TESLA ROADSTER

CNBC had a segment on that yesterday. The founder of Paypal is the majority investor w/ $30 million. He is also the Chairman. One of the Google's founders also has a vested interest....Looks interesting....

 

Very cool, it sure looks nice as well

 

if the no-kidding final price is competitive, it will be a success

 

Well the problem is that an electric car will never have that sports car ROAR!

You wont hear it comming down the road.

 

But I'm sure you'll get excited from the 0-60 in four seconds while silent. And imagine the handling while winding this thing through canyon roads with no sound reverberating off the walls. It's sure to be a unique experience! I've read that the price is $80k and upwards for the first hundred (Signature 100 models).

 

This thing is a joke! $60 million invested to put an electric motor in an Elise!

Who's going to buy the second one after Ed Begley Jr. buys the first?

 

You're kidding right? I'll stand in line. This is the first in a long line of vehicles that Tesla Motors hope to introduce.. I think they started off right.. Who else would pay 80k+ for a nimble sports car that never has to be filled with gas, and can be driven daily? 0-60 in 4s, 135mph top speed.. drool.

 

do we know yet that it is in fact "nimble"?

all i've seen or heard is about the "about 4s" 0-60 time (presumably in a straight line, like all 0-60 times are measured). i've seen nothing re: weight which matters a ton (pun intended).

doody.

 

Thats one of the one electric cars/green cars I would buy. Its green, but fast too. No more 0 - 60 10 seconds prius.

 

Chassis and engineering are by Lotus, and it is being built in the UK. I have heard the batteries and drivetrain weight ~900 pounds, so I'd imagine that the full car weights close or less, than an Elise.

www.teslamotors.com

 

You think that little Toyota engine and tranny in the Elise weighs 900 pounds? Are you kidding? I bet it's under 400, probably 350.

And the Tesla website says the batteries alone weigh 1000 pounds ( http://www.teslamotors.com/engineering/how_it_works.php ). That means this supposedly revolutionary Tesla probably weighs over 600 pounds more than an Elise. And note that they don't tell the weight of the transmission, the motor, or the whole car.

Gee... why wouldn't they tell us what the car weighs? I wonder.......

 

Why do you conclude this? Unless you are printing money in the basement, you'll be converting fossil fuel into money to pay the $100K price and a bunch of fossil fuel will be consumed just to make the thing. Claiming it has "1/10th the pollution of a normal car" is just the usual distorted wingnut propaganda that doesn't consider the whole system.

It's just a high priced luxury item (like a F )

I looked hard for the (ungiven) weight spec too.

 

Anyone pooh-poohing this car is selfish and short sighted.

Is it the ultimate sports car? No.

Does it make a great noise? Probably not.

Is it a big step in the right direction? Yes!

It really boggles my mind that people can be so stubborn and so attached to their pistons. What's so great about them?

Get with the program, old timers, and turn on the news. Oil is destroying the world. The fighting for it. The terrorism it funds. The environment it destroys.

I'll happily give up my oil stained garage floor and the gas pump for this type of car ...but then again, I own an Esprit.

Lucas.

 

I never said I was "attached to pistons". As a high-performance vehicle, I have no problem with it -- I do have a big problem with them saying that it uses less energy and makes less pollution.

 

Wasn't directed solely at you.

I'd be shocked if it generated more pollution than and ICE. It generates some polution, indirectly, but I'm sure the polution per/mile is far, far less than a gas burner.

 

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I know a guy that is on the list for 1 of the first 100 @ $100k. He showed me a picture of it a few days before the launch and I am sure this will be a big hit. I know it may not be as popular with this Ferrai crowd, the sound of an engine is tough to beat.

Also, I hear that it was the guys with Google money that funded this project... and you gotta give them credit. First they change the world on the internet, and now they are using their money to trying to improve the world and the enviorment.

 

It is not a big step in ANY direction.

It is a huge non-breakthrough. It is nothing more than a way-too-heavy Lotus Elise with a $50,000 electric motor and battery pack.

Why you guys think it's "green" to haul 1000 pounds of batteries with you instead of 100 pounds of gasoline is beyond me.

Oh, and assuming an Elise gets 25mpg, driving it 100,000 miles with $3/gallon gas would cost $12,000.

For the math-impaired, that's a lot less than $50,000. And the Elise will be much more fun to drive.

 

Yep, more than an Elise (2500 vs. 2000). Better acceleration for sure, but it would definitely be interesting to see how it handles compared to the Elise with 500 pounds less.

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24162
http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/mechanical-resonance-the-tesla-motors-press-intro-complete-with-governator-188590.php

"The wheelbase is two inches longer, and it weighs a bit more than an Elise, tipping the scales at 2500 lbs in the preproduction cars we saw. They're hoping to shave an additional hundred pounds from the production version. The sills are two inches lower than its Lotus half-sibling"

"The entire powertrain of the car only weighs 160 pounds. That includes the electric motor (to be built in Taiwan), the two-speed gearbox, built in Britain by a supplier the Teslas declined to name (umm...er, could it be...Ricardo?), and the diff."

 

But, aren't fossil fuels being used to create normal cars of today already? One of the advantages of EVs is that you offset the pollution creating aspect of many cars on the road to one power station, usually away from large urban centers. We don't have to have coal burning power plants, we can have solar or wind power, hydro power, nuclear power.. And the electricity used to charge most EVs happens at night, when electricity usage is at a minimum.

I think there'll always be the thrill of turning on a Ferrari and hearing the glorious roar, but I think this car is a step in the right direction for cars for the general populace.. GMs EV1 was quite popular, and I think Tesla will definitely help EVs improve urban environments.

 

So... the powertrain plus the fuel tank (batteries) weighs 1160 pounds.

The Elise powertrain and full tank weighs about 500 pounds.

Remind me again, what's "breakthrough" about this car?