I have just spent a few days in china and Hk and seen so many tesla cars, in fact amazed how many.
Actually I am sitting in the back of one on the way to the airport and I have to say I totally understand it now.
I really really want one now. Check out the size of the screen.
Such a nice experience and the fact they would smoke every car on the road to 100k/62mph is amazing.
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My hotel had one, chose it over the S class to see what it was like.
Don't get me wrong, they are great cars but they are very expensive to buy and either need batteries with greater range, or more superfast charging points than there currently are. Or a combination of both.
Until then a plug-in hybrid is what I'll drive (although I never plug it in!!).
Wonderful vehicles but hardly the Ferrari of the Prius world.
Rich peoples play things.
When they are the same price as Ford Fiesta and can do 500 miles on one charge then they have succeeded.
None of them have bought one yet.
Oh, they say, but this will rapidly change. Well, the thing is that when I looked at the one supercharging station on the Czech D1 motorway, I read that it take half an hour. It's not like stopping at a petrol station.
I realise electric cars are the future, and as you say, around town, they are already the present. But in Europe a Tesla remains as @MrOneLung said, a rich man's plaything. One of them lives in the swanky private estate opposite us (a gated estate, in Prague, FFS). It is a brilliant orange ragroll effect colour. I often see it around my area and one day I'm going to try and ask the owners what long distance journeys they do.
Right now I am expecting to stick with my hybrid, and probably the next version of the DS5, which I love. The claims Citroen made for range in electric modeonly are criminal misrepresentation. Nevertheless, the real selling story is clear enough: On the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris, I shimmer around city and motorway in the same type of car that transports the President of France.
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/27/youxia-x-chinese-tesla-model-s/
In HK I believe the import duty was a lot lower until this year on electric cars, although it doubled this year, you could make a very healthy profit selling a 2nd hand one.
The technology is advancing almost daily and that sort of range will be possible in just a few years.
1. manufacturers are not bullshitting on range - like they all do on fuel consumption.
2. You can plug it in overnight. I'm still unsure about when I get to my Croatian destination. In practice, in Croatia the deal is private apartments. I'm trying to imagine how close I would have been able to park the car so that the cable can reach. You often don't know until you get there, and it will of course vary from day to day.
Then when you consider @cafcfan 's excellent portrayal of the charging station.....Nah!
The amount of time it takes to get energy back into the battery packs once discharged and cost of cells at the moment make most vehicles cost and range prohibitive but with the new Tesla factory coming into operation and the focus on its none automotive Tesla panels, there is now genuine hope that these limitations can be overcome.
My current project is an off road EV buggy for use where petrol buggies are too noisy and it's performance so far is equal to petrol - just have to make it run a bit longer before recharges now!
They are relatively cheap and good. Not sure of the mileage limit
Until they can get the price down and the range up they'll never be a huge seller. I've just done 450 miles today, couldn't have done that in a Tesla without adding a lot of time to my journey to recharge.
The Tesla S P100d is ridiculously fast, 0.62 in under 2.5 seconds, thats super car territory. Think Porsche 918 @ £750k+