Theory - meet reality.

Best they stay focused on the current roadster and not try to be an OEM for others.

I'm starting to get worried about these guys. I sure hope Tesla succeeds, they've got the Ansari contest coming up.

I have to agree with Fred. Tesla may get the initial orders out the door,but the volume and the margin is just not there for the amount of overhead required for automobile manufacturing.
But thank you Tesla for giving the industry a wakeup call.

Tony,

It is hard for me to be impressed by you saying you are building the motor and power electronics. Induction motors have been around for a very long time and an off the shelf unit with some minor case modifications could easily be substituted, in addition the power electronics, specifically pwm vector flux vfd's are very much mature in industry, then it's just a matter of repackaging and re-laminating the buses. Also, as much as it's fascinating that you were able to get 6800 cells to work and be able to monitor them, that certainly can't be a long term solution, nor one I would even want to consider next year.

I don't want to say that you need to be making all or even most of your components, but I'd like to see some vehicles soon.

As for the transmission, I am not sure if a clutch is being used or not, but if so then I think you are overlooking a great advantage of an ev. If there is no clutch, to me it still seems silly to have an electrically actuated manual, why not modify the design of standard manual transmission, use speed matching on the motor instead of a clutch and have shift sensors on the shaft of the stick. Then the motor can be directly connected to the transmission, you could still use existing transmission designs with fewer gears, and probably reduce overall component costs.

That rant completed, I still wish you and the company the best of luck and I hope you succeed.

If anyone's still reading this, White Zombie's owner is John Wayland. Here's the White Zombie history.

Fred has a lot of good points. Anyone that thinks producing a new consumer product is easy should go ahead and try it. Liability and gov't regulation represent huge obstacles. Volume or specialty manufacturing is an incredibly cash intensive undertaking. Even Elon has limits to how deep his pockets are, and with his ventures into SpaceX, I wonder how long the spigot can stay turned on - even with outside cash infusion. At best, I see Tesla being in play if they get their product to market and satisfy their customers. Reality has a way of turning dreams into bankruptcy. That said, Tesla is the most promising auto startup that I've ever seen. Their credentials are above reproach.

Marcus,

Rational criticism is much needed here. I have been a "lurker" on this web site for a while and have noticed that much of the stuff posted here might as well have come from an alternative universe. Since I am not into flaming and all the other juvenile stuff that gets on many boards I will summarize my feelings and then shut up. Tesla is a wonderful company, but so is Plug Power, Capstone Power, Buell motorcycles, and the like. I have no doubt that they will bring a product to market, but I have grave doubts as to their profitability. They will continue to burn through cash until the company is cheap enough to be acquired by a private equity firm like Cerebus. Then, who knows what will happen. Take my comments as you may, but we have seen a lot of very promising technology die at the starting gate or halfway through the race. Tesla has my upmost respect. I'm not half as intelligent as the engineers and businessmen running it, so hopefully, I'm wrong.

ALL THAT WE ARE GETTING IS PROTO TYPES, STUDIES AND RESEARCH AGREEMENTS ON ELECTRIC HYBRIDS ETC BUT NO IS PUTTING ANY PRODUCT IN THE MARKET, PL GIVE NEWS ON MARKET INTRODUCTION PRIORITY.

"The primary cause of our delay has been and continues to be issues with durability and reliability of the transmission, as we have reported before."

How can that be, with only 2 gear ratios, and smoother torque characteristic of an electric motor vs. the explosive power pulse of the ICE?

Just make it a manual transmission without an engine-to-transmission clutch, and connect the motor directly to the transmission. EV never needs to idle its motor. Then, provide just a manually-operated single synchromesh clutch between the two gears, and drive-by-wire gas pedal mechanism that allows the on-board processor to automatically adjust the motor rpm to match the car speed at the next gear ratio before the synchromesh clutch is allowed to engaged to the next gear. Voila, ultra-smooth shift, very sporty, imperceptible and will last forever. No clutch pedal and no clutch to burn, ever!

People spent well over 2000 years inventing flying machines before Kitty Hawk. Should we stop developing EVs or alternative energy because there are going to be some crash and burns?

People spent over 2000 years inventing flying machines? And you're comparing this to battery cars? Just because someone can formulate a concept doesn't mean the technology base is there to help them make that concept a reality. Specifically, one specific company's success or failure is independent of the technology environment they work within.

Dear GR,

I have no doubt that many of today's succesful companies were/are funded by AV-VCs.

However; here's the issue:

A] Why can Tesla attract more money then and truly burst through their mechanical issues if the product os that good...why not then?

B] My point of VC spinning is based on personal experience. I cannot say names, but I was/am still involved with start-ups and succesful IPO companies, but the issue here is that before you go our there "running" you gotta learn how to walk. If Tesla was my company, I would it kept it quite UNTIL I am 100% sure that everthing works properly and that I am actually able to deliver the product without hesitations. Tesla most likely will get over this little speed bump, but in my view, they should make sure that instead of running the corp. like all SV-VC funded typical PR spin models, and deliver delays, to focus on getting the product to work right and to deliver it to all those people who signed in to get one before anyone else can!

There's a new EV company; PEAR Motors, and I understand that unlike Tesla, they do not go our and publicize their future vehicles like crazy, but work hard to make sure the vehicle[s] is going to be be a good product and a product that people will be able to use without concerns. Also, they are NOT funded by VCs as far as I know, which means that they don't have to answer to others while they try to put their production in motion.

Anyway, I have nothing against SV-VCs, I just would prefer if Tesla left the VCs model outside the door and focus on getting this vehicle on the road instead!

My own opinion of course...

FS

PS: To Tesla: I am aware that you guys manufacture some/most of the parts. I know about ACP licensing agreement for their drive technology...in my view, drop the two gear shift and get simpler in your mechanical design...things work much better when they are simple and usually they don't break as much!