Tesla motors is in the process of building supercharging stations to provide free travel in Canada and the United States.
They are also providing a solar panel option so clients can charge their vehicles from home for free. The current fossil fuel vehicles take about 10 minutes to refuel and with the new electric vehicles the time is expected to double or triple to about 20 or 30 minutes at these stations. With the population increasing and some areas having extremely high population volumes this will not be feasible for long. Tesla has partnerships with apple for the computer systems and with Panasonic for their fuel cell technology. We are proposing two more partnerships to incorporate “WiTricity” into their future vehicle models.
This follows the business model of Facebook, offer free service but make money off the add on’s, component parts, and usage convenience. WiTricity is a recently commercialized technology to provide wireless electricity similar to wireless internet. It runs on the basis of transferring energy through radio frequency. The second partnership is with google to come in on the ground level of project loon.
Project loon is fully explained in the following link. Project loon is the idea of a sky network to provide worldwide coverage and access to the internet WIFI.Solar powered balloons are released into the atmosphere and travel using stratosphere winds to guide and maneuver them around the planet and are monitored by a ground team. We would like to incorporate these two technologies to be able to sell mobile charging with all of our future vehicle.
A similar idea to mobile data for smartphones. When in WIFI range you do not pay for access to the internet, this would be their supercharging stations. When not in WIFI range people with smartphones have the option of paying for mobile data charged by their usage so they can stay connected.This idea of mobile charging through WiTricity and googles stratosphere balloons will progressively eliminate the need for charging at all and clients will be able to charge while they drive. This option could potentially create a new free market industry for mobile charging, allow Tesla to dissolve their partnership with Panasonic, and potentially give the electric cars away for free, similar to cell phones while entering into a two year contract for service, to help save world emissions and advance technology. Access to this option can be offered through the on board computer in the cars, similar to google play store for mobile devices.
This can also solve many problems such as being stranded from running out of gas/energy, wait times at charging stations, and the need for batteries all together. Creating the partnership with Google could be beneficial for one other reason and that is their ground level technology for driverless cars, which have already been approved by western governments to operate on their roads and highways. The result: A future car which is driverless, electric, emission free, powered globally through WiTricity Loon Balloons, for free or a fraction of the cost of a current vehicle with mobile charging subscription, and available to all.Short Term 2014 Approach both companies to create partnerships to incorporate both technologies into Tesla Vehicles Reinvest all profits from 2013 and 2014 vehicle sales to fund this new program to generate a continuous revenue stream for the future Participating in the research and development of the Loon Balloons Medium Term 2015 – 2017Begin prototype of WiTricity vehicles Create a Loon balloon network in which to being controlling and testing the technology Create an internet platform to sell mobile charging Testing of all technological components and vehicle response to the WiTricity systems Long Term 2017 + Implementing WiTricity Loon balloons to offer mobile charging options to the WiTricity capable vehicles Refining the technology to ensure worldwide coverage and reducing unforeseeable issues Sell new car models that are WiTricity capableChallengesBarriers to Market Entry Although the WiTricity technology is great, and the prodigy is an amazing device, the prodigy can only transfer electric energy within several meters. In order to charge tesla cars from distance, we need to invest in the device to improve the performance ("Prodigy F.A.
Q.s", 2013) The project loon has just started experimenting June, 2013. Thus the project is still an on-going process so it will take time to actually implement the distance charging system. (Project Loon, 2013)Cultural AspectsResistance to change and learning new driving technology is a wide spread issue among people of older generations. Changing the method of transportation with the use of technology we expect to see the same resistance to change as when the first cars become available as opposed to horses for transportation. Our new car with WiTricity distant charging system will be different from our current line of products.
The target will be relatively lower income people than our current customers. Therefore it will be necessary to use a different marketing strategy.Legal AspectsThis project will create a new trend in the car industry, it is predicted that some lobbying will be made by large petroleum companies. One of the examples of lobbying by oil and gas industries is the changed regulations on gas emission in Canada last year (McCarthy, 2013). There are some conferences being held for people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity ("Electromagnetic fields and public health", 2012). There are some areas in the world where all radio transmissions are restricted ("National Radio Quiet Zone", 2013).
These organizations might be against the project loon in the United States in the future. Although project loon has already started launching balloons in the sky above 10-20 km high, the international laws for airspace allows a country to control its airspace within 100 km above from its land. Therefore, if there are some countries against the project loon, it will be hard to implement the WiTricity distant charge system.Current Performance Evaluation About Tesla Motors is a new automotive company which is specializing in electric transportation and solar charging. Our company was founded in 2003, is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and currently employs more than 2000 people ("About Tesla").
The infrastructure of the company includes 31 stores and service locations and has accomplished putting vehicles on the road in 37 countries ("About Tesla").Tesla began production of our signature roadster and the backbone of our master plan in 2008, have been selling these models since then, and we have no began production of the Model S in 2012 with an expected 21,000 deliveries for 2013("Investors"). Deliveries for the Model X will begin in 2014("Investors"). From a corporate perspective we are a very new organization and have just began operations and it will take some time to show returns on our investments.
The Co-Founder & CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk made this statement in a 2006 blog post while still in the beginning stages of company development “My day job is running a space transportation company called SpaceX, but on the side I am the chairman of Tesla Motors and help formulate the business and product strategy with Martin and the rest of the team.I have also been Tesla Motor's primary funding source from when the company was just three people and a business plan.” (Musk). In seven years our company has grown from three people to a new international standard in vehicles.
The master plan that was birthed and overall strategic direction Tesla is aimed at is the follow: Our current master plan is:1. Build sports car 2. Use that money to build an affordable car 3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car 4. While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options (Musk)
