Five things I will need before purchasing a Tesla

Andrew Herzog, host of "The Bonfire," lays out his thoughts on electric cars and what steps manufacturers must take to give them broad market appeal:

I applaud Tesla Inc. for pursuing battery power and electric vehicles (despite using millions of dollars in government money). Unfortunately, for the time being, Tesla vehicles are only available to the super-wealthy, so here are a few things I will need first before buying my own Model S P100D:

1. The rich to continue buying these cars
2. The battery to reach beyond 400 miles on a single charge
3. The battery to fully charge in under 5 minutes
4. The purchase price to fall to $35,000
5. For the charging stations to be installed at all current gas stations

Rich people are the guinea pigs of the market, testing products out before the rest of us, evaluating their quality and usefulness. They have allowed the rest of us to enjoy many of the things we already have today. Rich people were the first ones to purchase the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, widely considered to be the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. That invention caught the public’s attention and made room for more innovation and the eventual rise of the Ford Model T, which was more affordable than the custom motor carriages of the day. Soon enough everyone wanted a car, and the market made cheap transportation possible. So rich people should continue purchasing these extravagant Tesla vehicles so that the company can slowly but surely lower the price of their cars to appeal to the massive middle class.

My Ford F-150 can travel about 400 miles on a tank of gas now. For me to even consider an electric alternative, it would need to go at least that same distance.

When I go to the gas station (not counting waiting in line for a pump), it takes all of 5 minutes to fill my tank. The future of transportation shouldn’t take hours to get me back on the road.

When Tesla prices their latest and greatest car at $148,000, that eliminates the vast majority of the market, and they know that. That’s why they offered the Model 3 as the $35,000 alternative. Tesla is making good progress, minus the limited battery range and time-consuming charging process.

Finally, the final problem is ease of ‘refueling.’ There’s a huge network of gas stations across the world that makes gas-powered cars reliable on the road, but only when you can find charging stations as easily as gasoline can we hope to have more people driving electric cars.

I want to go 0-60 in 2.28 seconds, but only if the market presents me with an affordable supercar!

Listen to more episodes of “Bonfire” with Andrew Herzog at TheBlaze Contributors.