Quote:
Originally Posted by darcane
Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe...
To aid initial development and greatly simplify getting safety approval, they used a platform for an ICE car, modified it as needed, and added electrical bits. I would still call this converting an ICE car, they just started the conversion a little earlier in the manufacturing process than you or I could.
I'm not saying this is a bad idea, far from it. It saves tremendously on R&D costs which is a huge hurdle for a new automotive manufacturer. But it's a far cry from designing an electric car from the ground up like they did with the Model S. Even with Musk's prodigious capital, I don't think Tesla could have started out with the Model S and been successful.
|
Notice how Elio is "in process" for the past X years (no pun intended)? They are building everything on their own from scratch. Tesla made a proof of concept they could sell, THEN developed their own.
Though this is a partial truth, seven years ago they did do what you said- even if they stopped three years ago, and have been successfully building their own vehicles since then. I do think it was smarter to get a working platform and build off of it- kind of like how that nimble guy is using a Nissan frame for his, before building his own.