Posted on 08/12/2006 12:36:57 PM PDT by tessalu
IT can keep up with a Ferrari, travel 400km on an empty fuel tank and is completely silent. The latest boys' toy for Silicon Valley multi-millionaires is a full-blooded American sportscar - only its blood is electricity, not oil.
The Tesla Roadster, which can go from zero to 100km/h in about four seconds, is named after Serbian electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, who invented alternating current.
The car is assembled in England and the electric motor is imported from Taiwan. The cars will be sold only in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Miami.
The first deliveries are expected to begin next northern summer, after the car passes rigorous federal safety tests.
Martin Eberhard, who founded Tesla Motors in 2003 with Marc Tarpenning, said: "This is what we hoped to achieve when we started the company: to build a car with zero emissions that people would love to drive.
"It didn't make sense to sell a car that only goes 90miles (145km) on a charge. You'd spend more time charging the old EVs (electric vehicles) than driving them. Lithium-ion technology ... has allowed us to achieve exactly what we thought it would in terms of power, range and efficiency."
Those who part with the $US100,000 ($130,000) for a Tesla will be given a home charging system, which, the company claims, will fully recharge the car in about three hours.
The Tesla marks a resurgence in electric car development in California, after the state quietly dropped a law that would require car companies to develop models with zero emissions. Infamously, this resulted in General Motors recalling and destroying its fleet of EV1s - a pioneering electric vehicle beloved by owners.
Other electric car companies operating in California today include Phoenix Motorcars and Universal Electric Vehicles, which also makes convertible sportscars.
Even petrolheads, however, may struggle to understand the specifications of the Tesla Roadster. Unlike a traditional V8 engine, with its eight pistons, eight connecting rods, crankshaft, valves, oil pumps and other mechanicals, the Tesla's engine has only one moving part. This gives it an efficiency rating of about 95 per cent, compared with the 20 per cent (or less) of an internal combustion engine.
As for torque, the sweet spot of power for an engine most loved by car enthusiasts, the Tesla's has been described as virtually instantaneous. The car is powered by a "3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor" and a "two-speed electrically actuated manual transmission".
Instead of a fuel tank, there is an energy storage system, with 6831 non-moving parts all of them lithium-ion cells, regulated by a cooling system and a computer that shuts down the entire battery pack in emergencies.
In the US 3.6 percent of electricity is generated by petroleum products. In the Northeast (CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT) is 9.1%.
Annual Electric Generator Report by State from 1990 to 2004, EIA.
OK, am I thinking this out clearly? You can drive 250 miles (about 4 hours) before needing to stop for a a 3.5 hour charge. That sonds good for drinving around town, but cross country car trips would be a drag.
It's a good start, but at $100,000 a pop, it needs more work.
Now sports morons with millions and entertainers dumber than bricks can feel good about themselves without having to share their solution with the common man.
Wonderful!
Where are you at? (What State?)
There is also the issue of what to do with the 6,831 lithium-ion cells that will need to be replaced every year or so.
Exactly!! And, by the way, when someone comes up with a vehicle thusly powered that will tow a 6 ton fifth-wheel trailer from Mississippi to California, would you please, for God's sake, FreepMail me?
When pondering things of this gravity, it is always helpful to remember never to urinate into a gale force wind.
There's another group out in California...that have developed kits for all cars with batteries that top anything on the market right now [those batteries]. Any car can be equipped with them...
5) AFAICT, the high voltage is a huge hazard to driver, passengers, fire-fighters and rescue personnel in the event of a crash.
From their web site
Tesla Roadster Technical Data
Motor Type designation 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor
Max net power 185kW
Max rpm 13,500
Efficiency 90% average, 80% at peak power
Which like you say does not include losses from charging, discharging, converting and the drive train.
One fact never mentioned is the transmission losses for electricity.
The last figure I remember is 50%.
Nothing has happened in the last 10 years to change that number.
That means that for every kilowatt used by a consumer, a kilowatt is wasted as heat.
Those old gas refrigerators had to remain stationary and level in order to work.
Chicago
With a 3 hour charge time, I guess we can expect more six martini lunches.
It is ironic that this car, which is powered by rechargable batteries (ie. DC), is named after one of the foremost champions of AC.
An inverter to from DC to AC can be very efficient.
This story is basically true.
The thing is, they only include the efficiency from the house electrical socket to the wheels. They don't talk about from natural gas, coal, oil and other energy sources to your house's electrical socket efficiency.
Most of California's electricity is generated with natural gas. That's been one of the big drivers of higher natural gas prices over the last several years. California already uses a lot of electricity without trying to power cars...
The thing is, they only include the efficiency from the house electrical socket to the wheels. They don't talk about from natural gas, coal, oil and other energy sources to your house's electrical socket efficiency."
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Nuclear! It's clean. It's cheap. It's dependable.
how much is car insurance???
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