photos: green wombat
Tesla Motors is Silicon Valley’s first car company, founded by geeks rather than gearheads. The startup behind the forthcoming all-electric Roadster sports car may also be the first Web 2.0 automaker. Tesla execs regularly blog, detailing the development of the zero-to-60-in-four-seconds, $98,000 Roadster and engaging potential buyers and green car supporters in discussions about everything from the engineering challenges of producing an EV to marketing strategies. Now the San Carlos company is tapping its fan base to gather data to be used in designing home charging stations for the Roadster and, presumably, for future cars like the WhiteStar electric sedan under development.
In a blog post last week, Tesla founder and president of technology Martin Eberhard asked EV enthusiasts to download an Excel spreadsheet to record information about their home’s circuitry and the electrical load created by their various appliances. "Okay everybody, I need a little help from you," wrote Eberhard. "What is the biggest EV charging circuit that could be installed in your house? This sounds like an easy question, but it turns out not to be. The answer depends on a lot of factors….Help me out here: Download the spreadsheet, roll up your sleeves, survey your own electrical service, and report back to me. If you are really inspired, do a few more houses – your parents, your brother, your neighbor, whatever." (Tesla is also getting help from California utility PG&E (PCG) on the home-charging front. A prototype charging station is pictured at right.) Telsa communications director David Vespremi told Green Wombat that more than 30 people have sent in surveys over the past week.
Back in June, Green Wombat sat down with Eberhard at Tesla’s headquarters to talk about electric cars and the benefits of blogging the development of the Roadster. "We get more customer feedback, more market data than you could ever get from the most expensive market survey you could pay for," Eberhard says. "Being open and getting feedback has been tremendously useful to us. I’m not a big believer in market surveys and focus groups. They’re useful for small things, like ‘does this user interface actually work?’ On the hand with the blogs its a constant conversation and the amount of data and the quality of it is very good. We know our customers, what they know and don’t know, how to target our messaging, and whether our message is getting through. I think the secrecy thing is overrated."
And it goes without saying, that’s a great PR and marketing strategy. Eberhard, of course, acknowledges that Tesla keeps its core technology secret. And that as a startup that has yet to put its first car into production, the company can afford to be more open than competitors who can’t risk killing demand their current lineup of cars by disclosing too much information about the next model. "If I had already some other sports car on the road and was coming out with the Roadster I’d have to be more careful about it," he says. "With WhiteStar we’re taking a pretty calculated gamble that people who would opt for WhiteStar, most of them wouldn’t have opted for a Roadster anyway. We’ll have to be a little more careful down the road, that’s just the market reality. We’ll try to remain an open and transparent company. Even if I’m not telling people about features on the car, I’ll tell people why."
Green Wombat 
This is a great use of crowdsouring – Car manufactures naturally create brand advocates. By bringing the audience into the ongoing development of the companies product they will create greater customer loyalty, build a word-of-mouth marketing model and genuinely produce a better, more user-friendly product.
How many people really think that owning a hybrid car will help the environment ? I mean look at all these hybrids here http://www.topgreencars.com/ would owning one really save a tree ?
Mike, It certainly doesn’t hurt the environment. And eventually, it means no more reliance on foreign oil. Sign me up when the price comes down to the middle class range.
Did Tom really mean crowdsouring???
(perhaps a Freudian slip….)
I hate to be a sourpuss myself, but the all-electric car concept, at least as realized by Tesla, doesn’t make much sense. All the Web 2.0 in the world isn’t going to make up for a flawed concept. Tesla was incubated in 2002/2003, right before the PHEV wave started to strike.
A PHEV provides 80%-90% of the benefits of an all-electric vehicle, at less than 1/2 the price, perhaps much less. Eberhard has tried to defend their technology choice, but in the end, his answers come down to asthetics. Well, the average person doesn’t want to pay a $50,000+ premium for asthetics.
Did Tom really mean crowdsouring???
(perhaps a Freudian slip….)
I hate to be a sourpuss myself, but the all-electric car concept, at least as realized by Tesla, doesn’t make much sense. All the Web 2.0 in the world isn’t going to make up for a flawed concept. Tesla was incubated in 2002/2003, right before the PHEV wave started to strike.
A PHEV provides 80%-90% of the benefits of an all-electric vehicle, at less than 1/2 the price, perhaps much less. Eberhard has tried to defend their technology choice, but in the end, his answers come down to asthetics. Well, the average person doesn’t want to pay a $50,000+ premium for asthetics.
Did Tom really mean crowdsouring???
(perhaps a Freudian slip….)
I hate to be a sourpuss myself, but the all-electric car concept, at least as realized by Tesla, doesn’t make much sense. All the Web 2.0 in the world isn’t going to make up for a flawed concept. Tesla was incubated in 2002/2003, right before the PHEV wave started to strike.
A PHEV provides 80%-90% of the benefits of an all-electric vehicle, at less than 1/2 the price, perhaps much less. Eberhard has tried to defend their technology choice, but in the end, his answers come down to asthetics. Well, the average person doesn’t want to pay a $50,000+ premium for asthetics.
Did Tom really mean crowdsouring???
(perhaps a Freudian slip….)
I hate to be a sourpuss myself, but the all-electric car concept, at least as realized by Tesla, doesn’t make much sense. All the Web 2.0 in the world isn’t going to make up for a flawed concept. Tesla was incubated in 2002/2003, right before the PHEV wave started to strike.
A PHEV provides 80%-90% of the benefits of an all-electric vehicle, at less than 1/2 the price, perhaps much less. Eberhard has tried to defend their technology choice, but in the end, his answers come down to asthetics. Well, the average person doesn’t want to pay a $50,000+ premium for asthetics.
I agree with Jim/Mike above….
PHEV is the future. I am thrilled to see so many companies going towards that technology. It will likely be 2-4 years until enough models are avialable to really have choices. Gasoline will be almost $4 per gallon and folks will flock to the technology.
Unfortunaley for Tesla, a pure-electric car will fit 80% of my needs. I am NOT going to own one on that basis alone.
A PHEV will meet 99% of my needs (towing a trailer is still a question).
An incredible future awaits!
Sorry about all the multiple postings….
I like the all electric idea. I think the added benefit of NOT having to lug around a motor, which has to be maintained and fed, outweighs the added range/convenience. It is more than likely cheaper to recharge your batteries with AC too.
How often will you go over 150 miles a day? Or near 250 miles as the case is for Tesla? In spite of what I just said, I’m excited to see what GM will do with the Chevy Volt. If it ran with a diesel motor, it should have an insane range.