Rivian CEO lives in a small bubble

Can you imagine having this little knowledge on the one product that you produce?

Yep. Gas vehicles killed the EV over 100 years ago. I don’t see any material change in the near future.

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I had an interesting conversation with a car salesmen. I plan to buy the cybertruck when it becomes available.

He said don’t buy. Lease.

I always buy my cars but I think he had a good point. Rv technology is rapidly advancing. In 3-5 years it may be radically better.

So for now leading may be a better option

I never lease and I tend to keep cars for a decade or longer. But you’re presumably wealthier than I am, so go for it. Be our test market.

My wife wants the KIA Telluride EV when it is available.
We are thinking the same thing, lease not buy, even though that goes against fiscal common sense.

Leasing works for people who want a new car every few years and will always have a car payment. You get more bang for your buck. I buy and hold for 10 years.

His point was electric cars are not mature enough to own for ten years.

I’m not saying he’s right but it did make me think.

100% agree with you.
Our issue is do we really want to keep if for 10 years if we don’t like it?
And we don’t want to make a long term investment on the 1st iteration of new tech.

His point was that in 5 years battery life might double and they may drive themselves.

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Excellent point.

That was his point. If you look at teslas. They’ve had jumps in technology every few years. Eventually it’ll slow down and his thought is that is when you buy.

You have to look at Teslas (and any EV) different than regular vehicles, but also different that every day tech.
We lease our computers at work and replace them every three years.

They need to find a way to make the replacement batteries cheaper.
Also, I am not sure anyone could have dreamt up a battery for 120,000 miles in less than a year and a half.

My understanding is that charging at supercharger stations wears down the batteries faster. I do it only when travelling. 120K miles is a lot in 15 months. I’m at 30ish months and maybe 30K miles or fewer.

I get that. The Tesla batteries are guaranteed for 8 years. I may be retired by the time mine dies. It’s certainly a technology that is rapidly evolving.

That might never truly “become available”. IT’s 4 year later than Musk promised, it will cost a shitload more than Musk said it would, and he has said that Tesla has “dug it’s own grave” with the cybertruck and while it is supposed to “be released” by November 30, that’s just to soothe his ego…he can say he delivered them. But he has said that “mass production” won’t begin until 2025. So he can claim it was delivered, then cancel the project.

8 years or 120,000 miles. Not sure if this guy’s battery was in warranty.

I don’t see it being canceled. It serves an important role In their product mix.

What role…the icon for missed deadlines? If Elon is this financial genius, is he willing to take a loss on the cybertruck, which I think he will. I think that there is so much that is going to make that thing expensive after the fact. The stainless steel body is going to make insurance rates sky high, the acquisition costs are already going up from what he claimed it would be, and I don’t think any body shop is going to want to touch it if it gets in a fender bender. It’s kind of odd that he would describe this important part of their product mix as “digging their own grave”.