In an interview to appear this evening on FOX Business Network’s (FBN) MONEY w/Melissa Francis (5PM/ET), Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) board member Steve Jurvetson spoke with FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Melissa Francis about the future of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). Jurvetson said, “hybrid cars are not Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s future” and that “it’s a common misperception.” When asked whether he was worried about the launch of the BMW electric car nextr year Jurvetson said, “It’s totally a different kind of product” and that “it doesn’t have very good range; and they’re putting in a gasoline lawnmower engine in there as a backup. It’s kind of an odd duck.”
Excerpts from the interview are below.
On whether Tesla will make a hybrid car in the future:
“No. And the reason is a hybrid car is not an electric car. It’s a common misperception. You have the worst of both worlds in many cases, a gas engine and a battery, all the complexity, all the maintenance, all of the tradeoffs that occur in a hybrid car. It’s what Elon calls an amphibian in a transition from dinosaurs to mammals. It’s an interesting transition species. The reason people ask for it is that until you’ve driven an electric car, your perception is – and mine was as well – that I must need that ability to refuel, that I have to have that comfort of going to a gas station. But I’ve driven an electric car for five years; I’ve never charged anywhere but home. You start each day with more range than you could ever use before you’re home again. It just changes your thinking . Why go to a gas station? So instead what Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) does is they put in superchargers across the country that says not only can you refill whenever you want and do a long road trip. It’s going to be free forever. It takes the whole issue off the table. So I think it is an important initiative. Think about, but hybrid cars are not Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s future. It’s the conventional wisdom of the big car companies.”
On whether Tesla investor’s should be worried about the new BMW electric car that is coming out next year:
“Well, both Elon and I burst into laughter with the questions just because Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (FRA:BMW) itself said – and I’ve never heard any product release say this a year before its release – we’re not trying to make the best electric car; we’re building this vehicle because we have to for regulatory reasons. They’re basically they’re saying don’t judge us by this car and whether it’s any good or not a year before it’s released. It’s totally a different kind of product. It doesn’t have very good range; and they’re putting in a gasoline lawnmower engine in there as a backup. It’s kind of an odd duck.”
