Tesla 2013 Model S

[Audrey]

Tesla Releases More Photos of 2013 Model S

[BondiBlue]

I was reading about that a short while back. Looks like a Jaguar/Maserati mix.

Until an electric car is as cheap or cheaper than its gas counterpart and has a range of at least 400-500 miles with infrastructure to support it, I will never even entertain the idea of owning one.

That said, it's pretty sexy.

[Audrey]

It is a Lotus Elise frame. Tesla wants to make lower cost vehicles, en mass, but the technology still has a ways to go before it can be cheap and efficient enough. It'd be cool if the government did more projects like this to support the infrastructure: AeroVironment to install I-5 electric vehicle chargers in Oregon | Sustainable Business Oregon

Also, more businesses (although few have the scale to do it) could follow in Google's footsteps: Official Google Blog: Leading the charge toward an electric vehicle fleet

[Captainmorbid]

Looks like an Aston Martin... Ie. Pretty car. I like! Stuff a v12 in there and now you're talking!... I kid. I think if I had 100k to blow, I'd still get a GTR.

[Audrey]

The Model S is a $50k car. You're thinking of the Roadster.

[billnchristy]

The model S 50k model has 160mi range, if you spend up to 72k you can get 300mi.

Tesla's partnership with Toyota will do good things for them.

If I had the dough I would put a down payment on one of these guys.

[Captainmorbid]

In hindsight, I was thinking of the Fisker Karma, which is a hybrid, and not an pure electric... And only 50k for the S? I'll take one... I wonder how much the Focus electric is going to cost... I also wonder how pure e-cars will hold up to the two months of -40c/f we get every winter? Probably fine, but brrrr! I want to export myself to Maui!

[billnchristy]

Originally Posted by Captainmorbid

In hindsight, I was thinking of the Fisker Karma, which is a hybrid, and not an pure electric... And only 50k for the S? I'll take one... I wonder how much the Focus electric is going to cost... I also wonder how pure e-cars will hold up to the two months of -40c/f we get every winter? Probably fine, but brrrr! I want to export myself to Maui!

They say its under 30...I suppose we will see.

The Fisker is an extended range EV, not sure why they keep saying its a hybrid. The engine never drives the wheels, it only generates electricity to keep the motors turning.

The electric cars have electric heat but it supposedly zaps battery power something fierce.

The Focus EV will have a liquid cooled/heated battery pack to keep them close to optimum operating temps...the thing I can't figure out is where they are getting the heat from...unless it pulls through your wall and keeps them warm while charging?

[Captainmorbid]

I think the battery heater/cooler might be a parasitic loss off the batteries storage capacity. I doubt it draws much because it just keeps the batteries in their optimum performance range. How much range it would cut escapes me right now.

I'm pretty sure that a range extended ev is still a hybrid by deffinition, it's just a parrallel hybrid instead of an inline hybrid like the standard Prius. These car companies and their never ending attempts to make their products sound unique!! Ah marketing, so much smoke and mirrors...

[billnchristy]

I suppose you're right (hybrid vs. not)

The cold itself has a major effect, I think around 40% lost. People testing the plug in prius went from 13mi to aound 7-8 in the real cold.

The loss from heat production probably offsets the cold loss by a small margain..maybe a 20% loss instead?

Tesla seems to be the only company that can get any range out of their EVs...it will be interesting to see if the Focus can actually get the 100 miles they are claiming...I think they almost have to.