Written by: Bennett Eldredge
Tesla and the Immersion of Electric Car Technology
Tesla is the only successful car start up in almost 200 years. The man behind the company is referred to as a real life Tony Stark. Elon musk has successfully pioneered companies in electric cars, space exploration, solar energy, and online banking. He has experienced a great deal of success with Tesla. The company entered the market with an electric sports car in the $100,000 dollar range. This car was designed to appeal to enthusiasts and prove the electric car concept. They then added a family sedan to their lineup. The sleek design and insane acceleration made the Model S a hit from the beginning. They released their third vehicle on September 29. The Model X seats 7, has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds, and reaches 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. Tesla has addressed nearly every area of the automobile market and has showed the plausibility of electric cars.
Most of those already in the automobile industry despise Tesla. The primary reason is their sales strategy. Rather than going through dealerships like most companies, Tesla sells directly to consumers both online and through retail locations in nice malls. This reduces the overall cost of inputs, reduced input costs result in a rightward shift of the supply curve. This shift results in a decreased price and an increase quantity.
The overall concept of Tesla and electric cars also receives a lot of criticism. New and improved technology in electric car manufacturing has the ability to revolutionize the transportation industry. Society and more importantly companies producing substitutes resists change to something that has become such a prominent part of everyday life. Normal car companies either resist Tesla’s entry into the market, or add an electric car to their own lineup. BMW has released the i series, Mercedes has put out the b class, and Porsche is in the process of developing an electric sports car for 2017.
Most would think that companies involved in drilling, shipping, refining, and selling of oil would be advocates of normal cars. Although small at the moment, Tesla is beginning to represent a shift away from dependence on gasoline. If electric cars continue to become more and more prominent, demand for normal cars will decrease. Decreased demand will cause a leftward shift of the demand curve in normal cars as well as a leftward shift in the demand curve of their compliment, gasoline. This will result in reduced prices and quantities supplied for both gasoline and normal cars. However This may not be a bad thing for the oil industry in the United States.
The United States currently consumes more oil than it produces. A decrease in the demand for gasoline may result in a decrease in the quantity demanded of oil. This decrease will come first out of our total oil imports, not our domestic oil production. The effect would be a decreased dependency on OPEC, not a decrease in quantity demanded for domestic oil. This would provide the United States with more mobility in middle eastern foreign relations. So it is arguable that the introduction of electric cars into the market may be a good thing for domestic oil production and the United States government.
All in all Tesla is good for the United States economy. They provide more options for consumers, their reduced dependency on oil will reduce dependency on OPEC, and they will challenge other companies to improve their products. Elon Musk and Tesla are changing the world.
Works Cited
Furman, Steve. "Two Years in My Model S." Model S Driver. Wordpress, 14 June 2015. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.
Sal Khan. "Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX." Khan Academy. 2015 Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.
Vance, Ashlee. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Tesla has also changed how companies traditionally do business by sharing their patents which are usually top secret as companies try to protect the advantage they have in product design. You can read more about it here: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you
ReplyDeleteI believe that the electric car is a great idea, how ever the vision of the car may be taken too far. Although this is just saving the world by using electricity instead of gas, people might turn it into cars can drive themselves which will be no fun. Also Tesla has had a recall because the cpu's can be hacked into. I love Tesla's idea because they're saving the world and making some cool cars, but as innovation goes for the idea of the car, that should be it, I don't want to see flying cars and cars that can drive themselves..
ReplyDeleteI believe that the electric car is a great idea, how ever the vision of the car may be taken too far. Although this is just saving the world by using electricity instead of gas, people might turn it into cars can drive themselves which will be no fun. Also Tesla has had a recall because the cpu's can be hacked into. I love Tesla's idea because they're saving the world and making some cool cars, but as innovation goes for the idea of the car, that should be it, I don't want to see flying cars and cars that can drive themselves..
ReplyDeleteI find It interesting that Tesla does not sell though dealerships. I feel like that is a smart Idea, but also in a way isn't. Also, the creation of electric cars, I believe will not necessarily have a better impact on the environment, but will have a better impact on the economy. Having two main power sources to run cars on would be one of the smartest things we could do. This would allow us to not depend so strongly on once source of energy such as oil. If something were to happen, say a war and we loose our oil imports and OPEC, we would be in trouble. Like you stated in your writing, we do not have enough oil in the USA to meet the demands of consumers. Therefore the creation of the electric car is indeed a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteI find It interesting that Tesla does not sell though dealerships. I feel like that is a smart Idea, but also in a way isn't. Also, the creation of electric cars, I believe will not necessarily have a better impact on the environment, but will have a better impact on the economy. Having two main power sources to run cars on would be one of the smartest things we could do. This would allow us to not depend so strongly on once source of energy such as oil. If something were to happen, say a war and we loose our oil imports and OPEC, we would be in trouble. Like you stated in your writing, we do not have enough oil in the USA to meet the demands of consumers. Therefore the creation of the electric car is indeed a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteTesla is a small company that is not available everywhere, there is not a Tesla Automotive store in Wisconsin. Though Tesla has grown very much compared what it use to be. The company makes decent cars for decent price. Tesla needs to build up its brand more, there are many people that have never heard of Tesla. While Tesla is changing the car game, they need to make more changes themselves to become a more successful company.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing valuable information. Nice post. I enjoyed reading this post.
ReplyDeleteSolar Power Installation Companies
Solar Las Vegas
Solar Power To Home