Electric shock of the new—How to be the next Tesla

A traffic jam of upstarts is vying to follow in Elon Musk’s tyre tracks. Does any stand a chance???

The final?hurdle?is flogging?the?vehicles to consumers.?The new EV-makers are mostly dispensing with traditional dealer networks in favour?of Tesla's model?of online sales backed up with shops to show off their?wares.?That still?leaves the challenge of creating?a servicing network if anything goes wrong.?Such networks, which car buyers have come to expect, can be as expensive?and tricky to scale up as manufacturing?is.?Mr Pacheco of Gartner notes that?even Tesla's is still?a work?in progress.?In America the big three Detroit carmakers have nearly 10,000 dealerships that will service cars;?Tesla has around 135.

hurdle??/?h??dl/ 1.（供人或馬在賽跑中跨越的）欄架，跨欄 ?His horse fell at the final hurdle. 他騎的馬在最后一個跨欄倒下了。 2. 跨欄賽?the 300 m hurdles 300米跨欄賽；3. 難關(guān)；障礙；4.~ (over) sth （奔跑中）跳越（某物）?He hurdled two barriers to avoid reporters. 他跳過了兩個障礙物以躲避記者。 2. 參加跨欄賽

Flog??v. /fl?ɡ/ 1.鞭笞，棒打（作為懲罰）?He was publicly flogged for breaking the country's alcohol laws. 他因違犯國家的酒法而被當(dāng)眾處以鞭刑。2.~ sth (to sb)~ sth (off) 出售（某物給某人）?She flogged her guitar to another student. 她把吉他賣給另一個同學(xué)。3. ?FLOG A DEAD ?HORSE 鞭策死馬；做徒勞無益的事；4?FLOG STH TO ?DEATH多次重復(fù)（想法、故事等）而使人失去興趣

Wares??n. [貿(mào)易] 商品；貨物

Many new firms won't get that far. Several have already suffered setbacks. Dyson,?a British firm better known for?vacuum-cleaners,?sank E500m($640m) into an EV?effort only to?conclude?in 2019 that it would never make money. The same year Nio?teetered?on the brink of bankruptcy until the?local?government in?its home?city of?Hefei?bailed?it out.?A bloodbath?awaits Chinas myriad smaller EV firms as they run out of?ideas and money.?Fisker is?a reborn version of a firm that went bankrupt in 2013.

Setback 挫折; 倒退?The move represents a setback for the Middle East peace process. 此舉意味著中東和平進程的倒退。

vacuum ?/?v?kju?m/ 名詞：1.真空??a vacuum pump；真空泵??vacuum-packed foods 真空包裝的食品。2.真空狀態(tài)；空白；空虛??His resignation has created a vacuum which cannot easily be filled. 他的引退造成了難以填補的空白。3.（用真空吸塵器所做的）清潔，清掃??to give a room a quick vacuum 用吸塵器把房間迅速清掃一下。4. in a ?vacuum與世隔絕；脫離實際??This kind of decision cannot ever be made in a vacuum. 這種決定絕不能脫離實際。名詞： 用真空吸塵器清掃??Have you vacuumed the stairs? 你用吸塵器清掃樓梯了嗎？

teeter ?v./?ti?t?(r)/搖晃；蹣跚行走；踉蹌；搖搖欲墜??She teetered after him in her high-heeled shoes. 她穿著高跟鞋一步三晃地跟在他后面走。

TEETER ON THE ?BRINK/?EDGE OF STH：處在（災(zāi)難或危險）的邊緣；瀕臨??The country is teetering on the brink of civil war. 這個國家正處在內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的邊緣。

bail out 1.(常通過提供資金) 幫助…擺脫困境??They will discuss how to bail the economy out of its slump. 他們將討論如何使經(jīng)濟走出低谷。2.?把…保釋出來??He has been jailed eight times. Each time, friends bailed him out. 他已經(jīng)蹲過八次監(jiān)獄。每次，朋友們都把他保釋出來。4.跳傘逃生?Reid was forced to bail out of the crippled aircraft.里德被迫從嚴(yán)重受損的飛機中跳傘逃生。

bloodbath ?n. /?bl?dbɑ?θ/大屠殺

myriad ?n./?m?ri?d/無數(shù)；大量?? Designs are available in a myriad of colours. 各種色彩的款式應(yīng)有盡有。

Attention, vehicles reversing

As the complicated reality of carmaking sets in,?the?hype?is?wearing off among investors (see chart 2).?Lordstown's value has fallen by 65% since peaking in February, after it lowered forecast production for?its?pick?up truck?and said it needed fresh funds.?Canoo's shares are worth less than half what they were when it went public?in December, owing to growing doubts about its business plan.

Hype /ha?p/（電視、廣播等中言過其實的）促銷廣告，促銷討論??marketing/media hype 夸張的促銷╱媒體廣告

wear off ?(藥性、感覺、感情等) 逐漸消失?? For many the philosophy was merely a fashion, and the novelty soon wore off對很多人而言這種哲學(xué)只是一時時髦，新鮮感很快就消失了。

?pick?up truck：輕型貨車

In short, notes Aakash Arora of BCG, a?consultancy, the new firms need to establish brands.?So far, he?says, only Tesla has done so .?It can take years to gain a reputation for reliable products, while capital burns like petrol put to?a spark. A new entrant?needs a trusted name, deep pockets and a proven ability to come up with clever tech. One company that has all those in spades?is Apple. The iPhone-maker has been working on an EV for several years.?The latest chatter is that it will have one in?production by the middle of the decade. Some of?its potential competitors will by then be well on the way to oblivion.

Entrant??n. /?entr?nt/ 1.新職員；新生；新會員；新成員??new women entrants to the police force 新加入警察部隊的女警察。2.參賽者（或動物）；考生

IN ?SPADES：大量；非常??He'd got his revenge now, and in spades. 現(xiàn)在他報了仇，毫不留情地報了仇。

Oblivion??n. /??bl?vi?n/ 1.無意識狀態(tài)；沉睡；昏迷??He often drinks himself into oblivion. 他常常喝酒喝得不省人事。 2. 被遺忘；被忘卻；湮沒??Most of his inventions have been consigned to oblivion. 他的大部分發(fā)明都湮沒無聞了。 3.被摧毀；被毀滅；被夷平?Hundreds of homes were bombed into oblivion during the first weeks of the war. 在戰(zhàn)爭的最初幾周內(nèi)，數(shù)以百計的房屋被炸毀。?

譯文

The final?hurdle?is flogging?the?vehicles to consumers.?The new EV-makers are mostly dispensing with traditional dealer networks in favour?of Tesla's model?of online sales backed up with shops to show off their?wares.?That still?leaves the challenge of creating?a servicing network if anything goes wrong.?Such networks, which car buyers have come to expect, can be as expensive?and tricky to scale up as manufacturing?is.?Mr Pacheco of Gartner notes that?even Tesla's is still?a work?in progress.?In America the big three Detroit carmakers have nearly 10,000 dealerships that will service cars;?Tesla has around 135.

最后一個障礙是向消費者推銷這些汽車。新一代電動汽車制造商大多放棄了傳統(tǒng)的經(jīng)銷商網(wǎng)絡(luò)，轉(zhuǎn)而采用特斯拉的在線銷售模式，并開設(shè)店鋪來展示自己的產(chǎn)品。但是如果出現(xiàn)任何問題，建立一個服務(wù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)仍然是一個挑戰(zhàn)。這類網(wǎng)絡(luò)是購車者所期望的，但要像制造業(yè)那樣擴大規(guī)模，成本可能會很高，也很棘手。Gartner的 Pacheco 指出，即便是特斯拉的銷售網(wǎng)絡(luò)也仍在發(fā)展中。在美國，底特律三大汽車制造商擁有近10,000家提供汽車服務(wù)的經(jīng)銷商，特斯拉大約有135家。

Many new firms won't get that far. Several have already suffered setbacks. Dyson,?a British firm better known for?vacuum-cleaners,?sank E5oom($64om) into an EV?effort only to?conclude?in 2o19 that it would never make money. The same year Nio?teetered?on the brink of bankruptcy until the?local?government in?its home?city of?Hefei?bailed?it out.?A bloodbath?awaits Chinas myriad smaller EV firms as they run out of?ideas and money.?Fisker is?a reborn version of a firm that went bankrupt in 2O13.

許多新公司不會走到那一步。一些公司已經(jīng)遭受了挫折。英國戴森公司(Dyson)以真空吸塵器而聞名，該公司將5億歐元(合6.4億美元)投入電動汽車市場，結(jié)果卻在2019年得出結(jié)論:電動汽車項目永遠(yuǎn)也賺不到錢。同年，蔚來汽車瀕臨破產(chǎn)，直到合肥當(dāng)?shù)卣鍪窒嘀?。中國無數(shù)規(guī)模較小的電動汽車公司正面臨一場血戰(zhàn)，因為它們沒有了創(chuàng)意和資金。菲斯克是一家在2O13年破產(chǎn)汽車公司的再生版本。

Attention, vehicles reversing

As the complicated reality of carmaking sets in,?the?hype?is?wearing off among investors (see chart 2).?Lordstown's value has fallen by 65% since peaking in February, after it lowered forecast production for?its?pick?up truck?and said it needed fresh funds.?Canoo's shares are worth less than half what they were when it went public?in December, owing to growing doubts about its business plan.

請注意，倒車！

隨著汽車制造業(yè)復(fù)雜的現(xiàn)實開始顯現(xiàn)，投資者對它的熱情正在逐漸消失(見表2)。在降低了輕型貨車的預(yù)測產(chǎn)量并表示需要新的資金后，洛茲頓的價值自2月份的頂峰以來已經(jīng)下跌了65%。由于人們對其商業(yè)計劃越來越多的懷疑，Canoo目前的股價還不到去年12月上市時的一半。?

In short, notes Aakash Arora of BCG, a?consultancy, the new firms need to establish brands.?So far, he?says, only Tesla has done so .?It can take years to gain a reputation for reliable products, while capital burns like petrol put to?a spark. A new entrant?needs a trusted name, deep pockets and a proven ability to come up with clever tech. One company that has all those in spades?is Apple. The iPhone-maker has been working on an EV for several years.?The latest chatter is that it will have one in?production by the middle of the decade. Some of?its potential competitors will by then be well on the way to oblivion.

波士頓咨詢公司的阿卡什?阿羅拉指出，簡而言之，新公司需要樹立品牌。他說，到目前為止，只有特斯拉做到了這一點，它可能需要數(shù)年時間才能獲得可靠產(chǎn)品的聲譽，而資本燒起來就像汽油點燃火花。新進入者需要一個值得信賴的名字、雄厚的資金以及被證明有能力推出聰明的技術(shù)。蘋果(Apple)無疑具備了這一切。這家iphone制造商多年來一直致力于研發(fā)一款電動汽車。最新的傳言是，到2015年，它將有一款電動車投產(chǎn)。到那時，它的一些潛在競爭對手將會被遺忘。