The content of the article:
- Tesla's "killers"
- Sensational Faraday Future
- Self-propelled LeEco
- mission Possible
- Ambitious Liechtenstein
- Water wears away the stone
- Is the devil so terrible ...
Tesla's achievements have haunted the rest of the world for years. Elon Musk has managed to set the bar that almost every automaker is trying to achieve. Which of them manages to at least partially compete with the eminent electric car?
Tesla's "killers"
Many car brands loudly give this nickname to their electric cars, some of which are prototypes, some are concept cars, in rare cases - pre-production models. The nearest competitors are allowed those representatives whose power reserve is not less than 400-600 km. True, in 2018, Elon Musk changed the conditions of the game again, raising the bar to 1,000 km.
Research firm Pitch Book found that in the first half of 2018 alone, startups for the production of electric cars amounted to more than $ 2 billion, which is 2.5 times more than last year's investments. Such activity in production is fully justified - by 2023, analysts predict the turnover of the electric passenger car market in the Asia-Pacific region alone in the amount of about $ 206 billion.
Not surprisingly, investors continue to invest not only in big brands, but also in start-up companies. Healthy competition stimulates the electric car market and forces the leader to make mistakes.
So, 2017 was far from the most productive year for Tesla, when a number of mistakes were made in the development of Model 3: a colossal cost overrun, an increase in the number of employees with a simultaneous decrease in their wages, a decrease in production rates and, finally, an accident caused by the driving system.
Against the background of such miscalculations, other manufacturers get a real chance, if not to surpass Tesla, then at least approach the level of its electric cars.
Sensational Faraday Future
The founders of the company quietly, without excessive advertising, found funds, lured away some employees of Tesla, BMW, Ferrari and SpaceX, rebuilt a plant in California and soon shocked the automotive world with the FF91 concept.
The modular platform turned out to be unique, which can be shifted or extended, change the wheelbase, create a model of any body type, equip with full or front-wheel drive and a different number of batteries. That is, to create absolutely any design on a budget and quickly. With four electric motors, the car acquired a power of 1000 hp. and a power reserve exceeding that of its main rival.
And although neither during the premiere at CES-2017, nor in the following months, this electric car did not pass even a meter, exclusive developments and ideas, as well as a general non-standard concept give hope for a promising future of the car.
Self-propelled LeEco
In order not to put all the eggs in one basket, the founder of Faraday Future - Chinese millionaire Jia Yuetin opened another company called LeEco... So far, the development of this manufacturer is presented only in the form of a prototype, for which it is supposed to borrow the platform from the FF91, but enrich it with extended functionality in terms of autonomous driving. The developers have unambiguously announced a maximum speed of 210 km / h and a range of 600 km, leaving the battery capacity and the price tag for the car a secret.
Debuting at the Beijing Auto Show, the LeSee has garnered cautious attention. The car has demonstrated the ability to "pull" the steering wheel into the dashboard, as well as at the owner's command to independently arrive at the specified place.
But at the moment, the brand has neither its own factory, nor a staffed team of engineers, designers and workers, and even proper funding. If Mr. Yuetin finally decides to invest in this project and starts building a plant, then first of all the electric car will go to the domestic market before conquering the rest of the world.
Mission Possible
The German model Mission E Cross Turismo is positioned as a competitor to the Tesla Model X. Its predecessor was already advertised in 2015 as a "Tesla killer", but the case did not advance beyond the concept.
All-wheel drive power system Cross Turismo provides 600 hp, accelerates to hundreds of kilometers in 3.5 seconds and travels 500 km without recharging. When the battery runs out, the Porsche Turbo Charging station will restore up to 89% energy in just 15 minutes.
The model also boasts the ability to automatically distribute torque among different wheels using the Torque Vectoring system, and the steered wheels obey the steering system.
With such qualities, the model deserves to be a pre-production car, especially with a preliminary price tag of $ 86,000, which is comparable to Tesla. In the meantime, the developers indicate an approximate period of 4 years to create a full-fledged sample, which is unacceptable for such a dynamically developing electric car market.
Ambitious Liechtenstein
This small company has repeatedly declared itself, showing its concepts at various car dealerships. However, during the last exhibition in Geneva, a pre-production electric car Quantino impressed the audience with his ability to overcome a thousand kilometers without recharging.
The manufacturer's secret turned out to be that the car does not need to be refueled at all. Thanks to the streaming batteries interacting with each other, electricity is generated by supercapacitors simultaneously with the movement of the car, and after a thousandth run, it will only be necessary to replace the electrolyte.
Other characteristics are no less impressive - acceleration to hundreds in just 5 seconds and the total power of four electric motors in 436 "horses" under the hood. In addition, according to the manufacturer, the prototype ran 14 hours at a speed of more than 70 km / h, and it still has a power reserve of 78%.
Given such phenomenal indicators, few believed in the reality of this electric car.until they made sure that the development is already being tested on public roads. So engineers and technologists were able to correct flaws and bring the model to perfection in the conditions of everyday road life.
If, based on the results of operation and all calculations, the manufacturer is convinced of the economic feasibility of producing this electric car, then it can enter small-scale production by the end of this year.
Water wears away the stone
Not surprising, but slowly and persistently they are working on electric models and eminent car brands that have already conquered consumers with their traditional cars: BMW, Mercedes, VW. Some of them supply their developments for corporate use, someone is trying to start small-scale production, someone is converting the existing models for the beginning into hybrid ones, working further on fully electric samples.
Of particular note is BMW, which has acquired a whole line of electric cars and hybrids BMW i3 and BMW i8, the imminent appearance of the "intermediate" BMW i5 is also expected... The manufacturer announces a transfer to the electric version of the X3 and X4 by 2020 and may create its own MINI electric car.
Mercedes has created a separate sub-brand Mercedes EQ, which should present 4 electric cars to the public by 2020 - two sedans and two crossovers. And by 2025, it is planned to bring the lineup to a dozen different options. The company chose the Mercedes Generation EQ crossover, which was released in 2016, as the prototype for the firstborn of the electric department.
The Volkswagen family of electric cars already includes a hatchback and a minibus, which are still just concepts. The company representatives emphasize that they are in no hurry with small-scale production, working on errors and trying to justify the costs of working on their developments. If it is possible to put cars into mass production, then this will not happen until 2020.
Finally, an electric prototype of the Jaguar I-Pace mid-size crossover, built on its own platform, but with F-Pace elements. The manufacturer ambitiously announces the absolute reality of this project and the start of serial sales by the end of 2018.
Is the devil so terrible ...
Is there a real threat to Tesla? We can unequivocally say that all global brands - Peugeot, Citroen, Porsche, DS, Renault, Nissan and others - have calculated market trends and potential benefits, and therefore will not abandon their plans to create a practical and cost-effective electric car. Thus, all their "threats" and promises should be taken very seriously.
Elon Musk showed that an electric car can really be cult, image and desirable. He woke up the market himself, forcing automakers to "chase the carrot" hanging in front of their noses. In the meantime, despite the existing failures and miscalculations, Tesla remains the absolute leader, continuing to expand the range of its interests and abilities.
The company has acquired its own manufacturer of solar panels and is working on autonomous power supplies. That is, Tesla has become not just a manufacturer of electric cars, but an energy company engaged in the production, storage and use of electricity for a wide variety of purposes, from household needs to vehicles.
You can compete with her, Lucid came closest in the race, but due to its many years of experience it is too difficult.
Tesla
