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Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars

Dittohead not! said:
If it were gerrymandered to include San Francisco and Los Angeles, then it would be a blue state, and California would be a red one.
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last time someone laughed at my predictions they spent the night of November 6, 2012 crying ... hopefully you and I will be alive in 2016 or maybe 2020 when Texas goes for the Dem candidate and I promise to be gracious in accepting your apology ... :cool:
 
windowdressing said:
last time someone laughed at my predictions they spent the night of November 6, 2012 crying ... hopefully you and I will be alive in 2016 or maybe 2020 when Texas goes for the Dem candidate and I promise to be gracious in accepting your apology ... :cool:
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Since we don't know who the Dem candidate will be, nor who he/she will be opposing, your prediction seems to me a bit like predicting next month's weather.

You could be right, of course.

or not. It all depends.

Now, if the state were gerrymandered as I suggested, then the Democrats would surely prevail.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Since we don't know who the Dem candidate will be, nor who he/she will be opposing, your prediction seems to me a bit like predicting next month's weather.

You could be right, of course.

or not. It all depends.

Now, if the state were gerrymandered as I suggested, then the Democrats would surely prevail.
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but since the GOP does most of the gerrymandering to stay alive as a party, what are the odds?
 
Quag said:
Yup beat the Viper off the line then head right back to the charging station cause your are gonna stop moving very shortly afterwards.
U.K. Court dismisses Tesla
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Actually, the Model S has a range comparable to my Grand Marquis. . . from a full charge. The article you referenced was from 2008, where people were driving the Roadster. The Roadster is no longer in production, as it was the first model produced by Tesla.



Quag said:
There aren't enough charging stations to make this feasible yet and again once the batteries go you have a very expensive paperweight.
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Actually, depending upon where you are in the country, they have plenty of charging stations. In CA, where more than 30 million people live, Tesla has made significant improvement in the infrastructure. Additionally, many parking structures (public & private) have installed electric vehicle charging stations.

The sentiments you're carrying towards electric cars belong in the past.
 
Also, I guarantee you that the Tesla Model S has a better range than the Dodge Viper. . . 15mpg with a 16gl tank.
 
Starbuck said:
Actually, the Model S has a range comparable to my Grand Marquis. . . from a full charge. The article you referenced was from 2008, where people were driving the Roadster. The Roadster is no longer in production, as it was the first model produced by Tesla.


Actually, depending upon where you are in the country, they have plenty of charging stations. In CA, where more than 30 million people live, Tesla has made significant improvement in the infrastructure. Additionally, many parking structures (public & private) have installed electric vehicle charging stations.

The sentiments you're carrying towards electric cars belong in the past.
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When you gun it the range drops much faster than when you gun a gasoline car. Most cars get 500-600Km per tank of gas does the Tesla do that?
Not sure of CA's charging station deployment but I doubt there are nearly enough to let people drive as they will all over the state. itg would be great if it was true but considering how relatively few electric cars there are I doubt it
I don't have anti-electric car sentiments I would love them to become viable but the pro electric car people keep trying to gloss over their disadvantages, which are still way way way larger than they like to admit.
Range- don't have it yet (yes they are working on it but not there yet)
Cost- not in the same ballpark (cant see how this will ever compare due to the cost of the batteries getting more and more expensive as they use more and more exotic materials)
Refulling- slow and not as wide spread availability (changing batteries can speed up things and the distribution network can eventually get widespread)
Cost of replacement batteries- this is see no way of fixing unless it is included in the original price and battery replacement becomes norm for charging

The technology just ain't there yet.
Will it be? Perhaps but it just isn't there yet
 
Tigger said:
From what I read it's not about the cars, it's about Tesla's "direct-sale" strategy. Apparently these states have laws requiring a local franchisee to see automobiles. If the Tesla folks don't like the law, work to get it changed; don't just expect to walk through the door and have the rules bent for you.
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Or the fact that they will burn down in a heartbeat.
 
Are we ignoring the fact that if you have enough cash to buy one of these cars and install the infrastructure to support it, you can probably afford a trip to a neighboring state to buy one.
 
This is simplistic.
Texas wants the sales tax. It is HUGE on a car.
 
specklebang said:
The article itself answers the question. The Car Dealers Association paid off the legislators to avoid competition. Very simple and straightforward.
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Sounds about right. Corporate capitalism at its finest.
 
I am so against this. the american way is to invite competition. the reason the car dealers don't want it is because then they can't have their 20% mark up on the car.
i agree tesla is expensive in fact it is super expensive. although they are suppose to be coming down in price and they are going to start work on a mass model version.

pesonally i think hydrogen is the way it will go but for now i think tesla has a good idea and is running with it.
i would buy one. by 2015 tesla should be able to go from coast to coast with it's charging stations.

also they sell a very good warrenty on the car and batteries.

the CDA just wants their cut of the pie. that is what this is about.
 
joko104 said:
This is simplistic.
Texas wants the sales tax. It is HUGE on a car.
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Not so Sir, I'm about 98% sure. All states get the sales tax at registration no matter where the car is sold. So, if you buy a car in NV, you can take it to TX to pay the tax. The NV dealer will give you a temporary permit to relocate the car. When LV was still a small town, we used to go to Utah to buy cars as their dealers were hungrier than ours. Of course, dealers make their money more on repairs than on the car itself. So our NV dealers didn't care. They were happy to service the car regardless, just as you can locally buy from one dealer and get service at a different dealer now (we actually have competing dealers now that we became a big city:))

It's the dealers that want a cut. The state will always get theirs.
 
BMCM said:
It’s being hailed as a game changer. It’s the first electric car to win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year; an unprecedented 99 out of 100 rating from Consumer Reports; and now, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it’s also the safest car ever.

But if the Model S really is the car of the future, then why has Texas banned its sales in the state and why are lawmakers in several other states trying to do the same?

Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars


What is Texas and those other states afraid of? A little competition won't hurt.
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Sell them on the internet.

The era of car dealerships is over, the model is an anachronism.

Car salesmen are annoying and add no value.
 
Tigger said:
If this franchising law was a new one, I'd be displeased with it. It appears (from the article) that this law has been around for a while. Assumint it was there before Tesla tried their end run, I have no sympathy for Tesla.



Clothing is not generally a franchised item. Automobiles are. Nothing wrong with direct sales either, so long as the law doesn't forbid it.



It's "meh" because it's a product that I would never even consider buying.
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I wouldn't be at all surprised if you get an electric car in 10 years, although I think you'll surprise yourself. ;)

The technology is taking off quickly and think there's no stopping it. I predict it won't be long before they're both better (bigger cars with longer range) and less expensive than traditional internal combustion engine cars WITHOUT the tax credit. They're already less expensive to operate with the equivalent of $1.00 a gallon fuel or free fuel at some shopping malls and nowhere near the maintenance costs (no oil changes, 30k miles required stuff, etc.) Plus they reported will last way longer because there's not a metal against metal friction engine that will wear out. Our top engineering minds are working diligently to develop better battery technology. We're at the front end of a revolution in automotive technology; compare to the PC replacing the typewriter.
 
Regardless of Texas law, I just popped over the to Tesla website to price a Model S.

They don't seem to want to tell you the price. They just say it's ~$650 "effective monthly cost" which is "after gas savings." And that's for a cash order, not financing.

I worry about anyone who goes out of their way to avoid telling you the price.
 
It would be easy to claim that the prohibition comes from the state oil lobby who fears reduced profits. A second choice might be the potentially reduced highway maintenance taxes collected because electric cars don't buy gasoline which is how those taxes are paid. Are those cars sold "directly" and is this an illegal practice in Texas? Maybe. That could be changed. Whatever the reason we can be pretty sure that the opponents will invent some bull**** like "oh they're unsafe" or something else instead of telling the truth.
 
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to place a ban by a state, against another state is not a power of the states

this is the TRUE reason of why commerce AMONG the states was turned over to the federal government...to prevent trade wars and trade barriers.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
I'm really sad to see this from Texas, though similar laws exist all over America, they've just been selective about where they apply it.

This is certainly corporate cronyism at its best. I wish our government represented the people and not just those with money.
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I see it that way as well. I am not "up" on everything about the Tesla cars, but anything that brings progress should be supported, not restricted. Obviously, the local automobile sales association in Texas is doing its part to make sure progress does not interfere with their doing business as usual.
 
So a year later we have the answer: With extended drought in Texas obviously they just didn't want to set the state on fire.
 
nota bene said:
Do you really, really think that Texas is "going down the communist path"?
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It's tough to say. The seeds have been sown where the government is starting to dictate healthcare decisions and override the wishes of family members.
 
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