Tesla cars

[leafer]

Any of you over-educated folks has one or thinking about getting one? Specifically the Tesla X?

 

I wanna envy you is all. :D

[Exorcet]

Electric cars aren't mature enough yet. I wouldn't buy one. Well, for sedan use I guess they're alright, but I consider cars more as entertainment than transportation. I'm aiming to get a Viper ACR myself.

[pacotito]

I do air conditioning work in Texas and one of our high end clients has a Tesla. Not sure what model but it sure did look nice between his Ferrari and maserati.

Edited March 14, 2014 by pacotito

[leafer]

These Tesla sedans can crank zero to sixty in about 4.2 seconds with a motor the size of a melon. I'd not be surprised if we see a super electric car in the near future.

[AlphaOneSix]

I want to get a Model X (they are not available yet, just preorder) but my wife said no. I also wanted to get a Model S (the sedan) and my wife said no. Have you figured out the trend here yet? ;)

 

Although if Volvo comes out with a plug-in hybrid (in the U.S.), I will buy that on day one.

[sobek]

Hybrids are a farce currently.

 

The lifecycle of a non-hybrid Hummer consumes less energy than that of a hybrid Prius, all things considered (manufacturing, fuel consumption, maintenance, disposal).

[MTFDarkEagle]

The lifecycle of a non-hybrid Hummer consumes less energy than that of a hybrid Prius, all things considered (manufacturing, fuel consumption, maintenance, disposal).

^ THIS!! is exactly why I hate these cars... I'm sure they're great and all, but isn't a bluemotion VW polo more economical than a prius?

[RagnarDa]

Hybrids are a farce currently.

 

The lifecycle of a non-hybrid Hummer consumes less energy than that of a hybrid Prius, all things considered (manufacturing, fuel consumption, maintenance, disposal).

 

 

Source?

[sobek]

The most ecological thing to do is maintain your old car as long as possible. The energy cost of manufacturing a new car offsets the better gas mileage by far.

 

Once you start to work in the industry, you quickly realize that the main goal is to come up with new stuff constantly to do away with market saturation, at the expense of product longevity, maintainability, ecologically small footprint, whatsitsface, younameit. The selling point of better gas mileage making new cars the ecological choice over continuing with your old one is snake oil in concentrated form. No car consumes so little gas that it offsets the energy costs of scrapping your old car + production of a new one. It's all very depressing when you work in that sector. :P

[sobek]

Source?

 

I'll try to find it when i have more time.

[karambiatos]

A BMW m3 is more economical fuel wise than a prius.

 

Top gear showed it, and top gear is always correct, about everything.

[Exorcet]

These Tesla sedans can crank zero to sixty in about 4.2 seconds with a motor the size of a melon. I'd not be surprised if we see a super electric car in the near future.

It would be weighed down with tons of batteries. Also, after 60 the low end of the electric motors goes away and you slow down a lot.

 

Toyota took a Radical (could be the fastest road car in the world) and converted it to electric. They set a record for electric vehicles, and in the process fell behind a few handfuls of gas powered sports cars.

[sobek]

Also, after 60 the low end of the electric motors goes away and you slow down a lot.

 

After 60 what? A synchronous motor doesn't have a low end. It has torque, and it has lots of it, regardless of RPM.

 

The main limitation is the continuous power the battery can deliver without going into catastrophic thermal runaway. What you refer to is most likely the operating concept limiting the power drawn from the battery after a short acceleration burst so it doesn't start spewing plasma.

[Exorcet]

Constant torque leads to diminishing power (and accel) with increased velocity, though I guess a solution exists for that anyway, gearing.

 

EDIT - now I think I said that backwards, so disregard. I require caffeine.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Exorcet

[sobek]

Constant torque leads to diminishing power (and accel) with increased velocity, though I guess a solution exists for that anyway, gearing.

 

Edit: Since power is torque x angular velocity, the above statement is factually incorrect.

 

Check your math, sir. If air resistance and friction is neglected, torque is directly proportional to accelleration.

 

You do not need to gear an electric motor. Edit: Well more exactly, you do not need to gear the type of synchronous machine used in cars.

Edited March 14, 2014 by sobek

[ArtMan_NL]

I´m still very happy with my 2011 Prius :D

 

Fuel consumption is very low and.... I have never had any issue with that car. It is extremely reliable compared with all the other European made cars I had.

 

An other very big advantage is that a Prius is a real 4 seater. I´m 1,97 meter long and people have in the back still plenty of space for their legs. This wasn´t the case with the VW, Peugeots, Ford and all the others I had.

 

Ok, it isn´t a sexy car....

[hitman]

Im happy with my gas guzzling pig. Small pen0r. You better be hung like a bear if you drive a Prius....

 

[EtherealN]

No car consumes so little gas that it offsets the energy costs of scrapping your old car + production of a new one. It's all very depressing when you work in that sector. :P

 

However, who actually SCRAPS their old car when they buy a new one?

Usually, they end up re-sold to a new owner and continues to be used.

 

Also, very few people actually have the money to replace a perfectly functional car with something else just because it's new. They replace when they have to, and if possible sell the old one. And when replacing, it's nice to replace it with something that is "good" for the environment.

 

But that said, yeah, those hybrids are awful. I'd much rather take an electric myself, but unfortuantely the batteries aren't quite there yet for me, since I often go 400km+ and sometimes 600km+ to get to a client. But if I was a regular joe with just an office commute, I'd totally go for something nicely electric. (Our grid being 50% nuclear and 50% hydro, roughly - there's some gas and coal on peak hours etc - that's a pretty nice carbon footprint of almost zero to drive it. :P )

 

Electric cars do however get completely farcical in countries that still rely heavily on fossil fuels for their grid. It's like, instead of burning gasoline in the car, you'll instead burn coal and oil someplace completely different and deal with efficiency losses across miles and miles of wire to get the energy into the car. And then you'll feel all cool and green because you drive electric. :D

[RagnarDa]

Tesla cars

 

The difference is that a fossil-energy driven car will never ever be "green", it will always be bad. The energy that you drive an electric car with has the potential to be green. Plus you are investing in a solution to the problem, not a dead-end solution like fossil energy cars.

[GGTharos]

That's not right. Are trees not 'green' then because they emit CO2?

 

But getting back to cars, the whole battery production and disposal process is quite toxic, and that's ignoring production of the car itself. Electric cars aren't green at all, nor do they have the potential to be in the forseeable future.

 

The difference is that a fossil-energy driven car will never ever be "green", it will always be bad. The energy that you drive an electric car with has the potential to be green. Plus you are investing in a solution to the problem, not a dead-end solution like fossil energy cars.

[EtherealN]

Trees emit Oxygen. :P

 

Or do you mean when burning them down?

[cichlidfan]

That's not right. Are trees not 'green' then because they emit CO2?

 

Trees emit Oxygen. :P

 

Or do you mean when burning them down?

 

:megalol::megalol:

 

Thank you both!! :megalol:

[sobek]

Trees emit Oxygen. :P

 

Not during night time.

[dotChuckles]

I'd buy a hybrid... this one.

 

[dotChuckles]

...if I had the money. Which I don't :-(

 

But 70mpg when you're cruising along and 30mpg when you have the hammer down and emissions less then a Prius is pretty good.

 

The technology just has to mature and the Porsche shows what you can do with enough money behind it. Who knows maybe Formula-E will encourage some proper results.