TESLA(ALL ELECTRIC)model S

[antimvp]

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php

[Drachen]

I saw this, and thought it was awesome. One feature I would add as an option. Make the roof a solar panel to increase range and efficiency.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Jesus Christ that's a beautiful car for an "ALL ELECTRIC" model. I want one of those...

[Drachen]

And a 300 mile range, fabulous!

[boutons_deux]

"can carry five adults and two children in quiet comfort"

and the 300-mile range is what with 7 bodies on board?

All seven have to be quite small, not your average obese American.

Tough time to launch a luxury car. A+ for the effort.

[Drachen]

"can carry five adults and two children in quiet comfort"

and the 300-mile range is what with 7 bodies on board?

All seven have to be quite small, not your average obese American.

Tough time to launch a luxury car. A+ for the effort.

This is the model for 2011, They havent even set up the manufacturing plant yet. They are still bidding that out.

[Cry Havoc]

One of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen. It's a steal for $50,000.

Finally a car company not afraid to take a chance with design.

[TDMVPDPOY]

This is the model for 2011, They havent even set up the manufacturing plant yet. They are still bidding that out.

maybe they should vouch the american govt for funding, or buy one of the big autos plants for $1 dollar since most of them are barely solvent.

[Slomo]

OK I like the idea, but the info on that website is either confusing or just stupid.

- Charging from any wall plug. To achieve that kind of performance (range, acceleration...) the capacity of the battery will be huge and to charge it that quickly you'll need currents that exceed what is available at home. Without having all the data it's difficult to say, but even an overnight charge might be pushing it (I don't know the cost of electricity in the US but 4$ for a full charge sounds very cheap).

- Either the interior (and exterior) pictures are wrong or there's no way you can seat 7 in that (even 5 adults doesn't look comfortable).

- Battery life of 5-7 years (up to 10 years according to them) No way! Does anybody know of a battery technology that can guarantee even a 4 years life for regularly used batteries?

- Liquid cooled battery sounds good. Where does the energy for cooling the liquid comes from? The battery?

Again good idea and I know there are tricks to recuperate some of the energy while driving, but it does sound a little too good. Wouldn't mind to be proven wrong though.

[mrcoon29]

Ok, that is a seriously nice looking electric vehicle!

[Wild Cobra]

OK I like the idea, but the info on that website is either confusing or just stupid.

- Charging from any wall plug. To achieve that kind of performance (range, acceleration...) the capacity of the battery will be huge and to charge it that quickly you'll need currents that exceed what is available at home. Without having all the data it's difficult to say, but even an overnight charge might be pushing it (I don't know the cost of electricity in the US but 4$ for a full charge sounds very cheap).

I don't remember the specifics, but they already produced and sold their first model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_(car)) for about $100,000 each. The car can be charged from home, but isn't as quick as a high capacity line. As for the cost, it is cheaper than gas, but I'm sure some areas may cost $5 or $6. Still cheaper than gas. It would take 10 gallons to go 300 miles in a car that gets 30 MPG.


- Either the interior (and exterior) pictures are wrong or there's no way you can seat 7 in that (even 5 adults doesn't look comfortable).

I was wondering about that myself. My guess is they have a back seat for three more adults and rear side seats just behind that for children, or the from holds three and the rear four. The 7 total does seem off.


- Battery life of 5-7 years (up to 10 years according to them) No way! Does anybody know of a battery technology that can guarantee even a 4 years life for regularly used batteries?

I have a hard time going for that, but supposedly the technology is there. What does the Prius claim? My bigger concern is how many times can you recharge the batteries until you only get maybe 80% capacity or less. The batteries may last the 5 to 7 years easily, but at what capacity?


- Liquid cooled battery sounds good. Where does the energy for cooling the liquid comes from? The battery?

It would only be a minimal energy required to move it to a cooling radiator. The heat wouldn't be anything like an internal combustion engine.


Again good idea and I know there are tricks to recuperate some of the energy while driving, but it does sound a little too good. Wouldn't mind to be proven wrong though.

I'm rather sure they use regenerative braking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_braking), which is the main savings for a hybrid car.

[CubanMustGo]

OK I like the idea, but the info on that website is either confusing or just stupid.

- Charging from any wall plug. To achieve that kind of performance (range, acceleration...) the capacity of the battery will be huge and to charge it that quickly you'll need currents that exceed what is available at home. Without having all the data it's difficult to say, but even an overnight charge might be pushing it (I don't know the cost of electricity in the US but 4$ for a full charge sounds very cheap).

They say that you can charge from 120, 240, or 480 V. The quick charge probably comes from the 480V, which is not a common voltage at all in the US. You also notice there are three different size of batteries available. The quick charge probably applies to the one with the smallest capacity (160 miles).



- Either the interior (and exterior) pictures are wrong or there's no way you can seat 7 in that (even 5 adults doesn't look comfortable).


The interior shots I saw were for the roadster convertible - didn't see anything for the (2012!) Model S. The vehicle is somewhat reminiscent of a 7-class BMW but I don't see any way in hell you get seven in it, unless you stuff the kids in the trunk.



- Battery life of 5-7 years (up to 10 years according to them) No way! Does anybody know of a battery technology that can guarantee even a 4 years life for regularly used batteries?


Well, I'm going on year three in my Civic Hybrid and they've been out there for years longer than that. It's more a mileage thing than a year thing, pretty much they say you can get 100 K miles with current technology. One would expect that by 2012 battery tech will have improved. Then again, we've been saying that for years.

They also talk about swapping out battery packs in five minutes (so you could keep a hot spare charged), hard to imagine someone spending $10K on a spare set of batteries just for grins tho.



- Liquid cooled battery sounds good. Where does the energy for cooling the liquid comes from? The battery?
I'd expect a conventional radiator type system which would have a battery-operated fan, yes.


Again good idea and I know there are tricks to recuperate some of the energy while driving, but it does sound a little too good. Wouldn't mind to be proven wrong though.
As someone has pointed out, regenerative braking is a proven technology that's been in use for years.

[phyzik]

If its Lithium-Ion batteries, I definately dont see them lasting that long. Lithium-Ion is a good technology but has drawbacks. The main one being degredation. They are worse than regular batteries when it comes to that. A good side to that point though is that as the battery degrades, it takes less time to charge, unlike conventional batteries.

Unless they have advanced the technology of Lithium-Ion, I just dont see it.

Despite that, I would buy it if I had the $50,000.

On the other hand, I'd definately rock the shit out of this '72 Datsun!

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as a bonus, here's the Killacycle. The worlds fastest electric vehicle. The Datsun above borrowed these guys batteries.

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about 5 months ago, went 7.89 @ 167 mph and actually blew the motor before they crossed the line! :wow

PVv0NVLFPig

[Slomo]

To the last three posters.

I agree with what you're saying and I allow that they might have ideas of how to solve those but the way it's presented on their website is confusing and gives the (false?) impression of being just another snake oil merchant.

Even if the price per full charge (300 miles) is three times the estimate it's still very good. My main concern is emphasizing a quick charge feature that is just not possible with regular domestic outlets. I think it is stupid to create this type of hype, that in the end only helps opponent of an otherwise good idea.

Battery life is still a concern IMO. Even the best and most experimental batteries I have read about are subject to loss of capacity over time. With a hybrid car a loss of 20% capacity of the battery after 2 years has a much smaller impact on the performance of the car than in a fully electric version. And even if it has a noticeable impact the hybrid manufacturers could probably come up with a battery life guarantee and simply replace the depleted cells, because it really isn't that expensive. The cost of a full electric car battery would not allow this.

Lithium-Polymer batteries (Li-po) are now widely available and cheaply produced in China, but are quite dangerous and prone to bursting in flames due to wrong charging or impact (sticking those in a moving vehicle - not a good idea). They do outperform all the batteries that are commonly used now, but still degrade over time/use. The hotest thing right now are Li-Fe Po4 batteries who should be able to perform like Li-Pos but are as safe as normal Ni-Cds. Li-Fe Po4 might be the solution but are still being developped and also lose efficiency over time. Google it - there's a ton of info already available, but it's mostly experimental - never the less it's the technology that at this point makes the most sense for that car. Unfortunately as great as the new batts are, they still don't answer all the problems.
A decent non technical explanation of Li-Fe Po4 (http://www.metaefficient.com/rechargeable-batteries/innovative-lifepo4-batteries-electric-vehicles.html)

What I was saying about regenerating braking (which btw I know works well, in fact F1 cars are using it this year) is that while it's great it is not enough to substantially help resolve the problems associated with the battery of an all electric car - it would "only" add a boost to the performance much as it does with current hybrid cars.

I think you have underestimated the heat issue. Run any battery at the currents we are talking about and it will get very hot (used to be a problem because heat meant loss of power in conventional batteries). Cooling them with liquid is not only a good idea but probably a necessity and the power required to cool the liquid would be large enough to influence performance - so what I'm saying is I'd like a better explanation of how they want to do it.

Don't get me wrong such a car would be great and even with all the mentioned problems a big improvement over what is on the market right now - I just hate it when marketing people start making bullshit promises that ultimatively damage (sometimes even stop) a good idea.

As for electric motors - they are simply great. You could even make them so that the wheel hub is the rotor of the engine and thus have four engines (one on each wheel) eliminating the loss generated by the friction of the axles and other parts needed to transport the power of the engine to the wheels in conventional designs - mechanically they are much more efficient. And the instant torque (on all 4 wheels!) at any speed would seriously quick ass.

Edit: Here's a link to the leader in the production of the new Li-Fe Po4 batteries (http://www.a123systems.com/)

[Fabbs]

So what's happened/happening with the battery now that its August 2013?

I'm definitely looking at the combo of solar power on roof and driving the all elec Tesla for virtually free.
Wanna check out the Model X but they bumped back introduction till late 2014.
http://www.2luxury2.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/tesla-model-x-.jpg

[Fabbs]

The Tesla Model S Just Got The Best Safety Rating Of Any Car In History

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-tesla-model-s-achieves-best-safety-rating-of-any-car-ever-tested-2013-8#ixzz2cWC7lAYj

[Fabbs]

Tesla outselling Porsche, Range Rover in California

https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox

August 26, 2013 Relaxnews California

The company dubbed the Apple Mac of the car world has officially conquered California, America's most important and trend-defining car-buying state, and now it has its sights firmly set on doing the same on the other side of the Atlantic with the opening of its first European production plant.

The latest figures from Quartz reveal that despite the fact that it is a small fish in a huge pond, Tesla not only is holding its own in the US but in California is already outselling many of its premium competitors. The numbers for June 2013 show that the Model S, a luxury four-door electric car with a range of up to 500km on a single charge and a price tag of $70,000, is currently in greater demand than Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, Volvo, Fiat and a number of US brands including Buick, Cadillac and Lincoln.

The company is compared to Apple because, like the computer and device maker, Tesla's customers become evangelists for the brand and as a result spread the word. As noted technological thought leader and erstwhile editor of Wired magazine Chris Anderson has said: "I think people who drive Teslas are getting religious in the same way that people got religious when they first used Macs, or experienced multi-touch. It's going to change everything."

The car has already become the must-have vehicle in Silicon Valley, where they can be found in Google, Yahoo and Apple car parks, and now the company is aiming to have the same impact on the other side of the Atlantic. The first European Model S deliveries began in July and now the company has officially opened its first European plant. The facility, located in Tilburg, The Netherlands, will assemble Model S electric cars for the French, Belgian, German and of course Dutch markets and is the first step towards a larger European operation that, according to the company's European sales director, Bryan Batista, Sales Director Europe, will see "15 Tesla stores and service centres opening across the continent over the coming months."

[Fabbs]

Do any of you have thoughts on this original year model (2013) getting a perfectly maintained one used?
40K +/-

Few tidbits I have been told:
Juicing up the battery to 85% (vs 100%) makes the batteries last longer.

An extended warranty can be purchased but only up until X time. A lot of the 2013s have either already passed or are about to.

Some have allegedly done 400K with no problem. Of course every car maker claims to have some of these.


I'm told the Tesla Service Center has some mechanics that are well worth rapping with. They are NOT in sales nor do they try to influence.

[SpursforSix]

Do any of you have thoughts on this original year model (2013) getting a perfectly maintained one used?
40K +/-

Few tidbits I have been told:
Juicing up the battery to 85% (vs 100%) makes the batteries last longer.

An extended warranty can be purchased but only up until X time. A lot of the 2013s have either already passed or are about to.

Some have allegedly done 400K with no problem. Of course every car maker claims to have some of these.


I'm told the Tesla Service Center has some mechanics that are well worth rapping with. They are NOT in sales nor do they try to influence.

Is it kitty litter resistant?

[Fabbs]

Is it kitty litter resistant?
Wow how long did you work on that one?

For your purposes yes it can seat up to 4 other homosexual men and you can let the windows fog up / ice up.