Elon Musk is neither the first nor the only visionary with the ambition to create a new car brand for a fossil-free future. However, he is the one who succeeded the best.
But what happens when the dream doesn’t go as planned? Here are three electric car manufacturers whose ambitions crashed, despite lofty visions. What they all have in common is that a critical flaw in the plan meant that they never achieved success.
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Better Place – groundbreaking but unsustainable
Better Placewith its headquarters in the promised land of electric cars California but with operations mainly in Israel, wanted to create a whole new ecosystem for electric cars. The focus was on battery replacements instead of charging, with particularly large investments in Israel and Denmark.
It is the same type of investment that Chinese Nio is now making.
The problem? Almost no car manufacturers wanted to adapt their models to the system. Only Renault took the plunge with its Fluence ZE. Drivers paid a monthly fee that was often sky-high, and the battery exchange stations were often too far apart.
The vision was impressive but impractical. Already in 2013, six years after the start, the company went bankrupts,
Renault was early with battery changes. (Photo: Renault)Coda Automotive – a Chinese fiasco
Coda Automotive was also based in California but built its own cars, based on the Chinese Hafei Saibao III. Despite design from legendary Pininfarina and technology from Mitsubishi Lancer, the model was not a success.
The car could not compete with competitors such as the Nissan Leaf, and only 117 copies were sold. The majority were also recalled due to problems with airbags. Bankruptcy came quickly, and Coda remains one of the automotive world’s more unknown brands.
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Dyson Electric – when premium wasn’t enough
Dyson, known for its vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, tried its hand at the electric car market with a luxury model. Their car had a massive 150kWh battery, a range of nearly 100 miles and a design so minimalistic it almost felt sterile.
But with a price tag of 1.5 million kroner and a design that reminded a little too much of the company’s vacuum cleaners, Dyson realized it wouldn’t work. The project was shut down in 2017, and the company was instead able to continue dominating its core areas.
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Vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson had plans to enter the world of electric cars. (Photo: Dyson)Ahead of its time or doomed to fail?
Better Place, Coda and Dyson all share one thing: big dreams that never came true. Yet their ideas live on. Nio has picked up the battery-swapping technology, and Chinese brands like MG are showing that price-pressured electric cars can find their audience.
If the future means vacuum cleaners and electric cars from the same company? That remains to be seen. For Tesla, however, one thing has been clear – the road to success is anything but simple.