I want one!

free radical wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

Ductape wrote:
Interesting perspective in TechCrunch article

Is financial success really Tesla's aim?

Interesting article. Thanks for posting. One thing you read again and again of forums like this and comments on articles is that he losses money on every vehicle he build. Not a thing. His gross profit margins are within norms for the business, He makes 20 to 25 percent on every vehicle. This is all clearly indicated on the financials that are audited every year. Where he hemorrhages money is the R and D. Having said that many investors are okay with that as the company continues to grow. It must be a cash management nightmare though. The Roadster financed the S, the S financed the X, the X and deposits financed the 3 and the 3 will finance the Semi truck.

By design or coicidence, the semi is a perfect fit for his own needs as well. It is 257 miles from the Gigafactory to freemont. It is a 7200 foot rise one way though.

We are leaning towards a three to replace our Leaf in a few years. A lot will depend on the public DC charging network then. If its good we may look at a new leaf. If not, we will get a Tesla 3 or used S.

Ive read someplace that Leaf bateries are not cooled or heated like Tesla so they may not last as long as Tesla do,,
not sure if thats true or not,,sugest you research more..

You read correctly. Leaf batteries don't have active cooling so those running the early leafs (2011 and 2012) in places like Phoenix or Palm Springs have had early degradation issues. In cooler climates people are seeing normal degradation. Use 2 percent a year as a guide in cooler climates. Our leaf is only a couple years old so we haven't noticed any degradation yet but I am sure it has degraded somewhat. Tesla batteries are pretty good. People with north of 200,000 miles and very little degradation. Speculation from the experts (or at least people smarter than me) are 500,000 miles and 80 percent.

I would consider a new leaf because where we live it is only hot a couple months of the year. What will make the big difference for us is the build out of the DC charging infrastructure when we are ready to upgrade. Right now while we are still working we don't need anymore than the 180 to 200 km we get from our leaf. When we retire we will want both longer range and a good charging infrasture. The new Leaf gets about 250 KM and there will be available fall 2018 with 350 KM range. We are a few years away from upgrading. We'll see whats out there then.

Cheers.

John