Low-Cost Tesla EV To Use Steel To Hit A4, 3 Series Pricing Levels

by Cameron Aubernon

July 2nd, 2014 11:58 PM

low cost tesla ev to use steel to hit a4 3 series pricing levels

Though Tesla’s low-cost EV won’t be able to put the E in between the S and the X, it will be able to meet its price target thanks an alloy swap in its construction.

Autocar reports steel instead of aluminum will make up the low-cost EV, which CEO Elon Musk stated will be 20 percent smaller than the Model S. The steel construction will likely be assembled through bonding and rivets, as well.

The use of steel will allow the new EV — expected sometime between late 2016 and early 2017 — to better compete against the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series on price, backed up by the reduced cost in battery production once the Gigafactory goes online at the same time as the low-cost Tesla arrives in showrooms.

#3Series #A4 #Audi #BMW #Low-costElectricVehicles #MY2017 #PremiumVehicles #Steel #Tesla

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SCE to AUX on Jul 03, 2014

Steel is stronger and cheaper. I'm not sure why this is news, but it seems to excite people almost as much as Ford using aluminum in its trucks. You know, this is how product development works - every product is a compromise between cost, performance, appearance, safety, manufacturability, and schedule.

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Omer333 on Jul 03, 2014

I have no idea what you guys are talking about anymore. I thought we were talking about a Tesla that will retail around $35k and rivets.

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Wmba on Jul 03, 2014

Usual bulls**t press release from Tesla. Don't think there was one last week, so it was obligatory this week. Got to keep the idiots fawning and the stock price up. I heartily recommend riveting steel and aluminum together - you get to watch galvanic corrosion in daylight. This whole Tesla thing is like those "financial" advisers who offer 8% annual returns, where the wealthy put their entire savings and are shocked, just shocked, when it turns out to be a scam. Right now Tesla appears to be scamming all levels of society to advance them capital a rational venture capitalist would not. Blue skies, green fields full of rainbow-hued wildflowers, grass fronds bending in the sylvan breezes, kids cavorting with Frisky the dog while Mom and Dad hold hands, their eyes locked together in rapture- that's , what's being sold here, not EVs.

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- Vulpine on Jul 03, 2014
  
  So nice of you to jump to such ridiculous conclusions on something you know nothing about. "I heartily recommend riveting steel and aluminum together – you get to watch galvanic corrosion in daylight." So where did the article say they would, "rivet steel and aluminum together"? Just because the article said they would use rivets it did not say WHERE they would use rivets. "Right now Tesla appears to be scamming all levels of society to advance them capital a rational venture capitalist would not." And where is your proof of this, considering that Tesla is in every case actually manufacturing the products they claim and are selling more than a mere token number of 'prototypes'? "Blue skies, green fields full of rainbow-hued wildflowers, grass fronds bending in the sylvan breezes, ... that’s ,[sic] what’s being sold here ,..." Really? "... not EVs." Then where are all these Tesla cars coming from?
  
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RogerB34 on Jul 04, 2014

Lower weight steel for autos has been discussed for several years vs aluminum. It may be the key to a low cost Tesla.

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