* Gasoline cars transmit 20% of the energy in gasoline to forward motion, electric cars transmit 60%. So though the ultimate source of energy is oil, electric is more efficient. Gasoline cars throw away lots energy as heat.
* Right now the Tesla brand is valuable precisely because it DOESN’T have a track record. It is the empty vessel into which people can pour their high tech dreams. The actual cars – not so hot. The build quality on the Model 3 sucks and the blank dashboard with only a center screen is stupid and forces you to take your eyes off the road.
GM for example, by contrast does have a 100+ year record of building cars, but the problem is that the record sucks. People remember the dud Chevette that their dad bought and they vow never to buy a GM product again. If Tesla could take the Chevy Bolt and stick a Tesla logo on it , they could put another $10K on the sticker.
The “Buy American” thing is just a canard. Musk himself is an immigrant (S. Africa). I’m sure that once Tesla’s scale is big enough it will open factories in other countries (China) like every other auto manufacturer. In the end, an automaker is just a bunch of factories and Tesla, right now, has exactly 1 factory. In California, which is maybe not really the best location for a factory.
The Germans are relatively nowhere with electric cars. The Mercedes brand means nothing to consumers when it comes to electric cars. People don’t want sedans anymore period. Everyone wants SUVs. The Germans make them too, but at US factories.
An electric car is partly a car and partly an electronic device. Who is good at building high quality cars – the Japanese (and the Koreans are catching up fast). Who is good at building electronics? The Japanese and the Koreans (in Chinese factories).
