It’s now been a decade since Elon Musk co-founded one of the biggest names in the automotive industry tight now – Tesla. His ambitious plans for electric car production were put in place, and since then he has been breaking many records with these powerful, sleek, rapid, yet environmentally friendly machines. But, it’s not possible to hold off the competition any longer, and other car manufacturers are beginning to break their way through the market that Tesla had so closely sewn up (at one point).
Where Tesla’s first example of an all-electric car was a rather expensive one, at $110,000 a pop, it’s now aiming for a model that can do more than 200 ( EPA-estimated 238 miles per charge ) miles on a single charge and cost less than $40,000, so the company are trying to reach out to all corners of the market. But, the team have fallen short at the hurdle with this one and Chevrolet have steamed in and won the race for producing the world’s first inexpensive long-range EV with the new Chevy Bolt.
LAURA MCDERMOTT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Chevy Bolt EV may not have the sleek, sophisticated look of Tesla’s motors, but it still has class in its own right and will become General Motor’s platform for testing its upcoming autonomous and ride-sharing vehicles. Although the Chevy Bolt EV will actually cost a little more than Tesla’s Model 3, it is going on sale later this year, whereas Tesla’s Model 3 will not reach customers until late 2017 (at the earliest). What the Bolt EV gives it customers is reliability. It’s not a luxury car, but is very spacious for a compact hatchback and will get a higher range per single charge than any Tesla vehicle.
LAURA MCDERMOTT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
One of the reasons that Chevy was able to get their Bolt EV produced so quickly was because unlike Tesla, they outsource the battery manufacturing to LG Chem. Tesla, on the other hand, has had to build a massive Giga factory to try and cater for the demand of the Model 3 battery packs. Also, the Chevy Bolt EV just rolls along the same production line as all the other cars in the Chevrolet range and workers simply switch between working on traditionally fuelled cars to EV’s.
So, as the Bolt will be out before the Model 3, will any of Tesla’s customers be swayed before the long wait for their next car? And, although Tesla has announced the Model 3 will be ready late next year, the company have never been very good at sticking to timescales, so will it be 2018 before the new model hits the roads? Or, will the cars be released in 2017 but be not quite as ready as they should be? Last year there were several reports of Tesla vehicles not living up to their potential with many customers complaining of leaks, squeaks, rattles and other issues. Is this because Tesla has been skimping on quality to try and push forward in too many directions? It’s clear that the company will need to do something soon to get back in the game with Chevy about to turn some heads, but quite what it will do remains to be seen.
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