\Deeptech Analysis/ Europe is making faster cars and better batteries than Tesla European technology companies such as Rimac, Skeleton Technologies and Einride are rivalling the mighty Tesla empire. By Marie Mawad, Mimi Billing and Maija Palmer 7 September 2020 \Healthtech Exscientia raises $100m to build automated drug-hunting platform By Maija Palmer 4 March 2021 \Deeptech Analysis/ Europe is making faster cars and better batteries than Tesla European technology companies such as Rimac, Skeleton Technologies and Einride are rivalling the mighty Tesla empire. By Marie Mawad, Mimi Billing and Maija Palmer 7 September 2020 This is the first part of a series mapping the European startups challenging Elon Musk’s empire. Part 2 is about the hyperloop, Part 3 is about space tech, Part 4 is about neurotechnology, and Part 5 explores ways to overcome a fragmented Europe. At $390bn, Tesla is worth a lot to investors. In fact, it’s worth more than all of Germany’s carmakers combined. Europe started out as the birthplace of the automobile, but it has become the laggard — and not just as far as stock market valuations go. In the 12 years since Elon Musk released his first full-electric sports car, he’s expanded into battery production at Tesla’s Gigafactory, deployed dedicated charging infrastructure worldwide and developed products that let consumers generate and store energy. His Roadster has become the reference for super-fast travel on a battery and his electric sedans have climbed the rankings to compete with Nissan for the world’s most sold electric car. Tesla Roadster. Credit: Tesla In that time frame, prestigious brands in Europe, the likes of Volkswagen and Daimler in Germany but also Renault and Peugeot in France, have mostly struggled with a diesel emissions scandal and displayed a sluggish attitude to shifting to battery-powered cars. Pessimists say the fate of European carmakers shows the region’s inability to transform even the most brilliant ideas and finest engineering talent into disruptive innovation at scale. “It’s not lack of vision that is plaguing Europe — carmakers like Renault have long had the vision of a future with electric, connected and autonomous vehicles,” says Francois Veron, the cofounder of investment fund Newfund. “But they failed at industrialising that vision, at adapting their production and supply chains to the new business models of electric cars.” “Real disruption is more likely to come from an independent player than from the incumbents,” says Veron. “A heavily financed independent player.” But while Europe does not have a single Tesla equivalent, it does have several companies doing parts of what Tesla does and in many cases doing it better. Without the media might of the Musk empire, they are less well known, but there are companies such as Rimac making faster electric roadsters, companies like Skeleton Technologies making more powerful ultracapacitors and Einride making electric self-driving trucks. Here’s part one of our series looking at Elon Musk’s empire and the European technology companies emerging as its rivals. Part one is focusing on cars and batteries, part two on space and part three on hyperloop. Part one: vroom Cars are one of the most visible parts of Tesla, and make up the majority of its revenues. In the second quarter of 2020, car sales accounted for 86% of its reported $6bn sales. A newly launched Model Y has got car pundits salivating. But perhaps the most emblematic of Tesla’s successes lies in its ability to deploy a wide-spanning network of dedicated, ultra-fast chargers called superchargers. They’ve played a key role in helping Tesla’s cars stand out from the rest, by addressing consumers’ fear of running out of juice in an electric vehicle. In fact, infrastructure that allows for a relatively short charging pit stop along the way is perhaps the only segment where Tesla truly has no equivalents in Europe. The company boasts nearly 2,000 stations in Europe and the Middle East. Alternatives, even added together and helped by state subsidies, form a smaller network of disparate chargers that are all less powerful — hence slower to refill a battery — and are often faced with compatibility issues. Every other part of the electric car ecosystem has Europeans in the ring, battling it out with Tesla. Here are the names worth knowing: Tesla’s hypercar challengers in Europe Rimac (Croatia) Tesla’s Roadster makes claims on being the quickest car in the world. According to the company, it’s able to go from 0-60 mph in just 1.9 seconds, and has a top speed of more than 250 mph. Croatia’s Rimac may be able to just pip Tesla’s record, with claims that its C_Two electric hypercar can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds, a whisker faster than the Roadster. And the C_Two claims a top speed of 258 mph. Mind you, Rimac’s C_Two isn’t in production yet. Any prospective customers will have to wait for 2021 to take delivery, and there are likely to be only a very limited number of vehicles made. Your likelihood of owning a C_Two is probably a lot lower than owning a Roadster. Rimac C_Two. Credit: Rimac Rimac, which began with Mate Rimac trying to pimp up his own very beat-up 1984 BMW when he was just 19, is clearly a very different (and much smaller) business than Tesla. But its mission to build electric motor cars that are, well, super fast, is having a surprisingly big reach across the car industry. Porsche owns around 15% of the company, and Hyundai Motor Group recently invested €80m as part of a new partnership which will see the two companies collaborate on a range of performance electric cars. A number of other carmakers, including Aston Martin and Pininfarina already use Rimac’s battery packs for their own electric supercars. With serious investors coming in now, Rimac is professionalising and gearing up to go much bigger. Plus, it just recently hired ex-Tesla engineer Chris Porritt as CTO. Piëch (Switzerland) Piëch is based in Switzerland but it has deep roots in Germany and links back to Volkswagen. The company was founded by Toni Piëch, the son of former Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch, whose own ancestors include Volkswagen founder Ferdinand Porsche. It’s out to build on Germany’s history of top-notch engineering, combined with an electric motor and reviving iconic elements of classic sports car designs, to become the “leading luxury electric mobility brand”. Piëch Car. Credit: Piëch “In spirit, we go back to Ferdinand Porsche’s 1931 vision,” the company says on its website. “We aim to build a company that recaptures the artistry, craftsmanship and heritage of the past, but we emerge into 21st century with a new powertrain, a new business model, and an appetite for technology and disruption.” The company’s Mark Zero all-electric model, scheduled to go on sale in 2022, can get to 100km/h in 3.2s, charges 80% of its battery in 4 minutes 40 seconds, and boasts a range of 500km on a single charge. One specific: Piëch has no plans to invest in its own manufacturing and relies instead on a network of partners for production — carmakers with factories, assembly and supply chains already set up. Nikola (US-based, with ties to Germany and Italy) The other, much-hyped challenger to Tesla is Nikola. Admittedly that’s partly because of the name of the company, which refers to Nikola Tesla, the engineer and inventor who made important contributions during the 1900s to what we know about electrical supply systems. His surname inspired Musk’s company, and Nikola of course picked up on his first name. Nikola is going head-to-head with Tesla in electric trucks. The company is US-based, but it does have a big European connection. Germany’s Robert Bosch and Italy’s Iveco, the truck-maker backed by the Agnelli family, each own 6% of Nikola and were instrumental in building the important parts of the company’s trucks. More than 200 Bosch employees were involved in building important parts of Nikola’s trucks, including the electric motor for the axle, the vehicle-control unit, the battery and the hydrogen fuel cell. The trucks themselves are being built in an Iveco factory in Germany. Tesla’s trucks challengers in Europe The Tesla programme for trailer trucks, dubbed Tesla Semi, has been pushed back a bunch of times and the first units are now expected to be delivered sometime in 2021. Einride (Sweden) Stockholm-based Einride’s trucks are not for consumers, but for the logistics industry. The company started off focused on developing self-driving trucks that would transport goods entirely autonomously or controlled remotely. Recently it has acknowledged that the transition to full autonomy may take some time, so it is also building trucks that have space for human drivers. The trucks will still be all-electric, however, and deals with big companies may do more to speed along the battery-powered revolution than any consumer-focused business. Einride recently signed a deal to supply trucks to German supermarket group Lidl, supporting Lidl’s ambition to make its supply chain emission-free. Robert Falck, founder of Einride. Others include: Volta Trucks (Sweden) The company recently launched a purpose-built 16-tonne electric truck that can drive up to 200 km on a single charge. The company is expecting to sell 500 of the Volta Zero trucks in 2022, rising to 5000 by 2025. It is expecting to find strong demand in cities like London and Paris where diesel vehicles have been banned from the city centres. Tesla’s Gigafactory challengers in Europe Musk called the Gigafactory “the machine that builds the machine” — where everything needed by Tesla would be made, most notably a huge number of lithium-ion batteries for its vehicles. Tesla has three such factories in operation so far, in Nevada, New York and Shanghai, with a factory near Berlin expected to be completed next year. The idea of the Gigafactory was not only to decrease Tesla’s reliance on overseas suppliers of batteries but bring the cost of production down to under $100 per KWh of energy storage, a level at which it becomes cheaper to build an electric powertrain than an internal combustion engine. The Nevada Gigafactory had a goal of producing 35 GWh per year by 2020. Opened in 2016, the Tesla facility has a clear head start, but in the past year or two a number of challengers have emerged in Europe: Northvolt (Sweden) One of Europe’s biggest battery startups was founded by ex-Tesla employees. Peter Carlsson, who was global head of sourcing and supply chain at the company, worked closely with Musk to launch the Model S. Another Tesla alumnus, Paolo Cerruti, helped Carlsson launch Northvolt, which is building a giant battery factory in northern Sweden, aiming to produce 32GWh of capacity annually — just short of Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory levels — once it is fully up and running. The company raised $1bn last year from investors led by Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs. Carlsson says that while China and the US have been in the lead so far when it comes to producing the batteries needed for electric cars, Europe now has an opportunity to catch up. What the Northvolt battery factory in northern Sweden will look like when ready. “At present, we don’t have enough factories but looking at the projects being planned and constructed as we speak the future looks promising in Europe,” he says. “In Europe, there is a new momentum. We have seen actions in the regulatory space and Europe has started to flex its muscles by backing and financing car manufacturers and others along the supply chain – and the dynamics are strong. To be frank, the US has lost a bit of headway between the shift from Obama and Trump.” “Europe now has to decide whether it will focus on satellite factories that rely on supplies from Asia or will it build its own ecosystem. There are advantages to the region to have its own ecosystem with all the actors across the supply chain including subcontractors, factories, support to universities and so on.” “Strategically, it is possible to build it but we don’t have it ready for raw materials as yet. We have the conditions to create nickel and cobalt but it will take time. We are not alone, even in China they are dependent on building supply chains of raw materials, just look at what they are doing in parts of Africa and South America.” In the meantime, Northvolt is developing patent-protected ways of recycling batteries more efficiently, so that part of Europe’s raw material needs could be supplied this way. Verkor (France) The startup exited stealth mode and unveiled ambitious plans to deliver up to 50GWh of battery production capacity. Production in Verkor’s first gigafactory is scheduled to begin in 2023 with 16GWh capacity and ramp up from there. Backed by French industrial Schneider Electric, real estate group IDEC and the EU’s European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), Verkor is currently looking for land to set up a gigafactory in France. The initial investment in the project is about €1.6bn. It’s not the only French project of the sorts. Energy giant Total and carmaker PSA have set up a joint venture called Automotive Cells Company, which is also aiming to start deliveries in 2023. The first phase of the project involves a €200m investment and a pilot plant built around an existing facility in Nersac, France, owned by Saft, Total’s battery production arm. Total took over startup Saft in 2016 for €950m. Fast charging Europe is also developing breakthrough technologies that could significantly increase the charging speeds for electric vehicles. Charging an electric car at a public charging point can still take several hours — even a Tesla Supercharger station will take at least half an hour — so getting charging times down to a point where they can compete with a few minute petrol refuelling stop is crucial. Ulracapacitors, which discharge energy much faster than batteries, have been seen as a potential part of the solution. Tesla bought ultracapacitor company Maxwell Technologies for $218m in 2019, in hopes of improving the batteries used in its cars. Battery experts speculated that Musk might be looking to apply some of the technologies used in Maxwell’s ultracapacitors to improve the cost, performance and lifespan of its lithium-ion batteries. Skeleton ultracapacitors Skeleton Technologies (Estonia) A European challenger, Estonian Skeleton Technologies, may be close to this already. The company is developing the SuperBattery, a ground-breaking graphene battery with a 15-second charging time and the capability of being recharged hundreds of thousands of times. The company has just partnered with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to complete the development of the battery. If this is successful, it would eliminate the three main anxieties of electric car owner: slow charging time, battery degradation over time, and limited range. Skeleton Technologies chief executive Taavi Madiberk says the technology will “blow existing EV charging solutions out of the water”. He also notes that, unlike Tesla, which seeks to do everything itself, in Europe the key to energy storage breakthroughs will be a collaboration between companies. Want the best of Sifted in your inbox? Our newsletter brings you the latest, greatest stories on startup Europe. 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By Kit Gillet in Bucharest Click here to read more Contracts, scale and money: why European startups need corporates By Marie Mawad in Paris Click here to read more Europe’s deeptech challenge: turning brilliant brains into breakthrough tech By Marie Mawad in Paris Click here to read more Get the best of Sifted in your inbox By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Sign up to \Future Proof Sifted’s weekly \Corporate Innovation roundup email By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Most Read 1 Member \Deeptech 11 European quantum computing companies to watch 2 \Deeptech European companies set to dominate psychedelics market 3 \Venture Capital Is it time for more SPACs in Europe? 4 \Startup Life Can startups grow without venture capital? 5 Member \Venture Capital Who will be Estonia’s next unicorn? 115 Join the conversation Subscribe newest oldest most voted Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments VincentI am an American who has lived in the EU for the last five years. I have nothing but love for the EU and its values and its humanity. But I will tell you that the difference between Americans and Europeans is far greater than most people know. Americans are, on the whole, far more comfortable with risk and pushing boundaries, and are prone to have an almost foolhardy belief in their own capabilities, whether warranted or not. This combination of ambition and optimism results in innovation on a level that the EU has trouble matching. In my experience, europeans… Read more »JB KickbackDon’t speak for all Americans. You are just one guy and you do NOT speak for everyone or even have a grasp of what normal Intelectual folks feel and think. IF you had done any traveling at all you would know that WE “Humanity” are pretty much all the same Countries and ethnicity have personality qualities that differ but for the most part, we are all pretty much the same MAcNo we are not and different is good. Thinking like you do is mediocre. CankoYou’re blaming a reasonable comment under the same criticism I could blame you with.. claudiothe whole difference is made into two points : a conzept of rules based on corpus juris versus common law and the low cost that money has always had in US if you add the concept and practice of venture capital which has had difficulties in being accepted in EU banking and enterprisse system you get the total Bob's your uncleNo. Vincent is speaking for all Americans here. Arun KumbhatWell summed up! AdrianMate, you forgot that an older civilization who is alive for over 2000 years is China. They are by far over USA and Europe. They have long time strategy wich is better. Don’t forget that US have some trilions dollars debt to China. There’s a couple of things Beijing could do if it wanted to destabilize the US economy, thwy can call in US debt. WhateverYou can forget that money.. it will be a bill for covid expenses… all the world can start writing bills to CHINA [email protected]If the US doesn’t pay its debt to China then then they won’t get any credit in the future. IV636TJBeing as the Pyramids are 4000 yrs old and recemt cave painting found in indonesia is 45,500 yrs old man has been around bit longer than 2000 yrs. Keith TurnbullI live in South Africa. The mindset of many European South Africans ( hate to use the word “White” ) is strong, resilient and hard working!!! The blend of Afikaaners, British Colonials, African Tribes, and Indians, provide a great recipe for success.The Private Schooling standards( up until perhaps 15 years ago), were comparable to Any top private school in Europe & US. Also, the arrival of Jewish immigrants from ( mainly ) Lithuania contributed to incredible success stories by Whites ( hate that word ). Musk’s Father Errol, still lives in RSA🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦😊😊😊 Fred.Keith, why do you turn this interesting discussion into a political one? Marko PerovicYou were spot Vincent! That is general/fundamental differences between two parts of the world 💪🏻and I am European with ties to USA. IV636TJThe physical environment in many respects determines culture Partha sarathi KunduI am afraid that Musk doesn’t fade away like Ford Eric Wynne TaylorTesla is currently at 21X Revenues, while GM is going for 50% of sales. Tesla can print money by offering shares to the market that no other car maker in the world can match. If Tesla cannot beat them, Tesla can buy them out! Chris PantazisAs a European that has lived and worked in the US I agree with you CankoWell stated. Those who don’t have anything to loose use all sails to navigate! Braziliani can say south americans are more crazy then americans and europeans together like south africans JsnSounds true(I’m European). But that also means when a European(German) car manufacturer decides to develop and sell an EV, it will be far better. Remember, not all fancy to drive a Tesla. Personally, I think is ugly to look at. Cars are matter of personal taste. How many times do you hear or read: Wow, this American car is top quality, the interior is outstanding. Never. NorbertYou nailed it ! I’m European living in LA and the differences you mentioned are very true ! AnisRed tape , overregulation, health and safety guidelines risk assessment on every step of the way, the suing culture and the fear of legal actions all inhibit entrepreneurship in the EU and the UK . I agree. Mallanotte_itaYou’re in part right, you Americans can push your boundaries in the Us because there is less competition than Europe, that’s the main reason! rocknrollVincent, you are right – being involved in EU startups now but being US educated/trained I always wonder why people in EU enjoy intellectual discussions so much about what needs to be done, what it all means, what could happen, etc. The mental self-limitation is very hard to overcome. Americans on the other hand sometimes would benefit from being more humble, this “we will rule the world” attitude with often little substance is quite annoying. OscarEverything here is ‘about to be built’ or ‘ready next year’ , meanwhile I have a fantastic model S sitting in my driveway and I can drive right accross Europe with no charging issues. Most of the time an overnight charge in my normal 10 amp socket is fine. Tesla solved the main barriers to entry for the consumer some years ago. The mainstream ICE makers would still rather sell an EV as a second car and/or short trip city run about. They have meanwhile been disrupted by Tesla, as has the oil industry. Neither of those groups like it… Read more »Martin WinlowQuite right. This article is yet more flatulence from a legacy vehicle-making mouthpiece that has very little to do with the reality of EVs in the real world. The simple fact is that Big Auto just wants to carry on as usual and *not* have to spend an absolute fortune re-designeing all their production facilities, re-training all their engineers, service-persons and sales-people let alone get their collective heads around the difference between a kW and a kWh! Mimi BillingI believe that Northvolt would disagree with you. I interviewed the CEO, Peter Carlsson, who previously worked at Tesla btw, and he was impressed with the hires that for example BMW and Volkswagen have done in that space. 🙂 HOWARD MARKSDear Mimi, You are living in a dream world of utter delusion. When BMW bought a MODEL 3 to rip apart their own engineers admitted that everything about it was beyond anything BMW is capable of doing. The “hires” in “that space” (language terminology that someone with no science and engineering uses) has nothing to do with the product or the mindset or policy of the company. The VW ID3 is not even as impressive as the latest version of the Renault Zoe and light years behind even the entry level TESLA MODEL 3. VW admitted they are clueless on… Read more »muppThis guy took a masters in online condescension studies, GordonIn any business, you can either grow fat, rollover and die, or you grow fat, competition comes in which rocks you to the core. You either die or reinvent yourself. If this was not the case then there would only be one bank, one computer company, one car company etc. Those existing car companies have the distribution, they just needed to take the plunge and commit to change. OctavianThe article says right from the beginning – “to challenge” – that’s a future, isn’t it? Tesla is still years ahead, Musk was (and is) a visionary. And given that Tesla main focus is US (ok, you can get your Tesla car, but where are the Powerwall, the solar roof tiles, the supercharge network?), European companies have time to catch. You also cannot ignore the pleiad of traditional car markers in Europe – it is much harder to convert than to build from scratch. But I am sure that, once things start to go a certain direction, there is a… Read more »Clive BarwiseI also think that Tesla has the aura of Elon Musk and all the innovation from his other companies. This also gives innovation a cross all his companies an edge over its competitors.. It is great to promote the change to electric in this article but these players could have done it before. Use then there would not be a Tesla. They have created a giant competitor by continuing to think that what they were doing was the only way and that customers were not concerned about the planet. 4x4 lockedMeanwhile Trucks and Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles owners are laughing and saying – who cares. Bee EmMeanwhile I am driving my petrol BMW which looks and handles better, costs less, is better built than the Tesla and takes only 3 minutes to recharge (ever heard of gasoline) and my range is 800km! M.HammettIf the vehicles were made to charge from solar while parked re-charge issues would be history & the electric car will have it all ! S. JensenThis is click bait , where in this list is “faster and better” in production …its mostly European competitors trying to catch up or projects being planned. jean szroghIm an European man living in Europe and can tell you no european automaker denies Tesla car and batteries are head away they can do themselves. Please do not humbug just because most Americans are not informed of of what happens in Europe. D.BautistaElon Musk once said no e-vehicle maker came close to a Tesla car they made in 2012 and its now 2020, so what makes you think these EV companies can compete with Tesla who is far ahead in EV manufacturing and auto-self-driving technology? He said its easy to build a prototype but its a different ball game to mass produce it. On a final note when car consumers were asked if they would purchase an EV with all the hype but has no track record, most rather chose to stick with a Tesla brand vehicle. TomElon Musk said…? He of course will not say that there is a better electric vehicle on the market. D.BautistaThat’s the point of Elon’s statement. He opened himself to criticism with that and yet no car company could challenge his claim so far. Some independent studies made on EV comparison and published around the net showed the Tesla vehicle still has the best ratings in many aspects so far. And Elon then said in addressing his competitors, “we’re still waiting…”. So if you want to be the first to publicly debunk Elon and Tesla, be my guest. SimonBut Tesla are still the most expensive. I’m shopping EVs at the mo. Unlikely to be buyng a Tesla. I can afford it, but there are cheaper alternatives that meet my need. FSD isnt working yet, but adds a lot of cost. They should only include the hardware on cars that spec it. I’m wxpecting to buy the ID.4 now I know it can tow 1900kgs. 95% of my annual mileage is within its battery range. With the like of Ionity, Instavolt, BPChargeMaster etc slowly getting their networks over to contactless, the future is getting better. Just need more 7kW… Read more »Avg_jOETesla price will drop with tariff when GF4 opens near Berlin. That said, it will still cost more and the car may be a bit too big for some European roads (and parking). ID3 appears solid. Tesla is about 3 years out from putting out a competing car. Musk won’t produce a car with less than 250EPA, so he has to wait for his new battery tech to mature (and Berlin to ramp) to put it out at competing pricing. I think Zoe and ID3 will be the only game in town for the compact EV. I used to drive… Read more »JB KickbackYea Total electric cars have issues that take time to work out. Software, Battery Management Systems etc. No one comes close to Tesla right now aand I’m not throwing my money away because the upfront price is cheaper. Not when I know I can get a dependable car that will last as long as I want it to last. I may go ID3 in about 10 years or so when they have gone through what Tesla has since there is so much to earn about these systems Mimi BillingMaybe things are about to change. In August there were more Volvo’s Polestar 2 sold in Norway and Sweden than Teslas according to Forbes. Maybe not that strange for Sweden but I know for a fact that Tesla is very popular in Norway. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimcollins/2020/09/01/volvos-polestar-2-outsold-teslas-model-3-in-sweden-and-norway-in-august/#77817fe95899 HOWARD MARKSFORBES is not a credible source on EVs. Also one of the reasons why say the AUDI E-TRON only sells well in Norway and the POLESTAR 2 sells well there (a good car but way overpriced compared to a MODEL 3 with the range POLESTAR 2 has) is that Norway is the exact opposite of Germany on the issue of highway speeds. Norway has the slowest speed limits of any country. This means people are driving much more slowly thus range limited European EVs get a range boost. Plus Norway has charging stations everywhere. The same cars could not compete… Read more »Andrew WThe Polestar 2 is the most credible of all competitors to Tesla but it’s heavier, 30% less efficient and more expensive than a Model 3. I prefer the styling and the controls but these are superficial compared to physics and economic reality unfortunately. KarlMimi, August is only the second month of the quarter. Because Tesla has no factories in Europe, they have to ship them from overseas, and deliveries only start at the end of each quarter. P R SpechtMy understanding is that Tesla has shown a parts availability problem that is growing and I think also some sort of reliability or service problem. This, i’ve read has already taken some of the shine from Tesla on the EU side of the pond. I think the (at least) Germain car makers are ramping up fairly quickly and will have an advantage before long with their very long manufacturing/supply/service/ etc.. gordonIf they asked consumers in 1910 what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse. The EU and the UK are insisting that no diesels and petrol cars be sold in the near future. Somehow I don’t think the car companies are going to say, ok will just close up shop. There will be masses of new models., masses of new companies as well as Tesla competing for the same clients. Andy SaintQuite right. Tesla undersells the future, possibly for fear of the “Osborne Effect” (my dad had the first luggable version and a 1 meg HDD bigger than a shoe box) and in doing so we don’t really know how far in front they are. They also make patents available to competitors to help them keep up, it’s going well so far as we can see. It’s like a good runner chasing Usain Bolt in thick fog. No chance then. So many say each new car will be this, that or the other or sheduled production next 1, 2, 3 years.… Read more »MephexPoint of note though. Tesla at a point in the past had probable hype and no track record. The article speaks about “Possible future challengers *in Europe” and not necessarily saying they are better at the moment or anytime soon. This also doesn’t mean no other battery or EV manufacturer would do it better than Tesla in the future. CaZA bit misleading. None of these are mass production autos at a price point mere mortals can afford. None come with OTA updates, None come with a service network or charging network, And, I don’t suppose I can go to their website, order my car, and expect delivery anytime soon. Might of, could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, but when WILL they? Any legacy automaker has a couple giant hurdles to overcome to compete. 1. Their dealership network (sales + service) that see EVs as a threat to the established order, not an opportunity. 2. Existing supplier agreements with suppliers likewise heavily invested… Read more »NigelPretty much hit the nail on head there CaZ. MarcusKGreat! Let’s bring these 10+ startups, have them design and make vehicles in the next 2-3 years to rival the vehicles of a company that are on the roads today. Sounds like a great vision! They have some great CGI renders and specs on the paper, but would be great to actually see one driving very soon. For instance, Porsche Taycan, a fantastic looking car with reportedly great engineering costs nearly twice as much, goes half the distance, lacks most of the tech and crucial charging infrastructure. This is coming from a phenomenal car company. So words don’t always translate… Read more »SineiraIt took Tesla many years to produce as well. JB KickbackYou know this is an exciting time. Musk has said from the beginning its a worldwide effort to make the transition to renewables. His role is to inspire worldwide change. But just being real, everything you mentioned was future stuff. I could say I have a faster, better car that I cant mass produce –so what Every year we hear about the latest technology battery tech that will change everything. Oh yea, but they haven’t figured out how to mass-produce it. So really your article should have been about optimism and hope and not companies that ARE ACTUALLY better than… Read more »Dawid WtorekExactly, according to Musk, figuring out how to mass produce a car is a task an order of magnitude harder than designing a car itself. Steve WrightClickbait. HypeisgreatIt would be rude of me not to point out that the Tesla Roadster, like the Rimac C_Two, is also not in production yet, and has an even flakier production start date. So neither is the fastest production road car. Dawid WtorekYup, and the top of the food chain model of roadster will be even faster than 1,9sec because of air busters. shuriken48The Roadster was shown at the unveiling and many people sat in it and confirmed that 1.9s 0-100 and you can find many posted videos on Youtube proving it. The only reason Tesla are not shipping it now is because there is no need to, as there are no competitors even close to release and the Rimac is 10 times the price, so it is a joke to compare it to a $200K Roadster. Daniel DemmelMaking faster cars, what a waste of everyone’s time! Why are we still pouring so much resources making boy racers happy when there’s a planetary crisis going on? TractorBeamWhy the hustle to make fast cars instead of versatiles? If engineers want to acomplis smtgh in this century or even in this decade is an acomlished dream of collective humans: flying cars, but not the kind that look like 1970, the one look like blade runner 2045. The merge of Auto industry with Flight industry is coming, the question is which automaker will be the pioneer! Yev MeisterThere is still a lot of hope for combustion engine. It lies with reliable hydrogen fuel cell , zero emission and sustainable fuel. Lithium battery technology carries big toll on the environment , especially we will see it when electric surpasses fossil fueled vehicles on the road . Jens FindI believe that ARK-invest is right on the mark concerning hydrogen. It will require it’s own infrastructure – and it will still be expensive beyond competition from electric power. Legacy automakers like BMW are delusional in planning transforming 50% of their production to electric by 2030. By that time it is “game over” caused by “the technological imperative” – lower prices, better performance, simpler construction and better reliability in BEVs. Autonomous driving – now in beta i USA – indicates that robotaxis are not just science fiction, they are virtually round the corner. Analysts like Tasha Keeny indicate that using… Read more »KevinOne undisputed fact, cars no matter what propulsion, brand or technology will never get cheaper. You only have to look at the price of a Tesla or a Golf, price increases always exceed inflation. The debatable fact is what happens when EVs get to 3rd or 4th owner. I dont know too many people willing to buy an EV with 60 mile range. Whilst I do know many people willing to shell out a $1000-2000 for a first car. Tom simaiI am trying to figure out why people at every oppurtunate moment try to bash and downplay the contribution in EV domain. They should be thankful to Tesla for thier existence. Without the success of tesla none of the startup would have got the platform that it is getting now. Let’s just be thankful to elon musk and tesla for opening this opportunity for everyone with talent and inclination for renewable energy… NoordheenI am an avid Musk fan, and follows up all his projects on a daily basis, out of sheer admiration. The pace at which his projects move forward is mind boggling. Giga Berlin is just 6 months into groundbreaking today, and factory buildings are 85% complete. Even Germans are in disbelief. He is too good to beat by the rivals. He quickly adapts to developing technologies. No new auto companies made their first million cars in the first decade of their existence. Tesla will have 2 million cars on the road by 2022, when Giga Shanghai, Berlinand Texas are in… Read more »muppI do like the guys on here body guarding Elon like his feelings might get hurt…. KarlOr maybe they are just setting the record straight. This is a deeply flawed article. How about dealing with people’s arguments rather than attacking them? TomTesla is overvalued. So it makes sense that Tesla intends to sell shares soon. Avg_JoeYep. The additional $5 billion added to their $8.x billion means they can ramp new projects faster to support the value of their stock (which is very high as you stated). Sum GuyNobody is looking at where the electricity will come from to charge these cars, where the raw materials for batteries will come from, and the ecological costs for both of those. How much of the amazon or aftican forests will be destroyed strip-mining for cobalt and lithium? How many acres of forests will be cut down to make battery plants? Add to that that in northern climates it’s nice to have heat in your car in the winter, how does that happen in an electric car? And sometimes air conditioning in the summer. DonaldI don’t think human kind is ready to abandon fossil fuel yet, it’s just readily accessible reliable power source and wealth. There are much more resources being invested in discovering more fossil fuel reserves that clean energy sources. The scramble to occupy the land left behind by the receding Polar ice caps , is good example. Elon Musk is an excellent engineer but brilliant at marketing! Kinda like Steve Jobs, who convinced people they would die without iPads😆 EV at the moment are a dream sold to wealthy people inorder for them to feel better about playing a bigger role… Read more »Gt0olzWe have to thank Musk for running and starting this race. Keep on going!! Daniel KascelIT IS Like health Care system.. EU make Long Terms better 🙂 Виктор РодинDoubters neglect – and lose. — — — Сомневающиеся пренебрегают – и проигрывают. Charlie - UK“Europe is making faster cars and better batteries than Tesla”. Rimac, don’t make consumer vehicles. Just tiny numbers of supercars for the uber-rich. Tesla battery, software, & drivetrains. Are 8-10 years ahead of the EU’s traditional automakers. Which have been dragging their heels about making long range EV’s for decades. So the ‘Sifted’ article is ‘Wrong’ on both counts. ‘Sifted’ needs to ‘up its game’. To avoid becoming a laughing stock… NickHmmm… Electric is out. Sorry, why doesn’t anyone talk about HHO hydrogen power. I’m pretty sure that a skilled team of engineers can put a conversion kit together in a few months’ time where we could extract hydrogen from water tank somewhere in the car. And there goes pollution… I don’t think, I’m sure that the Americans and the Arabs won’t let this happen. ApkungenThey’re all just start ups though. Tesla will make about half a million model 3s this year. Biggest compeditor right now is the Audi e-tron I’d say that most certainly has stole lots of sales from model s and x. Sure the etron is slightly cheaper and some really good deals have been possible to grab this year but the fact still stands that the etron has sold in 13 k units in Europe while s and x haven’t even reached 5 k combined. (And sure the biggest canabalization of s and x sales probably comes from Teslas model 3… Read more »Harish Sharmajust make it bit cheaper. Jose Paliyath JosephEurope and America join hands to beat the bloody Chinese Dragon who try to Swallow World Financial Arena ! will Sherwow Nagaraj ShetFuture technologies. Vishwanath Reddy NKeep up the good work Mr. Musk.., How many times these super electric car can be re-charged in a row? You said that these car has made up of ultracapacitor/lithium-ion batteries – Does this car really has capability of being recharged hundreds of thousands of times? Jitendra.H.Bhalerao.India-has-a-great-potential. It-Only-needs-good-governence. We just need right people, at the deserving places. HenkOI can imagine that one should want to make better batteries, but why in godsname, should one want to build faster cars???? Alex NewtonSo we are likely to be heading into a global recession I think it most likely a cheap alternative will win the way perhaps look towards India/China for cost reduction and add a bit of European reliability StephaneI don’t understand why Nikola is mentioned. The company and its former CEO are under investigation by the Feds and the SEC. They lost the GM partnership and are probably going bankrupt within the next few months, as their business model sucks and they have no real in-house innovation. NazdarSo where is it? I dont see it. Oh it is still on the paper or in a labs. Lol. We are talking mass production here, not some niche production with few cars made like Rimac. This sounds like desperate attempt to improve shattered self-confidence of European auto industry. Lol. This is pathetic. Europe need to fall harder on the face to wake up from that stupid ICE lethargy. Wake up or Chinese EVs will eat up our market. NEXT! Lorenzo Luis AlbanoThat’s all good and I hope that these innovations will improve everybody’s products by competition. Thing is, this sounds similar to some stories you hear: In World War 2, Germans, Japanese and Italians had some wonderful weapons, planes, rockets, tanks. They deployed a few hundred wonder weapons, difficult to maintain or operate, buffs assure you to this day that they beat U.S. and Soviet designs one on one. The U.S. and the Soviets put good, easy to maintain, and operate weapons out… by the tens of thousands. The Ford T wasn’t the fastest or most powerful car around, but it… Read more »OlaThe revolution in the battery industry with an initial focus on the automobile industry will revibrate in almost every sectors of our everyday life PawelWhat a ridiculous article, first thing, tesla is a scam and their truck works only when it rides from downhill. PawelNikola not Tesla lol, sry JitendraIt’s nice to get known about that much electronics. Actually there will be need to minimise road dependency and traffic. I saw video, some companies invented flying cars. Those need be electric. In beginning some of there government agencies might be allowed use of flying cars, to master an idea. To minimise possibility of accidents in air, cars need some connectivity and communication mechanism as that of aeroplanes, besides traffic control mechanism. There can be large sized flying car landing ports. Some of those cars don’t need runways. Those can lift up same as helicopter, also can be driven as… Read more »VitaliiOnly Elon will have enough batteries for serial manufacturing. ShakeelInnovation has no region, religion or race. Customers like new products and are least concerned who makes. Chinese products are the best example. Race for high powered band faster electric cars and trucks will bring down prices. That’s is the benefit of competition. Example is smartphones. You cant denie this trueMan lets be real this is nothing new Rimac is the king for EV but bad new is that people dont know for them coz Americans are Americans and only what they have is publicity rest of that is 90% of bullshits Dawid WtorekI would not say so. Rimac is more than 4 times more expensive than roadster. It is not an achievement to built a little bit better car for few times more money. shuriken484 times, it is more like 10 times. John FongTSLA become dominate not because it has the best of everything. In fact, that’s not what is drive for… Costs is everything. TSLA intend is to sell affordable car with maximum functionally, not to be fastest or cheapest… DozyI want Tesla to employ me as a researcher and become no.1 in the car industry worldwide. I have the formula for a battery model that self generates endless energy without any need for recharging. Vishwanath Reddy NHello Mr. Musk, I do live in India ; I am a car cum movie buff. Well, I am really wondering how come all of a sudden you reached number one position in terms of wealth among the crowd in the entire world. How did you became number one richest person in the world ? What’s d secret behind that? I heard there are many business tycoons out there in the planet — perhaps each one of ideologies or perception towards their businesses would be different.. Are you going to launch a “Tesla” manufacturing unit here in “Bengaluru” India ?… Read more »thomThis is all vaporware. Tesla is getting a beating in Europe by established carmakers entering the market. Most visible in Norway, since it’s the most advanced market. Next year is gonna be even worse. https://cleantechnica.com/2020/10/01/september-in-norway-goes-off-the-charts-record-ev-market-share-of-82/ KarlThere is just one small problem with your comment. Tesla is production constrained and has no factory in Europe yet. They can’t cover demand in Europe due to limited production. So no, they are not getting a beating. HOWARD MARKSMore garbage. If you want me to take your article seriously or even bother to read it then you need to learn that a FUD headline saying that EUROPE IS MAKING FASTER CARS AND BETTER BATTERIES is an instant alarm bell. TESLA and their partners are the world leaders in batteries and EVs. The German Auto industry is literally 15 years behind and that is a solid fact. Alan LossmannBut you obviously did read the article, Mr Marks! 🙂 SineiraThe Taycan shows you’re wrong. Tim StoneThe european car “industry” is a conglomeration of nationalistic ideas all going their separate ways under the impression that “you vill do zat” ala 1930’s/40’s. The world has moved on and technology rules for better or worse. Instead of knocking Tesla an amount of imitation might well be in order to succeed if their ego’s will stand for it. Parth PopatAs Indians we look to progress of all mankind but be wary of China, they involve innovations from outside into their country under joint partnerships and once they manage to copy and re-engineer said innovations they blatantly steal the ideas, produce themselves and throw their old partners out of the market. This is not a country you want to do business with if you want future of mankind to remain free and for the will of our people to thrive. 🤗 Tim HigginsBottom line for me is electric cars are just too damaging to the environment and are just not up to the job. KarlBut that is simply not true. Not only do they have lower CO2 emissions in total, but they don’t emit toxic and deadly gases locally like fossil fuel vehicles do. Load More Comments
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