Tesla Tells Detroit To Stop Fighting Electric Cars

A top Tesla exec said Friday that traditional automakers have stunted electric vehicles by building bad cars, lobbying against new environmental rules and attempting to circumvent ones already in place.

“We want other manufacturers to succeed,” said Tesla Vice President Diarmuid O’Connell at the Detroit Athletic Club. “But there is nothing in their design that is viscerally appealing.”

Part of Tesla’s long-term plan, O’Connell said, was to start with a ground-breaking vehicle but expensive Tesla Roadster, then build a more luxurious but less expensive vehicle like the Model S and Model X and then, eventually, create a vehicle like Model 3, a $35,000 electric car currently scheduled to arrive at the end of 2017.

During that time, Tesla hoped to see other carmakers joining the electric car race with just as much fervor, which would have helped create economies of scale to lower costs for everyone.

Unlike Tesla, which has focused on compelling design, usable range, performance and safety, other carmakers have built compliance vehicles that have not aggressively pushed the auto industry toward electrification, O’Connell said.

Tesla Vice President Diarmuid O’Connell

“We haven’t seen as much competition as we’d like,” said O’Connell, crediting only Nissan and BMW for its electric vehicle efforts.

“(Carmakers) are not manufacturing for success,” he said.