Hey How About One Of Them Electric Cars?
November 19th, 2008, 11:04 PM EST
Maybe the government should give some our taxpayer money to electric car companies like Tesla.
Here’s how it works.
- Electric cars just don’t have to be as complex mechanically as the car you’re probably driving now. Sophisticated electronics and software take the place of the pounds and pounds of machinery required to introduce a spark and ignite the fuel that powers an internal combustion engine.
- [The battery is] light, durable, recyclable, and it is capable of delivering enough power to accelerate the Tesla Roadster from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. Meanwhile, the battery stores enough energy for the vehicle to travel about 220 miles without recharging, something no other production electric vehicle in history can claim.
- [W]e designed our motor to have efficiencies of 85 to 95 percent; this way the precious stored energy of the battery pack ends up propelling you down the road instead of just heating up the trunk.
Interesting ~ wonder what the price tag is?
November 19th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
“Maybe the government should give some our taxpayer money to electric car companies like Tesla.”
WASHINGTON (AP) - Detroit’s Big Three auto makers are begging Congress for a $25 billion government rescue, while the legislation clings to life support on Capitol Hill and top lawmakers and the White House suffer from bailout fatigue.
General Motors, Chrysler and Tesla Motors Inc. have applied for loans and Ford CEO Alan Mulally said the automaker plans to apply on Tuesday. GM, Chrysler and Ford have not disclosed the amount of funding they’re seeking from the Energy Department or for what purposes. Tesla said it was seeking about $400 million in loans for two projects.
Tesla is no different that the others.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
“wonder what the price tag is?”
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. They’ll sell you a “Tesla hat” for $18 though.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Price tag for Tesla according to April 15, 2008 USA Today article–$98,000.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Hmmmm. $98K for a car that goes 220 miles on a recharge, yet takes five or six hours to recharge. Good selling points. Maybe it will suit the Yuppie/Boomer crowd who wants to pat themselves on the back and feel good about “saving the planet.” One question though? where does the electricity come from? OH YEAH! fossil fuel powered electrical plants.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:42 am
I have a great idea. Let’s round up all the environ-mental-cases, you know, the ones who know everything about global warming and industry without ever taking a physics or meteorology course in their lives, and pack them on soy-oil powered busses. We’ll send them to Oregon where they can live happily among the trees. Then the normal ones among us, the ones that understand how the world really works, can grant Oregon its independence. We’ll be able to take it back in 15 years when the greenies manage to kill themselves all off, or have reverted to hunter-gatherer status.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:50 am
95% efficiency in a fully electric car is nothing to scoff at. Let us remember that this is essentially a supercar, albeit an electric version.
Tuned for everyday travel rather than 125MPH and 4 second acceleration, and you have a proper starting point for a decent family car, considering the Tesla Roadster (which is what Alan has pictured) has an equivalent of around 150 MPG (taken into account the fossil fuel generated electric charging) it’s not unreasonable to assume that a 5 passenger family sedan geared to 80 MPH max could garner a equivalent of 250 MPG (fossil fuel standard Paul is so crazy about)
So Paul, how about we take all the thick heads who enjoy breathing smog, send them all to Mexico City with their ‘69 Ford Galaxies and Hummers, and let the rest of the world breathe a bit easier?
Or would you prefer America be behind the rest of the world in environment and standard of living as well?
November 20th, 2008 at 1:38 am
why not? or why doens’t the gov give money to companies that would start making methane gas cars? I live in italy and they use them here. it cost less and it doesn’t pollute like regular gas cars…..
maybe the oil companies should bail out the auto industry,after all they’ve been in bed together for a long time…
November 20th, 2008 at 3:39 am
This is so exciting!!!! If we put a man on the moon, we can create solutions to our problems. Anyone see the the car created in California called the Karma? Very nice. I think they are working at developing a way to make it more affordable. In 1979 my son was born. I was 26 yrs. old. I worried about the the economy and his future. The day I brought him home a 95yr. old neighbor hobbled over to see the new baby. He told me all the changes he had seen in his almost 100 yrs. He then said, “It’s so exciting. Just think about all the changes this child will see in his life time.” At that point computers were not even in the homes. What a ride! At this point, we are pretty much up to our eye teeth in this global economy. If America does well much of the world does better too. We need new markets and we need to stay competitive. If Companies are leaving us because they want to save on Health Insurance cost by going to Countries that have Universal Health Care, we need to fix that. If we bail out a company they need to a plan to correct their failures but then once on their feet play it forward and help a new American Company get started. I think it was Greenspan who said the uncertainty and change in the the Free Market can be stressful. We have a lot of experience with that!! Lets get excited about these new products and the chance we can create a better standard of living for us and the world. The wind turbines are growing fast but they are also experiencing growing pains. They’ll work out the problems and so will the auto industry. The oil companies tried to drive a nail in the coffin of the Free Market and it’s almost worked. But they forgot, Americans can make Lemonade out of Lemons and we are the best bouncer backers! Just think about all the technical changes we have seen this far and those yet to come. What a ride this thing called life! DEB
November 20th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Give this car a secondary source of power like a gas option and kiss Detroit’s butt goodbye. If it provides an alternative for the consumer to use electric power or gas power against each other to drive down prices of both, then this is the car of the future. Choice is what Americans want. With the dinosaur cars we have been offered, we had no choice. Pay or pay more. Soon we can plug it in or pump it. Detroits want’s us to bail them out for what?
November 20th, 2008 at 3:46 am
The Tesla site says “…it will cost you roughly 1 cent per mile to drive the Tesla Roadster.”
For the sake of comparison, let’s say that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of being right.
Let’s say your gas-powered car gets 20 mpg, and gas is going for $3.00 a gallon. You drive 26,000 miles a year or about 500 miles a week. $3.00 a gallon/20 mpg = $0.15 a mile x 500 miles = $75 fuel cost per week.
Okay, let’s say gas drops to $2.00 a gallon. $2.00 a gallon/20 mpg = $0.10 a mile x 500 miles = $50 fuel cost per week.
The Tesla: 500 miles x $.01 a mile = $5.00 “fuel” cost per week.
At $3 a gallon you spent almost $4000 a year on gas.
At $2 a gallon you spent $2500 a year on gas.
With the Tesla you spent $250 a year on recharges.
The Tesla’s batteries are said to be good for at least 100K miles. That’s 4 years of driving, in which time you spent either $16,000 or $10,000 on gas, or $1,000 on recharges. So if you want to keep the Tesla another four years and replacing the batteries costs anything under $9,000 you’re saving money.
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“Our new president is appointing a bunch of has been Clintonites.”
Factually incorrect. The attorney general appointee joined the Justice Dept under Pres. Ford and stayed there till Reagan made him a judge.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:30 am
GM could have had its Volt out 10 years ago, if it’d stuck to its EV program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
November 20th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Sarah, the EV1 as production would have reduced shares and income from big oil. It would have hurt the company big time, but in hindsight I think the short term hurt would have been hugely outweighed in light of environmental concerns and fuel costs.
GM sued a couple universities that ‘fixed’ donated EV1s. I think that’s more than enough evidence for suppression of the electric car idea. (And why I am not in favor of a bailout for the big-3)
November 20th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Side question - how many people sat in the EV1 when it was on display at Epcot Center? I did! I did!
Pretty sharp little car actually. They should have ran with it definitely.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Jim from Jersey: “Sarah, the EV1 as production would have reduced shares and income from big oil. It would have hurt the company big time…”
How so? I can’t remember…Did/Does Big Oil have a hand in the car companies?
November 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Directly? Probably not. But you can bet the CEOs of both Big Oil and Big 3 hold stock in each other’s ventures, given the reliance of one on the other.
Does big oil have lobbyists in Detroit in the boardrooms? You betcha. And while they can’t legally vote in company decisions, they can vote by proxy with a suitcase of cash.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Good point. Both industries did a number on public transportation initiatives. Amazing how many small towns used to have trolleys, the train system was vibrant, and buses weren’t as stigmatized. Now the airline industry is constantly plagued.
So great.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
220 miles driving before you have to charge it up again for 3.5 hrs ??
the battery weight is almost 1000 lbs ????
no thanks
November 20th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Maybe the limousine liberals can purchase these and feel better about themselves. Here in the mountains that car will be going 0 mph in the snow.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Or maybe the corporate jet conservatives can give up their golden parachutes and stop failing upwards.
Maybe they could outsource THEIR jobs to some bright young MBAs from India, who will do it for hundreds of thousands instead of hundreds of millions, like the ceo of Costco.
November 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Cha! You rule the roost, OldLefty!
November 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Alan,
Please tell me that you do realize that the Dow Industrial Average is a forward looking indicator that has been forecasting the disaster of an Obama win since last May when the collapse started? If not, please take Economics 101. The market will start turning around with some decent decisions, but it will continue to languish until the tax policy is made sane again.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Do supporters of electric cars understand the problems with getting enough lithium for the batteries and there are questions whether or not enough lithium ore is even available?
November 21st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Bleamer, that’s why you keep researching new technologies. We’ve already got lead acid, alkaline, Nickel Metal Hydride, Lithium Ion, etc.
find newer more efficient methods. this is progress. Sticking with ICEs and fossil fuels will doom us to a quick death globally.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:21 am