Regarding "Texas is among candidates for huge Tesla battery plant" (Thursday Business D5), electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors boldly declared that they "will spend $2 billion to build a massive factory capable of producing advanced batteries for 500,000 vehicles per year". Those are some mighty fine words, but the objective is a little premature given that to date, Tesla cars are known for one thing and one thing only, which is that their batteries have a disturbing tendency to catch fire.
Besides the safety issues, Tesla's other big obstacle is value: Their base model costs $71,000, and gets less than 100 miles on a charge. The long range Tesla estimated to get 240 miles per charge is priced at over $100K. By comparison, the best selling electric car in the world is the Nissan Leaf, which costs around $30K and gets 114 miles on a charge. Since it's introduction in late 2011, the Leaf has sold less than 80,000 units worldwide.
Bottom line, the worldwide market for reliable and affordable electric cars that don't catch fire is less than 100,000 units per year. Tesla is not reliable or affordable, and it catches fire. Is it just me, or is there some major disconnect here?
Pete Smith
Cypress, TX
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