Who says electric vehicles are too expensive? New data shows EV prices are nearly the same as gas-powered vehicles. The gap has closed significantly in recent months with new discounts and competition.
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India only sells about 2,000 electric vehicles a year – in a market of 4 million sales per year. The introduction of the Tata Nexon EV is arguably the country’s best attempt so far to make electric cars accessible to Indian buyers. What does it teach the US market about making EVs go mainstream?
The first 500 units of the all-electric Aiways U5 SUV are on their way to Europe. Their arrival will mark the first batch of Made-in-China EVs to be put on European roads, paving the way for a new level of affordability for long-range electric vehicles.
Dubai received bid of $.0299/kWh for 800MW of solar power. This price represents the lowest yet recorded for solar power (and might not represent the end of the price drops…).
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received 5 bids from international organisations for the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, said HE Saeed Mohammed AlTayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. The lowest recorded bid at the opening of the envelopes was US 2.99 cents per kilowatt hour. The next step in the bidding process will review the technical and commercial aspects of the bids to select the best one.
In the USA, in 2014 and with incentives, utility scale solar projects averaged $.05/kWh. On this bid alone, five companies bid below $.045/kW – without subsidies!
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We reported a great deal on the Tesla Model 3 in the past few months, but we focused on the March 31st unveiling event and the reservation process rather than the vehicle itself, and that’s mainly because we simply don’t know much. But now as the event approach, here’s a quick roundup of what we know about the Model 3:
Price
Tesla has repeatedly said that its third generation vehicle will start at half the price of its second generation, the Model S, which starts at $70,000 – meaning $35,000 for the Model 3.
The $35,000 price tag is before any incentive and should be consistent worldwide after exchange rate and import duties. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the Model 3 will cost “£30,000 or less” in the UK.
Of course, $35,000 is the starting price and Tesla is expected to offer several options, including different battery packs, which would bring the average price of the Model 3 higher. For example, the Model S starts at $70,000, but its average sale price has been closer to ~$90,000.
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After revealing European prices last week, today Tesla confirmed its Canadian Model X pricing and reservation holders can now access Tesla’s design studio to configure their vehicle.
If you reserved the vehicle a few years ago when the Canadian dollar was still holding its ground against the USD, you better be seated when scrolling through the Model X’s pricing because it starts at $122,700 for a base 70D model and can get as high as $208,300 for a fully-equipped P90DL.
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Tesla has never hidden the fact that the Model 3 and especially its $35,000 projected starting price are closely linked to the Gigafactory, which aims to reduce battery costs by more than 30%.
The automaker expects to achieve such a significant cost reduction through economy of scale with a factory output greater than the total world production of li-ion batteries in 2014 – when Tesla announced the project.
Beside economies of scale and incremental technology improvements, Tesla is likely to benefit from the recent decrease in cost of several metals used in the manufacture of li-ion battery cells.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave an interview to Channel 4’s Jon Snow last night during the Prince’s Trust Leadership Dinner in London. Musk said that Tesla plans to sell the upcoming Model 3 in the UK for “£30,000 or less“.
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Green Mountain Power (GMP), an electric utility servicing 265,000 residential and business customers in Vermont, announced today the details of the different options they are offering for the Tesla Powerwall. The company will let customers either lease or outright buy the home energy storage system starting at $37.50 a month.
GMP expects the first shipment to arrive in January, with a total of 500 units arriving over the next few months. Tesla recently moved its home battery production to the Gigafactory in order to accelerate output in early 2016.
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During the weekend, Tesla quietly increased the price of the Model S in Canada by an average of 2%, presumably to adjust for the weak Canadian currency – $1 CAD = $0.75 USD at the moment.
The less expensive version of the Model S, the 70 kWh rear wheel drive, now starts at $89,100 before incentives and destination fees. A fully equipped P90D now costs $173,800 before any incentives.
Here are the Canadian prices for the different Model S drivetrain configurations from Tesla’s design studio:
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Today Nissan released its November US sales report, which reaffirmed decreasing LEAF sales, now down 60% over November 2014. The company delivered 1,054 LEAFs in the US in November versus 2,687 during the same period last year and 1,238 last month.
November brings the year-to-date total to 15,922 units, down from 27,098 during the same period in 2014.
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According to Nasdaq’s latest short interest update, the total short position on Tesla’s stock increased to 27,367,931 shares – its highest since March 2014. The short position is almost as important as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own stake in the company: 28,371,342 shares or about 29% of the float.
Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko talking to Automotive News confirmed that the company will launch the Outlander PHEV in the US around “mid-2016”. The plug-in hybrid version of the Outlander consistently reach the top of the best-selling lists for plug-ins in European and Asian markets where it is available, but the Japan-based automaker has been delaying a U.S. launch for quite some time now. If we are to believe CEO Osamu Masuko, 2016 might finally be the year.
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Sonnenbatterie is the leader in home energy storage in Europe. The company is expected to represent a serious competitor to ‘Tesla Energy’ in Germany, which the automaker sees as an important market for energy storage due to the popularity of renewable energy in the country. Tesla’s head in Germany, as well as several managers, defected to Sonnenbattarie earlier this summer – hinting at a possible rivalry between the two companies.
At a press conference in Berlin today, Sonnenbatterie announced a new home battery pack, as well as a new solar panel/battery package and everyone want to know how it fares against Tesla’s Powerwall.
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When Tesla first unveiled the Model X in September, the vehicle was widely reported to cost $132,000, but a lot of publications failed to understand that it was the sale price of the limited “Founders series”. Then Tesla opened orders for the “Signature series” – for people who reserved the vehicle with a $40,000 deposit – and now Tesla finally opens the order book to the reservation holders for the production version.
There’s no surprise. The base version is the “Model X 70D”, which starts at $80,000 ($5,000 more than the Dual Motor version of the Model S) and has an EPA-rated range of 220 miles. Tesla says that new orders will start shipping in “mid to late 2016”.
You can see a screenshot of the Model X design studio below:
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As we recently mentioned, there’s been some confusion in the media about the price of the Tesla Model X. The confusion even spread to Wall Street where analysts have been reducing their target price on Tesla’s stock because of the expensive $132,000 price tag circulating in the media.
To be clear, $132,000 is the starting price of the Signature Model X which is already sold out. The Signature comes standard with the performance package (P90D) and several options which increase the price. For example, a maxed out Tesla Model S cost $138,000, but the base version starts at $70,000. Yesterday Elon Musk confirmed at a Vanity Fair conference that the Model X will have a similar price structure starting next year (when Tesla can actually catch up to demand).
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Tesla unveiled the Model X last week and first impressions have been extremely favorable across the board. From safety and performance unmatched by any SUV to the unique windshield and Falcon-Wing doors, the Model X impressed quite a few people including tens of thousands of reservation holders who placed $5,000 to $40,000 deposits to be among the first to get the vehicle. Some of them have been waiting for 3 years to get the all-electric SUV.
But even after the official launch of the vehicle, most reservation holders (estimated 25,000 to 30,000) don’t know when they will get their car or even what it will cost.
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Image with 2013 Tesla Model X open
Tesla’s all-electric SUV, the Model X, made the headlines yesterday when the company opened its online design studio for early reservation holders to configure their car, but reservations were for the “Signature Model X” which comes already loaded with options bringing the price to $132,000.
The expensive price-tag raised a lot of eyebrows, but today Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to clarify the situation and confirmed the Model X has a $5,000 price difference with the Model S for the same options.
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Tesla Motors released more information about the Roadster battery upgrade in an email sent to owners today. The new battery pack will have 40% more energy than the previous version, but it will be heavier therefore allowing a 35% increase in range. The pack will be hand-built at low volume and Tesla doesn’t aim at making a profit on the upgrade, which will cost $29,000 including labor.
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