Tesla. The future begins today
The future begins today. It has always been the case. In our days, Tesla Motors, the electric car producer, is the company that creates this future. No combustion engine, no gasoline, no diesel, no pollution. A clean, bright, and green future of humanity is represented by electric cars. Основная идея Илона Маска и Tesla Motors - это создать новый, непохожий на существующие, автомобиль, который стал бы революционным продуктом в рамках мирового автомобилестроения. В 2018 году In 2018, Elon Musk announced that the company has brought the production to 7K electric cars a week, with the production of Tesla model 3 reached 6K overcoming such giants as General Motors and Ford Motor! The Tesla Model 3 has an aerodynamic drag coefficient of just 0.23. Today’s market capitalization of Tesla has reached $64.25B, exceeding the capitalization of such automotive giants as General Motors and Ford Motor. Well, the Tesla Model 3 has become the best-selling car in the US by revenue and the 5th by quantity. (as of 2018).
There’s a legend associated with Nikola Tesla. He has been said to be the first to put an electric engine on an American Pirce Arrow. Moreover, this engine didn’t have to be recharged. If someone asked where the energy comes from, Tesla smiled and answered it was in the air. Is this fantastic, fiction or truth? Now we cannot be sure about it. The answer disappeared with the death of the brilliant inventor, everything we can do now is to make hypotheses about what did Tesla show in 1931? Someone says it was an electric motor, and it was powered by one of Tesla’s high-frequency generators. Others argue that it wasn’t an electric motor, but Tesla’s bladeless turbine – a gas or petrol turbine. There’s even a hypothesis that Tesla used the magnetic resonance of the Earth, or even… a hypothesis that nothing of this has really happened…
In 2018, Elon Musk announced that the company has brought the production to 7K electric cars a week, with the production of Tesla model 3 reached the level of 6 K! Today’s market capitalization of Tesla has reached $64.25B, exceeding the capitalization of such automotive giants as General Motors and Ford Motor. Well, the Tesla Model 3 has become the best-selling car in the US by revenue and the 5th by quantity.
Whichever is true, but in the early 21st century, the heavy dependence of vehicles on oil reserves on our planet and constantly rising fuel prices led young engineers to the idea that it’s possible and necessary to develop electric cars. Yes, electric cars have already appeared at different brands, but no significant attempts were made to arrange the mass production of such vehicles. And Tesla took the chance of becoming the first company to produce electric vehicles as a mass production.
How did this all begin?
Google founders, Bryn, and Page, helped to solve the problem of seed money. And the largest amount was invested by Elon Musk, who is considered to be the prototype of Tony Stark from ‘The Iron Man’ because he regularly brings the most daring and revolutionary ideas to life. Starting from the very beginning, Musk was involved in the formulation of the long-term development strategy of the new company, in the design of a new generation car and became the CEO of Tesla. Tesla Motors’ and Elon Musk’s main idea and is to create a new car, unlike the existing ones, which will be a revolutionary product not only in the US but also in the global automotive industry.
As a beginning, Tesla entered an agreement with the famous Lotus company, and as a prototype for its debut car chose the legendary Lotus Elise, first released by the British manufacturer back in 1996. Lotus Elise cars roll off from the assembly line until now. On July 19, 2006, Tesla showed its brainchild Roadster in a closed meeting. The official presentation date and the birthday of the Tesla company are considered July 17, 2007. Well, since 2008, Tesla Roadster has been launched into mass production. It takes 4 seconds to accelerate to 100 km/h, the maximum speed of 201.1 km / h. It can travel 300 km without recharging, meanwhile the time required to fully charge the battery is 3.5 hours.
It’s been 12 years since the first Tesla car was released. Today, Tesla has achieved serious results. First, the main goal has been realized – mass production of electric-powered cars, having no slightest need to use oil products in any form. Second, a factory to produce batteries for Tesla cars has been built. 300 km is the minimum distance to drive without recharging. Third, the company has built its own network of electric petrol stations, where you can charge an electric car Tesla in half an hour. And even arranged production of components for electric cars of other manufacturers, such as Smart ForTwo electric drive or Toyota RAV4 EV.
Tesla Model 3
In 2018, Elon Musk announced that the company has brought the production to 7K electric cars a week, with the production of Tesla model 3 reached the level of 6 K! Model 3 is equipped with an autopilot system and is a 5-seat sedan with two trunks, panoramic windows, and 15-inch touch screen, which completely replaced the dashboard. The Tesla Model 3 has an aerodynamic drag coefficient of just 0.23. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rated the maximum possible five points to the Tesla Model 3. Moreover, the vehicle managed to get 5 out of 5 points in all the crash tests! In tests Euro NCAP and IIHS Model 3 also received the highest possible safety rating. Thus, Tesla Model 3 is one of the safest of today’s vehicles.
Popular Models
Entering the market with Tesla Model S was a turning point for the entire company. Its successful sales allowed it to become financially independent. Every week Tesla sells about 400-500 Tesla Model S cars. Acceleration to a hundred takes from 3.2 to 4.4 seconds (depending on the model), and the maximum speed is 201-250 km/h (also depends on the model). The maximum distance that it can travel on one battery charge is 480 km. The time of full charge of the battery is 35 minutes. Tesla also has its own crossover – Model X, released in 2015, and the latest middle-class crossover – Tesla Model Y. An electric pickup truck, Tesla Cybertruck is coming soon. It will have a power reserve of 400-800 km and air suspension, adaptable to the load.
Superchargers
In June 2018, the total number of Superchargers was 10K, with the number of Supercharger stations reaching 1263. Tesla claims that 99% of the US residents live less than 150 miles from the nearest Supercharger station. The Supercharger network is actively developing in Europe and Asia. The latest information on the location of Superchargers can be found on the https://www.tesla.com/supercharger.
The Supercharger is distinguished from its competitors primarily by its high charging speed of up to 150 kW, convenient location along highways and near desirable amenities like stores, restaurants, and WiFi hot spots. A big number of Supercharger stalls at each charging station – with an average of 8 and a maximum of 50. The Supercharger network allows owners of Tesla electric cars to travel long distances much more conveniently and faster than the owners of competitors' electric cars. For Tesla cars, bought since September 2018, the use of the Supercharger network is paid, the cost depends on the price of electricity in the state/country, and however it is cheaper than gasoline fueling for a similar mileage. Pricing is based on the amount of electricity consumed.
The Supercharger is distinguished from its competitors primarily by its high charging speed of up to 150 kW, convenient location along highways and near desirable amenities like stores, restaurants, and WiFi hot spots. A big number of Supercharger stalls at each charging station – with an average of 8 and a maximum of 50.
The first Tesla factory started to work in January 2020 in Shanghai, China and allowed the company to increase production from 150 to 250 thousand electric cars per year. Today Tesla Model S is being assembled in the Netherlands and the serial production of Tesla Model 3 in Europe is not far off. The second factory is being built in Germany in 2021. The world’s largest battery factory, Gigafactory in Nevada, USA, is going to produce 500 K batteries per year for electric cars since 2020.
What do you need to know to buy a Tesla car?
Tesla does not sell its cars through dealers. They only use car dealerships as showrooms, and the purchase is made directly on the Tesla website. This is partly similar to the Apple sales model. The design of Tesla cars is made in such a way that they normally require no maintenance. The only parts to be changed in some periods of time are wheels, wipers, and batteries. The latter provide 7 years of failure-free operation, after which the manufacturer guarantees its free replacement.
Well, in the next 5-6 years, Elon Musk has promised to create a fully non-volatile car. Whether Tesla Motors revealed Nikola Tesla’s secret of getting energy from the air or the company has its own version of it, they are about to build the future that begins today!
