Tesla Roadster: No Gasoline, Plenty of Juice (Plug-in electric car goes 130mph)

ABC News ^ | May 14, 2007 | VICKI MABREY and ELY BROWN

[2ndDivisionVet]

If nuclear energy were supplying most or all of our electricity, I could see their point, but it's not. Coal is where we get the lion's share of our electric and it's more polluting than gasoline and diesel.

[atomicpossum]

It’s a neat footnote, but it’s not the solution for the masses.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

The Tucker is back!

[Fred Nerks]

Martin Eberhard, CEO and co-founder of Tesla, drives the Tesla Roadster. Eberhard wanted to create an electric car that uses no gasoline, without skimping on style, speed or function. (Ely Brown)

[D-fendr]

This sounds familiar. Isn’t there another similar claiming company that keeps promising this about every year or so?

[omega4179]

electricity is cleaner in theory because some comes from nuclear, some from coal, some hydro, and potentialy solar if the owner has his own array. you can charge the car with cheap nighttime electricity.

[D-fendr]

I don’t understand.

My electricity costs the same, day or night.

How much would 200 miles worth of electricity cost for this car?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

How dare you question electric vehicles!

[verum ago]

Precisely- if we want to greatly reduce/eliminate some sources of air pollution and CO₂ (should Global Warming somehow prove to actually be anthropogenic) we have to find a replacement for fossil fuels. Not a replacement for the fossil fuels we burn in cars, but a replacement for fossil fuels. Period. It is amazing to see people tout electric and especially hydrogen cars whilst being completely unaware that the vast majority of such cars would be getting charged from electricity being generated by power plants burning fossil fuels. I can't recall where, but I remember seeing an article in some liberal (believe it or not) science/nature type magazine on hydrogen cars that said that said the generation and transport of hydrogen for fuel for cars produces more pollution than the extraction, transport, and consumption of gasoline in an average car. Hydrogen proponents love to point out that we can get hydrogen from water, never mind that the Laws of Thermodynamics say we won't get as much energy out of recombining it into water than we put into splitting the H₂O in the first place. In fact, the current source of industrially produced hydrogen is petroleum!

Simply put, whether now for environmental reasons or later when we eventually run out of fossil fuels (however long that may take) we will need to find a replacement for the vast amount of energy that we currently get from them. Solar and wind power just aren't reliable enough to replace fossil fuels, and the mere suggestion of building a dam is almost unspeakable in 1^st world Western countries today. Simply put, only nuclear power can do for us what fossil fuels do now. It's almost comical to watch the environmentalists fight among themselves over that point- with some having realized the necessity of developing nuclear power whilst other still go into conniptions at the mere suggestion of using more nuclear power because nuclear=evil is dogma for them.

[Parmenio]

Other stories I’ve read have said the “fuel” costs about a penny per mile of driving, compared to the 10-15 cents per mile for a combustion engine.

[keat]

How much would 200 miles worth of electricity cost for this car?

A rough guess would be about $16-$20, or about half of a conventional car.

How about heat, A/C and all the other creature comforts? Would tend to cut down on the range wouldn't it?

The whole thing is stripped down to the point where it is unsafe, uncomfortable, inconvenient and impractical - just like a Prius.

But it feeeeeels good. BFD.

[D-fendr]

I’m not doubting that you heard it, but that sounds wildly inflated given the efficiencies in the two fuels and methods of delivery.

[goldfinch]

WOW! An electric car that goes fast and looks good.

And yes, I know it is not practical. And neither are hydrogen cars. Still, it is kind of an exciting time with all the new experimental automobiles coming out. I enjoy hearing about innovative ideas. You never know which one will be the one that will revolutionize the automotive industry. It is encouraging to see so many people working on the problem.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“..potentialy solar if the owner has his own array. you can charge the car with cheap nighttime electricity...”

Cheap nighttime electricity? From the owners own solar array?

Nikola Tesla generated electricity without using fuel, without using solar, without using wind. The technology is known today. It is time to introduce a true fuel independent electric car. Government does not want it. It is truely green. No greenhouse gases ever.

[D-fendr]

I knew I'd seen this before. Here's an article on the same car (not the same article)

Tesla Motors Sets Auto Industry Abuzz

There's some discussion on that thread, and calculation there, of costs and efficiencies..

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“...the “fuel” costs about a penny per mile of driving...”

A friend of mine who built his own electric car using lead-acid storage batteries would agree on the penny per mile.

[supercat]

My electricity costs the same, day or night.

In many parts of the U.S., electric companies can use the most efficient generators to produce all of their power during the night. During parts of the day, the efficient plants can't produce all the required electricity and thus they have to produce a fair amount of their electricity with less efficient plants.

Most residential customers don't use enough electricity, and don't deviate far enough from normal usage patterns, to justify the extra expense of day/night billing. If someone used a lot of electricty, however, and 90% of it was during the night time, they could probably negotiate for day/night metering and billing. Someone with an electric car may very well decide to do this.

[TChad]

A neat demonstration of current technology. Great toy.

Still, it is disconcerting that they are pitching the car to rich enviro-wacko liberals:

Zero Emissions Equals Zero Guilt

[goldfinch]

My electricity costs the same, day or night.

I think that electricity cost less at night in California. At least, that is what I was told when I bought my new dishwasher. The salesperson said it had a delay start time option so the California people could set it to run at night.

[MadelineZapeezda]

Full puctures of this bad boy!