It Can be Done and the Right Marketing Would Help
Something my father and I discuss a lot is the fact that most cars have, to put it plainly, too much shit on them.
Maybe I don’t want my car to connect to every single thing in my life. Maybe I just want my car to be, well, a car.
With that said, we both agree on one thing. Electric cars make a lot of sense. Right now, though, you can’t find an electric car that’s good that isn’t full of way too much tech crap.
Call me crazy, but my idea of a good electric car is one that can go really far each charge, doesn’t take a long time to charge up, and a price tag around $20,000.
Tesla just announced it will have a $25,000 car with next-generation battery technology. That sounds great, but Tesla’s track record for getting cars out in a timely manner sucks.
I have no doubt Musk and his team will do it at some point, but this is the kind of car that we need right now. How much money could you sell the Tesla Model 3 for if you stripped it down?
I want my money going towards the battery range, the comfort levels inside the car, and the car’s safety. The Model 3 checks many of these boxes, but it also does so much more.
It’s an excellent car, but how affordable could it become with less impressive performance or tech amenities? I don’t need my electric car to do a 0-60 mph run in 3.2 seconds. I don’t need it to have a 15-inch touchscreen.
The Honda Civic does a 0-60 mph time in about 7 seconds and has a starting price of $20,000. Could an electric car be made to have a 300-mile range and do a 0-60 mph time of around 7 seconds all for around $20,000? I think so, and someone could probably do it for less.
If a company could get the package right, then it would be all about marketing the car properly, and that is easy. It’s all about convenience.
Tim Wu of the New York Times called convenience one of the most powerful and misunderstood forces in the world today (paywall). He’s right.
Most of the products we choose and the decisions we make are driven by convenience. This is the angle an automaker could play up in its marketing for a simple electric car with a long-range and few amenities priced at $20,000 or less.
Lots of maintenance? Forget about it. High cost of refueling? Forget about it. More time for you to live your life and less money you’re putting out to get around.
It’s frustrating to me to see electric cars getting more and more complicated when what we have is right here, right now.
