Usually, it’s Elon Musk the CEO who makes some strong comments about the automobile industry but this time it comes from a Tesla executive.
Whenever such a comment is made, it usually stirs up the industry and probably inspires companies to think better than what they are doing right now. Diarmuid O’ Connell, business development boss at Tesla commented that the electric vehicles available in the market is bit more than appliances and doesn’t deliver what is expected of them.
He added that these cars and SUVs always lack in terms of mile range which is a singular aspect to convince buyers to ditch the petrol and diesel engines. Pricing plays an integral role in pushing people into the new boundary but automobile manufacturers miss both these aspects and are simply tugging the industry backwards. Models like Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Spark and BMW i3 are seriously backwards in terms of performance, pricing and mileage. They are hardly trying to accomplish the dream Tesla has been trying to do for many years now.
“In other words, they are little more than your regular electrical appliances. They are supposed to be white and useful. The industry doesn’t try to innovate but rather make use of the existing electric vehicle technology. From a different perspective, it is easy to say that they don’t even try to accomplish something big,” said O’Connell.
The lead executive at Tesla advised that automakers should come out of their long running beliefs and try to accomplish high mile range, probably something around the 200 miles point. Chevrolet has already announced that they are working on a 2017 edition of Bolt with the same mileage while Ford is working a similar car. Nissan Leaf 2018 edition aims to deliver more than 200 miles on a single charge.
Commenting on these improvements, O’Connell said that he is happy to see manufacturers trying their best. But, he wished that they would do it faster and not delay technology by years. Electric vehicles face a lot of practical challenges and it is easy to overcome them only when the government as well as the buyers starts supporting it.
Tesla has its Model 3 vehicle priced at $35,000 slated for launch in 2018. It sure is going to change the industry completely. Similar models are lined up for the same year from other top brands and EVs might join the competitive scenario which is the start of a new future.