In the world of mass hyperbole where we currently reside, the hype machine has been working overtime about Tesla’s Model 3, which was revealed last night in California. While much of the excitement is reasonable, it’s time we put the brakes on calling the Model 3 the first great electric car for the masses.
This wet blanket approach might seem kind of strange for a website meant to extol the joyous virtues of driving, but hang in there, I get positive again at the end. It’s just worthwhile to take a look at some of the hurdles Tesla and the electric vehicle industry face, and why we need to understand that internal combustion will still hang around for a very long time.
Affordability
Foremost among my concerns about the Model 3 is its price tag. The three best selling cars from 2015 were the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord, which start at $23,070, $17,300 and $22,205 respectively, before incentives, trade-ins or dealer discounts to move inventory. The less expensive Civic, Elantra, Focus and Cruze are also in the top ten, and these were just NEW cars. The reality is that a $35,000 MSRP (granted, before potential tax savings, depending on your state) is attractive from a marketing perspective, especially in relation to the sky-high Model S retail prices, but it’s simply not that affordable for many consumers still slogging through a rough economy and tens of thousands in student loan debt.
The Model 3 is still attractively priced and has racked up more than 115,000 pre-orders even before anyone ever saw the car, but for Car & Drive to name it “The People’s Tesla” is a bit misleading. This will be the car of the middle managers whose jobs don’t put them on the road too much, and who own their own house and garage where the Model 3 can be plugged in every night. The Model 3 was never meant to replace the Nissan Versas, used Chevy Malibus and Ford Rangers of the world, and either won’t appeal to or won’t have any purpose for those types of individuals anyway.
Reliability
Despite its record-breaking performance in early Consumer Reports reviews, the honeymoon period for the Model S didn’t last long, and the car was subsequently “Not recommended” because of continuing reliability issues. Some notes found nearly two thirds of early Model S powertrains failing before 60,000 miles, which would even be bad if it were a Chrysler vehicle. We have to remember that Tesla is a new company working with new technology and, like anything else, there will be bugs that have to be ironed out. Unfortunately for current consumers, this means they likely won’t be able to expect the same reliability as they got from their Accords, G37s or even BMWs. Even for some middle managers, this could be a dealbreaker.
Infrastructure
A hallmark of our nation is the Great American Road Trip, and though they’ve made great strides in expanding the Supercharger network since the debut of the Model S, Tesla still doesn’t have the country covered, and right now, they’re the only ones really trying to do so. As a commuter car, the Model 3 will be brilliant – quick, efficient, partially autonomous and comfortable – but middle managers will still want to hang on to that old CR-V for hauling anything practical to and from the grandparents’ house across the state.
Those middle managers will definitely want to have access to a garage overnight to keep the battery topped up, since Teslas are notorious for “Vampire Drain,” where the battery loses power when not in use, especially in cold weather. Though this may not affect the daily commute appreciably, the lack of infrastructure means you can’t simply pull in and fill up on the way into the office.
Environmental Impact
Much is bandied about regarding the fact that EVs don’t burn fossil fuels and are therefore better for the environment than their petrol-exploding counterparts, and this is a pretty naïve notion. Most regular vehicles are comprised primarily of steel, aluminum, rubber and plastics, with various other materials mixed in. EVs, while utilizing similar materials for the frame and body, rely heavily on batteries that utilize precious metals, most of which are produced in ways that are extremely detrimental to the environment.
Elon Musk stated that, in order to produce their goal number of Model 3s, it would require the world’s current combined lithium ion battery production, which is why the Gigafactory is critical to their ability to meet demand. Unfortunately, that production currently contributes to issues with resource depletion, global warming, ecological toxicity, and human health – namely cancer from the production of cobalt and nickel for cathodes. These materials are mined all over the world and then sent by massive container ships to refineries and then again to assembly plants. Care to guess what fuel those container ships burn?
Once the vehicle is finally made, it still has to get energy from somewhere, which is a problem when more than 45 percent of electricity in the U.S. is generated by coal-powered plants. An Argonne National Laboratory report recently found that a plug-in hybrid charged from coal-generated electricity could be responsible for emitting up to 10 percent more greenhouse gasses than a conventional vehicle and up to 60 percent more than a standard hybrid. So while EVs are great for reducing dependence on oil, they create a greater dependence on clean sources of electrical power, and we’re simply not meeting it yet.
Why it’s Fine
So now that I’ve taken a dump all over Tesla and EVs in general, where’s the positive bit? It’s in the fact that even though the Model 3 isn’t as groundbreaking as Henry Ford’s Model T or even the iPhone (since Tesla is frequently referred to as the Apple of the auto industry), it’s at least the iPhone 6, a sign of incremental progress in making an extraordinary bit of technology a bit more accessible. It certainly helps that it's a striking, exciting design that sets a precedent for other EVs and certainly looks way better than the company's Model X.
These won’t find themselves in every garage or driveway in America, but neither would the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-Class or Audi A4 with which the Model 3 is meant to compete. We’ll still be seeing old Impalas, Suburbans and countless small ICE crossovers on the road, but if variety is the spice of life, the Model 3 will inject a bit of ghost pepper into a soup that was getting a bit bland for many middle managers out there. So let’s stop hailing the car as a game changer and start celebrating it for providing further evidence that we live in a very cool world where it’s possible to get from 0-60 in four seconds because of some electrical wizardry.
Authored by
Devlin Riggs