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BMW has been burned in the past - notably with a subframe tear issue. That's right, sheet metal that the axles mount to would tear like a bag of goldfish because they took an existing frame/subframe and slapped a bigger engine/drivetrain into it.

Considering they bill themselves as "The Ultimate Driving Machine", I can understand how they'd want to spend some time to make sure they move from ICE to a high-powered electric motor without having the car destroy itself.

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Try looking a little deeper, _every_ manufacturer has defects, all of them, period. The question isn't if there are defects, it's how does the company respond. The very few links (4) are supposed to support the claim that Musk and Tesla are crappy/bad/unethical/etc... yet, look again at those links:

Link #1: As of right now, the last post from the forum on the links "terrible build quality" is this: (1 link down, 3 to go)

Just want to update you folks on what's going on. The folks at Tesla (our regional service manager and the local sales manager) are working with me to spec out the rebuild. I had wanted to take this chance to increase the battery size to 100D and add the 3rd row child seat and informed the team of my desire a couple weeks ago. This would have been relatively simple but since the process took some time to get rolling, it now got more complicated because of all the price changes and the fact that 100D is now includes bundling of options that I didn't originally selected / wanted such as SAS and 72A charger. Based on the professionalism that I've seen from the service team so far, I still am hopeful that this will be handled in fair fashion, keeping my fingers crossed.

Link #2: "terrible reliability"

All repairs were performed under warranty and Tesla delivered the car to us the following morning.

Whaaa??? They fixed EVERYTHING FOR FREE??? Please explain to the many people with Fords, Chevys, Dodges, etc... how many times they got everything fixed properly for free and the company admitted fault. Now google Tesla's track record for fixing issues... yah, I hear crickets too.

Link #3: "a criminally negligent design"

I won’t try to assign blame or responsibility in this case, whether or not Tesla made it insufficiently clear on how to open these doors when the car has no power...

"Criminally negligent design"... really? Did they even read the article before posting this link? Also, a follow up comment is interesting as well:

It’s not uncommon for doors to be inoperable after an impact. This goes for all kinds of doors - even normal manual ones.

Why is this a story?

I don't know either...

Link #4 "they aren't even luxury cars"

Here's the relevant quote:

But Tesla says the Model S isn't a luxury car so why the comparison?

The comparison is about the Model S outselling, so is it

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Try looking a little deeper, _every_ manufacturer has defects, all of them, period. The question isn't if there are defects, it's how does the company respond. The very few links (4) are supposed to support the claim that Musk and Tesla are crappy/bad/unethical/etc... yet, look again at those links:

Link #1: As of right now, the last post from the forum on the links "terrible build quality" is this: (1 link down, 3 to go)

Just want to update you folks on what's going on. The folks at Tesla (our regional service manager and the local sales manager) are working with me to spec out the rebuild. I had wanted to take this chance to increase the battery size to 100D and add the 3rd row child seat and informed the team of my desire a couple weeks ago. This would have been relatively simple but since the process took some time to get rolling, it now got more complicated because of all the price changes and the fact that 100D is now includes bundling of options that I didn't originally selected / wanted such as SAS and 72A charger. Based on the professionalism that I've seen from the service team so far, I still am hopeful that this will be handled in fair fashion, keeping my fingers crossed.

Link #2: "terrible reliability"

All repairs were performed under warranty and Tesla delivered the car to us the following morning.

Whaaa??? They fixed EVERYTHING FOR FREE??? Please explain to the many people with Fords, Chevys, Dodges, etc... how many times they got everything fixed properly for free and the company admitted fault. Now google Tesla's track record for fixing issues... yah, I hear crickets too.

Link #3: "a criminally negligent design"

I won’t try to assign blame or responsibility in this case, whether or not Tesla made it insufficiently clear on how to open these doors when the car has no power...

"Criminally negligent design"... really? Did they even read the article before posting this link? Also, a follow up comment is interesting as well:

It’s not uncommon for doors to be inoperable after an impact. This goes for all kinds of doors - even normal manual ones.

Why is this a story?

I don't know either...

Link #4 "they aren't even luxury cars"

Here's the relevant quote:

But Tesla says the Model S isn't a luxury car so why the comparison?

The comparison is about the Model S outselling, so is it

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

The quoted parent post is a perfect example of reality being suppressed by negative scoring. Slashdot should be better than that. Musk is treated like an idol, and his firms are treated as sacrosanct but they are simply businesses with a a lot of product failures due to inexperience and poor management.

Tesla isn't in the same league as BMW or Benz. Tesla is in the same league as the Yugo. They have terrible build quality, terrible reliability, a criminally negligent design, and just quite frankly they aren't even luxury cars.

Here ( http://www.motorauthority.com/... ) the Tesla can only do a third of the Nurburgring before temperature safeguards cut the power.

The Prius, on the other hand, uses a touch screen interface. Look. Touch to change screen. Look for setting. Touch. Eyes shifting back and forth between screen and road, or just looking at screen.

My Prius II have all the important settings directly on the steering wheel:
http://www.motorauthority.com/...
After a few practice, I don't even have to look at them.

The US government loaned a huge amount of money to Musk to start his car dealership. They keep paying him for 'green' cars that do not fulfill the payment requirements.

And Tesla paid back the loan in 2013, nine years early. You can still argue it was a poor choice for the US government to loan it to them in the first place, if you want, but to the best of my knowledge it's inaccurate to imply that they're still on the hook for that cash.

22k gets you a fucking corolla.

A tesla is nothing more than a fucking corolla that they charge you $100,000 for.

yes, also infinity Q50 (as in the infamous
http://www.motorauthority.com/...)

Instead of spending money on a car port just to power their car it is more practical to feed the solar power back to the grid and/or powering devices that require power during the day.

That's actually just what they're doing, FTA: With the Wallbox Pro’s features, excess solar energy not needed to charge the car can be used by the connected house.

In short it's a grid tie system that advertises itself as a car charger. Only reason the electricity would go primarily 'to the car' would be proximity.

The interesting thought I had is that if you write the work description right you could get the 30% federal credit for the whole carport by claiming the support structures are there for the solar panels(and they technically are, so you might get away with it!), and note that the solar panels ARE the roof, not laying on top of the roof, so there's some substantial savings there.

Per the image in the article - the cameras are mounted in the grille.

http://www.motorauthority.com/...

Technically they call it a Smart Windscreen Head-Up Display. That name implies that the windscreen will be the display, not a pair of goggles. In that case, there would be a distortion of images.

materials and design

Tesla is not in the same class as an A8 or 5 series. It's nothing more than a over priced camery. The tesla is not a luxury vehicle.

The maintenance on EVs are negligible, a fact that for instance prompts many Nissan dealers to marginalize, even avoid stocking the Leaf altogether. Wiper blades, alignments, and tires. Check the maintenance schedule on them. There really isn't much to do, it's most just a bunch of inspections. The usable life on Tesla battery packs will easily outlast the average life of an ICE retaining 85% capacity at 100,000 miles.

Ah... it IS marketing BS... "The automaker claims its ZEOD RC will be the first car to complete an entire race lap of the 8.5-mile Le Mans circuit on nothing but electric power." [link] In other words, the "zero emissions" part is what's "on demand", most of it's time will be spent spewing emissions!

A war over public opinion. I don't know why the struggling U.S. automakers have not embraced electric vehicles. They will make a "zombie" truck which everyone thinks is funny, but nobody actually wants. But tend to be disposed to doing everything in their power to resist that which is (probably) better for the environment and more efficient for a good portion of the population commuting just a few miles every day. Did they learn nothing from the Nissan Leaf sales?

The Tesla Model S is the single highest selling luxury sedan in the US, beating out the Mersedez Benz S-Class.

The Tesla isn't a luxury sedan.

I looked at TFA and saw the links to related articles on the right hand side. I found my preferred zombie apocalypse vehicle. Not the Chevy.

The safety switch is no more an anti-killing feature than a car's brakes are an anti-speeding and anti-pedestrian-murder feature.

Also this year's Mercedes E-class does have the hood air bags ("active bonnet"):

http://www.mersag.com/cmer-31.html

You might be able to get an S-class with pedestrian detection now, not sure if the 2014 model year is available yet:

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1080199_2014-mercedes-benz-s-class-to-feature-pedestrian-detection-tech

Volvo has the V60 Diesel Electric Hybrid, but it's only available overseas, not in the US. Really pisses me off as I would love to own one.

Rumor has it that Ford and VW are also working on them and will have models out soon.

Ok, thanks for the link...

Where the Top Gear guys compare track mileage to real-world mileage, but don't point out that that's what they are doing.

If the quote is: "we worked out that on our track it would run out after just 55 miles", how are they not making it clear that they are talking about track mileage? Are you saying that in the real world, you like to drive your car around in circles at high speeds?

Top Gear says the 55 miles came from Tesla engineers.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1057825_top-gear-responds-to-tesla-lawsuit

The second point is that the figure of 55 miles came not from our heads, but from Tesla’s boffins in California. They looked at the data from that car and calculated that, driven hard on our track, it would have a range of 55 miles.

As TFA notes, he will hire a lawyer and get it back. The only variable is when; my guess is that within two weeks, he'll be sailing around.

If he's lucky. It might end up crashed like the FBI did to this $1 million Ferrari F50..

I think this is a job for Diesel's. MY VW passat does better than 54.5US gallons when in the hwy. My friend has a ford fiesta diesel that gets even better mileage around 70mpg (US gallons). And I am sure a diesel hybrid should be even better. I can't go back to driving gasoline autos. The torque in a diesel vehicle is just awesome. Trident is coming out with a diesel sports car that will do 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds and a fuel economy of 57.4mpg and that car's engine is built by GM.

I've shied away from hybrid cars because of things I've heard from other owners. I drive a LOT of miles. Typically around 200,000 before I trade to the next car. I typically own the car about 6 or 7 years. I've been told by other hybrid owners that the battery pack is only good for about 100,000 miles and then has to be replaced. I'd be curious as to the experience of other hybrid owners.

Yea?
Nay?

I'd question "owners" who told you that the battery pack is only good for that long. That's typically the warrante time, and the reported lifetimes seem to be significantly above that. Basically, the battery pack seems to last at least as long as typical transmission lifetimes.

Vancouver seems to have completely switched to Prius taxis. A taxi driving pattern is probably one of the toughest you would typically find, so they can't be too bad for more regular use.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1023454_toyota-prius-taxi-tops-340000mi-dispels-battery-myth

What's its towing capacity? It takes more than a third row of seats to make an SUV, you know.

Also, did anyone else have trouble getting through the first link? I swear, with all that unbridled fawning I half expected the 'article' to be punctuated with an image of Nelson Ireson giving Elon Musk a B.J. in the back seat.

I don't give a crap about fossil fuel usage (except in terms of money spent). I care more about pollution caused.

Which causes less pollution? Destroying my V8 powered, 18 mpg (but fairly clean, since gasoline burns cleanly these days) 1999 Mercedes SUV, mining and shipping raw materials for a Prius around the world, assembling the Prius, and shipping the Prius to me? Or...continuing to drive the Mercedes until it begins falling apart? Option B is cheaper too, allowing me to save up for the world's first not-butt-ugly hybrid.

Electric cars will begin to dominate the market when they make economic sense for the majority of the market. Obviously, that time isn't here yet

Oddly enough, the article itself admits fuel savings on the Volt does pay off - after a period of 10 years. He says that as if it's forever, yet the average age of a car now on the road is about 10 years. (The article didn't bother citing any figures in its 10 year payoff estimate - I sure hope he wasn't assuming $2.50 gas for the next decade! I think not!)

GM already offers that "feature" through Onstar. I'm not sure if Ford has an equivalent yet.

in the mode you described battery will last for 2 years max.

According to one source the batteries "will be guaranteed for 10 years/150,000 miles." Using those numbers that would be 15,000 miles per year. Yet an Aussie taxi cab company puts on 125,000 miles a year on it's Toyota Priuses.

Falcon

Just because a hybrid vehicle is out there on the road, doesn't mean that that battery pack has the bulk of its storage capacity intact.

What would be an acceptable batter life for you? Does 125,000 miles a year meet you standards? Here's a taxi cab company that gets that. They replaced the batteries in two taxis, one after it had more than 200,000 miles and the other after it had more than 340,000 miles.

Falcon

at some point the battery is going to need replacement when it's out of warranty.

The Toyota Prius was introduced into the US in 2001. I wonder how many of them have had the batteries replaced. Here's an article about an Aussie taxicab company owner who puts more than 125,00 miles on his Priuses a year and hasn't had problems, after more than 200,000 miles 2 batteries did need to be replaced. Heck I had to replace the battery in my car, which is not a hybrid, after about 45,000 miles. If a Prius used as a taxi doesn't have problems I doubt many others will have problems with them.

Falcon

The Ford Fiesta is coming stateside, probably in 2010 as a 2011 model, check: http://www.fiestamovement.com/

Ford is in the process of transitioning to using more European based models in the states, or rather shifting to a global-model rather than; sexy European Focus and ugly-stick-beaten North America Focus. This began last year, also in this plan was the use of more EcoBoost (smaller displacement, forced-induction) engines which is already beginning to appear in Fords line-up.
http://www.motorauthority.com/ford-lineup-to-be-completely-upgraded-by-2010-six-european-models-confirmed-for-us.html

According to one source I found on the net published in October of 2008 (link)

In Europe, 35% of new cars are silver, while Asia goes even farther to 37%. North American buyers only choose silver 20% of the time, however, because white (18%) and black (17%) are both gaining ground. Red (13%) and blue (12%) are also popular, with categories like 'naturals' and 'other' bringing up the rear with 9% and 7% respectively. Green gets just 4% of the market.

Not to pick nits, but SSC have been tinkering with their Aero supercars for more than a decade, and they're producing just 25 cars this year. That barely qualifies as "production," and wouldn't for most racing delegations in the Aero's class (GT-level.) "Nits," I said, I did.

The Audi/Volkswagen and Porsche supercars, for comparison, come from factories that have run GT/GTP race teams for decades. Porsche's supercars are design descendants of their fully-homologated production race cars (necessitating hundreds of race-ready units per year to qualify.) I know which I'd pilot to a win in a one-on-one race versus the Aero TT, heh. The Aero is a fast car, but top linear speed doesn't matter on most courses, not unless it's a drag strip!

The forthcoming Porsche GT1 2009 (*not* the 911 GT1 of last decade) looks to be a potential Veyron- and Aero-killer, with 950 bhp and weighing fully 500 kg less than the two-tonne Veyron - though still more than the ultra-light Aero, so who knows?

More pointless points... fun to watch these mad-fast cars, man. Petrol still King! Maybe in 5-10 years we'll see an entirely electric grand touring group formed.

I like the car that gets 250 miles per gallon: http://www.motorauthority.com/vw-boss-confirms-1-liter-car-for-2010.html

Even 90 mpg is okay with me: http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/printer_319.shtml

The Japanese and Americans need to start producing high-mileage cars. And I don't mean 50. That's pathetic. We need to start saving fuel, especially with gas prices hovering-around 3-4 dollars this summer, and most people drive by themselves so all they need is a basic car. They don't need a Ford Living Room SUV except for a few very-rare occasions.

Didn't you hear? the flying car is available for pre-order :P

http://www.motorauthority.com/terrafugia-transition-flying-car-taking-pre-orders.html

. it's rare to see LEDs used for illumination, though it is making an entrance for some applications, like flashlights and even headlamps.

Headlamps, as in the type that you wear on your head when you go hiking/climbing/biking, are now pretty much 100% LED lit. And it's not only about the order of magnitude gain in battery life, lamps can now reach over 300 feet at 300 lumens (Petzl Ultra, Princeton Tech Apex).

LEDs are not traditionally used for illumination not only because of the costs of LEDs, but because of the complex optics required to distribute the light. it's rare to see LEDs used for illumination, though it is making an entrance for some applications, like flashlights and even headlamps. As LED prices continue to come down and LED optics technology improves and cost stabilize, conventional LED lamp retrofits will become commonplace. Take a look at LEDtronics for some examples.

Citation? Or opinion?

A little of both.
This story: http://www.motorauthority.com/expert-says-electric-grid-ready-for-plug-in-hybrids.html
It quotes an expert as saying that the grid could handle a, "60% adoption rate of plug-in hybrids by 2050." Now, my opinion is that the demand, and supply of primary-electric vehicles will be stronger well before 2050. And how much infrastructure development would have to take place between now and 2050 to make it possible?

Nice.

I don't know about Nissan, but Toyota sure ain't your friend if it's copyright you are itchin' about.

And here's Nissan abusing trademark law.

> Volkswagen will soon have a 1L/100km (240mpg) car

They already have one as a technology demonstrator, they promise a production model soon:

http://www.motorauthority.com/vw-chairman-promises-1l100km-car-in-3-to-4-years.html
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/gw/vw1litre.htm

"Hybrid" is a concept that needs to die.

I don't know when, but exactly right -- hybrids are a temporary stopgap measure, but definitely not the end goal/where we want to land and stay for a while. Too bad Toyota doesn't understand this -- they're going full-bore for hybrids, planning by 2020 to have hybrids as the standard drivetrain and account for 100% of their cars. I sincerely hope before 2020 we've moved to a new fuel source.