I was next to the Tesla at a stoplight yesterday. The gentleman driving it said that he really liked the car and enjoyed driving it very much. The light turned green and he moved quickly and silently away with a friendly wave and a big smile.
They are interesting cars, even with expensive Hawaiian electricity. I was considering buying one for our property in Hawaii, but then I learned you need a dedicated 220V 80 amp circuit in your house to re-charge it quickly. Unfortunately, we are off-the-grid on the Big Island so a Tesla is not fesible.
I had no idea: 220V @ 80A is a pretty serious amount of electricity. Can a lesser circuit be used for a slower charge? If that was the minimum requirement, it would really limit the car's market. I hope the concept becomes more practical as time goes by and development proceeds. It was a very attractive car.
You can recharge them on a 110V wall outlet (which takes forever) or 220V. The special home docking station that can recharge completely discharged batteries in 3.5 hours is 220V, 80 amp. They have a third option of plugging it into your 220V 60 amp dryer plug but that takes longer than 3.5 hours. You have to dig hard on their web site and sift through the marketing to find out the pros and cons of these cars.
I saw a Tesla on Kauai a few days ago. It looked very nice. I would not be able to charge it here at home. We are 100% PV (grid intertie / net metered) and just don't make that kind of power. A good day's output from the array is about 15kW. The concept of an electric car is appealing, but the power requirements are staggering. At Hawaii utility prices I don't see them being a player in our market. Too bad.
I saw it in NYC a couple of times, once on a flatbed and another time on display in the world financial center. I was struck by how compact it was. Lotus sized. tiny steering wheel, snug interior, small diameter wheels, little overhang, etc. You don't see many sports cars proportioned like that anymore. They're ironically appealing to the sports car purist via new technology.
