APR 07

At around $100,000 each you’d be forgiven for thinking that the potential market for the Tesla Roadster "electric supercar" was a bit limited.

However, even though the company only started production at their U.S. facilities in March, the 2008 model is completely sold out, and there are already almost a thousand advance orders placed for the 2009 update. Now the company has announced plans to sell the model in Europe by the third quarter of this financial year.

According to CEO Ze’ev Drori, the move was mainly prompted by the weak dollar, but also by the shorter average distances driven by European motorists, and tax breaks offered to EVs and ZEVs in countries like Norway and Denmark.

The initial production target for the continent is reportedly set at 250 per month, with cars retailing at €100,000.

On the surface it appears that such bold moves suggest exciting times ahead for EV start-ups like Tesla and Fisker. However, some skeptics are starting to question the long-term viability of these operations, quoting doubts over issues such as performance capabilities, high prices, slow production, and battery life, as well as relative lack of technological and financial know-how, fierce competition and long-term market potential. See this TreeHugger article for a useful overview of the challenges facing the sector.

Source: Automotive Business Review

Comments (5)

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Question Longterm Viability?
written by BlackbirdHighway, April 07, 2008

GM lost 40 billion dollars last year. Seems that sales are hurt by a bad economy and high fuel prices, which are also a major contributor to the bad economy. Meanwhile, Exxon made 40 billion in profit, again due to those same high gasoline prices. The US economy is now heading into a recession, with one of the major causes being high fuel prices.

Maybe we should start questioning the long term viability of gasoline powered autos?

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Electron depletion
written by John Hargraeves, April 07, 2008

What happens when the roads are full of electricity cars? They are going to consume all of the world's electricities and then we will have the same problem that we have with gasoline powered cars.

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price typo?
written by Mark Bartosik, April 08, 2008

The car sells for $100K in USA.
That's about 63K euros with today's exchange rate.
So where is the over $30K markup going? Is it a typo? Could it be European VAT?
If it is VAT then I suggest making EVs VAT exempt for about a decade.

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electron depletion...wtf?
written by rollie, April 08, 2008

IF we get to the point where there are more electric cars than gas powered- we will have cleaner air/less pollution. Gasoline is a finite resource, 'electrons' arent- as we can harness them from the sun (solar power) and wind,hydro,wave etc. We are barely scratching the surface of renewable energy.

Are you really that uninformed? or just trolling? Ive read 2 stories on ecogeek today with rather ignorant comments from you (john hargreaves). Sorry if that seems harsh.

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Future View
written by Uncle B, May 11, 2008

Simply because an American's day's work is no longer worth the trip there in the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) battle tanks they drive today, and they mostly have huge housing investments in the suburbs, a huge change is about to occur. Either they will fold and die (unlikely) or they will adapt to smaller electric and turbo bio-diesel electric hybrids or high compression, high efficiency alcohol electric hybrids.
They will demand their own lanes in the cities and on the freeways for safety's sake and because they are mostly two seater's, one person sitting in front of the other, and very narrow compared to the tanks we drive today, gridlock will become a thing of the past. GM, Ford and Chryco will play 'stick in the mud' and try to maintain the status quo, because that's where their money is, giving European, Korean and Chinese companies the jump on this market. Battery exchange stations will replace gas stations, desert solar electricity will be pumped to existing grids and the charging batteries will ballast the grid. Sunny days will be peak charge time, and the grid will run more economically, wasting less than now occurs. This is not utopian. This is in the works.OPEC will never randsom our economy for oil again. once Bush the oil baron is out of office the truth will be told.

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