http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1
All I gotta say is Lotus helped this company out, and this will be one hell of a car! I want one.
Unlike EVs of the past, the Tesla Roadster has a built-in battery charging system that can basically plug into any outlet.
COOL!
This is why the 250-mile range of the Tesla Roadster revolutionizes EVs: you just don't need to think about charging up at Costco, Fry's, or at work.
VERY COOL!
Still, I wonder how much it would effect your electric bill?
Also, nothing will ever compare to the sound of a dual exhaust V8 no matter how fast it is.
It says, cost wise it is equivalent to driving a car that achieves 135 mpg or 1 cent per mile. The engine system this is based off of is from 1910. A local guy is trying to build a Tesla Turbine to power his house. There are plans for the turbine somewhere on the net, and he calibrated it to recharge the turbine system and power his house. This guy also cools his house with well water and a series of pipes under the floor. ALL ELECTRIC CAR. Thats crazy.
I'm partial to a good inline 6, personally.. but that's just me.
I'd drive a car like that. Most of my trips are within 25 miles round trip. The car is way too expensive, though. But if it catches on, I'm sure costs will come down eventually.
True, true. However when everyone else buys these, we will have cheaper gas prices for the oil companies to compete, and have lots of time to cruize!
The only thing I can see that would keep this type of car from becoming mainstream is the simple fact that you have to wait a considerable amount of time to "fill up" at a station as opposed to what we are accustomed too. Or just plugging up at someone's house. :)
But it's still a cool car. :D
3.5 hours is not the end of the world in all cases. It's something you could plan around. Assuming you could find a place to plug in, you could go see a movie or something like that and have 90 minutes' worth of charge waiting for you when it finished. Hanging out with friends? Plug in while you're at their house. Sure, there would be situations you couldn't take that car into that you could with a gas engine.. but if you planned ahead you could minimize that.
Im gonna quote what I read, and this is why I think they will catch on quickly. "these cars are like cell phones, you can plug them in, and leave them overnight and in the morning drive to work, depending on how much charge you have left will depend on how long it will need to charge" its something to that effect.
I think costs will come down, due to the fact that not everyone could afford it upon introduction. Once cost is affordable it will be a seller.
Now the highway system will install electrical outlets on the side of the road, and charge $20 to charge your car. HAHA
Now people will have a reason to stop at rest stops besides using the shifty and sometimes downright dangerous restrooms. :nono:
why couldnt they put in some type of recharging system that keeps the battery charged while your driving? that would be an instant seller.... imagine going on a cross country trip and having to stop every 250 miles and wait for 3.5 hours to recharge yeah that would take forever to get to where your wanting to go :yuck:
I would think they could use the rotation of the other wheels to generate back some of the power in a backup cell. Or put some windmill like turbines in the grille?
Because, using batteries and trying to charge them at the same time is very dangerous and I am not sure if they could obtain results.
Unless they had the car drain power from a certain block of cells at a time, and charge another not being used. I would like to see this.
Isn't that what hybrids do?
I agree with what was said in another thread about electric cars. What does it take to produce all the extra electricity people would be using to charge these things? What does it take to manufacture the batteries? How do you dispose of them once they are dead?
In a roundabout way, these cars will still rely on fossil fuels to run. The difference is that instead of them actually burning the fuel, it will be a powerplant somewhere burning the coal that is needed to create the electricity to charge these hippie-mobiles.
Hybrids use the electric motors only to get up to about 15mph from a stop, and then the gas motor starts up to carry the car from there. While the gas motor is running it is also charging the batteries. So no, you arent using the battery and charging it at the same time.
Exactly, but if you try to explain that to someone who drives one "For the environment" they will just tell you that you can get energy from the wind or the sun rather than burning fuels. But what they dont understand is that renewable energy sources only account for less than 10% of what we use in the US.
If only people would stop being scared of nuclear power, its clean, its cheap, and we do have options for the waste. Its just that every time someone hears nuclear they think
(http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/shiva/deton1.jpg)
You took the words right out of my mouth. Everyone thinks about Atomic Bombs everytime you mention the word nuclear. Or Chernobyl and TMI. The Chernobyl incident would have been drastically reduced if it had a containment building and if it wasn't run by commies. :D And TMI was more of a political failure than anything. How many coal miners are killed every year? What about all those oil spills and their lingering effects? The simple fact is that people fear nuclear power more than anything else. How else would you be able to it's mere presence against another nation?
Bird351 - Most people can't plan around keeping their cell phones charged in a day much less their car. 3.5hrs vs 10mins certainly won't fly with mainstream America. As a city car? Perhaps. But unless battery technology increases tenfold, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
I bet an AWD dual electric motor setup would be crazy fast. :D
The type of engine this was based off of could be used to power houses. A single engine per house, and once jumpstarted they would constantly run. Then you could charge it off of a turbine electric engine using no fossil fuels. This must seem confusing because I have talked to the guy who wants to do this.
I think we need to find Doc so he can make us an engine that runs off of trash. :)
what is the advantages in using an electric car vs a gasoline car? you will still have to pollute the air to generate the gas unless the energy is coming from a windmill or water turbin I really see this as pointless as there is really no way of getting away from the use of petrolium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor#AC_motors
He developed and Alternating current machine which used turbines and water. As long as you could jump start the engine you could have it recharge a pump to move the water and you would have power left over to say run your house, that is what the local is trying to accomplish. It is about as close to perpetual motion as you can get.
Tesla, in 1910 or something invented a small turbine alternating current motor which could produce 300 hp. I cant find the site right now, but I have read about it. It is the size of a book.
Graham is making a point. and even using petroleum to power engines to produce electricity to charge these cars, it would still be cheaper to have cars like this.
Why are you pushing the brake pedal down a little bit while were on the highway?
"Batteries are dying"
Seriously how much charging do you really think is getting done while braking? You would think like someody else stated that it would make electicity while driving.
If it takes 4 cells to run this thing put in 8. Charge 4 with a generator when they reach a certain percentage full while driving and when those are charged switch to the other 4 when they hit that same percentage. If done like that I dont think you would have to even worry about charging it at night.
Because I know I forget to plug my cell in every once in awhile, so I know I would have to slap my boss with the new, "Cant make it to work today, forgot to plug in the car" line...
Put solar panels on the roof. A constant slow charge during the day, like when you're parked at work. (assuming you park outside)
What's really sad here is that many of you seem to be going out of your way to try to shoot this thing down rather than trying to find ways to make it work better. Does the technology really bother you that much? Do you really fear progress THAT much? It's not like someone's holding a gun to your heads, telling you that you have to give up your cars in exchange for one of these. It's simply another option available to those who would want it. Last time I checked, choice was generally a good thing.
I guess the only thing that's interesting around here is a Cougar concept that's likely to never happen.. *shrug*
But you still have the option to not use fossil fuels sometime down the road. As long as the end product is using fossil fuels then there is no hope to step away from it. We have alternatives for generating electricity in place, even though they are barely used, not so much for generating forward motion in the automobile.
Whats twisting this bitches tit?!
Although it does seem that way, they all have got valid points and its something that everyone needs to take into concideration when thinking about making this kind of car. But in the most case this is a message board, we are just shooting the shiznit, its not like anything we say here is going to help these manufacturers be more successful.
Even our shiznitty drawings of concept cougars! :flip:
No,the idea to save money on gas sounds good but for that price I culd buy a new honda and drive it for years before it cost me that much!:D
What's "twisting my tit" is that it seems like you all should be a little happier that someone out there is trying to rescue alternative technologies like electric cars from being dull and boring like the "hippie-car" electrics that came before this. 0-60 in 4 seconds, AND 250 miles from a charge? That's not "hippie-car" stuff, that's in the league of supercars like the Ford GT. (although the GT only gets something like 4 miles per gallon) People like this should be encouraged, not badgered and ridiculed for the sake of the egos of a few people who are into average 80s cars.
Without innovation, we'd all still be riding horses to get around. I don't know about the rest of you, but personally I'm not very fond of horses. None of my cars ever take a shiznit in my yard where I'm about to step, and I don't have to build a barn for 'em.. so as far as I'm concerned, innovation for teh win.
wow now thats a car!
Down with electric cars! DIE DIE DIE DIE!
Teh KOOGAR will LIVE for EVA! Teh NEW KOOGAR IS KOMING!
Hooray for teh koogr! Teh koogr iz better than any ol' hippie car!