Slashdot Mirror
The World's Fastest Electric Car
Roland Piquepaille writes "In this review, Forbes.com looks at the fastest electric vehicle in the world, the tzero roadster built by AC Propulsion Inc. 'The tzero does 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, according to the company, and it does it on only 200 horsepower.' The company says it starts faster than a Ferrari F355. It also has a limited range of 280 to 300 miles at 60 mph on a single charge. The company expects a price somewhere between a Porsche and a Ferrari, but Forbes says it carries a $220,000 sticker price. This overview contains more details and links. It also includes a rendering of the Tzero. Please note that the Forbes article has a very different focus from the one mentioned in a previous Slashdot reference."
The difference between a traditional electric car and one of those new-fangled hybrid cars is the power source only. What is really amazing about this car is that a 110lb electric engine produces 200 hp and that easly makes the transtion between electic, hybrid, and hydrogen cars. I am still scatching my head about diesel engines being included.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
if it's like a laptop, you will have to change de battery after 1-2 years!! and how costly is a car battery??
Whose average commute is longer than 100 miles?
:P
And when you are sitting in traffic, do you need to go 0-60 in 4.1 seconds?
Why can cars with a relatively low range not be used for commuting to and from work?
[I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
Also, is the electric car most efficient (in terms of miles per.. um, Watt I guess) at 60 mph? Or was that speed chosen because it's what gas-powered cars use?
Inquiring minds want to know!
[ReidNews]
How much coal, oil, gas is required on a large scale to make all of that extra electricity that would be required? Seems to be close to a zero sum proposition.
With every country but the USA moving to minimum renewable energy targets, it's an increasingly attractive proposition. Plus you can generate your own electricity if you wish, using renewable sources. I won't rehash all the benefits of centralising the cleaning of fumes in a power station as opposed to millions of portable generators, as already discussed dozens of times on Slashdot, so even in todays infrastructure it still makes sense (especially countries like France where over 80% of energy is nuclear).
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
It effectively makes the car a hybrid.
200hp is 200hp
yes, true in the strictest sense, however a gas or desiel must use a clutch or transmision with significant losses because they have zero torq at zero speed. A variavble freqeuncy induction drive (like this) can generate all that torque at start, so you can actually apply more force, even tought the peak is still the same level.
then when do we see hybrids that have REAL efficiency?
30-50 MPG is a waste of time. the VW TDI deisel get's 55MPG and is NOT HYBRID.
Hybrids should be at 60-80MPG now and +100Mpg by the end of this decade.
until then I'll stick with a VW TDI and the ability to get it serviced almost anywhere unlike a hybrid car.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It's a start, isn't it? Do you think when the first computers were being knocked together out of valves and punched-card readers, and filling up a room, their creators shouldn't have bothered because they were so expensive that the masses couldn't afford them? Or are you glad that they did, and that continuous innovation's put ever more powerful tools in the hands of an ever increasing proportion of the world's population?
"plus most driving in the city is sitting at a standstill so the vehicle uses almost ZERO power while sitting."
do buy in to that. In the real world, its going to need a radio, and some enviromental controls.
Not that this isn't interesting, but they really need a test that involves what most consumer would want.
Clearly, buy purchasing this car, the consumer feels they don't need what a gas engine brings them, but how many people will sit inside a car with no AC when its 100 degree outside? or a heater when its 32F/0C outside?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The Toyota Prius is NOT designed to get the maximum efficiency. It's designed to get TDI-like efficiency with "all the trimmings" -- it's a quiet, moderately zippy family car with a lot of goodies that would have been factory options a decade ago. The Toyota engineers chose not to go for maximum efficiency (like the Honda Insight), but rather for the efficiency of a jellybean car (like the Geo Metro) in a quiet, comfortable, safe four-door.
Top speed, however, will seem stunted in comparison to that available from an internal combustion engine because they generally produce increasing torque with increasing RPM
If the motors are embedded in each wheel, they could always operate in low-RPM high-torque ranges. Four motors operating simultaneously could be powerful enough to forego any need for gear reduction. The only disadvantage would be excessive weight in the suspension (i.e., not great for a sports car).
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
" If OPEC decides it wants to raise the price of oil again, we can just make more nuclear power plants"
No - the current political regime does not see things this way.
OPEC does not raise the price of oil. OPEC cuts supply. This has the effect of raising the price of oil. Which is enormously profitable for domestic oil producers. Who donate huge sums of money to politicians to ensure that this continues to happen.
So you see, there's NO incentive for domestic energy companies to abandon the profitable oil business and compete with other energy sources like nuclear, solar, wind, or faeries, and it doesn't have anything to do with whether a given technology is green or not. Has everything to do with how profitable it is to keep the market dependent on the artificially scarce resource.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
" Power plants are incredibly more efficient at producing electricity than your car engine."
This is for the most part false. While some powerplants are high efficency, like over 50 percent, that is rare. Most are in the 30-40 percent land the same as a car engine depending on fuel.
Also most powerplants in the US are coal, which is both very unclean, and not a very efficent plant. and nuclear plants can't be run at their full potentials do to safety concerns.
A new car engine is one of the most efficent power plants there is, also the cleanest.