Tesla

[Scooter]

And I thought Tesla was an 80's hair band, then I found out it is a new battery powered car.



See: Here

[K. Roman]

wow, four seconds to sixty? Is this the end of...Gas cars?

[Halm]

There is a lot of hype in the article, but even if it can 0-60 in 6 seconds it might be a practical and fun car. Of course at $100k, I am not sure of the market for it yet.

[rouxroux]

Nicholai would be proud.

[CJFusco]

They were talking about this on COAST TO COAST AM a few nights ago, and I figured it was just more crazy conspiracy talk... but I guess it's the real deal. Schwarzenegger drove one and claimed it's (cue Austrian accent) "Fazster zan a Fa-rah-ri".

[Scooter]

The fact that it doesn't look like a Toyota Prius is a big plus.

[Paul K]

Originally posted by rouxroux
Nicholai would be proud.

+1.

[tobster1911]

Originally posted by Scooter03
The fact that it doesn't look like a Toyota Prius is a big plus.

+1 Should justify the cost on those grounds alone.

[CJFusco]

Originally posted by Scooter03
The fact that it doesn't look like a Toyota Prius is a big plus.

I see a lot of Lotus Elise in that design, and a little bit of Noble and a dash of Renault Spyder.

[Tervuren]

Having raced an eletric car several years ago aganist liquied fueld opponets - performance wise eletric isn't lacking at all. In fact, you can get much better torque curves out of them. The disdvantage - is continuous running. You can fuel a race car in a very VERY short amount of time, where as an eletric, you have to completely remove everything aroudn t he batteries, swap new ones in, and install again. (faster then charging... ) Race within an electric's run time - and a well buitl eletric with a decent driver will take the win.

[onlycafe]

i hear that when built they will be built by lotus, on the elise platform.

[Tishabet]

Originally posted by rouxroux
Nicholai would be proud.

As would Nikola

[ckissick]

Originally posted by Tervuren
Having raced an eletric car several years ago aganist liquied fueld opponets - performance wise eletric isn't lacking at all. In fact, you can get much better torque curves out of them. The disdvantage - is continuous running. You can fuel a race car in a very VERY short amount of time, where as an eletric, you have to completely remove everything aroudn t he batteries, swap new ones in, and install again. (faster then charging... ) Race within an electric's run time - and a well buitl eletric with a decent driver will take the win.

Would it be feasible to design something that can be swapped quickly with some sort of forklift-like setup? This car's range of 250 miles is better than my 4X4 truck.

[nostatic]

you can do it quick, you just need 1.21 gigwatts in the refueling rig

[john70t]

Standardized battery pack--slide it out, slide it in. Fast as fuel

[nostatic]

[Scooter]

Originally posted by john70t
Standardized battery pack--slide it out, slide it in. Fast as fuel

So gas stations could become recharging stations. Instead of filling with gas, they just replace your battery for a fee and take your old battery as a core to recharge for a future customer. They would be re-selling stored electricity.

[kach22i]

It looks like an Elise without the insect invasion look - very nice.

More info/pictures here:

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

Note:
If your are into Tesla, you gotta check out the White Stripes fan club sitte.

Click "Skip Intro" to see the Tesla tower at work.............

http://www.whitestripes.com/

[CJFusco]

[jeffgrant]

Actually, it'd probably make more sense to use a fuel-cel type of battery, where you'd still refuel with a liquid of some sort, but it wouldn't be gasoline.