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Tesla Motors Opens Retail Store
Tesla Motors has opened their first retail store front to allow the masses access to their new cars. Of course, this is assuming you can afford the $109,000 price tag. "The company told the Associated Press that it is impressed with demand: it has taken 600 orders for the Roadster and has a waiting list of another 400. CEO Elon Musk owns the first one produced. The fancy showroom near Beverly Hills takes its inspiration from Apple stores, Musk said. [...] The company plans to make a luxury sedan next year called the Whitestar that will come in two versions: an all-electric model that will run entirely on its lithium ion battery pack, and a range-extended vehicle that will also use liquid fuel to extend its range. The Roadster will have a range of 220 miles per charge and the mileage equivalent of 135 miles per gallon."
Tesla Roaster?
new battery powered kind of way to cook Turkey?
everything in moderation
I can't wait for these types of cars to hit mass production and come down in price so that us normal people can afford them.
That is what I'd call the ultimate "gas tax holiday."
Im heading out there for vacation in October. Here's hoping they allow test drives :)
If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
It said in the article that the car got a special exemption for Air Bags. Was that only in the prototype, or also in the final version? I can see a nice lawsuit coming right after the first fatality in one of these.
Sig: I stole this sig.
"Of course, this is assuming you can afford the $109,000 price tag... CEO Elon Musk owns the first one produced."
That doesn't exactly describe "the masses" now, does it?
What comes to mind for me is either that ship from Babylon 5 or the Titanic (Whitestar line).
And, for those of you with more down to earth budgets, there's always Aptera, which starts shipping this winter (although reservations are filled through almost the end of '09 already). 2+1 seater, hyperefficient, space-age styling, 120 miles for all-electric or 40 miles electric + 130mpg. Test drives and factory tours start in a month or so.
If they bring it to the US (probably around the 2010 timeframe), there Mitsubishi i-EV -- 4 seater, 100 miles, styled like a cross between a VW beetle and a PT cruiser, or perhaps between a Prius and a minivan.
There's also the Chevy Volt, late 2010, a 4 seater PHEV (40 miles electric, 50mpg after that) with "chopped" styling (I find it ugly, but a lot of people find it "sporty").
Lastly, as a bit more of a long shot, there's the VentureOne, a tandem two-seater cross between a car and a motorcycle that tilts into turns. 120 miles in the EV version, and should be pretty efficient, too.
No, she's fine. My associate is vomiting for a totally unrelated reason.
Tesla plans to compete for the Automotive X Prize, maybe with the Roadster (see Roadster Stat Page), but more likely with the mentioned "Whitestar", about which nobody knows anything except that it has 4 seats and an optional range-extending ICE. The Roadster is actually only borderline able to compete - they have trouble with the 200 grams/mile CO2-equivalent emissions requirement. So it's likely they would have to drive slow (such a shame!).
Look at my shiny new Tesla! Oops, it's 110 miles away from my garage already, gotta turn around...
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
...of a store opening to sell something they have no inventory of, and have no hope of having inventory of for quite some time due to already existing waiting lists. Seems like an expensive way to just keep their name/product visible, opening a store that can't sell anything.
Oddly, the Tesla Motors website was missing from both the slashdot submission and the article.
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Maybe it's just me, but I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling with the new electrics under development (or in production).
Having grown up around adults who worshipped at the altar of limited-run classic cars (59 1/2 Shelby Cobra, anyone?) I feel like we're witnessing (or in some cases, participating in -- lucky bastards) the dawn of a new era of classic cars.
I know I'm rambling, and slightly OT, but I can easily imagine the Tesla Raodster being the star of some classic car show I'll take my grandkids to.
Anyway, my point is that I feel that we're finally witnessing the green car revolution, and I'm glad to be here for it.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The Power Roaster!
If there was a sensible commuter car like this I would snap it up in a heartbeat.
Then I could go fight the good fight with my electric company on why they aren't providing me with cheaper/greener power. The best part is, if they refuse I can invest in solar panels or a wind turbine and make my own.
Our bugs are smarter than your test scripts.
They have deposits on their cars until the start of 2010, and that was just from US locations only. Now, they are about to expand to outside of the USA and gear up a faster production line. In addition, they were geared to produced a car to compete against beemers/mercedes in late 2009, but will be introduced in late 2010. Followed by a full average car by 2011.
And you feel that they will be bankrupted early 2011?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Tesla's claims are terribly fraudulent. 220 mile claimed range has already been shown to be as low as 93 miles. Transmissions seem to be vaporware. For that matter, so are production cars, as not a single one has been delivered (I don't count the single unit "delivered" to Elon Musk.
Tesla sounds cool, as do electric vehicles in general (including plug-in hybrids), but this is just another operation preying on people with too much money and not enough brains. I am firmly in the camp of those planning to buy an EV/PHEV soon, but I'm not drinking the Tesla Kool-Aid.
One simple rule for its versus it's
The masses can't afford a $100,000 car like you and Mr gates can.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Most individuals can't afford this technology, but a city can.
Public transportation, if done correctly (a first in America), is safe and clean and cheap or free, runs 24 hours a day or close to it, and allows us to avoid the expense of private cars.
The rest of our driving can be done on golf carts for those errands near home. Or horses, which are as green as transportation is going to get.
There are intangible benefits to public transportation.
It brings us closer together with our neighbors. It ends the illusion that we can ignore problems like crime and abuse. It frees up acres of space from parking lots and duplicate roads. It gives law enforcement a better place to focus than on handing out parking tickets.
Most of us spend way too much on our cars, and that's the necessary expenses. This cost won't go down. The car was a design enabled by cheap oil, and now that's over, so we should adapt.
technical writing / development
The Roaster will have a range of 220 miles per charge and the mileage equivalent of 135 miles per gallon.
The Roaster? I didn't realize they were using Sony batteries! Or are they also taking inspiration from Apple laptops as well as their stores?
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
How is this vaporware? The car actually exists. It actually performs as they claim. Maybe it's not the final solution but at least its expanding the market for alternative cars.
Does it come complete with Mimbari crew and a Marcus-clone as a translator?
Before anyone asks, 135 miles per gallon is 2 721 600 rods per hogshead.
And that's the way I likes it!
What is the conversion factor when going from "batteries charged off the grid" to "miles per gallon internal combustion gasoline engine?"
Give it to The Stig, Give it to the Stig!!
I'd love to find a way to separate the Intellectually Challenged Wealthy among us from some of their petty cash. Musk just beat me to it.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Odd name for a product but http://www.milesev.com/ seems to be the best and is already out there.
Dragonweezel opens up a donation site @ paypal to try and garner enough captial to start his new company "AdvertiseOnMyTeslaRoadster.com"
Donate now!
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
I own a Prius, and I hate when you see some mod site say "get 120mpg with our extended battery pack". Oh and by the way you have to plug it into the wall using diesel generated power at $0.35 a kilowatt hour (I also live on Hawaii, power is hella expensive here). At electricity rates here most of these cars are more expensive to run than hybrid gas cars. We need a price per mile measurement. I realize that both gas and power fluctuate, but something similar to an energy guide on appliances. This car costs $.10 a mile on power at $.15 a kwH and gas at $4.00 a gallon. It's not ideal, but we need to quit letting these electric car makers get away with saying 135mpg. They may as well say "our all electric model gets infinity miles per gallon! It's the awesomest!"
I'm normally opposed to anything green, but this car is sexy.
Weighs only 2700 lbs and makes 200 lb*ft of torque at no rev? Yummy!
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
What I'm looking forward to seeing on the road is the Chevrolet Volt. It's supposed to be more affordable than the Tesla, although apparently the estimated price has risen considerably. It was originally estimated to cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Then it rose to above the $30,000 range, and now its approaching $50,000.
This technology has to start somewhere, but people have this unrealistic expectations. Too many people seem to believe that automakers don't build these cars because of some grand conspiracy. Like they have something to lose by abandoning gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer an inexpensive car than ran on something other than gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer a car larger than a tiny 1-liter subcompact but more fuel efficient. That's been the appeal of hybrids. They allow someone to own a fuel efficient car that is actually reasonably practical.
I see another problem, however. There's all this talk about moving away from gasoline like suddenly we will not longer be using some kind of fuel to power our cars. Like that 100mpg Darpa challenge.
It's great, and they absolutely should spur development like that. But the fact is that we're merely replacing the fuel source with something else and it looks like the big thing right now is electricity.
Electricity isn't all that cheap. And like we've seen with ethanol and the price of food rising I shudder to think how expensive electricity rates are going to be if a significant portion of the population starts drawing from the grid to power their cars. And the irony, at least in my area, is that our electricity is generated using petroleum.
Maybe by the time electric cars are prevalent we'll have more nuclear power. Not that it would stop energy providers from charging more. At last gasoline can drop in price, and it has in the past. The last time I checked utility companies haven't dropped prices, but I do see an increase every year or two.
Where does our electricity for our homes come from? Fossil fuels?
Electric cars are a great idea but unless the electricity to recharge their batteries is coming from a renewable resource I don't quite see how this really helps.
Instead of filling your car with gas, you're using coal/oil power plants instead. I don't see what the true benefit really is.
Interesting how none of the major automakers have fielded an all-electric yet that actually has some serious appeal and performance..
Why you would buy one of these when you could have a _real_ Elise and the interest on the difference would cover your fuel cost is beyond me.
It would save you around 66%, and that is assuming $3 per gallon gas. EV is around 3.4 cents per mile, gas is around 10 cents per mile. Source here.
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
Just buy an old Sinclair C5, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5 make a few minor adjusments to the frame, gears, pedals, wheels, body, stereo system and satnav. Slap an old 3.5 turbo-diesel engine recycled from your nearest scrap dealer, fill the tank with rapeseed oil (you will of course have to add a tank.) and you have a completely environmentally friendly dragster - sitting astride the engine should get you to the office or school at speeds approaching 300kmph, before the wheels melt. Or you could always ambitiously attempt mach 1.2 in the jet-engined modded version http://www.jetpower.co.uk/c5home.htm and of course obligatory youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNPsANagISE
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
I'm a girl. I'm not into cars. I drive a low end toyota because it was cheap and gets great gas mileage. But. that. car. is. HAWT! I just need to convince 110,000 suckers to give me 1 dollar each.
Dammit! Now I can't take it on the plane as checked-in luggage! :-p
I seriously question that. Horses, release a fair amount of CO2 and methane from the breakdown and digestion of cellulose materials (grass), despite not being ruminant animals. They also release a fairly steady source of CO2 when not in use. I suppose that one could argue that there's less infrastructure required for horses, but that's questionable as well when taking into consideration their "maintenance".
The only thing green about horses in comparison to electric golf carts is the physical color of the energy input.
I compared my 2006 F250 Crew Cab Long Bed with a 5.4L Gas engine to the Tesla Motors Tesla Roadster Electric car ( http://www.teslamotors.com/ ). I wanted to see what was the breakeven point for the Tesla (how many miles I had to drive before the Tesla would make sense). In my estimates, I am not counting Insurance, Maintenance, Taxes or Cost of Financing. I am also making the assumption, that I will never go to Home Depot, haul something or plan anything with my family. Nor will I consider the coolness factor. I am also not assuming that my range is less than 200 miles each day. I am also assuming that both vehicles will last forever. So here it goes: My truck cost me about $32,500 and gets about 13.8 MPG using cheap regular gas. I posted this when Tesla was a mere $100K. Oh yes, I know the truck is a different class of vehicle. Just want to put things in perspective. The Tesla Roadster cost $100,000 and gets about 50 miles on a buck. I am assuming that Gas prices are $4.00 per gallon and the mileage on both vehicles are the same rate (i.e. average cost of City/Highway). The Answer: I would have to drive 250,000 miles before the cost benefit of owning the Tesla Roadster. At $3.00 per gallon, I would have to drive my truck 350,000 miles before I broke even.
It's not going to get cheaper than the price of the Lotus. Anyway I'm sure the retards in my state will figure out a way to tax it to oblivion or make it illegal to register or tell people that EMS will never be allowed near the car in the case of an accident. Because of that thar new fangled 'lectricity.
It is much cheaper to get the equivalent energy at average US electric rates per mile driven then using either gasoline or diesel. It is something ludicrously cheaper like a few cents a mile. couple of quick googlized refs here http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/08/04/electric-car-cost-per-mile/
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car1.htm
Granted, eventually you'll have to treplace the batts, but if they last ten years and the R&D goes on for ten years, I imagine tomorrow's prices will be considerable less for better quality batteries. And like gas cars, they will depreciate as you drive them off the lot, probably unless you get a collector car, like these first run Teslas will be. I don't see anyone actually losing money on them if they can afford the upfront costs. And for that matter, anyone who can afford one of these cars could also afford a solar rig setup to keep them charged, eventually that is paid off and it is more or less free driving.
The government will most likely go to odometer readings to charge taxes though, that will screw with your cost per mile again.
No free lunch, but you can get a cheaper lunch, and going all electric with personal production means eventually at least the cost of the fuel will be free, just leaving minimal maintenance and taxes.
I am not sure, but I bet the cheapest way right now for joe sixpack to get a functional all electric car that isn't exotic or supremely cobjobbed would be to get a well used prius, rip out the gas engine and tank (save them for later, see next), add additional batteries, now you have a full electric with some legs and it weighs less most likely. I don't know if anyone has done this yet, I know they made plugins that mean you lose most cargo space for the additional batts, but carrying around two engines, the ICE and the electric, plus the gas tank, plus the batteries, is just lame, it works but it is stoopid, twice as much weight as you want or need. The hybrid idea is OK- but not in the same frame, it is ridiculous really. The ICE and fuel tank need to be in a small trailer for trips, most of the time around town and commuting you can leave it unattached and just run pure electric. I could even see people not even buying the ICE trailer part if they only needed it a few times a year and just renting it on the odd weekends they need one.
I can't be the first one to think: how do they plan to ever sell electric cars as daily drivers in regions of the country where it gets cold?
I don't think lithium-ion battery technology works very well in freezing temperatures. Also, there's no good way to get heat from electricity. You could just dump current through an element and blow air across it, but that would probably cut your driving range by 90% -- a driving range that has already been significantly reduced because the batteries are too cold.
People always criticize the internal combustion engine for being inefficient, but the fact is that all that "waste heat" isn't wasted at all. You need it to keep the passengers warm. I live in New England, and I'd like to not freeze on my way to work.
It'll be pretty hard to sell people around here on a "family car" that you can't use between October and May.
First, You say tesla as though this will apply to all their cars. It is only the roadsters that will not come down much in price, but then again, it is competing against 1/4 million dollar cars. Second, the roadster is expected to last about 100K miles before needing to have the batteries replaced. Third, while the current generations of LiIon have a limited set of charges, the research is extending this out all the time. A number of the other types which Tesla will no doubt buy patents rights for, will charge many more times than a 1000. Tesla IS designed around low prices. It is just that the current price of these batteries are pricey, but will go down.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Yeah, right. Tell me another one.
And somebody pass the cheetos, willya?
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I don't see the point... of a store opening to sell something they have no inventory of, and have no hope of having inventory of for quite some time due to already existing waiting lists.
In addition to providing a site for customers to obtain service...
If they get enough advance orders they can afford to expand production.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
While lithium batteries are very efficient they still lose a small percentage of their power when operating. Electric motors do as well, and their controlling electronics ditto. Designing a cooling system for all of the above was a significant part of designing the car.
Two horsepower is 1491+ watts - about the power of the largest space heater you can run on a 15-amp circuit.
So keeping the batteries warm enough to operate efficiently in cold climates shouldn't be a problem - just restrict the cooling until they're warmed up. And while I don't know how the designers of the Tesla heat it, scavenging this "lost heat" to warm the passenger compartment, just as internal-combustion cars use cooling-system heat for the same purpose, would make sense.
The harder problem would be COOLING the vehicle in hot climates. (But since stealing power to air condition the vehicle tends to cost less in "mileage" than opening windows for ventilation and trashing the air friction, I suspect that the car will be air-conditioned despite the loss of "mileage".)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
...will go thru the roof from plugging this thing in to recharge it every day.
For instance, my typical all-electric home has been costing $200-250 per month in the electric bill, except for the coldest part of winter and the hottest part of summer when the heat pump HVAC system runs a lot harder, then the monthly bill has hit $300 on occasion.
Then I bought an electric arc welder for my workshop, and used it for one month in the summer to learn to weld and build a couple go-cart frames. My electric bill for that month was $700.
Ouch!
That's $400 above and beyond what my highest electric bills usually ran.
Needless to say, I quit using the arc welder.
My rough calculations estimate that daily charging of an electric car like this one, if I use it to drive about 10K miles per year (my average annual driving habit for commuting to & from work, grocery store, cleaners, church, etc) will consume just slightly less electricity than I used by running that arc welder.
I presently spend about $200/month on gasoline (at ~ $3.75/gallon) in my car. To go electric would mean that I would about double the cost of my transportation fueling expense.
No thanks. The technology is not here yet.
That means you're paying $0.25 per mile just for the batteries---seven cents per mile more than my gasoline cost for a Ford Windstar...at my current PG&E rate of 33 cents per kilowatt hour, that comes out to $24.75 for that 220 miles, or an additional $0.11 per mile, for a grand total of a whopping $0.36 per mile---seven cents per gallon more than the average cost of driving a Lamborghini roadster....
For the EV, you're including long term matintencance costs in the per mile calculation. Are you doing the same for your Windstar?
Try a bicycle. You're never going to reach a similar efficiency (approx 1000mpg if you could digest raw vegetable oil) when your solution requires a 2000lb vehicle to move a 180lb person. The automobile is simply the wrong solution to the problem of transportation of people.
A Telsa/energy related article referenced last Monday off regarding Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car got lots of follow-ups ;-) Telsa Pierce-Arrow
No, I think you're missing the point.
This thing is first and foremost a bad-ass sports car. It does 0-60 faster than cars costing twice as much.
The "green" aspect is just a way for them to one-up the Ferrari drivers who might try to talk trash. They can just respond "well I just kicked your ass in the quarter mile, and I'm saving the environment". And at least compared to driving a Ferrari or any other sports car, they are.
The enemies of Democracy are
This car is, essentially, vapourware; this vaunted retail store doesn't actually have anything to sell.
Hasn't Tesla only shipped four cars, two of which went to company executives? And as I understand it, they're using a temporary transmission because the production run doesn't work. And they've just gone through a management shakeout. At this point, what I've heard implies that they have no direction, no plan and no product. They're talking about their new sedan, but haven't been able to birth the roadster yet.
They give the impression of a company that's going to file for C11 in six months, then reemerge as a patent troll.
--srj/mmv
Sorry for not being clear. When I said, "gas tax holiday," I was being figurative. I wasn't so much referring to the literal taxes on gasoline as I was referring to the tax that gasoline is placing on our society--mainly in how our dependence on foreign oil is make making our economy dependent on the whims of foreign governments, how the problem is going to become worse and worse as worldwide demand for petroleum goes up, and in the ecological impact of millions of ICE engines. (No, I'm not an environut crying that the sky is falling, but one doesn't have to be a tree-hugger to not particularly like the haze that is persistently over one's city.)
Even if ultimately electric-powered cars cost exactly the same amount of money, taxes and all, to run as gasoline-powered cars, it is more than worth it to make the change, and there are many compelling reasons to do so from a self-interested point of view.
I have a Tesla Roadster on order, hopefully for delivery in 2008 (it was supposed to be 2007). Does anyone know if there is a marketplace for the buying and selling a 2008 production slot?
Make a difference: move to a swing state.
Give me a Ford Nucleon any day. Just don't drive too close, ok?
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
To drive 60 miles in an Aptera Motor vehicle: $0.38
proof:
I have a car that does 30mpg. If I travel at 60 mph, I will use 2 gallons. I pay $3.50 for a gallon of gas, but state and federal taxes make up at least $.37. This gives me 60 miles of driving for $6.26.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors [wikipedia.org], the Aptera consumes 60 WattÃhours/km. Lets assume an electrical rate of .06498/kwh=.00006498$/wh. If I want to go 60 miles (96.56064 km), it will cost me .00006498$/wh * 60wh/km * 96.56046km=$.37647
- * $2500/yr / $3.50/gal gas = ~700 gal gas
- * 700 gal/yr * 22 mpg = ~15,500 miles/year
- * 15,500 miles/yr * 0.35kWh/mile = ~5,500 kWh/yr
- * 5,500 kWh/yr * $0.10/kWh = $550/year
That's assuming (a) you're in the US, (b) you're driving a car that gets US-fleet-average mileage, and (c) you're paying US-average electricity rates. If you're getting different-from-average mileage, that'll likely change your mpg and mpkWh at roughly the same rate, so you'll still see the same ~80% savings (plus lower maintenance costs due to the vastly simpler mechanism; shouldn't need oil, for example). FWIW, there are two main reasons for the massive operational savings:It seems strange that there would be tax incentives from the federal government as well as state tax incentives from Oregon , among others, if they were then going to go levy special additional taxes.
You may be right, but it sounds a little bit like an urban legend.
I just came in here to say this:
;)
If I could afford it and it was available: I'd have an electric car for everyday use and a gas powered hybrid for road trips.
I love road trips. And I don't like the idea of waiting 2-4 hours for what used to take 5 minutes.
Slashdot crowd, you got a NON SNARKY solution to this problem, give it a shot, I'm all ears.
(I said Non-Snarky, slashdotters! I know I know, its a futile attempt (you must be new here, etcetera)
...and I finally see the first insightful post on this entire thread.
Folks, we live in capitalistic societies (most of us, anyway). Until the economics "work" - EV cars on a mass scale are a pipedream.
Until it is less expensive than a fossil-fuel car (TCO), it won't happen. Right now, it's not even close. Fossil fueled transportation is far more cost effective than it' electric/hybrid equivalent.
If you disagree with me, then all you have to do to be rich is to go sell your idea to a trucking company. If the economics are there, they'll pay you a mint to make it happen. Unfortunately, the fact is: the economics AREN'T there.
In order for electric cars to become mainstream, it seems to me that some progress will have to be made regarding charging implementation and standards. If I was ruler of the world, here's what I would look into:
1. Create a standard for charging. I would suggest making the charging voltage be something very high, such as 440 or 880 Volts. This serves a couple purposes:
a. Charging should be faster.
b. Charging should be cheaper.
c. You won't be tempted to plug in your toaster.
2. Put the charging circuit on its own meter at facilities--this could be houses or places of business.
3. Mandate that all new construction get the new circuit and meter. This includes both houses and commercial buildings.
4. Make the charging port physically hardended--only the property owner can unlock it.
5. To use the charging port, you must have an account with some central agency that will issue you a physical key. This key will allow you to charge at any station in the country and have your individual account recorded at the meter for any electricity utilized. This key will be a physical key, but can only be used if the port is physically unlocked by the property owner.
6. No matter where you charge up, you ultimately pay for your power through your specific power company. Partnerships exist behind the scenes, through the central agency, to account for money transfers between providers if you fill up at a port that is serviced by another company.
7. Since this whole system is running and catalogued by account, taxes can be levied similar to gas taxes now--all without affecting the taxes on electricity powering the 110 and 220 Volt circuits.
This system may introduce privacy concerns. Namely, the government will known when and where you are using your key. Of course, with the majority of us using credit cards to fill up at gas stations, I'm not sure I agree that this is a HUGE problem.
Monitor bandwidth usage on IIS6 in real-time: http://www.waetech.com/services/iisbm/
using power that is currently literally wasted.
Currently? Is it flowing out the wires?
"I can't wait for these types of cars to hit mass production and come down in price so that us normal people can afford them.
That is what I'd call the ultimate "gas tax holiday."
$50 gets me 200 miles of transportation today. Believe me the way things are going
when that car becomes available 200 miles will be $100 in electricity and metered
road usage.
I would get one if I could have it for a reasonable price today. I'm not going to wait
outside the store when the first affordable ones become available in five years from now.
I was just wondering... what would happen in a car accident with the Li-Ion batteries? If you take a look at videos of hand-held devices being torn you'll see that all inside circuitry almost instantly turns into strange looking powder and smoke. What effect could it have on the poor driver?
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Ultra caps shouldn't have this problem, and I bet will eventually replace batteries. No prolonged charging either,as capacitors can be charged in a few seconds or so.
..........FULL STOP.
Recently watched "Who Killed the Electric Car", it's strange to think that something similar to the Tesla had already been made by GM in the mid-90's because of California's zero emissions law. When the emission law went, so did GM's electric car.
A high-performance automobile still uses lots of energy whether it is petroleum or coal-generated electricity. The ultimate green strategy is moderation. The rich peoel can play with expensive toys and continue as green-hypocrites.
Instead of filling your car with gas, you're using coal/oil power plants instead. I don't see what the true benefit really is.
If you paid any attention at all to this subject over the past 5 years you'd know that battery-powered electric vehicles are far more efficient than blowing up gasoline to move, so even if the electricity to recharge them comes from fossil fuel, there's less pollution and lower costs and higher equivalent MPG.
People have already refuted and posted links here (and the last 500 times someone who "doesn't see" brings it up), but I'll repeat two: http://www.teslamotors.com/efficiency/well_to_wheel.php and http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/08/04/electric-car-cost-per-mile/
=S