Many would argue that Tesla has won the battle of electric cars, while others would maintain that there is still much work to be done. Regardless of this point, there is another sector outside of the consumer space that Tesla should be focused on to deliver their mission of accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
If Tesla is trying to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy...where can they have the most impact or biggest bang for their buck? Taxis? Post office trucks? Law enforcement? Buses? Think about the numerous markets that could be impacted by a zero-emission vehicle. These are just a few examples of industries that have large mobile fleets with tons of yearly miles. Now that Tesla has a healthy lineup of vehicles covering all sizes and needs for consumers it’s time for Tesla to think bigger and look into creating custom solutions. This will hugely help accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Tesla will need to focus on other areas that help to further back the mission. This was the purpose of the Semi. The Semi is the answer to 130,000 miles driven by semi-truck drivers annually. With over 3.5 million truck drivers driving over 130,000 miles annually, you can see a big opportunity for Tesla to transition to sustainable energy with the Semi. So, this got me thinking...what could be next? What other big market could Tesla make a difference in? After a recent visit to NYC, I started to think about taxi cabs. There are about 240,000 taxis across the United States and 50,000 in just NYC alone. NYC taxi cabs alone travel about 70,000 miles a year. The American Lung Association says the NYC metropolitan area ranks 16th for ozone pollution when compared to 25 other American cities. Fine particulate matter is another culprit and it is caused by ash, soot, diesel fumes, and chemical emissions. Particulates burrow their way deep into the lungs and cause asthma, chest pain, wheezing, and cancer. According to the American Lung Association, stricter soot controls could potentially save more than 3,000 lives every year in the greater New York metropolitan area. If Tesla created a cheaper, stripped-down version of their vehicle to satisfy the taxi cab market, they could make a huge impact and solve a large issue in NYC all while saving thousands of lives yearly!
Imagine low-cost mail trucks that emit zero emissions or law enforcement being able to leverage the instant torque and zero emissions when they drive their patrol cars. Imagine a grid system with solar being able to be leveraged at these departments to charge the fleet. Imagine a team of Tesla employees whose responsibility is to manage government departments by state or counties...the possibilities are endless.
Tesla consumer sales have been great with consumers but in the grand scheme of things, it is a drop in the bucket to what they could be doing. A sale of 50,000 vehicles to the city of NYC would be a huge win for Tesla financially, but at the same time would have a much bigger impact on the people, the city, and the environment in one shot. It's time for Tesla to start increasing their mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by thinking bigger as to what’s next for Tesla.
Tesla Raj