Tesla is still doing well solely producing fully electric cars. They have maintained that focus for years now. The company was founded in 2003 and it is still holding a large chunk of the market share for electric vehicles.
Why is Tesla not designing hybrid cars? Tesla has not ventured into the production of hybrid cars because they are focused in on electric cars and it would just be a distraction. They continue to redesign their electric cars and even the power output of their battery packs to maintain a high market share. Also, hybrids require two engines, and that would mean splitting their focus if they were to start to design hybrid cars.
Should Tesla Make a Hybrid Truck?
I have read that some people feel that Tesla, not only should design hybrid cars, but also hybrid trucks. That might have made sense 5 years ago, but presently the demand for electric trucks is increasing. There are more charging stations and even more high speed charging stations available. Also, since the distance that one travels in a pickup is usually less than in a regular vehicle due to the comfort level, stopping periodically to charge up is doable.
A lot of other companies is interested in grabbing a share of this growing market for electric trucks, versus hybrid trucks. In general, the demand for pick up trucks is growing, and the interest in electric trucks seems to be growing also. Tesla, should not try to stand out by designing the perfect hybrid truck, they have a lot of design experience in purely electric vehicles.
Just imagine the confusion it would create for them with a hybrid truck. Hybrids are ok for cars since the torque is not as important. Trucks need to be powerful and as compact internally as possible. Having two motors to deal with would lessen the torque for a truck. You could have the torque of both motors in a hybrid to work in unison, but it would be much easier to focus in on the torque of just a single engine that is electric.
For a pickup, the appeal of a totally electric truck is the savings due to the reduction in a gas bill. Even though adding more horsepower and torque will increase the demand for electricity in an electric truck, the cost of electricity compared to gasoline is relatively low.
Tesla needs to be careful right now, many other manufacturers are revealing that they will be offering the perfect electric pickup. Obviously, these companies have done some background marketing research and they have decided that electric trucks would sell better versus a hybrid version. If Tesla gets distracted, they will lose out.
If Tesla waits, large companies like Ford will take root fast and in a strong way. They have already announced that they are going to have an all-electric version of the popular F150. Even GM stated in February 2019, that they are going to invest in Rivian. Rivian is a startup in the electric pickup arena that also will be designed SUVs. This innovative startup is also looking very appealing to Amazon.
Should Tesla make a hybrid car?
I have already stated in other articles on this site that I had purchased a hybrid vehicle. Why would I not write that Tesla should be making a hybrid? Obviously, I can see the benefit of a car that has two motors? I bought a hybrid because of the lack of charging stations. I was afraid that I would get stranded mid-trip on the side of the road, far away from the next charging station.
Nevertheless, the number of charging stations is continuing to increase. I have noticed lately that restaurants are adding in a parking space that has a charging unit. Usually, these stations are free to use.
Also, the time to charge is definitely going to improve. Perhaps, it will take just minutes to charge up in the future. So, having an electric car will be the way to go.
Tesla is doing well as is, and I feel that they will continue to see a growth in sales when the transition from hybrid to completely electric settles in.
Regarding how well Tesla is doing, just look at its sales numbers for the sale of Model 3 during September of 2018. It was the 4th top-selling car in the US. Even though there was a problem ramping up production for this model, CEO Musk stated that he felt that the company would not a problem producing 20,000 units of this model per month into the future. Of course, perhaps this statement was full of fluff, but Musk is a top executive officer that has grown quickly this company.
Many analysts believe in Musk and his plan for the EV industry. They are actually saying that the promising design of EV, is going to cause some people to skip over starting off in a PHEV and going to directly in the purchase of the more expensive electric vehicle.
Newbies to the electric car market may be not as crazy as we once thought that they were. It does make sense if you feel that charging stations are going to greatly increase in number. It is a simple story now, electric cars cost a lot less to maintain because they have less moving parts and the vehicles create very little vibration that can speed up wear and tear.
It is as if you should consider a hybrid vehicle as if it is junior to the senior electric vehicle. Even GM is downgrading its reliance on hybrids. It stated that they were going to stop producing the Volt as early as March 2019 in the states and in Canada. They are planning on focussing in on the Bolt.
Due to the announcement that being made by GM and others, Tesla is going to have to maintain a strong focus on their electric vehicles. If they lag behind even slightly, it is going to cost them dearly. They need to forget about ever developing hybrids that will most likely be phased out at least in Canada and the states.
Why it makes financial sense for Tesla to make only electric cars?
I decided that I would try to get into the mind of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, to see why he thinks that we all should be driving an electric vehicle. One neat concept that he is latching onto is that of autonomous ride-share service. He seems to feel that this service is going to generate money for the owners of an electric car that are willing to upgrade their vehicle to one that can join a fleet of self-driving vehicles.
He states that only the owners of an electric will have the option to upgrade, it cannot be done with a conventional gas vehicle.
I agree that at some point, there will be networks of self-driving cars that will compete well with companies like Uber. The cost per mile to use Uber is quick high, and apparently, a car that is being guided by software will cost consumers one-third of the cost of a service like Uber.
Many industry people feel that this service will not happen for another 10-15 years. They like to highlight that Musk made the same claim during 2015, stating that within two years, autonomous cars would take over city driving.
I did some research, and maybe Musk’s claim that autonomous vehicles will be showing up in major cities soon is about to happen. The company Waymo, has launched the first ride-share service. They state that this service will provide self-driving cars 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nevertheless, the service will start at first only in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, and Tempe.
Since the self-driving service is starting to roll out, Musk, I feel is right to push forward even further development of his EV vehicles. He should focus on having the ability to easily and cheaply upgrade any one of his models to incorporate the console and software for the self-driving feature.
By offering upgrades, he is going to even further diversify his company’s income by selling upgrade kits and perhaps to even to take a piece of the income pie that city networks will provide.