Posted on 04/20/2016 8:31:48 AM PDT by bananaman22
The unveiling of Tesla’s Model 3 electric car was no less than the lifting of the final curtain on a game-changing energy revolution. And if we follow that revolution to its core, we arrive at lithium—our new gasoline for which the feeding frenzy has only just begun.
Unveiled just on 31 March and already with 325,000 orders, it seems that the market, too, understands that the Model 3 is more than just another electric vehicle. In one week alone, Tesla has racked up around $14 billion in implied future sales, making it the “biggest one-week launch of any product ever.” (And if you think the “implied future sales” negates the news, think again: Each order requires a $1,000 refundable deposit.)
It will change the world because it is the first hard indication that the tech-driven energy revolution is not only pending, it’s arrived. The Model 3 and its stunning one-week sales success—apparently achieved without advertising or paid endorsements--brings the electric car definitively into the mainstream, and there is no turning back now. Competitors will step up their game and the electric vehicle rush will be in full throttle—so will the war to stake out new lithium deposits.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
My main question is, “are there any production, marketing, sales (government assistance) or tax credit incentives that affect these 325,000 orders?”
Without subsidies from taxpayers, this company would never have existed. I do not believe that Tesla has ever turned a profit yet its CEO has made millions.
lithium—our new gasoline
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Someone got beat with the stupid stick. Bad.
Where are the current lithium deposits? Chile? Is mining creating pollution with heavy metals and so forth?
We have a tesla dealership here locally but a friend told me the other day there are NO cars there. apparently you must put down a considerable sum as a down payment( none refundable no doubt) and then wait on the vehicle to be built? Has anyone else heard similar??
>>According to Malcolm Bell, advisory board member and head of acquisitions for Nevada Energy Metals, Nevada may have a lot of fault traps outside of Clayton Valley with potential lithium deposits “hiding in plain sight”.
“The lithium business is not a flash in the plan; it is here to stay, and I am looking at it like the start of the oil boom in the U.S. when there were oil rigs and derricks nearly every 50 feet,” industry veteran Bell told Oilprice.com. And Nevada Energy Metals understands that lithium is exactly the mineral that is powering our future.<<
Many of those pre orders (totalling a third of a billion dollars interest-free loan) are speculative, intending to buy early and sell early to late buyers.
I have heard producing and disposing of these vehicle batteries creates WAY more hazardous waste than the average gas powered vehicle ever would.
The article states $1000 refundable.
Apologies for not reading, still I like to drive the car I’m gonna buy when I buy it.
Yup, that’s how it works. Just like ordering a computer: specify what you want, pay, they build to order and deliver.
China mostly.
“Tesla has racked up around $14 billion in implied future sales”
Sounds like that could turn into a Ponzi scheme real quick to me.
Northern Atacama, northeast of Antofagasta.
Not to worry, Chile actually has some very Common Sense environmental rules. 0.05” annual rainfall. Not one insect, animal or human lives where the lithium is. Its an amazing looking place.
That kinda rubs me the wrong way for some reason. I’m just old I guess.
That’s the first question.
The second question is, “Where does the electricity required to charge these batteries come from?”
Clayton Valley? Is there a Hairy Reed nearby?
I don’t care if a consumer buys a car of whatever provenance. I CARE about whether the manufacturer received loans, grants, subsidies or tax incentives from the government and whether the government gives the consumers tax credits that DEVALUE the taxes I already pay to subsidize this government and its worthless political pandering.
At the 215-300 mile range it’s still a bad deal unless you live in the city.
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