Tesla Motors - Valued more than Mazda now

[Gucumatz]

So apparently Tesla has reached a 20 Billion dollar market evaluation. I just have to say one thing... What the hell? How???

Its a great up and coming company sure to change the market but it apparently now has a higher valuation than Mazda, Shizuku, or Mitsubishi. For context GM has a 48.3Billion Dollar Valuation.

Has anyone seen a Model S Tesla on the road yet? Tesla motors just filed this month an application for their Model E Tesla, a car that will cost ~ 30,000 Dollars meant to be their ace come 2015. What do you all think? Completely overpriced and overhyped or is Tesla going to truly become the "New Ford" as some say?

A comparison chart below

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-26/tesla-market-value-rises-to-20-billion-on-ev-optimism.html

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...model-e-while-the-other-ev-makers-tread-water

 

[Joecoolyo]

I really hope so, affordable electric cars can change everything.

And I have actually seen a Tesla before, I was bike riding with a friend and it was parked in the downtown area of my town. Cool enough that I had him stop so we could look at it.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Now would be an extremely good time to sell.

 

[Zelig]

I really hope so, affordable electric cars can change everything.

Problem is that batteries kind of suck.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Problem is that batteries kind of suck.

They kind of do, but if electric cars become far more popular, its likely that a new market would open up that would improve upon the batteries, n'stuff.

 

[peter grimes]

I've seen several on the road around here, but only the S. They're excellent machines, from an engineering perspective - but for the luxury market. But the manufacturing techniques and design solutions will almost certainly trickle down to the Prius and Insight level soon:

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1206_2012_tesla_model_s_first_drive/

 

[Zelig]

They kind of do, but if electric cars become far more popular, its likely that a new market would open up that would improve upon the batteries, n'stuff.

Hasn't happened anywhere else where batteries are used.

For home use, modern NiMH rechargeable batteries aren't significantly better than NiCD rechargeables that have been around for decades.

If you look at Li-Ion batteries in consumer electronic (which electric cars use) over the past couple decades, we've increased utility by nearly an order of magnitude, but it's been mostly from lowering the power consumption of electronics - there simply isn't that level of power reduction available in cars.

 

[peter grimes]

Hasn't happened anywhere else where batteries are used.

For home use, modern NiMH rechargeable batteries aren't significantly better than NiCD rechargeables that have been around for decades.

If you look at Li-Ion batteries in consumer electronic (which electric cars use) over the past couple decades, we've increased utility by nearly an order of magnitude, but it's been mostly from lowering the power consumption of electronics - there simply isn't that level of power reduction available in cars.

Not sure about this, to be honest.

In cordless power tools - one area I actually know a little bit about, battery technology has completely transformed the available products. Maybe the demand in this market didn't drive the battery innovation, but the innovations in batteries certainly expanded the range and slashed the cost of available cordless power tools.

 

[peter grimes]

Not sure about this, to be honest.

In cordless power tools - one area I actually know a little bit about, battery technology has completely transformed the available products. Maybe the demand in this market didn't drive the battery innovation, but the innovations in batteries certainly expanded the range and slashed the cost of available cordless power tools.

EDIT: just read you a little closer.
Batteries don't have an inherent power - power is a measure of energy & time. They have a voltage and a capacity. Together with the mass of the battery you arrive at the energy density. And that's what's been greatly improved. 120 years ago there were successful electric cars with lead-acid batteries. They have a great record of deep-cycle discharge and recharge resilience. Every car still has one to run the starter motor.

Today's batteries are much more high performance - similar energy density in a fraction of the mass. That's the key. That's why a tablet weighs less than a book, while a laptop from 10 years ago weighed at least 2 books. The Tesla S has just as much power as a BMW 5 series. That's because of the motor it uses, not the batteries.

 

[Zelig]

Not sure about this, to be honest.

In cordless power tools - one area I actually know a little bit about, battery technology has completely transformed the available products. Maybe the demand in this market didn't drive the battery innovation, but the innovations in batteries certainly expanded the range and slashed the cost of available cordless power tools.

Power tools are a bit of a special case - they have high current draw, which means you have to use batteries with a low internal resistance (or in the worst case scenario you only get about a tenth of the actual capacity of the battery) - this means that only NiCD and Li-Ion batteries (Li-Poly are a hassle to recharge without damaging) are really appropriate for power tools.

18V NiCD power tools were available as early as the mid/late 90s, I don't think much has advanced since then - moving to Li-Ion from NiCD gives you more capacity per charge and a better environmental impact, but at the cost of fewer number of recharges, worse performance at extreme temperatures and faster degradation when stored without use.

Edit: Energy density is still frustratingly low - I'm not sure offhand how much we've gained in energy density in say, Li-Ion batteries in the past two decades, but I'd be surprised if it was more than 2x - Intel managed close to a doubling of battery life in their last cpu/platform update alone.

 

[Leonel]

I've seen Tesla's on the road before. A while back, I saw two within the span of an hour in the countryside and recently I saw another one.

I'd love an electric car, really. Don't have to pay nearly $4 a gallon anymore, don't need to change the oil or replace radiators or take it into the shop if one of the thousand little things on the engine breaks.

 

[BvBPL]

So apparently Tesla has reached a 20 Billion dollar market evaluation. I just have to say one thing... What the hell? How???

The same manner by which AOL bought Time Warner. Stupidity.

 

[dexters]

Market valuations don't mean very much. It's an indicator market sentiment is good.

Until Tesla can mass produce the cars they are selling and show real cashflow beyond surprise profits of a few million dollars, it's going to be a speculative stock.

That said I really like what they are doing.

 

[History_Buff]

I'd love an electric car, really. Don't have to pay nearly $4 a gallon anymore, don't need to change the oil or replace radiators or take it into the shop if one of the thousand little things on the engine breaks.

While I'm not quite as optimistic on the lack of maintenance, I too would love one of these. Most of my driving is just regular commuting, and an electric would do me fine.

 

[galdre]

I've seen a few Teslas around, but can't say I'd ever buy one. I only want one car, and that one needs to be able to go long distances.

 

[Leonel]

While I'm not quite as optimistic on the lack of maintenance, I too would love one of these. Most of my driving is just regular commuting, and an electric would do me fine.

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sure there'll be maintenance. Transmission fluid and tires would need changing etc but for me the big things are oil and radiator. I had to get my radiator replaced about a month ago and it wasn't cheap.

 

[galdre]

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sure there'll be maintenance. Transmission fluid and tires would need changing etc but for me the big things are oil and radiator. I had to get my radiator replaced about a month ago and it wasn't cheap.

Buy an air-cooled VW; you don't need a heater in WA, it doesn't get that cold here

 

[Zelig]

While I'm not quite as optimistic on the lack of maintenance, I too would love one of these. Most of my driving is just regular commuting, and an electric would do me fine.

I saw a Volt yesterday!

And there are several Teslas downtown.

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sure there'll be maintenance. Transmission fluid and tires would need changing etc but for me the big things are oil and radiator. I had to get my radiator replaced about a month ago and it wasn't cheap.

The Model S only has one gear, so I can't imagine the transmission will need much work.

 

[History_Buff]

And there are several Teslas downtown.

Yeah, I was pretty sure I saw one go by on Deerfoot this spring.

 

[GinandTonic]

Power tools are a bit of a special case - they have high current draw, which means you have to use batteries with a low internal resistance (or in the worst case scenario you only get about a tenth of the actual capacity of the battery) - this means that only NiCD and Li-Ion batteries (Li-Poly are a hassle to recharge without damaging) are really appropriate for power tools.

18V NiCD power tools were available as early as the mid/late 90s, I don't think much has advanced since then - moving to Li-Ion from NiCD gives you more capacity per charge and a better environmental impact, but at the cost of fewer number of recharges, worse performance at extreme temperatures and faster degradation when stored without use.

The key advantages of li power tools over nicad are that they are far lighter and that they retain their charge far better. In the old days an 18v drills power pack weighed as much as the drill. Heavy duty tools power packs were so heavy they came as a separate block to be plugged into with a cable.

Li-ion cordless tools charge does not degrade as fast. A nicd drill was useless after a fortnight unplugged, li-ion have a significant charge after a month.