Wed 9 Aug 2006
TeslaMotors is developing an impressive electric car. It plays to the strengths of electric drive: high performance and low operating cost. It uses 1000 lbs of Lithium-Ion rechargable batteries to drive a single, 248 horsepower polyphase induction motor. If you read my article on power trains, it’s easy to see how the Tesla Roadster can accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in 4 seconds. It uses a two speed transmission for higher speeds, but one gear is all you really need for everyday driving. The range is about 250 miles, which is perfectly adequate for local driving.
Of course, it’s not cheap. I’ve heard rumors of prices above $70,000. Hopefully, economies of scale will reduce prices in the near future. With a little luck, larger auto maker might be inspired to develop thier own electric vehicle designs at a lower cost. It’s just a matter of time.
August 10th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Marshall Brain has a nice blog entry with his take on this electric car. Discussions that follow talk about the history (and death) of the electric car and why it just never took off. Appears more a political issue than a technical one. I think one of the reason the price tag could also be this high might be because it won’t cause too much of a shake up in traditional fuel driven auto market. Anyway, i think it is a nice step forward. Keep up the nice entries in your blog. I enjoyed reading it.
Here is the link: http://marshallbrain.blogspot.com/2006/07/creating-ultimate-electric-car.html