Why Does Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Still Need Government Subsidies?

In a column critical of the way Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) does business, The American Spectator’s Eric Peters questions why the company still needs subsidies from the U.S. government.

If the cars the company produces are so great, the columnist writes, why don’t people just buy the car without getting other peoples’ money to do so? He says he has a problem helping someone buy a $60,000 car as it’s clearly not for the poor.

“While the Tesla is indeed slick, its quickness is extremely short-lived if used. It has the capability to reach 60 MPH in just over 3 seconds. But it does not have the capability to do so more than a handful of times before you run the battery pack to ‘empty’,” Peters wrote in the disapproving piece.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has long touted a range of about 275 miles for the Tesla. However, Peters says that people need to actually drive the car like a Toyota Corolla and not like a Porsche 911 to achieve such range.Furthermore, Peters also writes of what he believes is a fair metaphor for the Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) cars’ battery and charging.

“What, after all, is the point of paying $60k-plus for a car with excellent performance which you can realistically use only every now and again? Imagine if Porsche 911s came with a one-gallon fuel tank — which you had to refill using a syringe,” he writes.

He adds that to get the range Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) promises for its car, one would have to drive as if an egg was under the accelerator pedal without overtaking any vehicle in front and keeping it in the 55 to 60 miles per hour.

Peters said that Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla needs subsidies from the U.S. government because “his cars are unsalable on their merits.”

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shareholders includes Patrick Mccormack’s Tiger Consumer Management which reported owning 463,789 shares in the company by the end of the second quarter.