On 18 Mar 2020 at 9:18, Peter C. Thompson via EV wrote: > Tesla does appear to understand their technology, and takes good care to keep > it working. Can't say the same for other manufacturers...although I'd be > very happy to be corrected.
No doubt they do. Not many other EV manufacturers have comparable experience and reputation. Nissan has experience, but a sullied reputation from their early battery problems. However, it appears to me that their sister label Renault has been more cautious, has made better choices, and is overall more dedicated to EVs in principle. This seems to be paying off for them as their Zoe is profitable, and Renault is staying well toward the top of EU EV sales. In January, the Zoe was Renault's second largest selling vehicle worldwide, which by itself is an accomplishment. That month, Renault sold over 10,000 EVs worldwide (12% of their sales) including 9,873 Zoes. That's pretty respectable for an EV that isn't even offered in North America. At least in France and the UK, Renault dealers are discounting, making the prices quite competitive. Tesla just squeaked past the Zoe worldwide, taking first place with 10,013 Model 3s. Nissan Leaf was in third place at 4,967 units, pretty good considering that the press keeps knocking it. The Peugeot 208 EV landed 7th at 3,897 cars, a surprisingly strong month for a brand new EV. Its 50kWh battery is slightly smaller than the Zoe's and its range a bit less, but the two are quite comparable in fitment and list price, and to some extent it comes down to which brand you feel more attached to. Despite that good worldwide showing, Tesla is not doing well in Europe. If you look at that market only, the Tesla 3 falls to 15th place, with just 1,517 cars. None of Tesla's other models is even in the running in Europe. IMO Tesla has badly misjudged the EU market by not shipping lower cost, lower range Model 3s. Last time I looked, the cheapest 3 was the LR model going for 57,900 euros. The LR is a nice car, with insane range. But when you can get a battery- lease Zoe for about 1/3 the Tesla's price, with a real world 350km of range, it's surprising that Tesla sold as many as they did. Tesla needs to get more in tune with what EU buyers want and need, because the future of EVs lies there, not here in the US. On the other hand, with most major EU nations in viral lockdown, right now nobody there is buying vehicles, either EV or ICEV. I expect that the economic wasteland resulting from this chaos will depress all vehicle sales for a long, long time. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
