Welcome readers,
This month’s blog is really about the future. Where do we all see this going? The shelf life on our current situation draws ever nearer and breaking point is feasible in the next generation or two. Scary isn’t it. This is why I wanted to broach the topic of Tesla and their innovation.
The next time you are embarking on a long drive, bus ride, hike…..really anything where you will have a couple of hours to just sit and listen I implore you all to listen to Elon Musk on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Its available to download for free through the “Podcast” app on your phone. The man’s genius is unparalleled and his insight equally terrifying. If you are unaware Elon Musk is the founder and owner of Tesla amongst others. The Genius billionaire really is a different species from the rest of us and his thoughts on where we are heading will really make you think. Tesla as a result are innovating at such a pace. Just think how many more Tesla’s you have seen on the road in the past 12 months. From next to never to pretty much every day now.
This increase in market share is driven by them being the leading light in how we will travel in the future. What started with the “TSI” engine by VW moved on to “stop-start” technology and then the hateful “Prius” which was an awful car wrapped around a sublime piece of engineering. We have been inching towards the essential action of leaving fossil fuels behind for some time now, but Tesla are springing. The catch comes when you consider where does the electric come from the fires out of your charger and into your electric car? A whopping great big power station running on fossil fuels or rain forest that’s where. There’s the issue. As a user we can be green but don’t kid yourself. Did you really buy your Prius to be green or are you just dodging the congestion charge? Green or cheap? We all see through you.
I think back to seeing a lap of a track on the TV where a V8 M3 BMW just had to keep up with a Prius being thrashed. At the end of the lap the BMW had used less fuel which just shows that a huge part of driving green is HOW you drive not WHAT you drive.
Tesla however are so far ahead of the curve and with their battery technology increasing so quickly range and charge times continue to improve. Price tag is an issue though for all this innovation as their Model X has a start price of £136,800! This will change though as the brand grows and thanks to their enormous new factory, I am sure prices will fall. Its not just their propulsion technology that is to be revered but their driver interfaces are setting the standard across the board. Its like driving an iPhone in 1953, that is how far ahead Tesla are.
Given the limitless budget and genius propelling Tesla all my chips are in their basket. I think they will be the ones to show us how the future will work so thank god for Elon as without him ignoring politics and rules we would be far behind where we are today.
If you remain unsure a quick search online will show you videos of completely stand Tesla’s leaving tuned drag cars for dead on the quarter mile and the Model X humiliating an Audi R8 V10 in a similar race. I say standard like its not obvious, how would you tune a Tesla!? Tricky…. Take the back seats out?
Mark my words, Tesla may not be a household brand today but give them another year and let’s see where we are.
One final note on this topic that gives us a clue what to expect is the BMW i8. I will admit to being underwhelmed when I first drove it. “Powerful milk float” may have left my mouth which I am ashamed of because once I got to know the machine, I really fell for it. The delectable rumble of a V8 hasn’t got long to live in main stream motoring. Well, not in the grand scheme of things anyway but who can argue as what’s the alternative? Have a V8 and we all wear gas masks?
Change is essential so let’s not fight it, more embrace it as while change can be scary, I suspect what is coming will blow our socks off.
THE AUTO VIP.