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Registered Member #223
Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 125
Damn even the engineering section is one big sales pitch. I mean it took an entire paragraph just to say it uses and induction motor. My concern is not the efficiency of the motor but that of the power electronics to convert the DC to AC. Plus at last check lithium ion batteries are still rather pricey. Gas is still cheaper when you consider the cost of electricity to charge it. So your not really saving anything and charge time would be pathetic. I mean if you’re running low on gas you can just pull into a gas station and fill up in a matter of minutes. Assuming you can just plug it into any outlet it would probably take hours to recharge.(unless it's a hybrid then the gas engine can take over) I'm all for greener technology but this is just moving the pollution from cars to fossil fuel power plants. Until we switch over completely to solar/wind/hydro/(nuke ) power then there really isn't much point to have an electric car. [/rant]
Registered Member #106
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:39PM
Location: Portland, OR and Istanbul, Turkey
Posts: 47
Well I haven't converted my car, but I did build an electric bicycle. And I can say that I do not contribute to the use of fossil fuels. I have a great setup. It is a 600 watt electric motor that I was able to adapt to my rear tire by some nifty welded tubing, sprocket and bike chain.
But the beauty is in the charging system.
I have taken an older bicycle, made it stationary and adapted a generator to it. I run the output to an inverter to take it to 120v AC because my battery charger is a bought unit and runs AC. That in turn charges my battery pack. I pedal at home and it charges everything.
The whole things was a bit expensive though. 2 bicycles, chargers, generators, controllers and Li-ion batteries were a bit much.
But, I can pedal and get exercise at home and ride around outside on my electric bike.
Vigilatny Registered Member #17
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:47PM
Location: NL
Posts: 158
Why not just pedal around outside?? Rube goldberg exercise?
The only advantage I see is that central generation can be more efficient(perhaps enough to offset transmission and conversion losses), and the pollution from it can be more easily controlled.
I don't think electric cars will really catch on until ultracapacitors get large enough, or fuel cells get cheap enough.
Still this car does 0-60 in 4 seconds. They seem to think a gt edition would do it in 2.9 s. I just want one for that reason. Of course at $100,000, it's a bit steep.
This article says there will eventually be a $45-$50k version, which if it has the same performance, I would seriously consider.
Also that article has a pretty compelling argument for central generation in terms of efficiency and grams of CO2 released per km of travel
Registered Member #223
Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 125
It's probably more efficient just to pedal when you ride your bike. Is the motor strong enough to get you up a steep hill at a decent speed? How far can you usually get on a full charge? What’s the top speed? I always wanted to build an electric bike but they are illegal here. (Here in canada they are classified as a motor vehicle and since they don't have signals, licence plates or a way to register them as such they are illegal to drive on any public road. )
Geometrically Frustrated Registered Member #6
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 04:18AM
Location: Bowdoin, Maine
Posts: 373
dan wrote ... Plus at last check lithium ion batteries are still rather pricey. Gas is still cheaper when you consider the cost of electricity to charge it. So your not really saving anything and charge time would be pathetic. I mean if you’re running low on gas you can just pull into a gas station and fill up in a matter of minutes. Assuming you can just plug it into any outlet it would probably take hours to recharge.(unless it's a hybrid then the gas engine can take over) I'm all for greener technology but this is just moving the pollution from cars to fossil fuel power plants.
The idea is that you charge it up at home and run it all day (maybe you'd plug it in at work, too). A full charge takes "as little as" 3.5 hours. so it's probably impractical to, say, try to drive from Maine to Florida over the weekend. How much you're actually saving in terms of oil usage depends on how you get your electricity. The electricity for my town comes from a hydroelectric dam.
On the topic of price... They don't give one, but here's my guess: Way more than your average schmuck can afford.
Neat car though. Where do I sign up for beta testing?
Registered Member #106
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:39PM
Location: Portland, OR and Istanbul, Turkey
Posts: 47
It was a post in futility. An Idea in Rube Goldbergness. I actually rent a bike when I go. I don't actually own a bike.
But I thought it was a novel Idea. :)
But along the same lines, there was a predacessor to this. IT was called the T-Zero I believe. IT had about the same range. Good acceleration and speed. Li-ion system. Expensive and poorly marketed.
Geometrically Frustrated Registered Member #6
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 04:18AM
Location: Bowdoin, Maine
Posts: 373
Ben wrote ...
As for beta testing a car, they usually leave that to professionals, because a car crash is a little more profound than a BSOD.
Indeed.
I guess I skimmed over your post.. 100k is a bit much, but 45-50k isn't so bad for a fancy car like that, and you wouldn't be unloading your wallet at the pump anymore, so that could go towards payments.
Registered Member #312
Joined: Mon Mar 13 2006, 01:50AM
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 27
Just the other day I read about this, these articles and discussions have interesting comments (of varying quality, as always). Here are two slashdot stories on it: Test Driving the Tesla Roadster Electric Cars and Their Discontents They link to this Wired story which appears more informative than the Tesla website (or at least most of the hype is removed): ,71414-0.html?tw=rss.index
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Tesla motors
) power then there really isn't much point to have an electric car. [/rant]
Is the motor strong enough to get you up a steep hill at a decent speed? How far can you usually get on a full charge? What’s the top speed? I always wanted to build an electric bike but they are illegal here. (Here in canada they are classified as a motor vehicle and since they don't have signals, licence plates or a way to register them as such they are illegal to drive on any public road. 
)
