Featured Perfect is often the enemy of good in the plug-in world

Okay so let's presume that might take away a hundred and fifty thousand of those pre-orders. That's still a quarter-million left on the list. It still leaves the same question .....
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My favorite occurred when buying a 1988 Camry. The salesman popped the hood, pointed to the EGR valve and said "See how easy Toyota made it to change the oil filter!"

 

My last fill ups were in the $10-$13 range. Noise level compared to the cost of the wine consumed in the same time frame. Oddly, the costs at differing gas stations varied as much as 10% ($2.039 TO $2.249) within a half mile.

I was 40 miles away today and had an opportunity to wait 2 hours or do the guy a favor and 'call me to come back when the item is ready'. I smiled and said " since I drive a Prius, why don't you call me whenever it is ready..no hurry".

Once gas costs reach a certain low level, the absolutes hold no attraction. My depreciation so outweighs any running costs at 7.5k miles per year, the running costs become likewise noise. I know my oil change, state tax and registration and inspection costs are about the same as the gas for the same period. I know if you added in insurance, it would be 3 or 4 times as much.

If the Model 3 was available now, I might change just for the fun of driving a vehicle that was so different. But I wouldn't expect to be saving money doing it. I'd lose. (And I'd lose the utility of the v.)

SeekingAlpha had an interesting article on how the economics of the model 3 were expected to work for the buyer who had to buy at the charger and pay for installation of a charger at home. Wasn't an attractive proposition medium term compared to lower end gas fueled cars.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3980111-tesla-model-3-zero-gas-savings.

 

It's no mystery when an article uses low gas prices & high electricity costs & deliberately leaves out the fact that a huge contingent of plug-in drivers have solar to bring the cost of charging down close to zero - never mind the lower maintenance costs. Even so, I doubt there is any mis-belief on the part of purchasers that the model 3 or any other plug-in will be perfect.
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Some still might get another hybrid or plug in before their Model 3 arrives. They might already have one. They might even stick with their current ICE car, and wait for the Model 3 to actually go one sale, regardless of whether reservations were being taken.

The point is with all those cash reservations mean more than signing up on an internet site that a person is interested in some car, and goes against the old guard car company management position that people are interested in cars that need to be plugged in. It disrupts the echo camber in their boardrooms of people will only be able with faster refueling hydrogen.

 

It aint just the moderately priced "not- perfect" plugin's that get boardroom exec's shorts all bunched up. Luxuriously optioned SUV's like Porsche Cayenne, BMW's X7, & the Mercedes GLE63 AMG can easily cost $75K - $100K+ and yet Tesla's Model X sales are trumping them, despite its early Falcon wing passenger door & body component fit & finish issues. Yes, good-enough is trumping notions of folks needing/wanting "perfect" .
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200 miles is a big leap and has people excited. how many will be trading in a current alt fuel vehicle for one? no way to know. whenever a tech leap comes about, it will trump low gas prices.

even current small growth is a good thing in today's environment. i don't believe in house squabbles are affecting sled negatively.