Tesla unveils model 3

[Greebo]

Any car uses vastly more energy in its construction (mining, refining, manufacture etc) than the energy from petrol or electricity it consumes during its life. Keeping a car until it wears out would do much less environmental damage than buying a new, more fuel efficient one every few years. So if governments were truly interested in the environment they would be paying incentives for people to hang on to their old cars longer. Of course this wouldn't be good for the car industry and the many thousands of voters it employs and would also be unpopular with people who want to feel good about buying a new car every few years. So I can understand why this won't happen, its just the sheer dishonesty of the whole environmental subsidy argument that annoys me.

[Ripsnort]

Tesla has a winner with this one. My neighbor two houses down, his son who graduated from UW 5 years ago, hired on at Boeing, left for Tesla 4 years ago. Happy as a clam as an engineer for Tesla. They're a good company.

Hint: You shoulda bought stock in them 5 years ago like we did.

[ghi]

The autopilot feature  looks interesting for distracted drivers   

http://www.techinsider.io/how-the-chevy-bolt-compares-to-teslas-model-3-2016-4

[Masherbrum]

Me 2   I made a reservation online,  from my phone ,1000$ refundable .  I've been waiting for this model and it's getting crazy ,  over 190,000 units have been pre-ordered until 2 pm / in first 24 hours.

Over 200,000 preorders ,already ; they already need to order 800,000 tires and 400,000 mirors    Green revolution !   Nobody ever sold 200,000 vehicles in 1 day, this guy makes history; they collected 200,000,000$ in reservation fee only ;

(Image removed from quote.)
http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/01/news/companies/tesla-model-3-stock-price/

Sorry.   Comparing deposits to sales, doesn't quite cut it.   Guaranteed some will not have the balls to go through with it.   Now in two years, let's see how many orders are fulfilled. 

[BoilerDown]

Where are all the people saying the electrical grid will surely fail?  I coulda sworn they were posting on these kind of forum threads just a few years ago.

[Randy1]

Where are all the people saying the electrical grid will surely fail?  I coulda sworn they were posting on these kind of forum threads just a few years ago.

Each power company leans on other power companies to make up power shortages.  This works well most of the time.  On a very rare occasion when power shortages become far reaching then circuit breakers sending power to other grids will cut off the ties to save their own grid.

[Masherbrum]

Where are all the people saying the electrical grid will surely fail?  I coulda sworn they were posting on these kind of forum threads just a few years ago.

Fail?   Hardly.    However, they will enjoy those electrical bills.

[MADe]

fossil fuels,
at current rate of use, less than 500 years of available oil, then comes our own extinction event, fighting a nuclear war over whats left. Some do believe that nuclear war is a viable way.

or stop using oil as a fossil fuel at our current rate of consumption and keep oil around long time, for the myriad of other products we require and use daily.

hemp oil
peddle power
solar
wind
water
etc......

go TESLA !
 

[GScholz]

fossil fuels,
at current rate of use, less than 500 years of available oil, then comes our own extinction event, fighting a nuclear war over whats left. Some do believe that nuclear war is a viable way.

Let's go! 

[PJ_Godzilla]

And what will the car be worth when the batteries start fading?

Heh, heh...

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101153_two-thirds-of-earliest-tesla-drive-trains-to-fail-in-60000-miles-owner-data-suggests

Go ahead and buy one. 

Never mind the recharge times, reduced package, and the dodgy batteries. At least you'll never have to go to a gas station. OTOH, don't plan any longer trips, either.

[morfiend]

wireless power transmission!

  Before you laugh,it's being used to charge cell phone already and MIT has lit a bulb from 5 or 7 feet,I forget exact distance.

  They are building a "test" road with wireless power transmission pads,you just drive over the pads in a special lane and it charges the batteries.

   It's not really new "tech", Nikola Tesla did this in the 20's and 30's and used it to power a electric converted Peirce Arrow.He also lit up many light bulbs that were just inserted into the ground.

 Once this become a viable method then electric cars will become the norm! As they once were years ago.


  Question,what was Edison's most profitable invention?




   

PS: hint it wasnt the light bulb!

[PJ_Godzilla]

Possible - it's simple inductive charging... but, let me pee in the cornflakes by pointing out that we have some difficulty maintaining the roads we have. The expenditure for an entire national grip of inductive-charge roads would be enormous, and would still not answer the needs of those outside of the big urban areas. And, speaking or urban areas, if the big dig took as long as it did, how do you reckon this will work?

Of course, you could "smart" charge for the charge on a user-specific basis.

The next question: if you convert the entire fleet of US cars to EV...
1. prepare for a massive upgrade cost for both power generation capacity and in vehicles themselves
2. Prepare for required massive increases in battery production and in toxic battery waste.

See you in 100 years, if ever.

A better answer, if we're talking electrics, is a fast-charge scheme and a battery that uses ambient for it's oxidizer (the source of the battery weight penalty is that it carries it's own oxidizer).

[BoilerDown]

Wireless power transmission can't be efficient at all.  Which makes it no longer a "green" technology, which wipes out half the idea behind it all.  Solving battery energy density problems is nothing compared to subverting the fundamental laws of nature. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law

[PJ_Godzilla]

Wireless power transmission can't be efficient at all.  Which makes it no longer a "green" technology, which wipes out half the idea behind it all.  Solving battery energy density problems is nothing compared to subverting the fundamental laws of nature. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law

Yep, goes like 1/r^2 - good point, Boiler. But then, the whole idea of the smart grid is fantastic to begin and would require immense wealth, the generation of which seems completely beyond the capacity of the greens...

[morfiend]

PJ,

  The idea is a siding lane with recharge pads so you wouldnt need to change the roads at all. They are building a test track now and the power "pads" are on a siding lane,the idea is you dont have to stop completely to recharge just travel over the pads.

 Electric vehicles arent a new idea,in the 1920 the vast majority of vehicles in New York city were electric. Until a certain person cornered the market and started gasoline stations......

 I'm not an engineer and realize that batteries arent quite ready for prime time but Nikola was on to something and it's interesting that everything old is new again.


 I'm waiting on the answer,come on guys it's pretty easy Edison doesnt have that many patents.......