4 Reason why Tesla is winning the EV war
Remember the time when no one knew Tesla or Elon Musk, that seems a lifetime ago now. There is absolutely no doubt that Tesla is crushing it but is there a reason why Tesla is better. Is there a reason why Tesla’s competitors, otherwise known as “Tesla Killers”, are not in the spotlight as much as Tesla. Does Tesla deserves this hype, that’s what we are going to discuss in this blog.
Before we start let’s talk about “Tesla Killers” for a second. Rivian, Lucid Motors, and Polestar are the three main names that pop up every time you talk about Tesla. There are big companies also competing against Tesla but let’s first compare Apples to Apples. Rivian’s R1T with its quad-motor, when compared with Tesla’s Cybertruck tri-motor, comes in short in all the major categories, Cybertruck is simply bigger and better. Lucid Air is a fantastic car, I personally really like their cars, but again when compared with Tesla they either come in short or are very expensive, their range is very impressive at though, 500+ miles. Lastly, Polestar, company owned by Volvo, shouldn’t actually be on this list but since it is a startup we will compare it here. It is failing in all the metrics and is also a lot more expensive than Tesla cars.
So none of the startups can compare with Tesla, what about the old and established companies. There are quite a few cars we can compare, so in the interest of keeping this blog short and to the point, let’s just compare Ford F150 Lightning to Cybertruck. Lightning only comes with two motors and Cybertruck can have up to 3, Lightning can towing maximum of 10,000 pounds and Cybertruck can tow up to 14,000 pounds, Lightning has maximum of 563 HP and Cybertruck has close to 800 HP. Lightning maximum price of $90,000 and Cybertruck with full self-driving autopilot comes to $79,000. Need I say more.
Ok so is this why Tesla is so successful, just because they have superior technology. Not quite. It is a part of reason why Tesla has seen a surge in popularity and why they are the ultimate runner of this war to dominate the EV market.
1. Technology
As we talk about up until now, Tesla has far superior technology, in terms of their motor power, towing capabilities, battery storage, fast-charging, and so on. What I didn’t mention was their golden egg, their crown jewel: AutoPilot. AutoPilot is one of the biggest reasons why Tesla cannot be beat in this war. Tesla has the biggest data set to learn from and to train their self-driving AI models on.
Not to mention they are the furthest along from any of their competitors in launching a fully functioning self-driving vehicle. A vehicle that can take you from point A to point B, without any input from the driver. Anyone can program the AI but to make them efficient and functional they need a lot of data and since Tesla had focused on self-driving features from, pretty much, the beginning they have collected millions of miles of driving patterns and preferences, so far.
2. Looks and Feel
When designing something unique people often overlook this category as unimportant, I would go as far as to argue that it just might be the most important. People buy Apple products because they look fantastic and it feels good to hold them in your hands, they are sometimes twice as expensive for half the functionality.
One of the main objective of Tesla has always been the looks. When sit inside any Tesla you cannot mistaken it for any other car, it reminds you over and over again that you are in something that’s built for future. From simplicity of the design and interior to effortless drive, you can’t help but feel being a part of something big.
Electric cars had everything going against them, they were ugly looking, they didn't have a lot of range, charging was way to slow. Tesla didn’t just fix all of that they actually made EVs a dream to own, because of all the features that come with Tesla, like self-driving, controlling your entire car with an app, and Supercharging station. Tesla took all of the things that plagued EVs and made them attractive qualities.
One of the greatest things about Tesla is even though they brought price of Model 3 down to something that more affordable by many, it didn’t look and feel of Tesla. It also feels premium luxury.
3. Hype
There is no denying that some of the credit for Tesla’s success goes to the hype around the company. Data definitely correlates the surge in sales with surge in Elon Musk’s popularity. Tesla has got one of the most strong fan following and it make sense, with all of the holiday software releases, treasure hunts, and what have you.
Tesla has manage to accomplish something incredible, that only few companies have been able to, ability to go beyond customers’ expectations. When the hype around a product or a company is well-justified it can be a powerful force that acts like a rocket engine that propels the company through the finish line.
4. Commitment
Tesla has shown commitment in delivering their goals and persisted through a lot to bring us arguably one of the best cars we have ever seen. Tesla commitment towards the self-driving feature is truly admirable.
Tesla has paved a path for themselves and secured their future by committing to the idea that they are leading us into the clean future. When an entire company works towards a same goal and dreams of a similar future. Tesla’s commitment is apparent by the investments they have made, they are working to bring better battery technology that will last longer and will be cheaper to manufacture.
It is a famous tale that close to holiday releases Elon Musk sleeps in the factory. You don’t get to see a lot of that level of commitment very often.
That’s why I believe in Tesla and the future they are imagining. That is also why Tesla cannot be beat in this war of dominating EV market. What’s even better is that EV market is still in it’s infantry and is going to grow much bigger in the near future.