Hacker News Reader

Comment by austenallred | Hacker News Reader

I'm calling it a long, long way in advance, but Tesla has won. Game, set, and match - in 50 years we will all be driving electric cars.

With the battery swap Tesla has finally alleviated the "cross-country road trip" problem in a way that superchargers really couldn't. Now when you are comparing car vs. car you have no reason to turn your nose up at electric. And with Tesla making the best cars ever in the luxury sedan price range, they will likely do the same as they scale and create an economy car. The cost of batteries and production will continue to drop until the only real choice you're making is Tesla vs. Chevrolet. And Tesla makes better cars.

If I weren't a broke startup founder I would pour in all my money to Tesla stock.

View on HN

I might be confused about how it works, but isn't finding a place that can do the battery swap the same dilemma as finding a supercharging station? How does it help on a cross country road trip?

This is also an incentive to improve tech in some of the directly related fields: Solar, Battery tech, Self driving cars. Electric cars are huge improvement, which will lube lots of gears into motion 15-20 years down the line. But I also want to see what German and Japanese car makers bring to the forefront. It is also important to have competition.

>Tesla has finally alleviated the "cross-country road trip" problem in a way that superchargers really couldn't.

As someone who's taken a one-way cross-country trip before (NYC->SF), no, no they haven't. The system only works if it's round trip.

Gas powered vehicles continue to be more practical unless you are firmly confined to a 100 mile radius in your vehicular needs and can afford to supplement your electric with an extra vehicle (the case for all Tesla owners so far) and/or alternate modes of transport.

> The system only works if it's round trip.

I'm confused, why is this? From the tweet:

"Return the pack on your journey back or keep it & we'll bill you the difference"

"Gas" powered cars are terrible. They choke up the roads with smog, they require way too much maintenance and they can't be fuelled with solar, wind or nuclear or other sustainable fuel sources.

> The system only works if it's round trip

Why?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com