Tesla motors

[1969dodgedartgt]

It runs on electric supplied from a battery up to 70 M.P.H or until the battery is depleted then the Engine generator starts and powers the the wheels via a planetary gear set it shares with the electric motor.

As long as you either charge the battery or fill the gas tank you can drive anywhere for as long as you like.

Best of both worlds in one car.

This is where the Chevy Volt shines.

The mix is good but so is pushing the pure electric envelope. supposedly the volt was inspired by a tesla.

great posts guys.

 

[Revhendo]

Has anybody here seen a movie called "Who killed the electric car?" I've seen it a couple of times and it actually covers a bit of what has been discussed here. I am in no way saying it's gospel, but it has it's points and it's a very interesting take on the first round of electric cars here.

 

[edbux]

Algae based fuels. Probably wouldn't be cheaper than gas is today, but we'd have a homegrown never ending supply.

 

[Lone Yankee]

Other than steam, electric motors are the only form of propulsion that offer 100% torque at zero RPM and that can seriously rock.

With electrics you can run direct-drive with no slush-box or swapping cogs.

The potential is enormous but while we have 21'st century motor tech, our batteries are only now crawling out of the primal mud.

One day, but not yet I say.

Besides, we still have to answer the question as to where all the electricity is going to come from.

Before it was 'bailed out' Chrysler was in the early dev phase of a diesel electric car and GOV killed it right after they murdered the hydrogen coupe. Pity, the prototype they were playing with could have rocked our world. -LY

 

[68383GTS]

I would rather ride a horse.......

 

[weldedrail]

You need massive ever prevalent infrastructure created to support a real electric car society that includes electric tractor trailer rigs and rail trains. Where is that power infrastructure? Is it up some politicians *** and we can see it? Also where will the power come from? Solar? Wind? hehehehheheh surrrreeeeee..

COAL! thats the answer. I say lets skip the massive losses in energy conversion, transmission and transportation and simply build coal burning cars. QUOTE]

By the way all trains in the US are electric, Diesel Electric that is. Essentially Hybrids, and have been since the demise of the steam engine. The United States is pretty much considered the "soudi arabia" of coal. Coal can be burned clean with exaust stack scrubbers, etc. If we have the generation and infastructure electric cars may not solve global warming but they just might curb these wars for oil. Charging a car at a charging station is not the answer but gas stations that can swap batteries is. Just imagine you pull into a car wash style bay and sit in your car the battery tray depoys from under the car, the discharged battery is slid out and a fresh charged battery is slid in place. Thay charge you about $50 which covers the charge taxes and all the other stuff they want to add and your on your way.

 

[1969dodgedartgt]

well i watched "who killed the electric car" again yesterday, at least as much as I could by following links on youtube and getting a lot of repeated material and perhaps skipped areas. I didnt see the issue of battery toxicity addressed. But a search shows that the US government doesnt consider Li-Ion batteries toxic and that all those metals in them are recyclable. supposedly the only thing holding us back from recycling Li-Ion batteries from laptops and such is the cost of gathering them all up, but if they come in big packs (as in electric cars) that you basically need to take to a center to have replaced, the gathering issue is no more. btw there is a movie "who saved the electric car" which is suppose to come out on earth day of this year (this month).

I like the battery exchange station idea

Also yesterday was "Picnic Day" at UC Davis, which is basically a day of celebration and public display for the University. They had some electric cars and I talked to one of the guys driving them. He pointed out that normally the electric grid is under utilized during the evening and there is currently a capability to charge about 30 million electric cars in the us during the evening (not quite a replacement for all the cars we have, but I do question that number). Also this guy owns an electric car and told me that you have the option of purchasing power at either a flat rate or a rate based on dynamic demand. After buying an electric car he switched to the on demand rate and says that he actually saw his electric bill go down by $100/month. $100 less in utilities and no gas expenses. :thumblef:

Lastly, a big plus to the pure electric cars, which might have been one of the reasons the "electric car was killed", is that they have very few moving parts and hence have less parts that need to be replace (purchased from automakers).

that Zombie car is sick.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVTIpS5zb4"]YouTube - White Zombie electric car - Run 2: 10.400 @ 117.21 - PIR 2010/07/30[/ame]
and some pics...

 

[Revhendo]

I'm not against electric cars. I do think that development has been stifled in many ways. I'm pretty sure that the battery technology is way beyond what most of us think of as a bunch of wet lead cell batteries (a la golf cart). I was considering building an electric of my own. OK, maybe nothing more than watching some stuff on Youtube and thinking that could be cool. Still, doing the math, I only commute about 20 miles a day, and my better half only does about 30 or so. Both of those trips are perfectly survivable on a single charge. It would be acceptable for our situation to do a plug in car for the weekly drudgery and save our gas money for fueling the Jeep for the 1000 mile fishing trips.

And no, I don't have any altruistic motives about saving the enviroment, wood owls or ozone. Gas is topping $4.10+ for the cheap stuff and my wallet is bleading to death.

 

[poisondart64]

Hey 69DodgeDartGT...ditto on the stock. I bought a few shares and I am watching it carefully. The company is well positioned and has a lot of technology behind it. Toyota is using their technology in an upcoming RAV 4. That will help them get some profits to stay afloat. The problem currently is that they only have the Roadster in production (a kick *** vehicle...but over $130K). The sedan is supposed to be available in 2012. Until I see them cranking out production of the sedan, I will still be a bit skeptical. They nose on their prototype sucks...looks like a dog nose. The original concept, though, was awesome. I sure hope they change that before production cranks up. As for the price, it's around $50K and with the appointment in the car will be a decent price point for the luxury car buyer. I agree totally, that this thing needs to be tested here in Iowa...or Illinois...or Minnesota or at least in an environment that is lucky to get 5 decent months of weather per year.

OK....enough about the future. I still love the cars from the past!!! No airbags, full time power steering you can turn with one finger, suspensions that float all over the road so that you are constantly readjusting...oh and of course the deep belching exhaust spewing into the air. Even better in a convertible. Gosh I miss summer....:glasses2:

 

[1969dodgedartgt]

wow I found this place just down the street from where I'm now staying....

stocks been doing well, and they apparently have some deal to install charging systems across the UK which can charge their cars in 3 hours.

if they can get it down to 1 hr its almost perfect. kinda need a 1 hr break if you drive for 300 miles.

 

[magnumdust]

Algae based fuels. Probably wouldn't be cheaper than gas is today, but we'd have a homegrown never ending supply.

IMO, once they get the harvesting techniques down this will be the way things go.

Its clean, its renewable, and supposedly the algae oil can be refined into biodiesel and gasoline.