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Electric Car - Tesla Type S

45 minute QuickCharge
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Not an insurmountable problem though.

Does look nice from the pic. Is it the tech of the future though? Is hydrogen the way to go?
 
I plan on buying one, or one like it, as soon as I have the money for a few other things. Once I can buy enough roof-mounted solar panels, and enough wind turbines, I'll consider buying a car I need to plug into the wall.
 
Davo said:
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php

Further to the Tesla Roadster, Tesla have unveiled their new model S-Type.

Specs seem very promising: 300 mile range , 0-60 in 6 seconds

Very nice looking motor, would buy one if I had a bit of spare cash ($57,000)
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The range is up to 300miles with an extended pack. With the base $50000 price, you get a 120mile battery pack with the option for longer range packs. The packs are apparently fast swap, and they claim you can change battery packs within 5minutes.

I'm going to wait before passing judgment, Tesla had a lot of problems with the Tesla Roadster, especially the transmission.
 
AgeGap said:
Not an insurmountable problem though.

Does look nice from the pic. Is it the tech of the future though? Is hydrogen the way to go?
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Electric is the way to go. It is still more efficient than gasoline and hydrogen still isn't a mature enough technology. Battery tech is improving.

Tesla has a system where they can wire up your house charging station with solar panels and wind turbines so you can get completely off the power grid. Sounds good except for the extreme cost.

The quick charge system requires a very high voltage system so your house socket needs to be modified.
 
AgeGap said:
Based on a Lotus (Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious).
Makes me wonder about the future of transmission.

In the red corner.
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The only part that the Tesla Roadster uses from Lotus is the chassis and it is a very rigid and light chassis. Everything else is brand new. They actually had to create an entirely new transmission system. They had an automatic system consisting of 2 gears...unfortunately it broke all the time so they fixed it.

The current Tesla Roadster only has one gear and revs up to 13000rpm
 
AgeGap said:
Not an insurmountable problem though.

Does look nice from the pic. Is it the tech of the future though? Is hydrogen the way to go?
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Well hydrogen is really a specific form of battery and electric power. It is just one that you can top up the battery with.

Short term, plug in hybrids are probably the best, long term, well it will depend on how the battery tech progresses, and if people want to change driving habits.

I would not buy a car with a 300 mile range, because I sometimes drive 750 miles in a day. That would be three charges. Now if I can charge in many convenient places in around a half hour it might work.
 
ponderingturtle said:
Well hydrogen is really a specific form of battery and electric power. It is just one that you can top up the battery with.
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Hydrogen fuel cell cars will have to run as hybrids due to the fact that you can't draw transient currents from the cells.
 
The Top Gear guys recently "tested" the orginal Tesla sports roadster. Although they were impressed with the performance, the vehicle broke down twice during the testing and when driven hard drained the batteries very rapidly.
The charge time is very long.... The sheer weight of the battery pack made for a lot of body movement during cornering.

Likely few buyers will worry about such things....

There is a lot of very promising battery technology about to go online. MIT's Technology Review has had recent articles on using nanomaterials to greatly improve charge time and also create batteries that will likely last as long as the car.

Science Friday just had a report (also from MIT) about new systems that allow very rapid re-charging; only a few seconds if one has a sufficient power source, and in the range of minutes with household current.
 
Bikewer said:
The Top Gear guys recently "tested" the orginal Tesla sports roadster. Although they were impressed with the performance, the vehicle broke down twice during the testing and when driven hard drained the batteries very rapidly.
The charge time is very long.... The sheer weight of the battery pack made for a lot of body movement during cornering.
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You do realize that some of that stuff never actually happened. I love that show but the morons should not have out and out lied about the batteries running out of juice, and the brakes failing.
 
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$600 per month to rent. Honda says they will be ready to mass produce by 2018.

I used to like Top Gear before it went entertainment rather than factual. I have colleagues who now watch it and enjoy it who don't like cars. I think that the programme alienated a lot of petrolheads at the time this switch happened.

5th Gear FTW.
 
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BenBurch said:
Top Gear also did a less-than-honest review of the Prius, if I recall correctly. Obviously they have a bias.
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Well it is an entertainment show first and foremost.
AgeGap said:
$600 per month to rent. Honda says they will be ready to mass produce by 2018.
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Oooo please if that is the Hydrogen Fuel Cell car the morons don't even realize that it suffers from the same problem that they railed upon the Prius for.
 
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BenBurch said:
Yeah, that's a nice dodge that people in broadcasting use. Rush Limbaugh uses it all the time. It's even true. But that does not stop the fact that many people form their opinions based on such entertainment, and that lies so-told can cause an actual tort.
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You have seen this show right?
 
BenBurch said:
Yep. Its pure fluff. But people are influenced by it when it lies.
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Once again I am going to ask you if you have seen this show? It goes beyond pure fluff into a range of you'd have to be a moron to believe the stuff in that show.
 
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