Company that put gas engines in Teslas goes bankrupt owing $37 million
electrek.co
Obrist, the Austrian firm that put gas and methanol range extenders in Tesla Model 3 and Model Y prototypes, is bankrupt with about $37 million in debt.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s a dumber idea than putting rocket thrusters on a car…

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    321·
    1 day ago

    FWIW, it was a janky range extender rather than a full combustion drivetrain. Effectively turning the Model 3 into a plug-in (series) hybrid.

    It’s not the worst idea in itself - EREVs are very much a thing that meets some people’s needs. But trying to retrofit an existing Model 3 into one seems difficult, complicated, unreliable, and most importantly, expensive. All to make it happen on a brand that heavily markets that they are electric only. On top of that, they chose the cheaper “affordable” model instead of the luxury model, meaning would-be consumers are going to be much more price-conscious.

    If it wouldn’t expose their incompetence in a competitive (and well-established) marketplace, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Musk pivot to fossil.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
      182·
      23 hours ago

      It was a dumb idea because range anxiety was a complete fabrication of the auto media. IRL, Tesla owners didn’t need more range. No demand = no money.

      • MagicPterodactyl@lemmy.ml
        9·
        22 hours ago

        Right, I feel like the only person who would buy this is someone who has never had an EV, wants one, but is also scared of range anxiety. This person would also have to be willing to spend a huge amount of money on an unreliable, poorly built car. I don’t think that person exists.

        Anyone who has owned an EV will tell you how much range is not a big deal. The only time I think about it is when I’m planning a road trip, but I don’t think most people are doing that often.

  • saltesc@lemmy.world
    171·
    1 day ago

    I have no idea who their market was… Literally, I cannot fathom a person into cars, ICEs, and Teslas. You can be into two of those things—though being into cars and Teslas is a stretch—but not all three. It’s impossible.

    Car enthusiast: Thinks Teslas are disasterous at basic car things. But understands being an EV is at least something it has going for it.

    ICE enthusiast: Always prefers reduction of unnecessary tech and likes the traditional rawness. But understands electric motors definitely do outperform in many things these days.

    Tech enthusiast: Prefers the gadgetry above all else. Little concern for the vehicle part, and ICEs are for meatheads.

    Then there’s all the modern cars out there covering all of these people already. Maxxing out the 2/3 things, making them a perfect choice.

  • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
    5·
    1 day ago

    Well duh. Who on Earth was going to pay stupid money to buy a car from the most (in)famously overpriced electric car brand just to put an ICE in there??

    It’d genuinely be like buying an IPhone just to immediately put Android on it. Like it defies the premise of buying the thing in the first place.

    • People who like ICE cars would surely just buy a fancy ICE car for that price.

    • People who like electric cars wouldn’t be putting an ICE in there in the first place, and would also probably just buy a better electric for that price.

    • And the people specifically into Teslas wouldn’t want to rip their brand new car apart to install an ICE, because part of the brand of Tesla IS the electrification.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      20 hours ago

      According the their original article apparently the plan wasn’t to pay for a full price car then donan expensive modification - but was supposed to be cheaper to manufacturer them that way in the first place.

      Not sure wtf they were thinking, since that’s now how the real world works. Like Tesla would ever be like “Oh here you go, here’s a partially finished car from our assembly line. Go ahead and do what you want with it and resell it.”