Thursday, March 31, 2016

Telsa Rockin’ Model 3 Reservations Worldwide

Andreas Stephens lives in Sydney, Australia. He wanted to be first in line to reserve a Model 3 at his local store, so he set up camp outside 48 hours in advance. In that first photo, he looked kinda lonely out there with no other customers around.

He’s not lonely anymore. He was joined by 100 others by the time the doors opened today. In Melbourne, the line was much longer.


Around the world, there are reports of hundreds in line in Oslo, Zurich, and Berlin. Regular reader Leif Hansen reports his local store in Bergen, Norway, expects of process 250 reservations by the time it closes this evening. Here’s a photo of of hundreds waiting in the rain in Montreal.
Model 3 reservations in Montreal
Photo credit: Cubicbill1/reddit
Over at Teslarati, people are reporting more than 500 in line in La Jolla, huge crowds in Dallas/Fort Worth, and more than 200 in Natick, Massachusetts. Tesla posted this video on Twitter 2 hours ago.

There is even a photo of Elon Musk himself giving high fives to customers as they finished making their reservations in Culver City.

Some have suggested Tesla could book as many as 100,000 reservations today. Others say that’s absurd. But so far, it looks like there will be plenty of them to keep Elon and company smiling for months. A recent MSNBC poll asked people if they planned to reserve a Model 3 of their own. The results gave rise to this Musk tweet on Tuesday.
Looks like we may need to increase production plans for the Model 3

For all those people out there who are hoping and praying for Tesla to fall flat on its face. it’s time to go back and rethink that strategy. Elon says the Model 3 will be a compelling car. Based on the input from chief designer Franz von Holzhauser about how he and his team have made the appearance of the Model 3 “timeless.” it looks like we will be seeing lots of them on the roads starting in about 18 months.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

BYD electric-car sales may triple this year, Chinese maker says

2016 BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV, made in China
2016 BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV, made in China




















China's BYD eked out a global victory in electric-car sales last year, selling more plug-in cars than BMW, General Motors, Nissan, Renault, or Tesla.
The company delivered nearly 62,000 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last year, almost entirely in China.

Now, the company projects that it may be able to sell close to three times that number this year.
According to Bloomberg, BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu said the company may sell as many as 150,000 so-called New Energy Vehicles in China this year.
Both national and local Chinese governments are penalizing vehicles with combustion engines and incentivizing plug-in vehicles with a variety of rebates, tax advantages, and registration privileges.
The push for electric cars has two purposes. First, it's part a strenuous effort to reduce the notorious and hazardous air pollution in China's cities.
BYD e6 electric taxi in service in Shenzhen, China
BYD e6 electric taxi in service in Shenzhen, China
Second, it encourages Chinese carmakers to get experience with designing and building plug-in cars, which it views as a critical part of the global auto market in future years.
New Energy Vehicles include both emission-free battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the latter being far more popular.
The network of public charging stations in China remains spotty, and a huge percentage of new-car buyers live in high-rise apartments rather than single-family homes.

That makes it entirely unclear whether any of those plug-in hybrids are actually ever plugged in.
Last year's new-energy vehicles sales in China totaled more than 330,000.
That figure, however, includes what would be deemed low-speed or neighborhood electric vehicles that aren't included in North American and European sales totals.
BYD K9 All-Electric Bus
BYD K9 All-Electric Bus

























The official goal is for China to have 5 million such vehicles on its roads by 2020.
Famed investor Warren Buffet took a stake in BYD back in 2008, through his Berkshire Hathaway holding company, and has held it since then.
While BYD planned to launch its passenger cars into the U.S. market several years ago, it has pulled back from those plans and is focusing on electric buses instead.

California electric-car startup Tesla Motors will start taking orders in China next quarter for its Model X luxury crossover SUV, even before it launches the car in Europe.
The company had early hopes of strong success in China, but it stumbled at first and replaced the head of its Chinese unit.
The growing market for new-energy vehicles, however, is likely to help its long-term aspirations in China, which include a production plan for the Model 3 vehicle it will unveil this week.