ATG
Banned
+5,233|6977|Global Command
https://i12.tinypic.com/675hkzs.jpg
More photos click here.

I was going to title this thread " The Death of the Big Car Companies ". Instead, this thing is so amazing and its potential for ending our dependence on oil so profound I could not think of anything good.

I first read about this car in Popular Science. They claim this car can out-accelerate a Lamborghini Gallardo and travel 250 miles between recharges. It has 6831 lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in laptops.

Points of brilliance from random parts of their Company website.

Electric “Punishment Cars”

Historically, it seemed to us that electric cars had been designed by people who thought we really shouldn‘t be driving at all - but if we must, we should suffer every minute of it. Electric cars have had terrible range and embarrassing styling. To those who say electric cars have been tried and failed we say, of course electric cars won‘t catch on if no one actually wants to drive them.
About Tesla Motors

One Thing We Can Agree On

Whether you‘re more concerned about global warming or about national security, there‘s one thing we can probably agree on: our dependence on oil is dangerous and costly.

Right now 58% of our oil comes from other countries, so it‘s practically inevitable our foreign policy principles will be held ransom by our need to maintain domestic economic stability. When you consider that 68% of our oil is used for transportation, we believe gasoline-free cars are an ideal solution to these issues. Even a hybrid car, which still burns gasoline and emits carbon dioxide, doesn‘t solve our oil-related problems, it just postpones them. If you look hard at the numbers, it‘s clear that an electric car is the cleanest and most efficient kind of car in existence.


Instant Freedom.
The first time you drive the Tesla Roadster, prepare to be surprised. You’re at freeway speed in seconds without even thinking about it. There’s no clutch pedal to contend with and no race-car driving techniques to perform. Just the touch of your foot and you’re off, without any of the sluggishness of an automatic.

How powerful is the acceleration? A quick story to illustrate. A favorite trick here at Tesla Motors is to invite a passenger along and ask him to turn on the radio. At the precise moment we ask, we accelerate. Our passenger simply can’t sit forward enough to reach the dials.
0-60 in four seconds.
The first 100 cars sold for $100,000.00 each.

Of course, the big car companies are ten years behind the curve. The future is here, and a privately funded American company owns it.

GG Tesla.
CoronadoSEAL
pics or it didn't happen
+207|6966|USA
i too read that article in pop science, and i was thoroughly impressed!  if i remember correctly, the electric motor has only one 'gear' which i found very interesting - the simplicity of 'point and shoot' has reached a new level.  do you remember how long it takes to charge?

edit: also, i'm glad they opted for a sleek look unlike the less than attractive debut of hybrids *puke*.

Last edited by CoronadoSEAL (2007-05-05 08:48:43)

krazed
Admiral of the Bathtub
+619|7228|Great Brown North
oohh i like it, clean without looking like it was drawn by a 7 yeard old with crayons

Last edited by krazed (2007-05-05 08:48:49)

ATG
Banned
+5,233|6977|Global Command

CoronadoSEAL wrote:

i too read that article in pop science, and i was thoroughly impressed!  if i remember correctly, the electric motor has only one 'gear' which i found very interesting - the simplicity of 'point and shoot' has reached a new level.  do you remember how long it takes to charge?

edit: also, i'm glad they opted for a sleek look unlike the less than attractive debut of hybrids *puke*.
Not in magazine article.

Last edited by ATG (2007-05-05 08:49:40)

Varegg
Support fanatic :-)
+2,206|7258|Nårvei

Breathtaking looks and acceleration but it`s purely electrical right, thus not being more environmentally-friendly cause you gotta produce that electricity from some fossil fuel !

So that car is still in the loop as much as a car that runs on petrol !

The local benefits could however be better reducing polution inside a city area !
Wait behind the line ..............................................................
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6977|Global Command

Varegg wrote:

Breathtaking looks and acceleration but it`s purely electrical right, thus not being more environmentally-friendly cause you gotta produce that electricity from some fossil fuel !

So that car is still in the loop as much as a car that runs on petrol !

The local benefits could however be better reducing polution inside a city area !
Why not clean nuclear power?
jord
Member
+2,382|7126|The North, beyond the wall.
Anyone know the top speed?
Varegg
Support fanatic :-)
+2,206|7258|Nårvei

ATG wrote:

Varegg wrote:

Breathtaking looks and acceleration but it`s purely electrical right, thus not being more environmentally-friendly cause you gotta produce that electricity from some fossil fuel !

So that car is still in the loop as much as a car that runs on petrol !

The local benefits could however be better reducing polution inside a city area !
Why not clean nuclear power?
Do the math on how much nuclear power it takes to fuel the entire amount of cars in the US and what to do with the nuclear waste of that in addition to the waste allready produced !

The transition from fossil fuels over to nuclear power or another energy source can`t happen over night, a lot of great work is being conducted but we are not close to a technology yet that can efficiently replace fossil fuels without grave side-effects like nuclear waste !

As it stands we need cars that run on less petrol and emits fewer bi-products !
Wait behind the line ..............................................................
Mekstizzle
WALKER
+3,611|7069|London, England
The reason electric cars aren't so successful is because they need to be recharged. How do you do that? Well you plug it into your socket. But wait, who makes the electrical energy for the socket?

Yep, most of that power comes from fossil fueled power station.
An increase in electric cars will mean an increase in demand for power from power stations.
Thus more fossil fuels will need to be burnt and what you're simply doing is removing dependence of oil from car fuel to power fuel. Oil/Fossil companies will still have control.

Although: Electric Car + Socket Power from Renewable/Nuclear energy sources = much less oil dependence.

They need to make power stations that don't rely so much on fossil fuels/oil.
CoronadoSEAL
pics or it didn't happen
+207|6966|USA

jord wrote:

Anyone know the top speed?
pretty sure it was 120, but i really don't remember.
at some rediculous rpm like 1600 <- don't quote me on this one

Last edited by CoronadoSEAL (2007-05-05 09:02:29)

WinterWayfarer
Combat Medic
+21|6700|Spacetime
How would crime suffice?
Ryan
Member
+1,230|7291|Alberta, Canada

Lambos are faster.
jord
Member
+2,382|7126|The North, beyond the wall.

Ryan wrote:

Lambos are faster.
At 120 MPH max everything is faster.

That's if Cornado's information is correct.

Driving that i'd have to buy a CD with muscle car noises and play it as i drive and pretend i'm in a petrol car.
Ryan
Member
+1,230|7291|Alberta, Canada

jord wrote:

Ryan wrote:

Lambos are faster.
At 120 MPH max everything is faster.

That's if Cornado's information is correct.

Driving that i'd have to buy a CD with muscle car noises and play it as i drive and pretend i'm in a petrol car.
Bugatti's are faster.
Mitch
16 more years
+877|6973|South Florida

ATG wrote:

http://i12.tinypic.com/675hkzs.jpg
More photos click here.

I was going to title this thread " The Death of the Big Car Companies ". Instead, this thing is so amazing and its potential for ending our dependence on oil so profound I could not think of anything good.

I first read about this car in Popular Science. They claim this car can out-accelerate a Lamborghini Gallardo and travel 250 miles between recharges. It has 6831 lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in laptops.

Points of brilliance from random parts of their Company website.

Electric “Punishment Cars”

Historically, it seemed to us that electric cars had been designed by people who thought we really shouldn‘t be driving at all - but if we must, we should suffer every minute of it. Electric cars have had terrible range and embarrassing styling. To those who say electric cars have been tried and failed we say, of course electric cars won‘t catch on if no one actually wants to drive them.
About Tesla Motors

One Thing We Can Agree On

Whether you‘re more concerned about global warming or about national security, there‘s one thing we can probably agree on: our dependence on oil is dangerous and costly.

Right now 58% of our oil comes from other countries, so it‘s practically inevitable our foreign policy principles will be held ransom by our need to maintain domestic economic stability. When you consider that 68% of our oil is used for transportation, we believe gasoline-free cars are an ideal solution to these issues. Even a hybrid car, which still burns gasoline and emits carbon dioxide, doesn‘t solve our oil-related problems, it just postpones them. If you look hard at the numbers, it‘s clear that an electric car is the cleanest and most efficient kind of car in existence.


Instant Freedom.
The first time you drive the Tesla Roadster, prepare to be surprised. You’re at freeway speed in seconds without even thinking about it. There’s no clutch pedal to contend with and no race-car driving techniques to perform. Just the touch of your foot and you’re off, without any of the sluggishness of an automatic.

How powerful is the acceleration? A quick story to illustrate. A favorite trick here at Tesla Motors is to invite a passenger along and ask him to turn on the radio. At the precise moment we ask, we accelerate. Our passenger simply can’t sit forward enough to reach the dials.
0-60 in four seconds.
The first 100 cars sold for $100,000.00 each.

Of course, the big car companies are ten years behind the curve. The future is here, and a privately funded American company owns it.

GG Tesla.
Yeah take the fun out of racing... When all you have to do is push a pettle you mine as well go home on the computer where you can push a button and race a fucking spaceship or something...
15 more years! 15 more years!
Blehm98
conservative hatemonger
+150|6911|meh-land
they said there are two gears, one that keeps the speed easier to control and one that lets you max out the engine by pressing the accelerator down

i think its top speed was closer to 220 and 120, but i can't find the magazine here, so i can't verify

very interesting idea though, and if nuclear power powered the US then it'd definitely be nice to get
BUT it takes $20,000 to replace the batteries, and they start losing the ability to hold charge after around 5 years or so (or 50,000) miles - estimated 70% original charge capacity, and it starts dropping faster after that
ghettoperson
Member
+1,943|7097

Looks good, however until we reach a point with batteries that you plug them in for a minute or so and it's fully charged, and also that they are usable for the lifetime of the car, electric cars are not going to take off.
superfly_cox
soup fly mod
+717|7229

only problem is the range.  you couldn't make it to vegas from LA for instance.  plus, i'm not too sure how reliable the range figures are cause those laptops batteries never last as long as they say they do.  you'd probably have to drive very easily to get close to 250 with that number going way down as you start testing the peddle a bit.  i think this will probably be fixed in a few years and once they get to 500 mph range look out!

good find ATG!
Stingray24
Proud member of the vast right-wing conspiracy
+1,060|6893|The Land of Scott Walker

jord wrote:

Ryan wrote:

Lambos are faster.
At 120 MPH max everything is faster.

That's if Cornado's information is correct.

Driving that i'd have to buy a CD with muscle car noises and play it as i drive and pretend i'm in a petrol car.
Same here.  I wanna hear some V8 growl or some supercharger whine if I'm driving fast.

Last edited by Stingray24 (2007-05-05 11:10:38)

konfusion
mostly afk
+480|6998|CH/BR - in UK

This is awesome - a first step in the right direction

-konfusion
Harmor
Error_Name_Not_Found
+605|6996|San Diego, CA, USA

konfusion wrote:

This is awesome - a first step in the right direction

-konfusion
Agreed.  'What killed the Electric car' was a great documentary as well. 

The only problem I have with Electric cars is the batteries and how they are charged.  See the batteries are made from caustic materials like Litium, Nickel, Cadmium, and LEAD - these are not good for the environment.  Not only when they are disposed of, but also the mining of those materials.

There's no point with having an electric car if the electricity it uses came from a poluting source like Coal or Oil?  Also you loose more than 50% of the enemy when you transmit the energy over transmission lines.


So unless the power you generate for an electric car is clean and the battery techonlogy is eco-friendly, I'll reserve judgement on The Electric Car.


Have you guys heard of the Air Car?   Only goes 35 mph (50 kph) though.
Commie Killer
Member
+192|6835
Personally, I prefer the endless oil idea(old article, havent really looked for any new news since, if anyone has seen it, post it maybe):
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/apr/an … il/?page=1
usmarine
Banned
+2,785|7210

100,000.  lol.  what a solution.
Hurricane
Banned
+1,153|7078|Washington, DC

Commie Killer wrote:

Personally, I prefer the endless oil idea(old article, havent really looked for any new news since, if anyone has seen it, post it maybe):
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/apr/an … il/?page=1
Yay, more greenhouse gases

I'd like it if we ran out of oil soon. then we'd have a wake-up call to fucking research new things.
Sydney
2λчиэλ
+783|7291|Reykjavík, Iceland.

ATG wrote:

Varegg wrote:

Breathtaking looks and acceleration but it`s purely electrical right, thus not being more environmentally-friendly cause you gotta produce that electricity from some fossil fuel !

So that car is still in the loop as much as a car that runs on petrol !

The local benefits could however be better reducing polution inside a city area !
Why not clean nuclear power?
Hydroelectric power?

Geothermal power?


That's what we use on Iceland, 100% clean like nuclear power without that nasty uranium.

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