Tesla Roadster

[obi_waynne]

Talking to the Tesla roadster guy at the show I discovered 2 alarming things. (The Tesla roadster is a 100% battery powered sports car delivering exeptional performance!)

1) Batteries need replacing after 5 years
2) Batteries cost £9000 ($20,000)

This kind of makes the penny a mile cost in fuel saving seem irrrelevant?

Also to charge it quickly you need more than the 25 amp power supply we get in our houses and all quoted charge times are for 90% the other 10% takes another 3 hours.

I say "chuck away the batteries and run a small petrol generator instead".

 

[Loz]

One of the car mags recently worked out using government figures, running a (battery powered) electric car would generate a larger carbon footprint than a conventional car!
That battery price is going to hurt the resale price a bit innit! :amuse: I suppose in time, with mass production battery prices will drop. However I think we're still a long way from replacing the combustion engine just yet. I believe fuel cells will be the way forward.

 

[thexav]

Didn't tesla have problems with gearboxes on the 3.5 second to 60 versions?

 

[pgarner]

I say "chuck away the batteries and run a small petrol generator instead".

makes sense that, my little jenny (sorry cant remember the displacment without getting it out of the shed. its small would say >50cc) can give me 20A at 240v along with 15A at 12V, mainly for batter charging
granted running 15A aint going to power much but i wonder if changing the gearing and fit a huge 200A altinator i wonder if that would be resonable economical
mmm think we might be onto something here :blink:

 

[pgarner]

Didn't tesla have problems with gearboxes on the 3.5 second to 60 versions?

Dont know but it woulded suprise me if the torque done some damage to the clutch

 

[Prince]

I hate electric cars!

 

[obi_waynne]

One day you will have no choice Prince. Admittedly you'll be an old man but we'd have run out of fuel by then. Expect to see electric engine conversion kits in the future?

 

[Prince]

If electric cars had the same capabilities as petrol/diesel cars and didn't need recharging constantly then they wouldn't be so bad (as long as you could still get a nice roar). But any car designed by enviromentalists can't be a good thing!

 

[obi_waynne]

I would say that they are about there. With a 0-60 time of under 4 seconds and a range of 200-250 miles you have a car which performs like most others. Leaving it on to charge overnight is the only pain but if you have a garage or driveway this is a small price to pay for electric fuel.