Audi is fighting Tesla to the death, and the electric car industry is entering the eve of dawn

With its eye-catching appearance, outstanding performance, and innovative pure electric power unit, Tesla is almost a unique presence in the automotive field with its exclusive product positioning space.

Of course, there are always competitors in the market. In addition to the direct competition between the popular BMW i series and Tesla Model S, Audi, one of the century-old car companies, is also ready to launch a pure electric SUV to compete with Tesla Model X.

With electrical components replacing mechanical transmission, electric vehicles now seem more like a part of the high-tech intelligent category. Looking at the current development of electric vehicles and the waves caused by Tesla, this new form of thing can bring more inspiration to the industry itself.

A good entry point is half the success of a product

People often describe Tesla as the second "Apple". Looking closely at the most outstanding products of the two companies, this expectation is not without reason.

The first brand that Apple will be affected by is bound to be the iPhone. If we go back to before 2007, a brand that people might think would subvert the mobile phone industry might be BlackBerry, Motorola, or Nokia, but absolutely few people would think of Apple.

Apple is not the inventor of the smartphone, and the iPhone is not Apple's first product. The beauty of this is that when people are tired of handheld devices that are full of buttons and have no aesthetic appeal, a device with a touch screen comes at the right time.

The same is true for Tesla. The popular Model S is not Tesla's first product, and there are many electric cars on the market.

But before the emergence of Model S, the situation was that electric cars had a mediocre appearance, and their power and endurance performance were unsatisfactory, which was very different from the image of electric cars as postmodern means of transportation with sharp shapes and agile acceleration that people imagined. This image ultimately belonged to the Model S.

Tesla was extremely lucky to do the right thing at the right time, and it further magnified the advantages of its products at the right time and place, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

Veterans are no match for new recruits

Faced with the increasingly fierce electric vehicle market, traditional car manufacturers will naturally not be willing to be bystanders. The arrival of a large number of Audi electric vehicles is called by the industry as a major challenge that Tesla will face.

In Audi's new car list, in addition to the pure electric SUV that will compete with Tesla Model X in the future, the flagship model R8 E-Tron will use the sports car concept to seize the market with Model S.

But the Germans are honest after all. Although the R8 E-Tron is expected to have a range of 450km, in terms of power performance, Audi only used the word "close" to Tesla. Faced with the excellent algorithm of Model S for battery management, the century-old car company also felt the pressure from the new forces.

In fact, it is not accurate to call Tesla a new force. As early as 2008, Tesla's first pure electric sports car, Tesla Roadster, was already on the road. By 2010, more than 1,200 Roadsters were produced and sold to 28 countries and regions around the world. This achievement has long surpassed many powerful automobile manufacturers in the field of pure electric vehicles, not to mention that Tesla Roadster had firmly grasped the "supercar" performance of breaking 100 in 3.7 seconds that year.

If we take into account the time point when a group of American technology engineers founded Tesla together in 2003, it is no surprise that Tesla has gained such a high reputation in the pure electric vehicle industry. You know, the Swedish "Ghost" Koenigsegg, which is currently among the world's top supercars and costs over 100 million yuan, is only about 10 to 20 years old.

Of course, Tesla's accumulation does not stop there. It has independently developed an in-vehicle operating system. The graphically operated touch-screen center console shaped like a "large iPad" is not only the most eye-catching part of the vehicle for consumers and users, but also the core essence of a device that uses electricity as its main driving force, which means it has mastered core technologies.

Fortunately, in this regard, Google's "Open Automotive Alliance" and Apple CarPlay are expected to be of great help to many traditional car companies. Even though Audi's own MMI car system is not easy to use, it is no longer a new thing to run a score with the new Audi TT equipped with NVIDIA Tegra chip.

Customs and supporting facilities are blocked at the last minute

The dual advantages of technology and timing make Tesla look confident, but product research and development and production and how to deliver products to consumers are two completely different things. For Tesla, this can be said to be a world of uncertainty.

According to recent reports, a Tesla owner who was among the first to reserve a car but has yet to receive it said that he received a notice from Tesla China Sales at noon on June 18 that when the Model S he reserved was clearing customs at Tianjin Port, it was discovered that the customs declaration number and the frame number did not match, and the vehicle had been detained at customs.

Distinct order numbers need to be returned to the US headquarters for re-declaration, which takes at least three weeks to re-enter the country. By this calculation, it is estimated that the earliest the car can be delivered to the owner is the middle of next month. Compared with Tesla’s previous delivery commitments, this is obviously unacceptable to Chinese consumers. For Tesla, which is not easy to buy, many users have chosen to return the car early.

In addition, the lack of supporting facilities also hinders the pace of electric vehicles entering domestic roads.

Tesla founder Musk hopes that the relevant charging equipment will be ready when the vehicles are delivered to customers, but this is obviously difficult to do for a brand that has just entered such a vast market in China.

In contrast, the situation is much better for traditional automobile brands whose domestic marketing network layout is relatively complete. Although it is still difficult to make electric vehicle charging stations as popular as gas stations, it is definitely easier to achieve designated popularization in each city than Tesla's "luxury-style" sales model.

Especially for domestic automobile brands with strong strength such as Audi, allowing a large number of electric vehicles to enter the domestic market requires much more experience and strategy than the fledgling Tesla.

Electric vehicle development: technology is not the deciding factor

There is no doubt that Tesla is a cool company with strong technical support and the ability to create very cutting-edge products.

But what is also presented to us is that after excellent products gain market recognition, how to truly enter people's lives will encounter twists and turns again.

European auto giants have already made the initial move to compete with Tesla in the electric vehicle market, and Japanese auto brands, which have always been known for their high technology, are also increasingly turning their attention to hybrid power, which is easier to integrate into reality.

Tesla’s domestic experience is more like a new case of testing new technology. For the development and popularization of electric vehicles, we need to consider more after technology and research and development.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.