Posted on 06/23/2012 4:39:20 PM PDT by grundle
Of all the new cars unveiled this year, none will be as hotly anticipated as the Model S from Tesla Motors, a luxury sedan doubling as a brash, billion-dollar bet that the era of the electric car has arrived. As the first journalist to test-drive one, I can report the Tesla Model S successfully challenges a century of assumptions about what a great car can be.
Unlike gas engines, electric cars generate their maximum power at start -- and no electric car has ever had as much power as the Model S, whose Performance edition is good for 417 hp. The zero-to-60 mph run ticks by in an impressive 4.4 seconds (5.9 seconds for the 362 hp edition)
the Model S can even do long drives — up to 285 miles in the edition launching today
The revelation of what Tesla has accomplished sunk in when I returned to a gas-powered vehicle. Other luxury cars will keep pace with the Tesla, but after driving the Model S, suddenly you notice the lag between accelerator and power, the exhaust noise, all the energy necessary to keep those parts hurtling forward. It makes a fossil fuel-powered car seem to be working so much harder than necessary. Which is the point.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
Get yourself a jeep or 550.
You don’t get it. Let’s race. We’ll see who can get from Detroit to LA quicker. You can drive your Tesla. I’ll ride a Yamaha touring bike. We start tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM. We may stop to rest and refuel whenever we wish.
It takes me about 3 minutes to refuel my V-Star. How long would it take for you to fully charge your Tesla? Should I bother to wait for your arrival?
You can say whatever you want, but the fact is that there aren’t any such “advancements” but rather overblown claims. The Tesla Model S is more of a government car than any GM, frankly (except perhaps the infamous Chevrolet Volt) and won’t get anywhere without subsidy, if it goes anywhere at all that is. And that snide comment about working for oil companies?—right out of leftist talking points.
Claimed recharge time is three quarters of an hour. If I had to wait that long, I’d fall asleep in the car and forfeit the race . . .
The efficiency of the batteries will be significantly lower than that of the motors in real world applications. When Lithium-ion cells are brand new they might perform at up to 80% to 90% efficiency with carefully controlled charge and discharge rates. Neither the charge rate or the discharge rate in this application is going to be anywhere near the optimum range more than a fraction of the time. It is doubtful whether these batteries will achieve 80% average efficiency even when new.
It would be optimistic to expect 20% energy loss from the motors and an additional 25% loss from the batteries. There are also energy losses at the power plants that produce the power and even greater losses in the power lines, transformers and then the wiring in our homes and “charging stations”. In our country there is probably a 50% loss of energy on average from the source of power to our wall outlets. So overall... the efficiency of electric vehicles most which will get their electricity from coal, natural gas, or in remote areas diesel powered sources is in most likely less than that of traditional gasoline powered vehicles.
This is not to mention that the Obama administration has hampered the development of electric power generation and transmission at every possible avenue. If it weren't for the failing economy we would already be experiencing brown outs and other problems from our country's aging electrical utility system. We may not have the infastructure to support a large number of electrical vehicles on the road.
I first realized the author of the article was repeating crap as fact when he said that the batteries were assembled with “7,000 AA-sized lithium-ion cells”. They are actually assembled with 18650 cells which have over twice the volume of AA-sized cells.
I have always had an interest in electric powered vehicles and even constructed an electric powered bicycle. The bicycle had a 20 mile range on flat terrain and would average about 25 mph. I considered it a success and it was an economical and quiet way to get around. Unfortunately, the motor and batteries added about 50 lbs to the bike which made it significntly more unwieldy. When the weather is nice... it is not a bad way to get around. I sold it because I can ride almost as fast on a road bike.
Oh brother....I'd take a plane like another common sense person...lol
BTW, we were talking about 0-60, which the S cleans house.
When fuel goes back to 4. bucks a gallon and it will, ping me.
Oh brother....I’d take a plane like another common sense person...lol
We’re talking about privately owned vehicles. You were gushing like a school girl over blowing away gas powered automobiles. I challenged your coal powered toy to a marathon. Do you really want to trade your freedom of movement for a happy ending with the TSA?
Claimed recharge time is three quarters of an hour.
Is that really good for the battery?
Ya want a coast to coast marathon, then S might not work for you...Get yourself a big old Oldsmobile, with a big honking tank...lol
Most people use aircraft to go coast to coast..lol...But feel free.
Buy a coal burning car if you wish. Just don’t expect me to be pleased over my tax dollar subsidize unless you’re willing to fuel my motorcycle.
Would you be so hot to buy this Tesla if you had to foot the entire bill?
Don't look now, but you're subsiding tens of millions of illegal aliens, and ya get nothing back but misery...lol
In fact, you've been doing this for 30 years now...yuk yuk yuk.
Feh. I have motorcycles that get 45 MPG, go over 250 miles on a tank and run the quarter mile in under 12 seconds. A good used one is under 10K.
Don’t look now, but you’re subsiding tens of millions of illegal aliens, and ya get nothing back but misery...lol
I think that my tax dollars supporting coal fired vehicles is a bad thing.
I think my tax dollars supporting illegals is a bad thing.
Obviously, one of us is not a conservative...
There’s a difference between us. You think this is amusing. I call it a bad thing and I want it to stop.
I thought this website was a gathering place for conservatives. Are you the brain damaged relative invited for special occasions?
What does that have to do with the companies themselves, eh? or even driving habits, since driving hasn’t abated in countries where they pay $7-$8 per gallon and higher.
I think you supporting the terrorist and A-rabs/muslims is a bad thing.
Are you the assshole who refuses to admit new technology eventually replaces old technology and refuses to admit nothing stays the same?
Thats just beautiful.
That is certainly a wild card at this point as to whether good or bad, or even perfectly reliable; and this is only the “quick charge” option (80 percent power in 45-60 minutes) whereas a full charge would take around five hours (dunno how reliable that would be, and this is all on 240V AC; Nissan Leaf is supposed to take 7-8 hours to recharge fully on 240V and 20 hours on 120V). I’m still trying to get my head around the description of 7,000 AA-sized lithium ion batteries in this thing.
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