Electric vehicles – Page 9190 – I wish I had more to offer

Exclusive: VW, China spearhead $300 billion global drive to electrify cars

(Reuters) – Global automakers are planning a $300 billion surge in spending on electric vehicle technology over the next five to 10 years, with nearly half of the money targeted at China, accelerating the industry’s transition from fossil fuels and shifting power to Asian battery and electric vehicle technology suppliers. Volkswagen logos are pictured during… Continue reading Exclusive: VW, China spearhead $300 billion global drive to electrify cars

Elon Musk Offers Help During California Wildfire, Twitter Gets Into Argument As Some Mock His Thailand Efforts

Elon Musk from Tesla offered to help during the California wildfire if possible. On Twitter, he noted that “If Tesla can help people in California wildfire, please let us know. Model S & X have hospital grade HEPA filters. Maybe helpful for transporting people.”

However, it’s led to a big argument on the platform in the comments, as some mocked him for the prior debacle during the Thailand cave rescue. Meanwhile, others are blasting the critics, saying that he is a wealthy man that’s offering to help people in need, so there’s no reason to demean him.

Some may remember that Musk offered his help when a soccer team became trapped in a dangerous cave system in Thailand. He and his team came up with a child-size submarine that could potentially be used to shuttle the players out of the cave. While the actual invention was not used during the successful mission, it’s what happened next that brought on a ton of negative publicity for Elon.

He was criticized by a diver, Vernon Unsworth, who said that Musk’s efforts were merely a “PR stunt” and told him he “can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts.” Upset by the diver’s words, Elon later tweeted, “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” while saying he never saw Unsworth when he delivered the submarine.

One user has gotten over 1,400 likes for his comment in the hour since Musk tweeted his willingness to help. The user blasted Elon for his prior actions during the Thai rescue.

“Just an idea but maybe you can intrude into this continuing crisis, build an unworkable and ridiculous capsule or something, and call some firefighters pedophiles.”

But that didn’t sit well with others, who couldn’t believe that people were putting Elon down for simply wanting to help.

“Why is it that when Elon Musk wants 2 help people that he has to have ulterior motives? Honestly, just cause he is rich & successful he should be an a**hole?”

Another user simply said, “Elon just wants to help, so let this guy just do it.”

As the argument rages on in the comments, the fallout from the fires are undeniable. So far, nine people have been reported killed as a result of the “Camp Fire” in Paradise, detailed Eyewitness News. The same fire destroyed the entire town of 26,000 people, and so far has burned somewhere near 28,300 hectares of land. Meanwhile, firefighters have not been able to contain the fire.

iOttie’s new motorized car mount will clutch your phone in its robotic embrace

iOttie’s car mounts for phones are considered by many (including the ever-reliable Wirecutter) to be some of the best around, but you know what would make them even better? Mechanized robotic arms that reach out and grab your phone for you, securely holding your phone within their cold metal embrace while you drive. Or at… Continue reading iOttie’s new motorized car mount will clutch your phone in its robotic embrace

Exclusive: VW, Ford to reveal deeper alliance next week – sources

HAMBURG/DETROIT (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) will unveil a deeper alliance next week that goes beyond cooperating in commercial vehicles in a move meant to save the automakers billions of dollars as they develop new technologies, two people familiar with the plan said on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO: A car with… Continue reading Exclusive: VW, Ford to reveal deeper alliance next week – sources

Are the days of the private car really over?

A couple of months ago I wrote a wildly optimistic piece about how we’ve all probably bought our last cars. It drew on analysis that suggests that the convergence of electric cars and Uber-style ride hailing networks, together with autonomous driving technology, could completely reshape the car market. These new “robo-taxis” would be so cheap… Continue reading Are the days of the private car really over?

eMotorWerks lays groundwork for vehicle-to-grid charging

eMotorWerks JuiceBox wall mount charging Tesla Model X
At first blanch, a new business agreement between home charger manufacturer eMotorWerks and utility software provider LO3 Energy sounds strictly like the stuff of dull business contract lawyers.

Dig a little deeper, though, and it could be the kernel of the next generation electrical system, long discussed, but never-quite-practical vehicle-to-grid infrastructure.

As many electric-car drivers know, eMotorWerks builds networked JuiceBox home chargers, some faster than most others, that allow users to program them via the internet to start and stop charging as energy rates fluctuate. The boxes access live rate information as they let drivers program when they need a full charge in their car, so the car will be fully charged, at the lowest possible cost, before they need to go. (Users can also do simpler things, like check on the car's state of charge and set it to start and stop remotely, from a cell-phone app.)

eMotorwerks JuiceBox Pro 40 networked home EVSE electric-car charging station

LO3 Energy provides software that allows utilities to trade electricity on the grid, setting prices and managing supply and demand to ensure seamless power delivery to end users. It ensures that when you're connected to the grid, especially if you've signed up for green or renewable electricity, when you flip the switch on your wall, the light goes on—and the energy is produced by whatever source you signed up for.

The eMotorWerks JuiceNet platform enables control over local energy flows, while LO3’s software enables energy trading on local networks at set prices.

The tie-up between the companies, announced last month, aims to demonstrate that not only can JuiceBox users get the lowest available rates, they can also ensure that they get power supplied to their plug-in cars from appropriately renewable sources.

READ MORE: Utility V2G test with BMW shows electric cars can aid the grid

In their latest agreement, the companies plan to select an LO3 microgrid site, such as one the company operates in Brooklyn, New York, to demonstrate the program. (It could select a different LO3 microgrid.) The pilot project is expected to show how spreading charge times across multiple cars can reduce peak demand on the grid while still charging all the cars that need to get charged.

The companies point to an eMotorWerks demonstration project announced in September in California as an example. It uses 6,000 electric-car chargers to balance up to 30 mega-watts of renewable power in the state, to reduce on-peak demand for non-renewable power—the equivalent of 120,000 home air conditioners.

Page 1 of 2

1
2
Next >

Tesla Model 3 Used Car Stats As Depressing For BMW & Audi As New Car Sales

Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Cars

Published on January 6th, 2019 |

by Michael Barnard

Tesla Model 3 Used Car Stats As Depressing For BMW & Audi As New Car Sales

Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Facebook

January 6th, 2019 by Michael Barnard

The Tesla Model 3 has many superlatives associated with it. The most pre-orders of any production car ever. The highest volume sales of any small or midsize luxury sedan in the USA. The highest revenue for any car sold in the USA for the last 4–6 months of 2018. The fewest buttons, switches, and dials of any car.

But there’s another superlative.

The fewest used cars available. By an order of magnitude.
Autotrader is the largest online used car site in the USA. A search for second-hand Tesla Model 3s on January 1st found 78 Tesla Model 3s for sale on the site. There were roughly 140,000 Tesla Model 3s sold in 2018 when you include likely December sales per earlier CleanTechnica reporting.

78 used cars represents about 0.06% of the Tesla Model 3s on the road. That number doesn’t seem that high.

Using the November sales chart, I also looked at the cars which ranked just above and below the Model 3 in January–November 2018 sales volume. Checking for used 2018–2019 Chevy Malibus on Autotrader, there are over 1,000 for sale right now, and there were only a few more of them built and sold in 2018 than the Model 3. There are 986 used 2018–2019 Ford Focuses available for sale right now, 13 times more than Tesla Model 3s, with fewer built and sold. That’s about 0.8% that are up for resale.

There’s an order of magnitude fewer Tesla Model 3s for sale than cars which sold in equal numbers in 2018 in the USA.

But what about its closest competitors, small, luxury, performance sedans such as the BMW 3 Series and the Audi A4? They have similar price points and target demographics, so are arguably better to compare to the Model 3 than either the Malibu or Focus.

New Tesla Model 3s outsold new 3 Series and A4s by a large margin in 2018 in the USA, three to four times the sales volume. But going back to Autotrader and looking solely at used 2018–2019 cars for sale is instructive. There are over 1,000 BMW 3 Series available right now for those model years. There are 502 Audi A4s available. There are 7 to 13+ more used new-model BMWs and 6 times as many Audi A4s for sale as Tesla Model 3s.

Let’s run the numbers a slightly different way. If all else were equal, the number of cars available used should be aligned to the number of cars sold. The ratios should be relatively close. There were more BMW 3 Series sold than Audi A4s and there are more available used. The ratio isn’t perfect, as new is roughly 4:3 and used is in the range of 2:1, but the principle applies.

When we look at Tesla vs BMW, we see a ratio of 3:1 new and 1:13 used. Really, the way to look at this is that potentially 40 times as many BMW owners are dumping their new 3 Series as Tesla owners are doing with their Model 3s. Audi is 4:1 and 1:7. There are about 30 times as many Audi owners dumping their A4s as Tesla owners.

There were certainly anecdotal stories of people who bought the two-wheel drive as soon as they could but then put down the more serious money for the AWD or Performance version when it was made available. And there are certainly people who were speculating on the Model 3, intending to make a fast buck by flipping it to people who wanted one.

But what about mileage? Well, a scan of the mileage on Autotrader found a range from 11 miles to 14,000 miles on the cars. There were some that were obviously bought to flip second hand with 11 to 45 miles on them. There were some in the 1,000–2,000 range. The majority were in the mid-1,000s. There were a handful over 10,000, which is reasonable given annual mileage averages in the USA are about 13,500.

Did some people buy to flip? Yes, and no surprise. They probably did okay in June, but wouldn’t be doing okay today with Tesla running 6,000–7,000 a week. Speculation on the Model 3 for quick flips is more a thing of the past, although obviously this does suggest that resale value remains high. Some of the variance can be explained by high demand for used Model 3s, meaning that used inventories remain low.

But really, the statistics show that Tesla Model 3 owners are very happy with their cars and keeping them. Demand is very strong for the newest Tesla. For BMW and Audi? Not so much.

About the Author

Michael Barnard is Chief Strategist with TFIE Strategy Inc. He works with startups, existing businesses and investors to identify opportunities for significant bottom line growth and cost takeout in our rapidly transforming world. He is editor of The Future is Electric, a Medium publication. He regularly publishes analyses of low-carbon technology and policy in sites including Newsweek, Slate, Forbes, Huffington Post, Quartz, CleanTechnica and RenewEconomy, and his work is regularly included in textbooks. Third-party articles on his analyses and interviews have been published in dozens of news sites globally and have reached #1 on Reddit Science. Much of his work originates on Quora.com, where Mike has been a Top Writer annually since 2012. He's available for consulting engagements, speaking engagements and Board positions.

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of our readers.

CleanTechnica Clothing & Cups

Bose invented a noise-canceling system for your car

Bose wants to bring its acclaimed noise-canceling technology from your headphones to your car. The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company just unveiled a new technology called QuietComfort which claims to measure your vehicle’s vibrations in order to eliminate noise from your daily drive. As noted by Bose, this type of noise-canceling technology is likely to gain more… Continue reading Bose invented a noise-canceling system for your car

E-scooter startup Bird is raising another $300M

Electric scooter startup Bird is said to be nearing a deal to extend its Series C funding with an additional $300 million led by cross-over investor Fidelity, according to an Axios report. Bird declined to comment. Fidelity has not previously invested in Bird and is reportedly doing so at a flat pre-money valuation of $2… Continue reading E-scooter startup Bird is raising another $300M

GM partners with EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots to improve its EV charging solution

GM announced today that it is partnering with EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots, three of the biggest charging networks in the US, in order to improve its electric vehicle charging solution for customers. While companies like Tesla are building their own charging networks to specifically cater to their own vehicles, several other automakers rely on third-party… Continue reading GM partners with EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots to improve its EV charging solution