I want one!

[Fox5]

They claim 250 miles.

How much does this thing weigh? It's gotta be well under 1000 pounds for that kind of mileage. That, and to make the 0 to 60 in 4 seconds...that's really doubtful. If that's the case, why not go with an even weaker engine and get better fuel consumption and a lower cost?

Well, they use a large grid of off-the-shelf Lithium-Ion cells (450 kg of them).

Guess it's not light weight, it's just 1 big battery on wheels.

Well, that should only make sense. The power curve on electric motors is almost totally flat, giving them insane low-end torque, if they are to have any torque at all at high speeds.

That explains why it does 0 to 60 so fast.

Anyhow, why haven't any of the big car manufactuers produced a car like this? This may be expensive now, but mass production would bring it down to at least somewhat affordable levels.

 

[KimB]

If that's the case, why not go with an even weaker engine and get better fuel consumption and a lower cost?

That's not the point of this car. They wanted to make a high-performance electric car. The good fuel economy is just a bonus.

Anyhow, why haven't any of the big car manufactuers produced a car like this? This may be expensive now, but mass production would bring it down to at least somewhat affordable levels.

Well, there's two reasons: technology, and paradigm. This outside company is probably the first because the others were too ingrained in this idea of an electric car being a small, low-power, maximum mileage car. This made electric cars inherently hard to sell, because due to the low volumes, they were going to cost quite a lot more than other compact cars. Plus it's only been recently that we've had the battery technology to have batteries that charged quickly enough, and had enough stored energy to provide something like this its juice.

This move by Tesla Motors makes a lot of sense from a marketting point of view: they can charge a whole hell of a lot more for a high-performance electric car, which serves the dual purpose of allowing them to develop the technology to make more mainsteam electric cars easy to produce, while at the same time shattering the perception among the consumer that electric cars have to be gutless and very short range.

 

[Rur0ni]

I want to see price.

 

[Blazkowicz]

Not at all. The savings will pay off most for the daily commute to work. Long trips are rare anyway, and for most people don't contribute a significant amount to their overall fuel usage.

Anyway, it's for this reason that I think that electric cars are going to be great for families that typically have more than one car. This way, you can use the electric car for the daily commute, and have a hybrid diesel sitting around for long trips.

Alternatively, you can always use some form of mass transit. There really isn't ever any need to drive more than about a hundred miles.

yes, most of my trips are to the nearest town (~4km but it sucks, cigarette/bread trip, and ~ 10km for real town) or big city (~45 to 50km). the electric car's range would allow me to visit some family at ~200km away and to get to the other end of France there's plane or train.

so that kind of car would fit me well, maybe less fun that my beat-up low end small car, maybe more fun because of much higher power, I don't know. Also a concern would be running over pedestrians with a silent car .

but for electric cars to become mainstream we need a breakthrough in energy storage, be it nanotech improved batteries or capacitors. Electric cars have always existed, and the basic things haven't changed much since the 1890s : motors and batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries were a nice improvement for our cell phones, laptops and portable toys, but for cars they're still expensive, bulky & heavy, and disposable.
The nanotune-improved capacitor that was announced recently would remove the latter factor, but could it be used to store a lot of energy, or have a cheap enough big array of such things? whatever, any improvment that would curb one of the other factors would help electric cars as well.

 

[Zaphod]

I want to see price.

From the Wired article: "[...] the sports car class lets Eberhard price it on the high end -- in the range of a Porsche 911 Carrera S, roughly $80,000."

 

[Ty]

This car is NOT marketed at people trying to save money.

It's for rich people who want to feel green in the 'save the planet' sort of way.

And as for calling it useless, what coupe isn't "useless"? Why would I want to drive 250 miles plus in a coupe anyhow? And if I was really desparate to do so, I could charge it during a long trip thus extending its operating range.

 

[DudeMiester]

Given the videos of laptops and cell phones we've seen recently, what happens when those batteries explode? lol

 

[xatnys]

Seems like you may potentially get a lot of bang for the buck.

Edit: From a /. summary:

Part of what is different about this is that they are using over 6,831 laptop-type lithium-ion batteries. They are claiming the range is about 250 miles. As the battery tech for laptops improves, so will the range of these cars.

 

[Rur0ni]

From the Wired article: "[...] the sports car class lets Eberhard price it on the high end -- in the range of a Porsche 911 Carrera S, roughly $80,000."

Not bad, I think its sexy. Maybe they'll get bigger as a company and make this stuff cheaper.

 

[Basic]

But why 1-phase 220V 70A?
Wouldn't it be a lot more common with 3-phase and lower current?

3-phase 220V 20A would be almost the same power, and there's a chance that you'd already have that in your garage. At least 16A isn't uncommon to find here. With a switch to tell the car how much current to draw, you could use the same interface when charging the car at a friends place (who don't have an electrical car). And it would be much more likely that you'd find a power outlet that alowed a resonably fast charge. (4 h on 20A or 5 h on 16 A.)

Or have I just mixed up what standards you have in US?

 

[Fox5]

But why 1-phase 220V 70A?
Wouldn't it be a lot more common with 3-phase and lower current?

3-phase 220V 20A would be almost the same power, and there's a chance that you'd already have that in your garage. At least 16A isn't uncommon to find here. With a switch to tell the car how much current to draw, you could use the same interface when charging the car at a friends place (who don't have an electrical car). And it would be much more likely that you'd find a power outlet that alowed a resonably fast charge. (4 h on 20A or 5 h on 16 A.)

Or have I just mixed up what standards you have in US?

I think US is 120V, 15A to 20A. I'm not aware of anything 220V in the US being a standard.

 

[nelg]

I wonder how much of the cost of the car is related to batteries and how well the price might scale in relationship.

 

[KimB]

Yeah, I don't know. I do know that many houses have different power outlets for the washer/drier than our usual 120V outlets (I've never bought a washer/drier myself, so I have no clue how many use these plugs). It would make sense for this car to be built to plug into an outlet like that.

 

[Basic]

OK, thanks Fox5.
Which means that with the travel kit, a full recharge could be 24 h.
I don't think 3.5 h recharge for 250 miles is a problem that often. You could double it, and still have time to charge it over night.
But f you do get outside the range, and need a recharge at your friends place, 24 h is rather long.

Either way, it's a cool car. And for daily commuting, or just cruising in front of the cool places in town, it would work perfectly well.

[edit] (After reading Chalnoths post.)
So you do have some outlets with more power than that. Just going to 240 V 20 A would change the very impractial 24 h to a lot more sensible 12 h. That should work for evening + overnight charging

Btw, is it US or GB that has the 120V 2-phase system in houses?
Ie 180º between the phases, so if you want to, you could get 240V.

 

[Tahir2]

This car is NOT marketed at people trying to save money.

It's for rich people who want to feel green in the 'save the planet' sort of way.

That's me out then..

 

[Citrous]

220v is used all over in the US. Even 220v 3 phase, or Stinger, or whatever you like. Most electric ranges, dryers, and other high energy draw appliances use 220v. 70 Amps is a lot though, I doubt most existing wired 220v circuits could handle that much current.

 

[Frank]

Given the videos of laptops and cell phones we've seen recently, what happens when those batteries explode? lol

Those cells have liquid cooling and climate control. So, no need to worry about that.

 

[MuFu]

Who cares about the car? That Hyanide thing is AWESOME.

 

[Geo]

Oooh, that Tesla Roadster is a hottie.

Low volume? Well, so? Surely the patrons of B3D understand "halo effect"?

 

[KimB]

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2006/08/02/

I love Foxtrot