars. He seemed unimpressed by the Ford Airstream concept, apparently not noticing that the vehicle did indeed have plug-in capabilities. As for the Chevy Volt, he was impressed that it could now be charged from a standard 110V outlet, but apparently not much else. He rips into GM's idea of making a shorter range EV with an on-board charger and goes on to cite some numbers indicating that a pure electric would be much better.
After visiting Cobo Hall, Eberhard headed north to Rochester Hills to inaugurate the new Michigan Engineering Center with a design review of Tesla's next project. Codenamed WhiteStar, the dozen or so staff based in Michigan are hard at work on a four door sedan, scheduled to be built in the next couple of years. Hopefully, Tesla will be a huge success, and I'm fairly confident that the Roadster will do well at it's price point and volume. However, I suspect that Mr. Eberhard may be in for a rude awakening when he gets a taste of being a higher volume car manufacturer.
[Source: Tesla Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doug 9:44AM (1/18/2007)
"As for the Chevy Volt, he was impressed that it could now be charged from a standard 110V outlet, but apparently not much else."
The way I read his blog, he wasn't impressed with the power plug, he was actually being sarcastic.
Martin wrote: "Significantly, GM has abandoned the inductive “paddle charger” of yore, instead featuring a conductive interface that allows charging from standard electrical outlets. What a great idea!"
The words "What a great idea" linked to the Roadster battery charging info page about and mentions "optional mobile-charging kit that lets you charge from standard electrical outlets."
I think he was just saying that Chevy's plug was unoriginal.
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Tim 10:47AM (1/18/2007)
BEVs are ultimately what we will end up with. BUT, right now, we are addicted to IC. We like the noise, the power and the convenience of “unlimited” range (with quick refills). It will take time and several “steps” to make the transition to BEV. The real delay here is not within the battery technology it is within the paradigm that people have that an underpowered BEV "golf car" will leave them stranded. Tesla's car will change the "underpowered" paradigm and Volt will change the "stranded" one. This will leave the MASS market ready for BEV's when the battery tech is good and cheap enough in the (hopefully very) near future. These all electric high power cars will be able to “emergency recharge” at a “refueling” stations as quickly as we now fill our tanks. Any hunter knows that you have to move slowly and carefully, or you will scare away the prey. Our prey is the hearts and minds of the traveling public. Our weapon is the BEV. Our goal is to help them (and ourselves) much like a Zoologist inoculates a wild gazelle. Baby Steps Please!! Do it right the first time.
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OhmExcited 12:29PM (1/18/2007)
Martin seemed a little catty about his future competetitors in his latest writeup. For aspects that are different, he criticizes for not being as good or as pure. For aspects that are similar he criticizes for being unoriginal. Not unlike Steve Jobs taking digs at Bill Gates in his early days.
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Hippie Hunter 2:56PM (1/18/2007)
"BEVs are ultimately what we will end up with."
Yeah, if your mom delivered you in rehab.
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Tim 4:04PM (1/18/2007)
Hippie- When is your mom picking you up?
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John 4:09AM (1/19/2007)
Reaslistically for BEVs to become main stream, the robustness of our electric grids will have to be addressed. Remember the big black out in New York and much of the North eastern US and Southern Ontario not that long ago? Another one of those could set the movement back some time. PHEVs are a great interim step, and hopefully it will provide the impetus to improve the weaknesses in the electrical grid. While mass BEV acceptance is the holy grail, there is work aside from batteries to get there. The nice thing of the PHEV is that even if the grid goes out for an extended period of time, you won't be totally stuck.
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