Posted on 05/02/2008 8:58:21 PM PDT by kingattax
That $109,000 price tag could buy one 27,250 gallons of $4 gasoline. At 25 miles/gallon, one could travel 681,250 miles. How long does that battery last/? Only 100,000 miles? At 681,250 miles you would go through six batteries. How much are those batteries? About $25,000. So, to go 681,250 miles you would have to buy five extra batteries at $125,000. Add that to the original price of the vehicle and you will have spent $234,000.
Random thoughts:
1. Prolly rides like a buckboard.
2. Don’t worry about long trips. Put generator pedals in
the passenger space and take a friend. :D
3. Revolutionary idea: Make it (at least partially) self-
charging with a large prop mounted under the car, like
a riding mower. Once you’re on the freeway you’re off
to Timbuktu without having to stop to recharge.
“Im not exactly sure how it works but dont we need fuel for electricity?”
Same old liberal stupidity...can’t think past immediate gratification. Just like the ethanol scam....use the corn for ethanol production > drive up price of corn > convert agri-land use to corn production > create shortages of feed for beef, pork, poultry > less production of other ag products > higher prices for other ag products > food prices go up > liberals whine that the economy is in a tailspin > blame Republicans.
Of course you wouldn’t expect it for this roadster, but I’m wondering: Does any pure electric automobile have air conditioning?
What about the emisions from the mostly coal fired power plants that produce the electricity to run the vehicle?? Nukes are a NO NO in the land of the fruits and nuts.
And going 60 minutes per hour the whole time!
As with any new technology, the folks going in first pay higher prices, then the price goes down as the technology improves, and more mass production can be done.
You get both ... you even get heated seats.
Whoa! what's the range with the A/C on?
I'll even let them test it with the top up. <}B^)
Also, battery technology continues to improve, and they're working on units that are smaller, more powerful, and take less time to re-charge.
I wonder how the battery is situated. That 1000 pound weight compared to 2700 lbs for the whole car could really be a problem if not distributed properly.
Do you think it is relatively flat rectangle and lying above the frame? That’s all I can come up with.
A lot more than than your local friendly Motel 6 will be willing to give you for free.
Certainly not for the initial group of buyers. They're buying status and have the means to pay for it. That is the money the company will use to develop more affordable cars down the road.
You assume battery technology will not improve. It has been improving for many years, and will continue to do so. Batteries will get smaller and much more efficient. As the technology improves, and the market widens, the price will go down, the same way, as another poster pointed out, that PCs have done over the last 25 years.
Modern coal burning plants have MUCH fewer emissions than they used to have. As for the nukes, those folks who are willing to have them built nearby will benefit from lower cost per KWH. If Californians or folks here in the Northeast don't want any more nukes, they can just pay more for their electricity.
Are you referring to his heavy-metal band from the '90's, "Tesla"? You're right! That guy could really shred! ( the foregoing is attempt at humor)
1) You can’t win.
2) You can’t break even.
3) You can’t get out of the game.
Electricity costs about 7.93 cents/kwH here. Most of the power generation is hydroelectric, which doesn’t fund sand-pounding morons in the ME.
With a 225 mile range for 50kwH, that works out to about 0.22 kW/mile, or 1.8 cents/mile.
My 2001 “flying brick” Jeep Wrangler gets about 14 miles/gallon. Let’s be conservative, though, and say you have some smallish gasoline powered car that gets 28 miles/gallon. At $3.60/gallon, that works out to around 13 cents/mile.
Now a significant percentage of the true cost/mile comes from non-fuel expenses: The amortized cost of the car, repairs, tires, insurance, taxes and tolls. I have to believe that once these things are commonplace, the repair cost on an electric vehicle is going to be less than that of an Internal Combustion Engine, but maybe not if you factor in the cost to replace the batteries every 100K miles.
But any way you slice it, 1.8 cents/mile sounds a lot better to me than 13 cents/mile, especially when you consider that it is within our ability to move to nuclear and coal power generation and be completely energy independent.
I know it is tough to support an issue tha the liberals also support, as 99% of the time they are wrong, but in this case I think we have an issue that both conservatives and liberals can support. Being energy independent is a national security issue.
Next time, use a sarcasm tag. ;)
Here in Kalifornia, there are several 'electric vehicle charging stations", mostly relics of the old lease-only GM electric car in the 1990's. The stations are still here and it's still free to the user.
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