Posted on 04/02/2016 8:31:40 AM PDT by samtheman
Tesla Motors Inc.’s unveiling of its new electric vehicle yesterday had the marks of an iPhone release—long lines of enthusiastic consumers, a glossy product and a CEO presenting in a simple black shirt.
Little new information came out about the Model 3, but with the car’s comparably more affordable $35,000 price tag and 215-mile range, Tesla is making a bid to become a mass-market auto manufacturer.
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
How long to fully charge?
We spend more money subsidizing ethanol which costs more money and energy to produce than it produces. It also shortens the life of engines.
So, add $4K for “free” recharging on the network. That affects the calculus as far as total cost of ownership. $39K instead of $35K. Assuming a 15 gallon tank of gas a week at $2.00 a gallon, that $4K would buy over two years worth.
Something like 30 minutes to get to 80% at the quick charging stations. I didn’t see any final specs, but it would be similar to the 60KWH S class
Fracking has changed everything in respect to that. There will be no more OPEC embargoes.
They can add another 2K or so if the want to be able to charge in 4 hours at home. That requires 240v 80 Amp service and the charging station. They need 240v 40 Amp service for 8 hour charging. Might be a little less time to charge on the base model.
If you take away the “green bs” I might be interested... like any engineering it can make sense in a given niche
if you deal in short-range commutes where you plug this into your house each night yeah there’s a logic to it that I could make it work..... the reality is most people do not drive 215 miles in one day.... so if you’re averaging under say 150 miles in a day to allow you some margin for error and then plug it in each night at your home ...it works
what I’m really surprised and I’m dead serious why they don’t have an extended range option of a towable gas driven generator that can be used while driving effectively making it a hybrid for long distance runs
But the phony eco bull s*** turns me off though I know in the long run this is not some environmental miracle...it still runs on the same fossil fuels just proxeed by the powered electrical power company... and the recycling of this thing with all the batteries and whatnot is an ecological nightmare
Post 106 was meant to be a reply to your 103
That was the original intent behind the Chevy Volt, an electric car with a small gasoline engine for range extension. I believe the reality fell well short of that, but the Volt does have the best all-electric range of any plug-in hybrid, something around 35 miles. If you have a very short daily commute a tank of gas could last for quite a while.
So, we’re up to $41K now, to have all the benefits of an electric Tesla? The math is not looking nearly as good without subsidy.
I’m no fan of Musk or electric cars, but I don’t see where recycling large battery packs would be a nightmare.
Currently 99% of lead acid automotive batteries are recycled, and Li Ion is expected to be similar.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993714000037
Batteries are about as advanced as they can get without an entirely new paradigm coming forth, because there are physical limits as to how many electrons you can store in any container.
well the other thing is I wouldn’t be surprised at some point considering the government pushing these things
..is some kind of induction coil power/charging system built into the city streets so they’re effectively unlimited in town ... for a place like Manhattan that it’s all in town.....
you could make it a smart system .. segmented areas where the car communicates with each segment buried in the road power system so it only has access to it if it had passed code so you can charge a fee
so you’re only running on battery power off grid .....think of downtown as a giant slot car track
Wouldn’t that wreak havoc with reception on various communication frequencies?
The Federal Subsidy is a tax credit, so some of those buyers may not get the entire credit.
everybody uses electricity.
only motorists use gasoline.
gasoline is always the target of liberals in government.
West Virginia coal
or
control by Hillary, al-Qaeda and al-Exxon.
take your pick
Because it’s not about innovation or efficiency.
There are political aspects of this, and in particular, crony capitalism aspects.
There’s no debating the reality of energy density. Quite obviously, for vehicular use, higher energy density is a big advantage, since you need to haul your fuel around with you.
The energy density of lithium-ion batteries is about 1/100th of diesel fuel. For this reason, using them to power a vehicle is inefficient.
I don’t know why electric cars are being pushed so hard, and won’t propose a conspiracy theory. I just know they’re a fundamentally bad idea, at least until batteries are 100 times more efficient than they are presently.
There may be potential with solar yet. I was reading recently that they have figured out how to reuse photons so that more energy can be generated within a given space.
35 grand starting price isn’t exactly “for the masses.”
I believe you could tune it it so it only has a limited impact and then the FCC would just carve out that bandwidth for not use
real world the government wants these things so they’re going to make everything happen to make them friendly to it
who knows maybe we’ll just see induction pads ...
or just something as simple as charging ports at every parking spot
really not that far-fetched.... in extreme cold-weather areas i believe in some parking spots they have plug-in for engine block heaters so your motor doesn’t freeze
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.