An Experience with Tesla Motors

The Introduction

I had the pleasure of walking into Tesla Motors a few weeks ago and felt compelled to write an article, recounting my experience. You might ask yourself, “Why this is relevant to the electronic cigarette industry?”, and I would like to direct you to the Gold Seal eJuice mission statement for a moment:

“To develop and offer innovative products and services that improves the lives of our customers, employees, and their families. To employ and foster entrepreneurial personalities who creatively expand our offerings to benefit the well-being of others.” – Gold Seal eJuice

This to me speaks volumes about our vision and I suspect we have similarities to Tesla’s objectives as well.
The CEO and Head Product Architect of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, has made numerous announcements and presentations regarding the technological innovations of their Model S, and I’ve had the pleasure of viewing them. This made me extremely enthusiastic to experience the car first hand. Prior to me walking through the doors of their showroom, I decided to rid myself of any preconceived ideas about the electric car industry and see what Tesla Motors had to offer in person. I do remember thinking about how exciting it would be if even half of what I had viewed regarding this company would be a reality.

These are the following points of what I believed that day, before I walked through the doors:

1. Electric cars had become viable and had a range worth using.
2. The reliability of the Tesla Motors cars had a tremendous reputation.
3. Tesla Motors had revolutionized the whole experience of purchasing a new car.
4. The Model S had achieved the highest safety rating in the history of testing in the USA.
5. The car looked even more amazing in person – that was an understatement!
6. They had created a vehicle that had a much smaller environmental footprint.

My trip started with driving up to Tesla Motors located at 1325 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto. I walked into Tesla’s show room, which had those impressive glass sliding doors, and the first thing I saw was a Model S with only the frame, battery packs and basic components. They had conveniently removed the body and other components of the car  to allow you to “see under the hood”, but instead you could literally see the whole car frame and internals. It was pretty incredible how simple the car looked, when understanding the incredible statistics posted about the cars performance.

It was at that point I was greeted by a gentleman named Saad Anwar. He had a big smile and immediately projected a tremendous amount of knowledge, confidence, and love for their products. This is where the experience started to deviate away from a traditional car shopping experience. Right from the beginning Saad did not project the intentions of a traditional car sales person. He spent a great deal of time to get to know me and discover what I was looking for – gauging whether a Model S was the right fit for me. We discussed Elon Musk and Tesla’s vision about the future of the company and why they look at car manufacturing from a whole new perspective. Most importantly, we discussed their concerns of environmental impact and improving the driver experience – driving can be made more pleasurable, while being much more safe and easier on the environment.

• How often do you sit in a dealership and discuss the CEO’s vision for the company, while also being educated on the whole manufacturing history of the vehicle?
• How often does the dealership staff even know what the vision of the company is, let alone actually get excited about working towards those goals?

I was instantly impressed with Saad’s conversation and knew in my heart this was a company I wanted to support.

After we both agreed a Tesla Motors vehicle would be a good fit for me, he invited me to sit in the Model S so he could explain all of the outstanding features of the car. There are many online reviews of the vehicle and I invite you to read their online brochure to get many more details. The following features really stood out for me:

1. The car has incredible room – at 6’2″ I normally feel extremely confined in most cars, but in this vehicle I felt right at home.
2. It had an incredibly large screen on the dash (17″) that controlled the vast majority of functions of the car.
3. One of the options in the vehicle that I really loved was the GPS navigation on this massive screen, complete with streaming music and full internet included for the life of the car.
4. The engine is built into the underside of the vehicle located between the 2 back wheels so the front compartment, hilariously called the “frunk”, can be used to carry additional cargo.
5. Finally, I really appreciated how sporty and classy the vehicle appeared.

Saad really knocked his presentation out of the park and knew that car inside and out. He made it a lot of fun with his kindness and motivation to spread what seemed to me as a revolution in the car industry. This experience is not unlike the last couple of years for myself and our own company – bringing a positive understanding to the benefits of using an electronic cigarette.

The parallels between the two markets are almost uncanny. I actually find it strange to be comparing a car manufacturer and an eJuice manufacturer, but the similarities are difficult to ignore.

Some examples:

1. Both companies’ business plans take a traditional set of ideologies and approach the problem from completely different perspectives.
2. Both companies used pre-existing technologies in a more innovative way to reach a solution.
3. Both companies are competing with large multinational corporations who have control of the markets using older technologies that are unsustainable.
4. Both technologies are based on lithium ion batteries to avoid air pollution, unlike the combustion of fossil fuel engines and traditional tobacco cigarettes.
5. Both companies have highly ethical goals with the intention of benefiting the world and it’s population.
6. Both companies discovered a cheaper to maintain, safer, and more efficient means of achieving their respective goals in there respective industries.

Overall, at this point I was extremely impressed and enthusiastic with the experience and service and I was ready to get behind the wheel and find out if all the hype about this car was actually true.

The Test Drive

On the highway the test drive was truly an experience because I have never driven a car that felt so different yet so natural. The first thing you notice is the car is almost completely silent. With no combustion engine roaring in the background it takes upon an almost space-like feeling. It also has an extreme amount of torque to the point where even going 100 kilometers per hour, if I wanted to pass someone the pickup was almost instantaneous. I thought the large screen in the dash would be distracting but in fact it’s not. At a quick glance I could look over and see exactly where I was and how far my next exit was. This gave me an easy way to pre-plan my next moves without the sudden surprise of having to move back and forth between lanes. Saad, through the whole experience, was extremely patient as I asked questions I’m sure he’s heard and answered a million times.

We continued with the test drive by driving in the city, I was initially a bit nervous because of the value of the car. I think I said a few times how I didn’t want to be “that guy” and damage anything. One thing you notice instantly is when you let go of the accelerator the car begins to break itself and recharge the battery from that energy. This was a very clever way of increasing the range of the car and utilizing energy that’s often lost in a traditional gasoline design. This honestly took a few minutes to get used to and it is, however, hilariously discussed on Tesla’s forums as the little competitions that go on between owners of the model S – they compete for how far they can go without using the break whatsoever. Once I got the hang of it I felt driving with this style was as natural as driving my regular fuel car.

The other thing you really appreciate about the car is the incredible handling. We had an opportunity to drive around town at regular speeds pulling tight turns and feeling the incredibly smooth ride. It’s pretty impressive that a car that weighs 4800 pounds can handle so well – I bet because of the weight it will deal with the winter weather a lot better as well.

Finally, when you initially see the cut away of the car and see the relatively small size of the motor in the back you can’t help but wonder how it can provide enough power. My mind was completely put to rest when I was able to experience the extreme amount of torque and power at the push of the pedal. With almost no lag time between the accelerator and the instant burst of speed I almost felt cheated all these years driving a traditionally fueled vehicle.

When we finally arrived back at the show room I was surprised to find out that he was not a sales person at all but rather an adviser of knowledge and understanding of the vehicles. The car was actually to be purchased directly from Tesla as they do not use a franchises dealership system. Let me be absolutely clear on this: Tesla’s dealerships are not dealerships at all but instead corporately owned showrooms there to answer questions and let you test drive the car, not to directly sell you a vehicle. They are happy to fill out all the details on Tesla’s website but you actually buy the car directly from the manufacturer online. It is the factory in California that they build your vehicle directly to order cutting out the middleman and associated profits margins the franchise dealerships usually receive. Because of this process there was also no tedious (and overly concerning) negotiations at all. You simply picked your features and options, left your deposit online and that was it.

My Purchase

They have even arranged delivery directly to my home on the day of actually getting the vehicle in January of 2015. I could have had car built and received it much sooner, but chose to wait until January to get a 2015 model. Also the car receives software upgrades via the internet, conveniently connected to the car. This keeps my vehicle up to date as new features become available over the life of the vehicle. Lastly, everyone pays the same price whether you are staff or customer in order to have the most balanced pricing system possible.

Tesla also believes that the best service for their vehicles has to do with not having to service their vehicles at all. The meaning behind this was very clear. The frame is built out of all aluminum with a titanium plate under the car protecting the battery pack. An extremely high quality battery pack and motor soon to be built at California’s Giga factory is standard. The motor is rated for over a million kilometers and the frame will never rust. Finally there are very few parts in the car itself, lending to simplicity and the obvious benefits of a reduced number of elements that can go wrong.

The Financials

When I first started discussing the cost of the vehicle I was a bit surprised on how much it cost upfront. However, once I actually ran the numbers and looked at how much I was saving over the life of the car in government rebates, no more purchasing gasoline, an almost complete lack of needed maintenance, it started to make a lot of sense. I have asked Saad if he can help me break this down a bit with more technical information.

This is all operating under the assumption that you never use the FREE Tesla super chargers available all across North America or take advantage of the popular website www.plugshare.com.

Depending on the options and choices you make with the vehicle the range of cost is pretty wide but when you amortize the life of 10 years on the vehicle to include the following things you can pretty easily justify the monthly payment.

1. Extremely low maintenance costs over the life of the car.
2. Extremely low consumable costs to actually power the car with electricity.
3. The car was actually cheaper to insure then a regular 15k sub compact.
4. I am going to market my business on the vehicle to write off a portion of the car.
5. The amazing access to GPS, internet and phone connection via Bluetooth is incredibly convenient.
6. Comparing this to driving a car of similar features and performance worked out to be much cheaper.
7. I will be completely immune to rising gas prices over the course of the next decade.

This was an incredible package from my perspective and it took me very little time to make a decision. I feel that supporting Tesla’s vision is an important step in building towards long term sustainable transport. There are numerous cost savings and benefits to owning the vehicle as well as there is definitely a factor of driving a nice car.

What can Gold Seal learn from Tesla?

We live in very fascinating times as many people are starting to challenge traditional ideologies across many different types of markets. What have long been the traditional view points on how to go about things are now clearly changing.

1. Knowledge of your market, products, and services is paramount.
2. Finding great employees who can represent your brand and bring about understanding to clients sets a company up for success.
3. Just because something has been done the same way for a long time does not necessarily make it the best choice or that it can’t be improved.
4. The vision a company projects to the public should not just be something kept in the organization but instead should flow through your employees and allow your customers to understand it.
5. When you have a great product, selling it is easy. Especially when the staff have the passion and understanding of why it’s a great product.
6. It is possible to make a product that is better in almost every way and bring about even greater value to the customer in the process.

Overall, a fantastic experience and I will highly recommend the staff and business practices over at Tesla Motors, Lawrence Avenue East. I wish their company the greatest success as I think their vision and ambitions are something we here at Gold Seal appreciate and can all support. I also want to give special thanks to Saad Anwar for his professionalism. I never thought someone could make my car buying experience so much fun. I can’t wait to be a proud owner of a Tesla Model S!

My passion for the innovative technology and vision inspired by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors is also shared by my niece, whom is also an aspiring writer. I’m going to leave you with this short article that Emily has written about Elon Musk and how his contributions have helped change our world for the better. Enjoy!

The Man Who Is Changing the World
by Emily Bendell

August 19, 2014

What would you change, if you could change the world?  Elon Musk’s answer was to create something that ran off of renewable energy, only.  Tesla Motors Company helped him achieve his answer, and he is now changing the world, but how did it all begin?  Read below to discover how.

On June 28, 1971, in Pretoria South Africa, world famous billionaire, Elon Musk, was born. Musk owned his first computer at age ten and began displaying great intelligence with this electronic device.  After learning and experimenting different things with his computer, twelve-year-old Musk invented a computer game called “Blastar” and sold the code for the game for $500!  This computer game is where his love for creating began.

After graduating Waterkloof House Preparatory elementary school, then graduating Pretoria Boys High School, Musk moved to Canada after obtaining Canadian citizenship from his mother, who was originally born there.  When seventeen-year-old Musk arrived in Canada, he attended Queens University of Kingston, Ontario, and continued to attend Queens for two more years.  Musk then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Physics, then remained for one more year to receive a bachelor’s degree in Economics.  At the age of twenty-four, Musk moved to California to attend Stanford University, only to drop out two days after arriving to begin his entrepreneurial dream to change the world by inventing a product that uses renewable energy.  How did this tenacious man fulfill his vision?  Musk achieved his goal by becoming the CEO and chief product architect of the world-changing, marvelous, original, Tesla Motors, in addition to his other companies SpaceX and Solar City.

Tesla Motors is one of the finest, modern companies which designs and constructs cars that run only on renewable energy or low carbon foot print electricity. It has been proven when you manufacture the electricity at a power plant it puts a lot less pollution into the atmosphere per kilometer then burning gasoline to travel the same distance. The current Tesla Motors car is called the Tesla Model S, which is sold for a range of 60 to 150K depending on options. These advanced, environmental cars do not contaminate our Earth’s precious air, there is very little maintenance and the car does not rust.  To top it all off, it is not impacted at all by expensive gas prices.

Because of all the effort Elon Musk has demonstrated to fulfill his entrepreneurial dream, he was rewarded with not just millions of dollars, but also been kindly listed as one of Time magazine’s Top 100 people who have changed the world in 2010, and, as one of the most influential people of the 21^st century, according to Esquire Magazine.  Elon Musk’s tenacious work, incredible intelligence and world-changing dream is helping improve this polluted world drastically, and will continue to do so.  Now ask yourself again, how would you change the world?