Hybrid Cars Are Not Tesla’s (TSLA) Future

In an interview to appear this evening on FOX Business Network’s (FBN) MONEY w/Melissa Francis (5PM/ET), Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson spoke with FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Melissa Francis about the future of Tesla Motors. Jurvetson said, “hybrid cars are not Tesla’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.”

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 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’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 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.”

Courtesy of Fox Business Network

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