Contrast Tesla's from-scratch, top-down strategy with those of some existing car manufacturers, which is to add electric motors and batteries incrementally to existing car platforms, which leverage their huge economies of scale: existing plants and parts can be reused.
The same plants which make a million gas-powered Honda Accords per year can be used to make an incremental 100,000 electrics, then 200,000 a year later, then 500,000, as sales grow and technology matures. Ford is using this strategy to great effect with their Focus and C-MAX EVs which are fairly affordable and accessible to the average consumer.
The question is whether electric technology is so revolutionary as to require a complete redesign of the car, (e.g. body panels and frame) in which case Tesla's approach may win out. BMW, for example, is pursuing this route for at least one of their models; they're building a carbon fiber manufacturing facility in Washington State for their new i3 electric, which will use carbon fiber body panels for decreased mass.
> The question is whether electric technology is so revolutionary as to require a complete redesign of the car, (e.g. body panels and frame) in which case Tesla's approach may win out.
Aren't the body panels and frame of a Tesla basically just an off-the-shelf Lotus roadster?
The same plants which make a million gas-powered Honda Accords per year can be used to make an incremental 100,000 electrics, then 200,000 a year later, then 500,000, as sales grow and technology matures. Ford is using this strategy to great effect with their Focus and C-MAX EVs which are fairly affordable and accessible to the average consumer.
The question is whether electric technology is so revolutionary as to require a complete redesign of the car, (e.g. body panels and frame) in which case Tesla's approach may win out. BMW, for example, is pursuing this route for at least one of their models; they're building a carbon fiber manufacturing facility in Washington State for their new i3 electric, which will use carbon fiber body panels for decreased mass.