We all know that electric vehicles are definitely better than traditional combustion engines for many reasons including the lower maintenance cost, little to no dependence on fossil fuels, little to no pollution and also has the potential to reduce green house gas emission. But your electric vehicles still produce little emissions that do not have major pollutants like that of combustion engines. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted depends on the emission intensity of the power sources used to charge the vehicle. Charging a vehicle using renewable energy (Wind energy, solar energy, etc.) yields very low carbon foot-print when compared to other power sources. This means using the power from local grid to charge your electric vehicle will still lead to a comparatively high amounts of CO2 emission.
Tesla allows it's customers to use their network of super charging stations to charge their cars. The customer can also buy a charging dashboard to be installed in the home garage. This is the part where Tesla really makes us believe that it is a purpose driven company. It utilizes this opportunity to add solar panels to their product line. Yes, you read it write. Tesla produces and sells solar panels.
You might have guessed by now, Tesla uses resources to build it's solar powered super charging stations. This means that all Tesla cars on road are electric and they are recharged using solar power. The retail version of Tesla Super chargers come with solar panels that power the super charger.
Tesla also went onto run their entire Giga factory in Nevada with solar power. In fact Tesla's Giga factory is the largest factory in terms of foot print ever to run completely in solar power. This whole road map involving sustainable energy makes Tesla more and more appealing to the general public. Not to forget that Elon Musk also owns SolarCity, a start-up selling solar panels.
Tesla also has the brand's leverages in a lot of ways. For example, when Tesla came into the industry it wasn't simply about building a amazing electric car, it was also about creating an environment in which it would be successful. Tesla clearly has got this right by creating a huge environment with products that have relevance to each other, for example super chargers, solar panels, etc..). Sometimes, critics think Tesla's business model is chaotic but it's brilliant. Tesla has successfully made it's customers feel that they are also part of the master plan in driving the transition towards sustainable energy. Tesla now sells their patented components to it's competitors. This was really shocking to know when Tesla is starting to gain market share in the EV segment. Tesla is less concerned about competitors capturing market share than building the market and creating scale that will reduce the costs.
References and sources:
www.google.com/images
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_aspects_of_the_electric_car
https://www.quora.com/Where-do-Tesla-charging-stations-get-their-electricity
https://www.greenoptimistic.com/tesla-gigafactory-solar-roof-largest-20170117/
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2017/dec/25/how-green-are-electric-cars
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