Anyone seen the new four door Tesla S:
www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/03/27/tesla_unveils_mod.../
Looks pretty good to me apart from the 17" touch screen in the dashboard. Don't think I could afford one though!
If this car really could have a range of 300 miles on a charge then at some time in the future, we could all be driving proper electric cars.
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The steering wheel is a bit tatty..................and they stole the shape from aston
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The front they stole from Masserati as well. If the technology works though we could have our first proper all electric car for a family. Just need to get the price down.
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Just need to get the price down.
And generate the electricity to charge it cleanly and sustainably. Otherwise the whole thing is completely pointless.
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And generate the electricity to charge it cleanly and sustainably.
And invent a way of refilling the batteries as quick as I can refill my fuel tank
Otherwise the whole thing is completely pointless.
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Don't forget that the range decreases with fast driving style.
Drive it like a milk float - 300 miles, drive like normal petrol car at night with everything switched on - a lot less.
Also charging through the domestic supply will take probably take longer than 45 mins.
But on paper sounds like the best practical electric car so far, in terms of speed and range.
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Would I buy it - not a chance - if you run out of electricty, it will take more than a walk to a petrol station to get it going again. Id far rather see cars that do 150 mpg than this electric solution.
If of course they make standardised battery packs than can simply be swapped at fuelling stations for a fully charged one, then it will become a different matter as that will be on a par with filling up with petrol.
I also think solar power has some merit as you can 'fill up' as you go. Be a long time before the sun runs out, even in deepest Wales.
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Under the right circumstances (large financial resources and another equivalent conventional car at least) I must say I would be strongly tempted to try one. It's very handsome - beautiful in a soulless sort of way - and the figures are impressive.
Of course even with the top battery pack, costing no doubt a lot extra, it wouldn't go anything like 300 miles at anything but a light-footed legal cruise, but it might be all right for 50 mile dashes there and back for the weekend as it were.
Everything would depend on the way it felt. Not sure a racing milk float would be everyoine's cup of tea.
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>>If this car really could have a range of 300 miles on a charge then at some time in the future, we could all be driving proper electric cars.
In the future we will all be driving electric cars as we wont have any choice.
>>And generate the electricity to charge it cleanly and sustainably. Otherwise the whole thing is completely pointless.
No, not pointless - essential. If we want to keep on motoring as we do today we need to accept that things will change in the future. We need these sort of developments and research now so that there is something in place for the future.
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This car is of course a toy for the rich, mainly in the US. But it shows what is possible now. Think what might be for the future.
Non-polluting electricity production is a must. But maybe a large fuel cell could be used. Who knows. It might not be necessary for the fuel cell for example to be in the car just at your home for overnight generation - means it does not need to be so compact.
And what if we went back to the old energy 7 tariffs where the electricity overnight is cheaper because it is not needed - don't forget a lot of power stations cannot just be turned on and off with demand (I know some are including the like of Dinorwig)
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This car is of course a toy for the rich
...as of course is the automobile as we know it, in its early form. The mass-produced automobile is a cheap imitation of that. Which is why we are forced to be cheap imitations of rich people.
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In the future we will all be driving electric cars as we wont have any choice.
I'm not sure that's necessarily true. There are plenty of mad ideas out there for biologically generated fuels, and all technological breakthroughs start off as mad ideas (which is not the same thing as all mad ideas becoming technological breakthroughs). I wouldn't like to predict at this stage what will power our cars when the oil finally runs out.
We need these sort of developments and research now so that there is something in place for the future.
It always amazes me in any new technology how these early tentative steps still manage to find customers. Expensive novelty toys I suppose. Sadly I'm not in the market for one of those :(
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If they can solve the range problem, set up a national network of power points, make batteries that will last a decent amount of time (preferably the life of the car0 then I would not have a problem with electricity. Yes it is totally lacking in soul but the Tesla sportscar is extremely quick and flexibe (so I have read). You also have the advantage of max torque being delivered instantly.
I don't think we will be forced into totally electric cars yet though as the oil industry is just too big and has too much influence. The fact that oil is running short is nonsense according to a friend in the business, the oil companies are still finding new sources.
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If they can solve the range problem set up a national network of power points make batteries that will last a decent amount of time (preferably the life of the car0 then I would not have a problem with electricity.
Even if the time taken to recharge the batteries is measured in hours not minutes? I think that is the biggest challenge facing electric cars.
Yes it is totally lacking in soul
That's the second biggest challenge :-)
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Yes forgot to mention the fact that they would have to invent a battery that could be charged extremely quickly as well:Just too many negatives at the moment to make them a viable alternative.
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If they can solve the range problem set up a national network of power points make batteries that will last a decent amount of time (preferably the life of the car0 then I would not have a problem with electricity.
All of the above will be solved if someone can come up with a decent method for storing the energy. This is the only problem currently with electric cars, in all other technical aspects they are superior, but as you say they lack soul...
I don't think we will be forced into totally electric cars yet though as the oil industry is just too big and has too much influence. The fact that oil is running short is nonsense according to a friend in the business the oil companies are still finding new sources.
The oil isnt running out just yet and probably wont in my lifetime. Its more a question of supply and demand and the current low price of oil meaning less exploration and development of new sources - hence why Gordo B was concerned about the low price of oil a while back(he got something right for once). When the global ecomony picks up again and the price of oil soars once more you might have no choice but to consider an electric car if petrol/diesel is around £4 a litre.
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