500

Well, it may be justified as capital expenditure for the upcoming Model 3 line. Tesla wants to increase unit sales by close to 10 times by 2020, mostly on the back of the new Model 3, as well as the Model X SUV.

There certainly is a range of opinions on the necessary level of investment needed by Tesla and whether they will achieve the required success. The current situation is a little concerning, but it is way too early to know if Tesla will succeed long-term. I think the bigger threat to Tesla is from competition that will provide more electric car alternatives, reducing their hold on this niche.

I agree with Ronnie's notion that we need to see some more significant advances in storage technology and charging infrastructure to make electric cars truly viable. That can happen though.

Here is an interesting thought: Imagine that we lived in a world of electric cars with "Petro Canada" super-charging stations around nearly every corner. Then, some company started marketing cars with this new invention called the internal combustion engine. We would all marvel at the technology (maybe), but the big concern would be range, as there would be very few places to buy the necessary gas! If you change the infrastructure paradigm, things look a lot different.

Back to the original post: Setting aside my initial negative reaction, the practical question is: "If joint work by Porsche and Audi yielded better engines then otherwise would have been had, am I really against that?"

ronnie993tt

The range problem isn't solved by lots of charging stations. It just reduces the chances of getting stranded. It still takes too long to re-charge every too few miles. Gas engines already replaced electric (and steam) cars in the late 1800's. One of the failed electric vehicles was designed by F.P. I'm not aware of anything that has changed in the last 120 years to favour a new paradigm.

69gaugeman

Why? You don't want a powerful AND reliable engine? The Audi engines are some of the best on the planet.

What the fvck happened to this technology..... Audi 600km trip. And this was 5 years ago!

69gaugeman

I think I read more and they were able to recharge the batteries in 20 minutes (albeit at something like 100 amps.. but still..)