Test drive a Tesla

[bigsky]

Drove the sport model today--zero to eighty before I could look down at the speedometer--1/2 of the way down the off ramp--100 by hiway--very fun and a BIG car.

5 times my price range but whoa what a ride!

[Darrell KSR]

Heard those were incredible.

[suncat05]

I think that type of car may be the wave of the future. "IF" the technology, especially the storage capacity of the batteries becomes more affordable and practical.
I have perused the Tesla website several times over the last couple of years. That Type S looks like a really nice car. Just way out of my price range. Heck, I can't hardly afford the truck I have now, and it's paid for already!
The charging stations are probably one of the biggest hinderances to this taking off right now, as there are few of them, and the lack of power storage in the batteries as I said earlier.

But I can see that this is the future of cars, albeit way down the road yet.

[PedroDaGr8]

I have said this before, Tesla's decision to target the high end sports car market is brilliant. They gave a car with enough range for almost everyone (way more than almost everyone uses in day to day driving). Plus, using electric motors, the car has torque for days. Electric motors have excessively high torque at low RPM which is exactly what you want in a sports car. They also targeted right at a price point where they knew people would buy.

[suncat05]

They have that sports model and the SUV, when they come out with the family sedan model, and when they get the batteries figured out, Tesla will re-revolutionize the auto industry. And I think you might see the prices of internal combustion vehicles come down too, to try and keep pace with this new auto.
This is very exciting stuff here.

[Darrell KSR]

A few more charging stations, and when the price drops in half, and it will explode.

[suncat05]

I think it'll drop more than that, Darrell. And yeah, when those charging stations become more prevalent, that price will drop a lot.

[KSRBEvans]

A few more charging stations, and when the price drops in half, and it will explode.

Saw this article today and thought of this thread:


Tesla Motors Inc. annoyed some owners of its Model S cars with an e-mail requesting that they stop hogging the free fast-charging stations the electric-vehicle maker provides to ease long-distance travel.

“As a frequent user of local Superchargers, we ask that you decrease your local Supercharging and promptly move your Model S once charging is complete,” Tesla said in the note this week to owners in the U.S. and other markets. Plugging in at home instead “allows Supercharger resources to be available for those who need them most.”

Continues (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-13/tesla-irks-some-model-s-owners-with-supercharger-scofflaw-note)

[suncat05]

Sure it's happening. Stingy bungholes want that free charge. But the whole idea of the charging stations is to allow highway travelers to be able to charge up so they can travel unimpeded. But of course, you know there is always going to be "that guy" that thinks he and his car are more important than anybody else, and so he doesn't have any consideration for that guy or group that is trying to get from Point A. -to- Point B.

[Doc]

The hotel we stayed at for the SEC tourney in Nashville last year had the 4 door sedan as one of their courtesy vehicle ( the Hutton). Total joy to ride in. Ultra smooth, beautiful interior, obviously quiet. Wouldn't shock me, pun intended, if its my next car assuming the price drops. Its that or the Maserati ghibli

[Doc]

Sure it's happening. Stingy rich bungholes want that free charge. But the whole idea of the charging stations is to allow highway travelers to be able to charge up so they can travel unimpeded. But of course, you know there is always going to be "that guy" that thinks he and his car are more important than anybody else, and so he doesn't have any consideration for that guy or group that is trying to get from Point A. -to- Point B.


Fixed

[suncat05]

Thank you, sir!

[PedroDaGr8]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/tesla-so-safe-it-broke-the-crash-test-equipment-22541#.VdG6VurD_qB

The car was so safe it actually broke one of the devices they used to test it. They showed you could actually stack four additional Teslas on the roof of a Tesla without issue.

EDIT: They get this figure from the fact that the Tesla could survive four times the force of gravity with no deformation of the cockpit. The number is actually higher but at 4Gs and no deformation it actually broke the machine that does the test. According to the Australian NHTSA, this is hand's down the safest car they have tested EVER!

[suncat05]

Interesting read, Pedro. Muchas gracias!

[CitizenBBN]

The whole thing reminds me so much of Preston Tucker and the Tucker 48 (or Tucker Torpedo as used in the movie). A car ahead of its time in both design and marketing, which the industry very much wanted to crush (pardon the pun).

[Darrell KSR]

It really is remarkable. A game changer, when the price drops. If it gets to where Suncat thinks it may, could be game over as we know it.

[Darrell KSR]

Dumb question here (I'm good with those), but if you ran out of juice, could you use a portable battery to get you to a charging station? You wouldn't have to wait to charge it up, would you?

[CitizenBBN]

Dumb question here (I'm good with those), but if you ran out of juice, could you use a portable battery to get you to a charging station? You wouldn't have to wait to charge it up, would you?

I"m betting it would take too much juice.

[PedroDaGr8]

I"m betting it would take too much juice.

You would bet right! Even if you had the appropriate amount of energy, the amperage requirements are insane and a portable battery pack wouldn't be able to handle it.

[CitizenBBN]

You would bet right! Even if you had the appropriate amount of energy, the amperage requirements are insane and a portable battery pack wouldn't be able to handle it.

The amps would have to be off the charts.

Even past the science, I have to jump start a lot of vehicles and such as part of my job (we get estate vehicles, mowers, farm items that are fine but have been sitting), and my biggest baddest jump pack can't even jump something like a tractor or heavy duty truck very well, much less get enough charge to run something like a Tesla.

[Darrell KSR]

Tow truck if you run out of juice inconvenient to a charging station?

[Doc]

Dumb question here (I'm good with those), but if you ran out of juice, could you use a portable battery to get you to a charging station? You wouldn't have to wait to charge it up, would you?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c8/8f/cf/c88fcf9fb87d16c280adc46dbd539d1e.jpg

[Darrell KSR]

LOL. Perfect!

How about a REALLY long extension cord?


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c8/8f/cf/c88fcf9fb87d16c280adc46dbd539d1e.jpg

[PedroDaGr8]

The amps would have to be off the charts.

Even past the science, I have to jump start a lot of vehicles and such as part of my job (we get estate vehicles, mowers, farm items that are fine but have been sitting), and my biggest baddest jump pack can't even jump something like a tractor or heavy duty truck very well, much less get enough charge to run something like a Tesla.

Aren't most of those 24V? That might be why your battery pack has a hard time as well. Though truthfully, those big motors likely just take rediculous amounts of energy to turn over.

[CitizenBBN]

Aren't most of those 24V? That might be why your battery pack has a hard time as well. Though truthfully, those big motors likely just take rediculous amounts of energy to turn over.

What we do is still 12V, but they just take more amps than those portable units can generate. Esp. b/c when we are doing it the batteries are usually stone dead. They're good on cars and typical stuff, but not tractors and such.

On a Tesla I doubt I could generate enough to turn on the interior lights. :)

[KeithKSR]

Aren't most of those 24V? That might be why your battery pack has a hard time as well. Though truthfully, those big motors likely just take rediculous amounts of energy to turn over.

Most are 12V, even 24V systems use dual 12V batteries and can be jumped with 12V systems.

[KeithKSR]

Most are 12V, even 24V systems use dual 12V batteries and can be jumped with 12V systems.

Diesel engines have a lot more compression, so it takes more juice to crank the starter motors. The cranking amps on my tractor battery need to be in the 1000 range.

[KeithKSR]

The real huge benefit the Tesla cars may provide may well be the storage batteries. Those batteries may make solar systems more economical to purchase.

[PedroDaGr8]

The real huge benefit the Tesla cars may provide may well be the storage batteries. Those batteries may make solar systems more economical to purchase.
Tesla already sounded their home battery stations. It is a logical extension of their gigabattery factory they are opening with Panasonic. Tesla knows, the biggest limit to them reaching mass market it's getting rough batteries at a cheap enough price. So they decided to build a huge factory with Panasonic to supply themselves and anyone else (for a profit of course).

[bigsky]

Chemical storage has a way to go. One of the keys to making solar economical is making storage economical. That mostly involves battery life. Battery banks are an asset that needs about a ten year life. Managing drawdown and maintenance to keep recharge % high is important. Lithium eliminates some of the need for that, but those batteries are more costly. We need one more technology breakthrough on storage.

[PedroDaGr8]

Chemical storage has a way to go. One of the keys to making solar economical is making storage economical. That mostly involves battery life. Battery banks are an asset that needs about a ten year life. Managing drawdown and maintenance to keep recharge % high is important. Lithium eliminates some of the need for that, but those batteries are more costly. We need one more technology breakthrough on storage.

There is a LOT of work going into batteries. It is well recognized that batteries are the huge hold-up in advancing mobile technology (plus a lot of other technologies) at this time. Quite simply, it is VERY hard to get huge energy densities in small safe devices. It is easy to get a lot of energy in unsafe devices :evilgrin0007:. There are a variety of technologies on the horizon, from graphene based solutions (most of which I doubt will pan out) to unique formulations of lithium salts and unique cathode and anode design structures. One of the most promising technologies for the near future is the aluminum battery. Whereas lithium can hold only a single charge per atom, aluminum can hold three. This theoretically would allow three times the energy density per battery. There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome but it is at least startign to show some feasibility, with the biggest advantage being once the feasibility is worked out it can use most of the existing battery manufacturing technology already in place. Getting past that, will require huge fundamental changes in battery structure and design. Change which don't come easy and which at this point aren't even NEAR ready. I know that it is cliché to use this term but society would benefit heavily from a "Manhattan Project" on this technology. From creating a heavily decentralized power grid to mobile devices that last days and weeks while still reducing szie, the benefits are incalculable. Unfortunately, battery technology is NOT sexy so this won't happen.

[suncat05]

Yes, you're correct, Pedro. And it will take time for this to happen, but when it does happen it will be huge. That one thing will absolutely change the automotive industry forever, and for the better.

[PedroDaGr8]

Consumer Reports just reviewed the Tesla Model S P85D

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/tesla-model-s-p85d-breaks-consumer-reports-ratings-system.html

They gave it BY far the best review ever (the second best is the plain model S), it actually broke their rating system, coming in at 103 out of 100 points. They called it an indicator of things to come in the auto industy. It wasn't without faults, they didn't like the fact that almost everything is handled via the touch screen, the car locked the reviewer out once, etc. but it was hands down the best thing they have ever driven.

EDIT: Link is a bit flaky, the CR website seems to be getting hammered right now.
EDIT2: Text review (http://consumerist.com/2015/08/27/tesla-model-s-p85d-breaks-consumer-reports-ratings-system/) reposted on Consumerist, since I couldn't get the text part to come up on the CR website.

[Darrell KSR]

From Pedro's link.

With a six-figure price tag, the P85D is expensive, meaning its virtues will be experienced by a rare few. But its significance as a breakthrough model that is pushing the boundaries of both performance and fuel-efficiency is dramatic (even more so because it is coming from the factory of an American startup company). The Model S precedes additional electric cars coming from Tesla Motors. The Model X crossover is due to arrive in 2016, followed in 2018 by a more attainable compact sedan, named Model 3, targeted to start at about $35,000.

Man...that's going in the right direction in a hurry. I know that's not the cool model, but for any model to get in that neighborhood speaks volumes.

[bigsky]

Thats the one I drove