Tesla to Texas: How Do You Like Us Now?

[YALE]

I got that from the horses mouth; I have family members on the design team.

Nice! They're gonna change things immensely, when they get sorted out.

[Gasser64]

It's different. You won't need to stop to charge during your commute unless you're driving more than a full charge will support. Drive to work/dinner/bar and charge while you're not using the car (or don't if there isn't a charging station), then drive home and charge while you're at home. Once we get past the limited charging stations and/or time required to charge, charging will become more convenient than filling up with gas.

How do that affect the lifespan though? Most batterys need to do a full discharge or they die sooner. Well maybe not die sooner but dont run as long anymore

I'll admit, I do not know the difference. I was referring

I might be wrong about your post. If so please disregard this. But volts is the pipe, amps is the water. The bigger the pipe, the more the water CAN flow. Not will, unless you crank up the amps, IE the water. You can only flow so many amps unless you go with higher volts. Sombody can correct any gaps here

[BP]

A $200 phone is a common product to sell. A $70k status symbol...isn't.

You basically have apple people and everyone else. and most of the everyone else tried apple and hated it.

You can argue any point you want but 15 years from now, we still won't be buying electric cars because they are the new perfect solution.

Tesla will have a sub $30k car on the market soon, with government tax credits it'll be comparably priced to Corollas and Civics. VW has the E-golf coming here for 2015, BMW has an electric I series, there is an electric Fiat, Spark, plug in Prius, the Leaf an a model of the Focus already. Mercedes even has an electric SLS if you have the wallet and really want to go fast.

In 15 years you may not have a choice but to buy an electric car. If the environazis keep getting elected it'll be forbidden to operate anything that might generate greenhouse gasses.

[CJ]

Tesla will have a sub $30k car on the market soon, with government tax credits it'll be comparably priced to Corollas and Civics. VW has the E-golf coming here for 2015, BMW has an electric I series, there is an electric Fiat, Spark, plug in Prius, the Leaf an a model of the Focus already. Mercedes even has an electric SLS if you have the wallet and really want to go fast.

In 15 years you may not have a choice but to buy an electric car. If the environazis keep getting elected it'll be forbidden to operate anything that might generate greenhouse gasses.

Something reasonably price I would be interested in, however the problem I have is I'm sacrificing my freedom. I commute to and from work about 30 miles. That's easy on any electric car. However, say I want to go on a whim to some business or friends place, I can't do that without busting out a calculator. And if it runs out of juice, you are fucked. Also sometimes I have to leave the office and head into the field, no way I could do that if I had this car with me that day. It's a great car for someone who has a straight cut schedule, but outside of that it seems like more of a liability. And it would have to have at least a 10 year warranty on the batteries.

[Strychnine]

How do that affect the lifespan though? Most batterys need to do a full discharge or they die sooner. Well maybe not die sooner but dont run as long anymore

Not applicable anymore.

It's called the battery memory effect and it's a problem with NiCd and NiMH batteries, and even then it's rare. The battery has to be discharged to the same % reserve every time for this effect to start being noticed.

Basically it's a phenomenon that is exceedingly rare to reproduce even in lab conditions, but somehow people have heard of it and think they are always experiencing it.

[CJ]

Basically it's a phenomenon that is exceedingly rare to reproduce even in lab conditions, but somehow people have heard of it and think they are always experiencing it.

kinda like vtec?

[BP]

kinda like vtec?

More like how some people are scared to use premium fuel because they think their engine will get used to it and then that's all they'll be able to use. I'm sure somewhere at some point in time there was a little old lady that used 87 octane every day and her car (probably an early 80s Ford with the electronic carbed 302) had an EGR passage that was 99% blocked with carbon but then she had to use 93 octane once and it blocked that port off completely, meaning the car would detonate all the time with anything less than super unleaded and probably would ping and rattle when she turned it off.

[YALE]

That exact problem happened to my grandma's early 90's Park Avenue.

[Forever_frost]

or the potential of salt water and li-ion battery's catching fire! #fiskerfires.

Look, I like the idea of being innovative, but this entire thing was played out in the 1980's and failed miserably. Sure a few people bought electric cars and tried them....they went back to gas powered cars.

I relate the Tesla business model after the apple macintosh model from 1984:

"Hey, look how cool this new computer is! It's fast, small and you can't buy any great software for it! Come on down and buy one today for 3x the price of a regular PC because you will be cool." Over time, software companies figured well, if they are stupid enough to buy a computer with no software, I guess we can sell them software at even higher prices. It only took what, 15 years. Apple even had to write software to run Windows on their own machines. Probably the same reason Musk is talking about capacitors...which anyone with a brain or engineering degree realizes is a JOKE.

Technology CAN be great and wonderful and groundbreaking. However, Teslas are not great new technology. It is a marketing gimmick and there is just enough stupid people with money to buy one. I am honestly surprised banks are writing loans on the things. I figured people with enough money to buy a $70k car would be smarter than this?

While trying to find parts for my mail Jeep, I discovered AMC tried electric vehicles in the 70's.

DJ-5E Electruck

American Motors experimented with electric vehicles and starting in 1974 mass-produced the DJ-5E, a rear-wheel drive electric delivery van, also known as the Electruck.[5]

Similar in appearance and in most of its dimensions, the DJ-5E was powered by a set of two 27-volt lead-acid batteries with a 54-volt 30 bhp (22 kW; 30 PS) compound wound DC motor with electronic regulation made by Gould Electronics.[6] The U.S. Postal Service purchased 352 units for the use in cities with serious air pollution.[7] The Electruck was capable of cruising at 33 mph (53 km/h) with a range of 29 mi (47 km) with 20% of its battery power still remaining in reserve.[7]

[aggie97]

While trying to find parts for my mail Jeep, I discovered AMC tried electric vehicles in the 70's.

DJ-5E Electruck

American Motors experimented with electric vehicles and starting in 1974 mass-produced the DJ-5E, a rear-wheel drive electric delivery van, also known as the Electruck.[5]

Similar in appearance and in most of its dimensions, the DJ-5E was powered by a set of two 27-volt lead-acid batteries with a 54-volt 30 bhp (22 kW; 30 PS) compound wound DC motor with electronic regulation made by Gould Electronics.[6] The U.S. Postal Service purchased 352 units for the use in cities with serious air pollution.[7] The Electruck was capable of cruising at 33 mph (53 km/h) with a range of 29 mi (47 km) with 20% of its battery power still remaining in reserve.[7]

Were those the goofy pod looking things that trailer manufacturer had sitting in front of their building on I-20 in South Arlington for years? I do know GM was working with USPS on a few converted vans that were electric or hybrid. Lot's of press at the beginning and then nothing. No results posted. Program disappeared. Funny the vehicle you mentioned stated a cruising speed of 33 mph and a range or 29 mi. What was it starting and stopping at every mailbox on the route?! LOL!

I played on the Tesla site yesterday and the $74,500 price reflected an assumed tax credit of $7500. so it's actually an $80k+ car. And that $80k car came with cloth seats, leather was another $2k! Yikes! Figure in the cost of financing $80k on a 4 to 5 year car note and holy hell! That would buy a lot of gas for a nice mid sized car getting 30mpg and that you could buy for mid $20's to low 30's.....and drive wherever and whenever you want!

[Forever_frost]

[Forever_frost]

Were those the goofy pod looking things that trailer manufacturer had sitting in front of their building on I-20 in South Arlington for years? I do know GM was working with USPS on a few converted vans that were electric or hybrid. Lot's of press at the beginning and then nothing. No results posted. Program disappeared. Funny the vehicle you mentioned stated a cruising speed of 33 mph and a range or 29 mi. What was it starting and stopping at every mailbox on the route?! LOL!

I played on the Tesla site yesterday and the $74,500 price reflected an assumed tax credit of $7500. so it's actually an $80k+ car. And that $80k car came with cloth seats, leather was another $2k! Yikes! Figure in the cost of financing $80k on a 4 to 5 year car note and holy hell! That would buy a lot of gas for a nice mid sized car getting 30mpg and that you could buy for mid $20's to low 30's.....and drive wherever and whenever you want!

Something else you have to factor is that everything you put on it (Nav, upgraded stereo, HID lights, seat warmer, air conditioning, heat, leather seats, etc) adds weight and draws on the battery. Everything from the driver to the groceries to the fat chick you pick up because you're too drunk to think you can do better, draws that battery down faster.

Going home late at night, when it's cold with a passenger and a keg? Forget about it.

[Gasser64]

Not applicable anymore.

It's called the battery memory effect and it's a problem with NiCd and NiMH batteries, and even then it's rare. The battery has to be discharged to the same % reserve every time for this effect to start being noticed.

Basically it's a phenomenon that is exceedingly rare to reproduce even in lab conditions, but somehow people have heard of it and think they are always experiencing it.

What causes them to run shorter and shorter then? Maybe they are starting to die when that happens.

[Strychnine]

What causes them to run shorter and shorter then? Maybe they are starting to die when that happens.

Lithium ion batteries have a finite number of charging cycles they can handle - but that is not the same as battery memory. After a certain number of cycles you will see some degraded charging (ie. it might only take 80% charge instead of 100%)

But I don't know if that cycle limit is a published number for Tesla.

[BP]

What causes them to run shorter and shorter then? Maybe they are starting to die when that happens.

They work exactly the same as any other battery, it's a chemical reaction. Eventually the materials degrade and it won't produce the same voltage. They have built in circuitry to prevent you from running them all the way down or overcharging one which in either case can end badly.