The beginning of the end of oil?

[Holden McGroin]

San Carlos, Calif. – (March 17, 2008) -- Regular production of the 2008 Tesla Roadster commenced today, marking an historical milestone for Tesla Motors and a watershed in the development of clean, zero-emissions vehicles.

First unveiled as a prototype on July 19th, 2006, the revolutionary Tesla Roadster generated an extraordinary response from people everywhere who were inspired by the vision that beautiful, high performance cars could generate zero-emissions and burn no oil.

Perhaps the log jamb is beginning to break...

Come up with a commuter for 30K or so and the Prius is a gas hog.

http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=841

[Holden McGroin]

Here's Jay Lenos Video:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=229378

[Nashwan]

Compare the price with the Lotus Elise on which the Tesla is based and it doesn't look quite so attractive.

The Tesla costs $50,000 more than the Lotus, for which you get similar performance, but higher weight and less agility.

If you take the $50,000 saved by buying the Lotus, you get 12,500 gallons at $4 a gallon. The Lotus gets about 23 mpg, so the money you saved will be enough for about 288,000 miles of driving. And that's before you take in to account the costs of running the Tesla.

And of course neither car is likely to last that long.

You can certainly find alternatives to gasoline, they just aren't as good and cost a lot more. That's not going to change until someone makes a major breakthrough.

[Jackal1]

I probably want be ordering one this week. 

[Gunslinger]

I'm seriously considering buying a ford focus for a commuter car.  under 13k brand new and 35mpg.

[DrDea]

 Pretty interesting car.Still they are way out of price range for most but Im betting the Ca. eco groups will be time sharing one. At least someone got the ball rolling but its got a long way to go to be affordable.I wish them luck.We gotta get off this oil monkey on our backs.

[Xargos]

Remember how much a VCR cost when they first came out? 

[Nashwan]

Electric cars haven't just come out, though. They have been around for a hundred years or more. Batteries and electric motors have both been in very widespread production for more than a century. Electric cars might not have seen much investment and research work over the years, but battery manufacturers have been trying to make better batteries for decades.

The big problem for electric cars isn't the cars themselves, or even the motors, it's the batteries. Batteries just don't store much energy for their weight compared to gasoline or diesel.

[Maverick]

Good point Nashwan. Couple those things with the fact that the electricity to charge the car has to come from somewhere as well. Nice toy but not all that practical yet.

Frankly I think they could do better with bringing back the steam car rather than an all electric car.

[Angus]

How many W for the mile? That's what I want to know

[ROC]

Gunslinger, my work car is an 05 Focus.  Although I prefer to drive the stang on weekends and evenings, the Focus runs about 400 miles per week and the gas mileage is fantastic.  Car rides a bit tinny but it is really holding up well. 

[Tac]

well you still need to burn SOMETHING to heat up the water to make steam.


got wood?

[Maverick]

Propane works for steam as does CNG, alcohol and other fuel sources of heat. Using electrical generators for braking can also add more heat to the water. Some time ago someone thought up an almost instant steam pressure car. It took just a few seconds to get enough steam to start moving.

[Jackal1]

Man...just think....you could get where you are going and clean your clothes at the same time.

[Xargos]

Electric cars haven't just come out, though. They have been around for a hundred years or more. Batteries and electric motors have both been in very widespread production for more than a century. Electric cars might not have seen much investment and research work over the years, but battery manufacturers have been trying to make better batteries for decades.

The big problem for electric cars isn't the cars themselves, or even the motors, it's the batteries. Batteries just don't store much energy for their weight compared to gasoline or diesel.

That was not the point I was trying to make.  The public has never taken it seriously enough in the past for it to really go anywhere.  Things will improve at a faster rate now.