Jump to content
Create New...
  • 🚗 Your People Are Here. Get In.

    The internet is full of car content. This is the community.

    Cheers & Gears has been bringing enthusiasts together since 2001. Join the conversation, show off your garage, and find your people.

  • William Maley
    William Maley

    Tesla Is Working On A New Entry-Level Model

    By William Maley

    Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

    May 28, 2013

    Tesla's CEO Elon Musk is very keen on building a electric vehicle that is cheaper than the Model S and doesn't have many of the drawbacks like the Nissan Leaf.

    “With the Model S, you have a compelling car that’s too expensive for most people,” he said. “And you have the Leaf, which is cheap, but it’s not great. What the world really needs is a great, affordable electric car. I’m not going to let anything go, no matter what people offer, until I complete that mission,” said Musk during a interview.

    The new vehicle will have a pricetag under $40,000, have a range of 200 miles, and come out within the next three to four years.

    Source: Bloomberg

    William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    Edited by Cubical-aka-Moltar
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    And the Leaf only weighs a bit over 3,300 lbs. Granted, that's 400-500 lbs more than a similar size traditionally fueled economy car, but it's lighter than a lot of other cars, and much lighter than pickups, etc. There are a number of things against electric cars, I don't see weight as being high on the list.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Can't wait. The Model S is selling really well, and I can imagine the demand for a smaller, cheaper Tesla to be even higher.

    Especially if it is as stylish as the Model S and doesn't look like a frog (Leaf).

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    In time, as the electric auto grow, they will do far more damage than the light duty trucks.

    • Disagree 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    In time, as the electric auto grow, they will do far more damage than the light duty trucks.

    .... based on.... what?

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    In time, as the electric auto grow, they will do far more damage than the light duty trucks.

    .... based on.... what?

    The short term is the large amount of Green House gas produced for each battery pack built. Longer term is the added weight as more and more auto's get built, that added weight will mount up and cause more wear and tear on the roads. Accidents will I think release more toxins and cause more delays due to the special mixture of the battery packs and the special cleanup equipment. I believeV

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Sounds Good as this would be a more real world usable car. Question I have is how much faster will the roads wear down and get nasty due to the increase in weight?

    Everything I read is that truck drivers should pay more since their trucks weight causes them to break down faster.

    The millions of 3 ton light duty pickups on the roads have done far more road damage than a few electric cars will, I think...

    In time, as the electric auto grow, they will do far more damage than the light duty trucks.

    .... based on.... what?

    The short term is the large amount of Green House gas produced for each battery pack built. Longer term is the added weight as more and more auto's get built, that added weight will mount up and cause more wear and tear on the roads. Accidents will I think release more toxins and cause more delays due to the special mixture of the battery packs and the special cleanup equipment. I believeV

    I don't buy the added weight argument.. the added weight is minimal. Again, compared to the weight of existing trucks (light trucks, medium duty, semis, etc) the weight of cars is inconsequential.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    The question was regarding road damage. As we've already established, the weight of the Leaf is not out of line with similarly sized cars. The Buick Lacrosse is actually lighter in eAssist form than in V6 form. The Tesla Model S weighs 4,600lbs and the BMW 550GT (similar power, also hatchback) weighs in at 4,800lbs, and the Acura ZDX (a lot less power, still a hatch) weighs in at 4,400lbs.... so even the current Model S seems in line with the competition.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Support Independent Automotive Journalism

    25 years of honest automotive coverage — because someone has to do it.

    Cheers & Gears has never been filtered by manufacturer relationships or driven by algorithm. Just real people, real opinions, and a genuine love of cars. Subscribers keep the lights on and get an ad-light experience starting at $2.25/month.*

    View subscription options

    *A small number of ads feature member-exclusive coupon deals and will still appear.

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • Seems China auto industry has taken the lovely Corvette from the very beginning of time and made it an awesome EV. From electric vehicles to AI: China's next automotive revolution on display in Beijing If you DO NOT want to be depressed about how cool the auto's are in China that Japan, Korea, European auto companies and China is showing off do not click the above link. Fascist Idiot47 has truly destroyed this country and the ability to have cool auto's.
    • I love the clean '04 GT (that looks like the anniversary badge for an '04). I'm a sucker for that gen, even though they're kind of a black sheep of Mustangs. 
    • Obviously, but I'd think you could cut 200 miles worth of range on the battery pack and save hundreds of pounds making it just a more overall efficient vehicle and still yielding 700 miles of range.  As I said to David, I'd remove as much battery pack as the engine weighs so it would be a net 0 gain in weight and you'd still have a sh!t ton of range yet it would be more efficient at achieving those miles. I'd assume it would be similar to my guesstimated numbers above.
    • Without knowing specifics of their design, I'd think reducing the battery pack by the weight of the engine would yield sufficient results. You'd still have a ton of electric-only range and then you'd have your "backup genergator" for when you run out of juice.  Speaking of which, I ran into a guy with a 2nd gen Volt a few weeks back while taking my kids on a walk. I asked him how he liked it and what kind of efficiency/range he was getting. He loved it, HOWEVER.. he said he almost never plugs it in. He just runs it as a hybrid. I'm pretty certain they aren't all that efficient when operated as just a hybrid. I thought that was kind of a waste of a Volt, to be using it that way. I didn't tell him this because I didn't want to sh!t on his situation or anything, but I thought it was odd to buy a plug-in hybrid then just never even utilize the full capacity of the battery. Then again, this falls right in line with a multiple studies I've read about that say most plug-in hybrid owners never utilize the plug-in capability of their vehicles. 
    • Maybe, but if it sells units, they will build it. 
  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search