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Hybrid Vehicles Electric Vehicles The Tesla Roadster - Electric Car
251 messages, Last post on Aug 22, 2008 at 4:34 PM
You are in the Electric Vehicles Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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Replying to: prm2000 (Aug 04, 2006 9:30 pm) 
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Replying to: tpe (Jan 03, 2008 6:23 am) Is it that important? Is there any practical use to have a car that can go 0-60 in four seconds? The only thing I can think of is drag racing.
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Replying to: knightskye (Jul 07, 2008 7:22 pm) I agree, there is no practical use for having a car that goes 0-60 in four seconds. Obviously anyone thinking about plunking down $98k for a roadster is making a decision that isn't driven by practicality. If I paid this much for a Tesla and the average pimply faced high school kid with his Mustang GT could wax me off the line I'd be a little embarrassed. I'm not a big fan of cars who's design implies better performance than they can deliver. An exotic looking car with an exotic price tag should be capable of performance that matches regardless of whether there is any practical use for it.
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Replying to: tpe (Jul 08, 2008 5:48 am) After reading the Fortune article, I'm starting to get a queasy feeling about the Tesla company because it's exhibiting the danger signs we are all familiar with -- big personnel shake-ups, delays in launch, and perhaps a diminished final product in order to "get something" to market. Preston Tucker might have had the last laugh (his cars sell for ten times the price of a 1948 Buick) but he didn't die happy. From a historical point of view, it seems that if a car company starts humbly and then builds more sophisticated machines, this works better than starting out on the expensive end and working down. Consider the first humble Benz, the BMW micro car, the VW bug, the Model T. Pioneers into new territory seem to end up with arrows in their backs.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Aug 18, 2008 7:24 pm) I also have my doubts about Tesla's survival. However I'm not sure it's possible to start humbly with an EV. The people buying $15k cars are typically looking for maximum value out of their their vehicles. Just due to the cost of the battery pack there's no way an EV today can be competitive in terms of price and utility with something like a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. People buying $100k roadsters are clearly not too concerned with value. I look at EVs like flat panel TVs. The early adopters will be the more affluent and hopefully the price will work it's way down to where the mainstream can afford it.
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Replying to: tpe (Aug 19, 2008 5:41 am) Tesla sales begin in UK, Damon Hill to drive Roadster through London Posted July 28 2008 12:19 PM While most enthusiast car owners face a hefty congestion charge when driving into certain areas of London, owners of the all-electric Tesla Roadster will not have that problem. European customers can now make their reservation for one of 250 Signature Edition Tesla Roadsters, which the automaker says will be delivered in May 2009 (unless more delays set that date back). These 250 cars, priced at 99,000 euros (currently about $156,000) will come fully loaded, while standard Tesla Roadsters will be available in 2010. Formula One World Champion Damon Hill will drive the first Euro-spec Tesla Roadster at the GreenFleet Capital Arrive 'N' Drive 08 event, which promotes various technologies that may help reduce emissions and improve air quality in London. On Thursday, July 31, Hill's Tesla Roadster will join other public and private sector drivers in the 33-mile course. The Tesla Roadster will have a tracking device allowing interested onlookers to keep track of the car as it makes its way through London's streets.
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 22, 2008 11:27 am) more than a dozen on the road now Tesla Delivers More Than a Dozen Roadsters The startup says it's delivered more than a dozen of the sporty electric cars and has 15 awaiting batteries and powertrains. by: Jennifer Kho Bullet Arrow August 21, 2008 Tesla Motors has now delivered more than a dozen of its sporty electric Roadsters, the company said in a newsletter this week. Advertisement It also is accelerating production. According to the newsletter released Wednesday night, 15 so-called "gliders" - cars equipped with everything but the battery and powertrain - have been completed at the Lotus assembly plant in Hethel, England, and are ready to be shipped to the Tesla offices in Menlo Park, Calif., where they will be finished. The company in May said its production had been slower than expected, with only five of the $100,000 Roadsters completed in two months, instead of the one per week initially expected (see Tesla Production Slower Than Expected). The company said then that it planned to ramp up to 100 cars per month by November. In July, after the company announced plans to build its second model in California, CEO Ze'ev Drori wrote in Tesla's blog that nine Roadsters had already arrived in the state, with another three expected within a few days, and added that 27 Roadsters were in various stages of assembly. "In large measure we deliberately limit the production until we install our own born-and-bred final transmission by mid-September, at which time production will start to ramp up leading toward a monthly rate of over 100 cars in December," he wrote.
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more on the battery. Still looking for specific info on how easy it will be (or how necessary) to replace individual failed cells. Tesla Roadster Battery System |
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Replying to: larsb (Aug 22, 2008 11:49 am) On March 27th, the Board met in Sacramento to consider CARB Staff recommendations for changes to the Mandate. During the open hearing, the Board directed the staff to lower the minimum number of pure ZEV’s that the six largest automotive manufacturers are required to deliver in the period from 2012 to 2015 (known as Phase III) by 70% – from 25,000 to a mere 7,500! This is an absurdly low number given the emerging developments in the EV space, not to mention the progress we’ve demonstrated at Tesla Motors specifically. They also cut funding that was needed by Tesla to get the EV sedan going. Tesla was not happy with the way they get people excited about ZEVs then pull the rug out. In stark contrast, the proposed modification will unfairly and severely discriminate against Tesla, the only car maker based in California and the world’s only car maker that actually develops and is committed exclusively to zero emission vehicles. How? Since Telsa makes only zero emission vehicles we sell our gold ZEV credits to LVMs. The monies received defray in part some of the large R &D costs incurred in pioneering the development of the zero emission electric cars http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=63 |
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