INNOVATION

An Electric Dream

THE $98,000 Tesla Roadster aims to be the ultimate green car. Will it succeed?

By Keith Naughton | NEWSWEEK

Oct 29, 2007 Issue

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Discuss

Posted By: WordWorker @ 01/07/2008 7:37:58 PM

Comment: For those fo you who haven't pulled your noses out of the TV in awhile to think, don't knock a $98, 000 car as a bad idea, especially one as advanced, capable, and beautiful as the Tesla. It proves that electric cars are viable. Don't forget, before Henry Ford (no he didn't invent the car as we know it, but an affordable one) the average internal-combustion car cost about tiwce the annual salary of the average middle class consumer, or more. And with Toyota taking a look at an all-electric Prius, how long do you figure it will be before an affordable one is available? Not that electric is the "answer to cancer" either. Think for a minute: what kind of a drain would be put on the power grid if a few million electric cars in each major city were plugged in for the night? Can you spell "brown-out" (especially in the summer)? And where will all that electricity come from - coal, oil, nuclear? Face it: unless we learn to harvest and distrubute lightning next year, electric cars are off a ways yet. However, as with any technology, we'll overcome the hurdles and develope the infrastructure, just as we did with gasoline-powered cars. - T. H. Pine
Posted By: ahsoccer713 @ 01/03/2008 11:50:15 PM

Comment: Yeah it looks and sounds like a great car but honestly what average houseold can afford a $98,000 car. Only the people that are funding it like the google boys, the ebay president and movie stars. If you want to find cars that are just as effective and produce zero fuel emmisions then take a look at the cars that Zap is coming out with at www.zapworld.com. They are coming out with the cars before Telsa. Zap is also a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol ZAAP.
Posted By: T_Hip @ 11/24/2007 4:32:51 PM

Comment: I cant believe that its taking our human race this long to realize, if we feel we aabsolutely have to travel at speeds excessing that of a hoarse, or a wind sail, then we have no alternitve.. .I hope Tesla explodes into the automotive market. what a great project. and the nay sayer.lol its funny, when i turned on my pc this afternoon, it seemed to take at least 5 mins to boot.Well the next time i turned it on this evening i clocked the boot time and it was only 49 secs.So just for kicks I retimed it from full stop to full boot, consistant 49 secs my point is, so what its taking longer to go through the crash inspections and so on. The future is in front of us its not goning anyware. Tesla WILL be huge..... wish i had a piece of the finacial pie as well as an zero emissions car.
Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/12/2007 2:53:41 PM

Comment: http://www.evnut.com/rav_longranger.htm This is another tiny trailer generator for the Toyota EV, a 500cc motorcycle engine is used, housed in a small, aerodynamic package 20kW DC output is sufficient for extended high-speed travel.
Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/12/2007 2:32:25 PM

Comment: It looks like an electric car with a trailer generator has already been done. See pictures at http://www.acpropulsion.com/tzero_pages/tzero_Gallery.htm click on the pictures for a bigger view.
Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/11/2007 6:27:08 PM

Comment: 3. The ideal car or SUV would be a plug-in electric with a lithium battery having a 200 miles range. To take a long highway trip attach a small trailer containing a high efficiency gasoline generator and fill up as needed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine 100 miles per gallon no problem.
Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/11/2007 6:12:26 PM

Comment: 1. Wind turbines have a capital cost of about one dollar per watt or about $4 Million for a 3.5 Mega-Watt generator including the tower, blades and control electronics. That is about 4 times cheaper than solar panels. Wind power supplies more than 20 percent of Germany's electricity and 30 percent of Denmark's. America has many good locations with high wind in the north. (see DOE wind maps)

2. Gasoline engines that run at constant speed near their maximum power point are about 3 times more efficient than ones running at a fraction of their full power such as in a car in a typical situation. see next post
Posted By: lilredwagon @ 11/09/2007 3:51:26 AM

Comment: As an owner of two hybrid vehicles I applaud the Tesla work. Competition and options are the backbone of innovation and they are offering choices. I would also suggest that while auto manufacturers continue to look at making individual vehicles more efficient, significantly more investment is needed in mass transportation.
Posted By: Blue Eyed Ruben @ 11/08/2007 11:24:05 PM

Comment: Remember the scale model slot cars kids played with in the 60s and 70s? Power strips need to be installed in our freeways. Not everywhere, but in a special lane and even intermittantly, to reduce the draw on electric cars' batteries or even to help recharge them as they are being driven.
Posted By: Blue Eyed Ruben @ 11/08/2007 11:20:55 PM

Comment: Remember the scale model slot cars we had in the 60s and 70s? We need charged pavement patches to be installed in our freeways, not everywhere, but in a special lane and even only intermittantly to reduce the draw on electric cars' batteries or even to help charge them as they are being driven.
Posted By: ajvia1 @ 11/08/2007 10:42:04 AM

Comment: Also, "big, American, SUV" is not even close to the appropriate grammar for the sentence that the pompous, arrogant Ldickens was attempting. Ever heard the glass houses phrase? It goes something like, "PEPLE who, live, inn glasshouses, should nt' throw, STONES," you fool.
Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 3:22:33 PM

Comment: Sorry, my previous mail goes to heathesellers driving big, AMERICAN, SUV. Please learn grammar first!
Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 3:20:33 PM

Comment: UR an Ahole
Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 9:03:59 PM

Comment: Electric cars to reduce greenhouse gases? Where will the electricity come from - coal fired power plants is the answer. Does anyone remember the looming ice age that the "experts" forecast in the 80's? Doing my part for global warming - I drive a big, AMERICAN, SUV! Remember, Al Gore didn't invent the internet - but he did make up global warming.
Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 9:02:31 PM

Comment: Electric cars to reduce greenhouse gases? Where will the electricity come from - coal fired power plants is the answer. Does anyone remember the looming ice age that the "experts" forecast in the 80's? Doing my part for global warming - I drive a big, AMERICAN, SUV! Remember, Al Gore didn't invent the internet - but he did make up global warming.
Posted By: techie123 @ 11/06/2007 7:21:30 AM

Comment: Way to go, boys! I wish you the very best of luck in getting this and all your future projects up and running. It's time we got back to 'electric car' thinking.
Posted By: techie123 @ 11/06/2007 7:18:02 AM

Comment: Way to go, boys! I wish you the best of luck in getting this and all your projects up and running. It's time we got back to 'electric car' thinking.
Posted By: pnivram @ 11/05/2007 10:00:27 AM

Comment: Crotchfire....you can learn to spell too.....DELEMA....is realy dilema...
Posted By: Crotchfire @ 10/30/2007 10:57:01 PM

Comment: pistolwhip, learn how to spell. Nucular, come on man, you sound like Bush. And even if we drilled into Alaska, it would only temporarily help our delema; we would still be addicted to oil. The cost of gasoline is only going to rise, oil is a limited resource, with a growing demand. Should we start using alternatives now, or wait until gas is $10 a gallon and our economy is destroyed. The is no reason we should put off researching alternative fuel/energy sources, it's time now.
- Posted By: pnivram @ 11/05/2007 10:02:08
  
  Comment: crotchfire....you might as well read a dictionary too...DELEMA ?? try dilema....
  - Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:35:51
    
    Comment: try dilemma. lol.
Posted By: Crotchfire @ 10/30/2007 10:40:50 PM

Comment: You couldn't even buy the EV1, you could only lease it. And the few people that could lease it loved it, until GM took them back and crushed them. GM decided to erase the EV1, and replace it with the Hummer H2. They knew that introducing electric cars would threaten their core money makers, SUV's. GM wanted people to think that electric cars were for pussies, so that they would continue buying their "Manly" gas hogs. Now the big three are freaked because a company with nothing to loose is going to show just how manly an electric car can be.
Posted By: djavaman @ 10/27/2007 7:28:48 AM

Comment: I think many of the people posting here are missing the point--and I suspect they might be the same morons that drive their hybrids at sustained highway speed. The major innovation of the Tesla is that it is a sexy, two-seat, high performance sports car. If the 0-60 time (4s or less) quoted in the article is correct, and the range/re-charge claims are accurate, then $98,000 is not only market correct, but highly competitive. The Tesla aims at making eco-freindly technology exciting and desirable, and fun to drive (basically all the things that a Prius isn't). This approach will increase interest in electric car technology across a broader market. The Tesla has nothing do with affordablity. However if the company can build an affordable electric sedan they will have already created intrest in the brand with the sports car. Automotive marketing 101.
Posted By: gt350 @ 10/26/2007 2:36:27 AM

Comment: Lets see didnt GM a few years ago build a electric car that was pretty darn fast. Oh it didnt cost 100k and no one bought it. Charging 100k is not breaking new ground, maybe in Marketing Skills but not TECH. I just wonder what TOYOTA,HONDA,FORD, and GM could build for 100k. And investors I have some nice swamp land in Florida thats the best!
- Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:31:08
  
  Comment: no one bought gm's ev1 it because it was never offered for sale. gm only produced a few thousand and begrudgingly leased every single one (many willing buyers were left on the waiting list), then reclaimed and crushed the cars, which still drove as well as when they were brand new. if they ever were offered for sale, they'd still be on the road today making the auto companies look stupid, just like the 300 of toyota's rav4-ev that made it into the public's hands.
Posted By: PJM361 @ 10/24/2007 8:56:25 PM

Comment: The best hybird is like the forementioned locomotive , a small diesel generator connected to a electric motor with a lithium battery. That way it can be plugged in at home and charged overnight. Then if you daily driving exceeds the usual mileage limits of the battery(100-200 miles) the generator kicks on and you can keep on going. The generator runs at a steady rpm so it's more efficient than a regular car engine. Plus electric motors have all their torque right away.
Posted By: stonedmojo59 @ 10/24/2007 12:25:16 AM

Comment: Oh the mighty Eberhard! He totaled his Audi.Boo Hoo. But the Porshe, nah it just wasn't right for a man of his vision and wealth. Now I get to the point.......And the Prius?? NOPE,TOO UGLY FOR THIS GUY!!! I don't care what he looks like but a car is not going to make more good looking or sexy!!!!! Well, while he's attempting to make an electric car work, why can't he ride in a car that is in demand now?

And only the millionaires will be able to buy one. What about the 4 and 6 seaters? It'll probably be 20 years before we see any of them. So if I were you, I'd rush my buttocks down to TOYOTA and buy those great looking cars.........THE TOYOTA PRIUS. Thank you. Deborah Looney...Bristol, VA
Posted By: RPHIII @ 10/23/2007 8:06:31 PM

Comment: Electric automobiles will not enable us to "thumb our noses at the Middle East" nor will it help with global warming. 70% of the electricity in the United States is generated by fossil fuels. So what difference does it make whether you burn those fuels to power an electric generator or a gas engine? NONE. Go fool yourselves for as long as you want. There is one advantage to electric cars and that is if you put the generation faciities outside of the urban areas. You can disipate the location of the polution. But the overall polution is not reduced. So if you are correct about the cause of global warming, electric cars do nothing to lessen human overall carbon output. Furhtermore, one must still generate the electricity and the 70% figure will go up if most vehicles become electric powered. The demand for oil will stay the same. Its users will just shift from drivers to electric generation companies.
- Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:25:53
  
  Comment: you mention two issues critically affected by our oil dependence: national security and global warming. truelibertarian rightly showed that the higher efficiency of evs effectively tackles the global warming issue, even assuming fossil fuel electric generation. as far as the national security issue, allow me to point out that not all fossil fuels are equal; coal doesn't come from the middle east. ev drivers, go ahead and thumb those noses.
- Posted By: truelibertarian @ 10/24/2007 10:47:36
  
  Comment: Actually, even if all the electricity used to power electric cars came from fossil burning plants (not true in hydro-, wind-, and solar-power rich California, which is a key initial market for Tesla's car), and even if we didn't take special pains to scrub the exhaust at power-plants, the net emissions from personal transportation could be lessened by going all-electric. The reason is that the internal combustion engine is extremely inefficient, while the electric motor is extremely efficient. If you took a gallon of gasoline and used it to power an electric generator, then transmitted that electricity to a home outlet, which you then used to charge up the EV, you would still be able to move that car further down the road than if you poured the same gallon directly into the tank of an efficient regular automobile, even a hybrid. The transmission and battery-charging losses are still much less than the heat loss of a conventional engine. This is why, for instance, so-called ???diesel??? locomotive engines are actually electric motors powered by an on-board diesel-fueled generator, huge ???hybrids??? that benefit from the economy of scale. So, if everyone had EVs, we???d actually use less fossil fuel to power our cars to power equivalent regular vehicles: less fuel means fewer emissions, even if you don???t do anything else to prevent them.
Posted By: rvt1000 @ 10/23/2007 7:35:06 PM

Comment: To all those saying its too expensive your only half right. Yes it will be too expensive for you and me, however a successful run of these overpriced cars will provide capital for the next generation, that we will be able to afford. It's economics 101. Everything is always expensive for the early adopters (i.e. vcr's, dvd players, blu-ray, plasma TV, etc.) Give it time, anything to provide competition over the OPEC monopoly is a good thing!!!!!
Posted By: gateweight @ 10/23/2007 3:11:21 PM

Comment: The Tesla is the cutting edge of a critical industry that must florish if we are to pole vault over our critical challenges of the 21st Century. Current transportation dependent on internal combustion places us at the mercy of oil producers who are often dictators. Our dollars go to their societies which are often over run with radicals and are associated with terrorism. Stop the flow of money to the terrorists and their effectiveness is cut. Oil is also responsible for the US taking an imperalist stand throughout the world and it proping up savage regimes that work against their own people for our oligarchs. Both groups can be negated with electric automobiles. Combustion engines also are driving the planet to extinction through global warming. Electric cars along with advances in photoelectirc cell production will work to halt the rapidly advancing trend to environmental destruction. Finally the electric car is critical as we can retake the automobiole market with our innovations, export American made technology and reap the employment and balance of payment rewards. Thousands of jobs can be created retro fitting photoelectirc cells on existing homes, further removing the burden of heating oil use. The electric car must be given not only a chance, but invested in by government since private industry has too much invested in burning oil, polluting the planet, snuggling up to dictators, and squandering the nation's weath in wars and costly commodities.
Posted By: gateweight @ 10/23/2007 2:32:41 PM

Comment: The Tesla is an example of what an electric car can be: beautiful, high preformance, and totally non polluting. Certaily few will afford the Tesla to start, but it well demonstrates the potential for more affordable electric cars.
The success of the electric car can be assuredif government were to help the technical development of some of its subsysems. With a car that needs no gas, we can thumb our noses at dictators and radicls in the Middle East, free ourselves of oligarchs who sell oil and send our kids to fight for deminishing commodities, put a halt to the advancing treand of global warming, and create thousands of new jobs in manufacturing as we retake command of the automobile market. Coupled with photoelectric cell retrofitting thoughour the US, we can be energy independent and watchour balance of payments come back intot he black--not a small consideration when our potential enemies hold a trillion dollars of our debt. If we want to pole vault over the crushing issues of our era, we will all drive electric cars by 2015.
Posted By: pistolwhip @ 10/23/2007 8:54:22 AM

Comment: OMG.. pull the plug on this P.O.S. Lets start drilling in Alaska, and you tree huggers quit your crying. There's millions of acres that are nothing more than cold mountain ranges that could yield our country its own oil without being attached at the hip to these radical islamic countries that hate us practically own us because of our depandancy on oil. So lets start the drilling now, pull everyone out of Iraq, and drop a nucular :)
- Posted By: ho-jo @ 10/27/2007 23:42:55
  
  Comment: Solve problems with violence? Trash the country for oil. Go look at the Texas gulf coastline Get real!!!
  George has done enough damage.
Posted By: mzzim@hotmail.com @ 10/23/2007 1:37:39 AM

Comment: I could buy a lot of gas for $98,000. No one will be able to afford this car! It doesn't really need to be that expensive does it? Why is green so expensive? Just taking advantage? I want the 1998-2000 GM EV1 electric car back! See the DVD "Who Killed the Electric Car?" Now just who do you think killed it? Maybe our government in cahoots with auto and oil perhaps?
- Posted By: teslaroadster3 @ 11/03/2007 04:24:35
  
  Comment: wake UP. No sports car with that caliber of performance has been priced at 100 grand. Tell me if a porche or a ferrari is that cheap? And you say it's expensive. They're looking at it for the long run so you'll have to wait. That is how Toyota has become number one because they think about the future and employees.
Posted By: mzzim@hotmail.com @ 10/23/2007 1:35:07 AM

Comment: How can it succeed? It's too expensive and I can buy a lot of gas for $98,000. I want the GM EV1 back...see the DVD "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
- Posted By: teslaroadster3 @ 11/03/2007 04:28:19
  
  Comment: it's cheap for that caliber of performance. Go find the pricing for a ferrari and tell me that Tesla is too expensive. they look for the long term not for the short term fix and die out like the way GM and Ford are heading. Why do you think Toyota is number one now? They think of the future and sacrifice short term losses. Patience bud as Yoda would say.
Posted By: Xanthorpe @ 10/22/2007 1:31:55 PM

Comment: You know what Tesla needs? A place in the next Bond film. I don't know how quiet the Tesla is but it must be much quieter than the Aston Martin. What better vehicle for 007 than a sleek sports model - not to mention Lotus-based - that purrs down the road.
Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:37 PM

Comment: ere are the details.

Check out Kos Pharmaceuticals in 1997-1998 period. We had a buy. We knew they sucked. The whole securities industry is bullshit. They have systematically electronically harrassed me since 1996 and I am sick of it. Check out mcforums on the web. You will see everyone's stories there. Also check out raven1 on the web. They will tell you how it is done.
- Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 21:13:21
  
  Comment: what the hell are you rambeling about?
  - Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 15:31:49
    
    Comment: The rambeling correct spelling is rambling, from verb RAMBLE (remember LED ZEPPELIN's song ?), but then again you are driving big, AMERICAN, SUV which makes you a person with the brain size inversly proportionate.
    - Posted By: Wilde1 @ 01/26/2008 23:07:29
      
      Comment:
      Hey Dick - If you had the misfortune to be involved in a head on crash while driving at 50mph, what vehicle would you rather be in at the time - an economical fuel-efficient compact car or a full-size not so fuel-efficient SUV? (I hope you don't take too long to think about this one.)
    - Posted By: Wilde @ 01/26/2008 23:06:48
      
      Comment:
      Hey Dick - If you had the misfortune to be involved in a head on crash while driving at 50mph, what vehicle would you rather be in at the time - an economical fuel-efficient compact car or a full-size not so fuel-efficient SUV? (I hope you don't take too long to think about this one.)
Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:24 PM

Comment: ere are the details.

Check out Kos Pharmaceuticals in 1997-1998 period. We had a buy. We knew they sucked. The whole securities industry is bullshit. They have systematically electronically harrassed me since 1996 and I am sick of it. Check out mcforums on the web. You will see everyone's stories there. Also check out raven1 on the web. They will tell you how it is done.
Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:09 PM

Comment: Enter Your Comment
Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:51:05 PM

Comment: Around 1996 (it is all a blur now), I worked for a large pharmaceutical
company. In one assignment I tried to track $100 million that I could
not trace and ended up receiving a bad evaluation for "taking too long."
I protested the evaluation and then began experiencing panic attacks. I
left to join a large (unethical) securities firm on the West Coast. I
was driven out of the firm very aggressively. Then got a job at another,
supposedly ethical securities firm, which of course turned out not to
be. When I began discussing my experiences with my friends and family, I
was told I was "crazy." I couldn't understand it. And then all sorts of
wierd things started happening. I got a bubbling noise in my chest,
which I was told was reflux and it did ultimately hurt very badly. I
also got vibrations in my chest which prevented me from sleeping for
nearly a year (no more than 2-4 hrs a night). I was nonfunctional, and,
yes, at that point, crazy. The goal of these events, I finally figured
out (stupid me) was to put me on psychiatric medications. As long as I
stay on those medications I sleep well and have some modest
psychological issues (probably due to the original horrible experience)
but, once stopped, the maddening rapid heartbeats return. I believe this
is to protect the firms that I have worked for in the past from
potential whistleblowing lawsuits (although I have never had any
intention to do that). This led to my divorce (I believe my husband's
family is part of the network). I also experience those "setup
moments". For example at my last job, spreadsheets I had created were
just all of a sudden gone and "unrecoverable" according to the computer
tech. And other past instances are too large to enumerate. If anyone
could help me to stop this I would do anything.

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An Electric Dream

Discuss

Posted By: WordWorker @ 01/07/2008 7:37:58 PM

Posted By: ahsoccer713 @ 01/03/2008 11:50:15 PM

Posted By: T_Hip @ 11/24/2007 4:32:51 PM

Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/12/2007 2:53:41 PM

Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/12/2007 2:32:25 PM

Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/11/2007 6:27:08 PM

Posted By: Harold2007 @ 11/11/2007 6:12:26 PM

Posted By: lilredwagon @ 11/09/2007 3:51:26 AM

Posted By: Blue Eyed Ruben @ 11/08/2007 11:24:05 PM

Posted By: Blue Eyed Ruben @ 11/08/2007 11:20:55 PM

Posted By: ajvia1 @ 11/08/2007 10:42:04 AM

Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 3:22:33 PM

Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 3:20:33 PM

Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 9:03:59 PM

Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 9:02:31 PM

Posted By: techie123 @ 11/06/2007 7:21:30 AM

Posted By: techie123 @ 11/06/2007 7:18:02 AM

Posted By: pnivram @ 11/05/2007 10:00:27 AM

Posted By: Crotchfire @ 10/30/2007 10:57:01 PM

Posted By: pnivram @ 11/05/2007 10:02:08

Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:35:51

Posted By: Crotchfire @ 10/30/2007 10:40:50 PM

Posted By: djavaman @ 10/27/2007 7:28:48 AM

Posted By: gt350 @ 10/26/2007 2:36:27 AM

Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:31:08

Posted By: PJM361 @ 10/24/2007 8:56:25 PM

Posted By: stonedmojo59 @ 10/24/2007 12:25:16 AM

Posted By: RPHIII @ 10/23/2007 8:06:31 PM

Posted By: fooljoe @ 11/08/2007 16:25:53

Posted By: truelibertarian @ 10/24/2007 10:47:36

Posted By: rvt1000 @ 10/23/2007 7:35:06 PM

Posted By: gateweight @ 10/23/2007 3:11:21 PM

Posted By: gateweight @ 10/23/2007 2:32:41 PM

Posted By: pistolwhip @ 10/23/2007 8:54:22 AM

Posted By: ho-jo @ 10/27/2007 23:42:55

Posted By: mzzim@hotmail.com @ 10/23/2007 1:37:39 AM

Posted By: teslaroadster3 @ 11/03/2007 04:24:35

Posted By: mzzim@hotmail.com @ 10/23/2007 1:35:07 AM

Posted By: teslaroadster3 @ 11/03/2007 04:28:19

Posted By: Xanthorpe @ 10/22/2007 1:31:55 PM

Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:37 PM

Posted By: heathsellers @ 11/06/2007 21:13:21

Posted By: LDickens the III @ 11/07/2007 15:31:49

Posted By: Wilde1 @ 01/26/2008 23:07:29

Posted By: Wilde @ 01/26/2008 23:06:48

Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:24 PM

Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:52:09 PM

Posted By: Arkady @ 10/19/2007 10:51:05 PM

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