Choosing A Car That's Not Electric And Autonomous Is Insane, Says Elon Musk

It is no wonder that Electric cars are the future and the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, is doubling down on this thought. Recently, during the Tesla Annual Shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Musk called it “financially insane” to buy a gas powered car instead of an electric car that isn’t capable of autonomous driving.

Is It Really Beneficial To Buy An Electric Car?

Well, the answer depends on which electric car you buy. For example, if you purchase an Audi e-Tron SUV that offers a meager range of 200 miles, then no. However, Tesla cars are different. The company itself was made from the ground up to be an electric car manufacturer. This gives them the advantage of having enough data to play around with.

In a Wired article titled “Why E-Tron’s Range Came Up Short,” Eric Adams explains that the reason why Tesla cars are able to deliver such high battery range is because of 10 years of data of battery life span. This gives them a huge advantage over other competitors who are just starting out in electric car manufacturing.

Furthermore, due to the lack of any physical console in Tesla, it is easy to update the software inside the car easily. In order to simplify the manufacturing process, Tesla cars come with all the necessary hardware installed from the factory. The base Model 3 is almost identical to a top variant Model 3, excluding range.

Users can upgrade to or downgrade from their top model Tesla Model 3 with a simple over-the-air software update that enables some features. Several Tesla users also received a power bump of 23HP. The new update also comes with an anti-theft system that monitors cars’ surroundings for any suspicious activities.

Tesla also recently acquired Maxwell Technologies, a pioneer in battery technology. The dry cathode manufacturing process pioneered by Maxwell Technologies will save Tesla cars on manufacturing costs while improving their already dominant battery engineering prowess.

This seamless integration of software and hardware in Tesla cars makes them less susceptible to depreciation. The longer a person owns a Tesla, the more features they will receive.

What About Autonomy?

Tesla has been surrounded by controversies related to its claim on autonomous driving. Elon Musk himself is famous for making slightly unrealistic claims about the future of self-driving cars from Tesla.

He confirmed that by the end of this year, Tesla cars will have enough autonomy to drive users from their garage to the office with little to no intervention. Ever since 2016, every Tesla car that is rolled out from the factory is completely capable of autonomous driving.

It is possible via an in-house developed Tesla Chip, which is more than 20 times faster than the older Nvidia chip the company was using. Older Tesla cars can be equipped with the same chip as a simple computer swap.

By 2020, Tesla also plans to operate Tesla Model 3 Robotaxi’s, which will enable Model 3 owners to temporarily give up their cars to be used as taxis while they’re at work.

Not just Tesla, but companies like Uber, Lyft, and Apple are betting all their chips on self-driving technologies. The only difference is that Tesla is out there selling products capable of self-driving technology. Tesla cars are by no means able to drive themselves, but right now they’re the only ones operational with a degree of self-driving capabilities.

So is what Elon Musk said true? Well, I’d like to say yes but not now. Tesla is struggling with a cash crunch to the point that its CEO has urged people to curb their spending. Tesla cars are no doubt great products, but that’s partly because the company is working day and night to provide them with the necessary updates.

If Tesla can make it out of Q4 alive and well, then yes, Elon Musk is absolutely right.