Posted on 02/10/2013 7:40:17 AM PST by BobL
Washington — Having established a fast-charging foothold in California for its electric cars, Tesla Motors has brought its formula east, opening two ultrafast charging stations in December that would, in theory, allow a speedy electric-car road trip between here and Boston.
But as I discovered on a recent test drive of the company’s high-performance Model S sedan, theory can be trumped by reality, especially when Northeast temperatures plunge
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Imagine just a few thousand of these Edsels clamoring for charging and other needs between NYC and parts north”
That’s a REAL part of it. GM has a Chevy Volt Rapid Response Team that immediately flies out to anywhere in the country once one of their cars has an accident. The reason: because that battery can easily blow if rescue/salvage workers don’t properly secure it, and you have to really know the vehicle to understand how to secure it.
Yes, gas cars also can blow up, but that risk is understood by all and the auto companies don’t need to send rapid response teams to the 30,000 or so accidents that occur EVERY DAY on our roads.
Just wait ‘till Teslas and Leafs (Leaves?) start to line up at the charging stations. Each car in front of you, that’s 30 minutes of waiting, while the gas-powered cars recharge in 5 minutes and their drivers laugh at you.
Just wait ‘till the liberals start to fight with each other.
“Just wait ‘till Teslas and Leafs (Leaves?) start to line up at the charging stations.”
Good point. For example, just doing the math, it will take a full MEGAWATT to charge one of these beasts in 5 minutes (assuming that they find a battery that can take it). That is some serious power, as in like a small town. There will be a big infrastructure hit, assuming that these cars ever go anywhere.
A full charge of 85 kwh in one hour means 85 kilowatts going into the car.
My all-electric house, with air conditioner, water heater, dryer, oven, and stove with all elements on "high" simultaneously only pulls 20 kw (I tried it once as an experiment).
Nope, don't wanna be anywhere near that thing on fast-charge.
Even more bizarre, Tesla’s charging stations are solar powered.
“You will be able to drive free forever on pure sunlight. I think it’s pretty hard to beat that.”
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-25/tesla-fires-up-solar-powered-charging-stations
What could possibly go wrong?
Down south the A/C is gonna drain the battery quick, or you can be wringing wet with sweat when you arrive at your destination.
By golly sounds like we sure got our money's worth. Yet another sound green investment by Obama & Co.
“It does not bode well for the electric, nor the electri-gas hybrid vehicles when Mr. Prius, Totoya’s major impetus behind that best seller recently said the technology is not viable; that it will never compete with the capabilities of a gas-powered vehicle, and that some other technology like fuel cell powered or hyrdogen powered (hydrogen stored in metal hydride pellets).”
First - think the Prius founder’s quote was widely misinterpreted. He was not disparaging his own product (which has now been copied by Ford and Hyundai). Instead, he pointed out that all electric and electric with gas backup (i.e. the Volt) would never succeed. The Prius (even the plug in version) is primarily a gas car, which captures wasted energy to make itself more efficient. This is very different than the Volt, and they should not be mistakenly lumped together.
Let me make you a promise concerning hydrogen. It will never, ever, in a gazillion years, power more than one percent of the vehicles on the road. Politicians and laymen love to talk about ‘hydrogen fuel cells’...that’s fine. But where on earth does hydrogen come from? You can’t just mine it like coal, oil, natural gas. So how do you get it? You use electricity to split the water molecule...at a 40% efficiency. So much for all that ‘clean burning’ talk, when you consider the source of the electricity. Or, you could use an expensive chemical process....that isn’t viable either. And if you manage to get hydrogen, there’s the whole business of using precious metals as a catalyst to store it.
So trust me, I promise, we will not have widespread hydrogen vehicles.
“Even more bizarre, Tesla’s charging stations are solar powered.”
...so they claim. If you do the math on those, you’d see that they need a solar farm to get 85 kW output on a reasonably continuous bases (i.e., only averaging one car at a time), and a HUGE battery for reduced (or no) sunlight conditions. I bet if you look around a 100’ perimeter, you’ll see some pretty fat power lines running from pole to underground - if you know what I mean.
In other words, the panels may do some stuff, but the real charging power is from the grid.
I didn’t misinterpret his comments. I read them and can understand them.
Hydrogen, fusion, nuclear - it does not matter. Electric, like the hydrogen creation efficiency you disparage is equally as inefficient in the generation, storage and reapplication to energy that provides movement. For all-electric it is even worse. When you try to improve the amp/hour storage, discharge efficiency and reduce the charge time, you get fires.
Opening high-price coffee shops near charging stations would be a good way to make money off of tree-hugging libs.
“Obama seems to think that the the electric car is like the space program.”
No, you miss the point with their energy strategy. They know FULL WELL that pretty much all of these new technologies suck, but they serve an interim purpose.
Their ULTIMATE GOAL is to stop us from driving our own cars, they ABSOLUTELY HATE IT. So they, smartly, concluded that the only way for the public to accept such a drastic change in lifestyle is to trick them into thinking it won’t be so bad...because we have another option that’s nearly as good. So, for transportation, it’s electric cars, for coal plants that they want to shut down, it’s solar power, etc.
So the strategy buys them time, while they dismember the basic components of a society that they DESPISE.
“This is the sort of thing that happens when you allow lunatics to run the country and give them a completely blank check with which to indulge their fantasies.”
NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!!!
They are NOT lunatics. If they were lunatics they would not have gotten this country to take the most left-wing candidate for president seriously, twice, much less elect him twice. On top of that, they managed to select the Republican candidate that they wanted Obama to run against, TWICE!
No, they are BRILLIANT. They have policies that are HATED by the country (gun grabbing, healthcare, gay rights, etc.), yet they win...that makes them very, very, smart, at least to me.
i am seriously surprised they haven’t integrated thin film solar panels into the roof, hood and trunk of all-electric vehicles. if anything to offset some of the drain of heat, a/c, ability to repower a little without a station...
ping.
LOL several times reading this article - especially the snip below.
“I noticed that the estimated range was falling faster than miles were accumulating. At 68 miles since recharging, the range had dropped by 85 miles, and a little mental math told me that reaching Milford would be a stretch.”
Some of the world’s most dangerous lunatics were quite smart. Lunacy is not confined to the intellectually challenged.
Please take a gander at the article that started all the fuss:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/uk-autos-electric-hydrogen-idUSLNE91303P20130204
The article is about ‘battery electric’ cars…not the Prius.
Now here’s the quote you alluded to:
“Because of its shortcomings - driving range, cost and recharging time - the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Uchiyamada.
Do you think he meant the Prius has a range problem? I don’t.
Is your understanding of his quote that he believes the Prius takes too long to charge? It’s certainly not mine.
The article had nothing to do with the Prius.
I will re-hash a post I made last week, explaining the difference between Prius and Volt.
“To put this into perspective, the Volt’s electric motor is 149 hp, while its engine is 80 hp....while the Prius uses a 80 hp electric motor and 98 hp engine. See how they are reversed? (also keep in mind that the Volt weighs 600 lb more than the Prius plug in, because it is primarily an electric vehicle).”
I hope you can see the difference. The quote meant that Toyota is not going to monkey around with a Leaf or Volt type car. Instead, it means they will stick with their Prius and try to find something better…but not go through the motions of producing a loser. Just for ‘green cred’. Now, they do have a plug in add on for the Prius…precisely to satisfy the ‘green’ crowd even more. And its actually not a bad idea. ..it allows the owner to pre-charge the energy recapture system…may save a few cents a day, with no real drawback.
“Electric, like the hydrogen creation efficiency you disparage is equally as inefficient in the generation, storage and reapplication to energy that provides movement”….true, but moot if the Prius merely captures energy that will otherwise be wasted. Again, I hope you can see the distinction between recapturing kinetic energy during braking, and paying 12 cents per kwh to charge a battery.
BTW, I may have come off as a huge fan of the Prius…I would never own one, because I don’t like the look, and its still pricey for its size. However, I recognize that the technology of energy recapture is here to stay…and it is now on many models, from different car manufacturers. And, the father of the Prius certainly recognizes this too. Re-read his quote one more time…it has absolutely nothing, nada, zip to do with the Prius.
Why do I care, and why do I keep chewing on this bone? If you tell a person that the Volt has terrible sales, and cost too much….you will get a response that includes some equivalency to the Prius. There is none. The basic philosophy behind the vehicles is completely different. I don’t want whatever success the Prius has had to be used as a crutch to keep spending more taxpayer money on the Volt. Its that simple.
Doncha just love it...?
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