There is a great deal of mythology about Tesla cars. They are the world’s most recognisable EV, almost talismanic. Its influence is far beyond the facts. But the hype around Tesla is out of all proportion to its actual standing.

They are not the first, no longer good value, and certainly not the best design. This is why.

Tesla, Musk and EV Auto mythology

Before we get to design, here are a few salient facts about Tesla. It’s the largest auto manufacturer by market capitalisation, but only the 14th biggest in delivering cars. Tesla being worth 10 times more than the most important car manufacturer, Toyota, is out of all proportion to reality.

Speaking of Toyota, they are so good at assembling (not making) cars that the USA automakers sent the best auto research team, at MIT, to Japan to find out why they were so good, and their research was published in the book: The Machine the Changed the World. Discussed in this column here.

Tesla was founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors. Elon Musk joined as an investor and chairman of the board a year later, but a filing in 2009 allows him to be identified as a co-founder.

Musk has a mercurial ability as a booster and funder, but what we know of Musk’s design sensibility is one of the company’s downsides.

Musk's high profile as a Trump-supporting tech bro has made him into Tesla incarnate. Hence the bumper stickers added by left-leaning environmentally sensitive drivers to cars are now indelibly linked to its extreme right-wing proponent.

The design of Teslas

The first Tesla, designed when Musk joined the company, was a roadster, designed in collaboration with Lotus. Perfect for Musk’s then demographic of the wild, high-life Californian tech bro.

Over 2000 of the high-performance sports cars were made, including some right-hand drive ones for Australia. Tesla recalled as many as they could. With outstanding performance figures, it was still a Lotus.

The next iteration of Tesla, model S, was again designed for Musk’s evolving demographic. Limousines for California's highways. Sleek, slick, and smooth aerodynamic forms for high-speed executive saloons.

This becomes Tesla's big design problem. All its cars (including the later X, Y and 3) are designed primarily to compete with Beemers and Mercs, a niche for the wealthy, status-conscious upper middle class.

They don’t have a car desired by the general car-buying public here and overseas: the sports utility vehicles, or SUVs, cars with flexibility of use, and utilities (more on Tesla’s failure in these soon).

In his design approach, Musk tries to dictate what he wants the market to adopt. By contrast, the Chinese, now almost exclusively making EVs, look to what the market wants. Their brands, BYD, GWM, Geely and more, make a wide range of roomy SUVs and big utes, increasingly called by the USA term 'pickups'.

Tesla was early to the market and well promoted; it was widely adopted after being subsidised in Norway (but poorly suited to the snowy climate) and in Hong Kong as taxis (the purpose-designed SUVs are far better). However, that early entry is part of its decline, as it punted on a niche car shape that’s too big outside and too inflexible inside.

Is Musk a design genius?

By measure of the car he had most to do with, the Cybertruck, he's a design clod. Its sharp angular form is both dysfunctional and ugly. A car designed to shield the autocrat from the presumed baying mob.

The Cybertruck faced issues with body panels and adhesive failures. The Edsel of our time (if you're too young to know what that is, look up Unsafe at Any Speed).

And Teslas have a litany of other design issues. Summarised by one commentator as "The overarching problem of Tesla's design philosophy is that it doesn't try to improve the driver's experience.” There are websites devoted to Tesla’s issues.

The single central large screen, drawing the driver's eye line away from the road, is often thought impractical, if not semi-dangerous. The lack of a traditional instrument cluster (the binnacle) limits information.

Most other EVs have a traditional arrangement, or heads-up displays (projected onto the windscreen), in the line of sight.

Added to that, the removal of physical stalks and buttons for functions like wipers, turn signals, and HVAC forces a reliance on that screen, creating safety concerns. And cold weather drastically reduces range, often by 50% or more, and causes issues with door handles and wipers.

The flush door handles are electronically activated, trapping people inside the car when the electronics reputedly fail to open in emergencies when 12-volt power dies or in freezing conditions, prompting NHTSA investigations. Some markets are banning non-mechanical door handles.

The build quality and sealing in early models had issues with water entering the cabin air intake and condensation issues. There were reports of ‘whompy wheels’: rear suspension links failed, causing the wheels to collapse.

Is there an upside to Tesla?

Despite all that, Tesla pioneered great technology: well-resolved batteries, transformers, controllers, and drive systems. But the technology has failed to be updated as quickly as the Chinese.

They were not first to the mass market; that was the Nissan Leaf, inexplicably taken up with greater alacrity in New Zealand but not here. As an aside, I will mention that much of the technology (batteries, controllers, and motors) I used in my DIY cars is taken from the Nissan Leaf.

Tesla’s great public service was the installation of fast chargers, installed before any others came to the market. And they were more powerful than the later ones, 150 kW in contrast to the 50-60 kW of Ampol, Chargefox, Evie, Exploren and NRMA (with its woeful app).

The best Tesla design components are the chargers: simple, beautifully structured, and better than any of the competitors'. It’s a relief that some Tesla charges are now available to non-Teslas. That's a good part of the story.

Where does Tesla go from here?

Tesla's market share is dwindling, as some buyers react to Musk, but more so because there are more EVs better made, cheaper, with more practical features, and superior software and sensors.

But its market cap is climbing. A car crash is imminent. Trump is railing against the rise of the Chinese EVs, swamping the MAGA favourite EV that he once tried to sell on the front lawn of the White House. And Musk is sticking, no matter watt!

Cross-Sections are Friday musings from Tone Wheeler, formerly of Tone on Tuesday. Amateurs draw plans, professionals draw sections – never at cross purposes

Tone Wheeler

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