NationStates Jolt Archive

Looks cool, too...

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Where have you been? We've been talking about this thing for months. ;)

Click here (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/tesla.html) for a write-up on the car from Wired Magazine. Great stuff...

Where have you been? We've been talking about this thing for months. ;)

There's this rock, see...

Nice, but at 92k base price, I'll pass.

its a sports car, if they apply same engieneering and principles to family and teen oriented cars they might make a fortune and help break down customer resistance for electric cars.

Electric cars are not as great as everyone thinks. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=511834)

Edit: the link leads to a thread on how good electric cars really are.

Electric cars are not as great as everyone thinks. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=511834)

It's debatable. Personally, I feel it should depend on where your electricity comes from; a person whose power comes from coal should instead buy a hybrid or a subcompact rather than an electric car because it will have a more significant effect.

For example, natural gas is a hell of a lot cleaner than oil, although coal is somewhat variable and is generally worse than oil when it comes to burning it for energy. I personally get my electricity from nuclear, which is one of the cleanest sources of power (the waste is just sealed away and the amount of radiation produces is less than coal). I could buy an electric car and have a significant positive effect on the environment.

Don't forget renewables, either; a lot of places, especially on the West Coast, get most of their energy from natural gas, nuclear, and renewables. That's a lot cleaner than coal or petroleum.

Electric cars are not as great as everyone thinks. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=511834)

Given the fact that it uses the same energy as a gas car getting about 135mpg. It's pretty damn great.

Does it have anything approaching a normal torque curve though? Some guy in Monaco built a thing like that too, and it just had 100% power all the time because it didn't rev.

It would certainly drive very differently to a normal sports car. I'm not sure I'd enjoy it very much.

It's debatable. Personally, I feel it should depend on where your electricity comes from; a person whose power comes from coal should instead buy a hybrid or a subcompact rather than an electric car because it will have a more significant effect.

For example, natural gas is a hell of a lot cleaner than oil, although coal is somewhat variable and is generally worse than oil when it comes to burning it for energy. I personally get my electricity from nuclear, which is one of the cleanest sources of power (the waste is just sealed away and the amount of radiation produces is less than coal). I could buy an electric car and have a significant positive effect on the environment.

Don't forget renewables, either; a lot of places, especially on the West Coast, get most of their energy from natural gas, nuclear, and renewables. That's a lot cleaner than coal or petroleum.
True dat. We are +95% hydroelectric. So if I were to get an electric car, all the emissions would be gone.

Also, when it is coal or natural gas being burnt in a plant, their generators are significantly more efficient than a cars energy and the energy lost by all the conversions isn't as much as what is lost by the combustion engine's inefficiency.

True dat. We are +95% hydroelectric. So if I were to get an electric car, all the emissions would be gone.

Same with me. My region gets 100% of its electricity from nuclear (although if we lived about 30 or so miles from here we would likely get it from coal). Other places get it from natural gas, which does emit CO2 but is a lot cleaner than coal and oil.

Also, when it is coal or natural gas being burnt in a plant, their generators are significantly more efficient than a cars energy and the energy lost by all the conversions isn't as much as what is lost by the combustion engine's inefficiency.

That's a big one. Burning coal for electricity in cars uses a lot fewer fossil fuels because the number of steps to get from the primary source to the vehicle is reduced. In a gasoline vehicle, for example, you first need to produce the gasoline, which requires inputs of fossil fuel energy in the form of natural gas or coal power to refine the oil and then requires diesel fuel to transport it to gas stations and distribute it.

And, to make matters worse, gasoline requires more energy to produce than it contains; this wouldn't be a problem if the energy didn't come from fossil sources, or if the burned gasoline didn't produce CO2 pollution, but since it does this is not a desirable source of energy for our transportation system. A super-fuel would be something with the low cost and energy content of gasoline with greatly reduced CO2 emissions.

Here's a car I could just plain live with.
http://images.washtimes.com/photos/full/20060614-091623-5967.jpg
Probably 15mpg highway on a good day.

Someone needs to build a tiny two-seater rear-wheel drive roadster weighing less than 900kg and sell it for less than 20k Australian. Hell, if you don't think a little 4-pot is environmentally friendly enough, make it a bloody diesel.

They'd make a killing.

Someone needs to build a tiny two-seater rear-wheel drive roadster weighing less than 900kg and sell it for less than 20k Australian. Hell, if you don't think a little 4-pot is environmentally friendly enough, make it a bloody diesel.

They'd make a killing.
Eureka!
http://www.tandemcycleworks.com/tandem/moab2.jpg

Eureka!
Now you're just being plain silly. :p

Now you're just being plain silly. :p

What?! This is the future! :D

What?! This is the future! :D
I was thinking something along the lines of the EcoRacer concept VW had a while back. Strip down the LEDs and some of that other fancy concept car stuff, and sell the thing! I'd buy one!

Porsche could help, now that they're taking over. :D

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,530909,00.jpg

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/concept/ecoracer
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/0605_2006_volkswagen_ecoracer_concept/

I was thinking something along the lines of the EcoRacer concept VW had a while back. Strip down the LEDs and some of that other fancy concept car stuff, and sell the thing! I'd buy one!

Porsche could help, now that they're taking over. :D

Ooo, you're right that's sexy. But this is sexier:
http://home.inreach.com/rhowehmd/AntiqueBikesImages/Yosemite1986.jpg

Ooo, you're right that's sexy. But this is sexier...
Look, fine, I admit it. I'm lazy and I don't want to ride a bike to deliver pizzas.

Look, fine, I admit it. I'm lazy and I don't want to ride a bike to deliver pizzas.

How about a unicycle?

The prestige... The skill... The look!

Look, fine, I admit it. I'm lazy and I don't want to ride a bike to deliver pizzas.
Outsource your work to immigrants. That'll give you more time to spend on NSG to brainstorm a money-making idea.

Outsource your work to immigrants. That'll give you more time to spend on NSG to brainstorm a money-making idea.
Hmmm, poor Indian people delivering pizzas for me...sounds like a plan. They'll pay for the plane tickets though.

Ooo, you're right that's sexy. But this is sexier:
http://home.inreach.com/rhowehmd/AntiqueBikesImages/Yosemite1986.jpg
I hear the safety ratings are in the toilet, though.

I hear the safety ratings are in the toilet, though.
Pfft... If you want a REAL ride, if you want to actually LIVE a real life, then you would not be concerned about "safety ratings." Besides, those ratings are fake, like gravity or HIV.