Tesla exec calls other automakers' EVs 'little more than appliances'

A Tesla executive dismissed competitors like the Nissan Leaf, Kia Soul EV, BMW i3 and Chevrolet Spark EV as "little more than appliances,” according to Automotive News.

“Now, appliances are useful. But they tend to be white. They tend to be unemotional," Diarmuid O’Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development, said Tuesday at CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Michigan. 

Specifically, O’Connell believes EVs from other brands don't offer enough range and cost too much.

Granted, O’Connell made similar comments last year, when he likened other mass-market EVs to 'compliance' cars built to meet regulations rather than affect a meaningful change in the marketplace. Although this is not a new attitude for O’Connell, this week's comments are nonetheless, as Dave Chappelle portraying Rick James would say, "cold blooded."

How I see it, O’Connell is taking one last jab at the competition before the flood of affordable, long-range EVs hit the market in the coming years, starting with the Chevy Bolt EV this fall. It's worth noting that Chevy will beat Tesla's Model 3 to the market with a mass-market, 200-mile-range EV by more than a year.

And, really, O’Connell barely has a leg to stand on, when it comes to accusing carmakers of producing EVs that are too expensive. Though it starts at $70,000, the average retail price of the Model S is above $100,000 — hardly accessible to the average American car buyer.

Still, though, he's not all wrong. The Nissan LEAF was compelling when it first launched in 2010. Now, not so much.