> The charging network and vehicle platform are exceptional. The “self driving” is driver assist and only an assist.
Agreed, and I'd add that while I agree the underlying platform and charging network are exceptional, the finished vehicles themselves are often lacking in polish and are in no way what I would call exceptional. Panel gaps, cheap feeling materials, lack of carplay/android auto (seriously?), lack of a directional signal stalk on recent models, very few physical buttons, all controls and displays in the center of the dash out of the direct line of sight of the driver (at least on the 3/Y/truck), and wildly under-delivering on performance/range/price of the cybertruck vs. the announced specs are all examples I've seen.
I'm betting that open access to NACS and the supercharger network by other brands' EVs is going to be detrimental to Tesla in the long term, because that's one of their biggest advantages at the moment.
> I'm betting that open access to NACS and the supercharger network by other brands' EVs is going to be detrimental to Tesla in the long term, because that's one of their biggest advantages at the moment.
Other brands have to pay for access, and cannot sell EVs without access to the network due to consumer range anxiety. Tesla either gets unit margin, or a cut of legacy auto EV sales for network access.
I wonder if this means that Tesla will eventually become primarily an EV charging platform company. Despite being the owner of an EV for the last 8 years who will likely never buy an ICE car again, I can't see myself ever buying a Tesla vehicle in their current form. But I'm very interested in non-Tesla EVs with access to Tesla chargers.
Agreed, and I'd add that while I agree the underlying platform and charging network are exceptional, the finished vehicles themselves are often lacking in polish and are in no way what I would call exceptional. Panel gaps, cheap feeling materials, lack of carplay/android auto (seriously?), lack of a directional signal stalk on recent models, very few physical buttons, all controls and displays in the center of the dash out of the direct line of sight of the driver (at least on the 3/Y/truck), and wildly under-delivering on performance/range/price of the cybertruck vs. the announced specs are all examples I've seen.
I'm betting that open access to NACS and the supercharger network by other brands' EVs is going to be detrimental to Tesla in the long term, because that's one of their biggest advantages at the moment.