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Will the Tesla electric vehicle defeat Big Oil?
Perceptions by Gerry Warner
Catch the wave! That’s what the City of Cranbrook appears to be doing with its announcement that an electric car recharging station is coming to the Key City soon at Western Financial Place.
The timing couldn’t be better.
On June 12, 2014, CEO Elon Musk of Tesla Motors announced as part of the open source movement his company in Fremont, California was releasing its patents to the public including its competitors. “Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport . . . Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”
Did you feel the earth move? Musk’s announcement is nothing less than the first serious shot across the bow of the gas guzzling automobile industry and Big Oil, the corporate colossus that owns us all. Did former Apple CEO Steve Jobs ever release Apple’s proprietary technology for others to use? Not a chance. But Musk in an incredibly gutsy move has done just that and the world may never be the same.
Tesla already produces a totally electric vehicle (EV) with a 265-mile range (426 km) but it sells for up to US$90,000. But a new smaller size Tesla Model S due out in 2017 will sell for US$35,000 with a range of 200 miles (320 km) and compete in the affordable mid-size market, which is sure to be a game-changer in the highly competitive auto industry.
The original Tesla Model S, the first full-size, ground up, all-electric vehicle hit show rooms in June 2012 winning a Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year Award. It followed with Motor Trend Magazine’s Car of the Year Award in 2013 and is Consumer Reports’ best scoring car ever. Global sales topped 25,000 by the end of 2012 and the Model S twice led monthly sales of all cars in oil-rich Norway.
Right now there are fewer than a thousand totally electric vehicles on the road in B.C., but more than 50,000 in California and reproducing like bunnies. The first Tesla sales outlet in Canada opened on Robson Street in Vancouver, but there’s bound to be more with Tesla building free Supercharging Stations around North America making it possible to drive from Vancouver to New York for free via Los Angeles! But with Tesla Supercharging stations being built at highway rest stops across the US, it won’t be long before Tesla owners can drive to New York almost any way they want and driving in North America will never be the same. Non-Tesla EV owners will also be able to use the stations for a fee and also for a fee the stations will carry Tesla batteries that can be swapped in less than two minutes for drivers that can’t wait 20 minutes for a charge.
If this isn’t a Brave New World, I don’t know what is. We’re heading for a revolution and the implications are mind boggling, especially for the oil companies. But don’t dump your oil stocks yet. Big Oil, is a corporate colossus if there ever was one. It has the deepest pockets in the world and it’s hard to imagine it sitting silently by while electric vehicles take over the highways. What will likely resolve the issue is the politically charged question of which form of transportation is best for the environment; gasoline engines or EVs?
The answer is not as easy as it seems because a lot of electricity is produced by coal-fired generating plants. But with more generating plants being converted to natural gas and more solar electricity increasingly produced, the balance is tipping in favour of electric cars.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit organization fighting climate change, says it’s only a matter of time. “What we find today is that no matter where you are in the country, an EV produces less greenhouse gas emissions than the average compact gasoline car,” says UCS deputy director Don Anair.
Look out Big Oil! Your time may be up.
– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist and Cranbrook City Councillor who hasn’t driven an electric vehicle yet. His opinions are his own.
