The fact of the matter is that battery powered cars just aren’t feasable. You have to put too much energy in, compared to what you get out. I wish this were not the case, but watch and see…once these cars get on the road and all the shortcomings of this immature, impractical technology start to surface, Tesla Motors will implode under the weight of all the class action lawsuits against them.

Did you not just read that it takes time to develop new technologies? You can’t just give up on something because it requires “immature, impractical technology” almost all of the most usefull everyday technologies we use were imature and impractical at first. Heck think of the very first cars on the road, they were FAR from practical.

My only point is that (for at least the next 10-20 years) its just smarter to let someone else pay a premium price for an unrefined platform and be the guinea pig during the learning curve. I just can’t get excited about cars like the Tesla yet. For the near term, its better to position yourself as a consumer in a vehicle that focuses on conventional combustion technologies paired to lighter weight vehicles with smarter engine management (like direct injected turbo and stop/start) and advanced transmissions (meaning of course the king of all transmissions…the dual clutch). I’m much more excited about Volkswagens new Polo, and particularly the Bluesport roadster, the Fiat 500 (particularly with its upcoming updates), or BMW’s efficient dynamics.

Comm’on Madcapp……your smarter than that arn’t you?? Don’t act like your ignorant and stupid. You simply DO NOT understand the “energy in” equation. Electricity is very cheap in most parts of the country, especially my part of the country. I pay 3 cents a KWH and it costs me approx. .94cents to charge my 10 year old Electric truck per 100 miles of driving. The charge rate of my truck is the equivalent of a hair dryer on low speed, so special power requirements are NOT needed. My truck has 10 year old batteries and operates at 100% of its range when new. So at less than a cent a mile, your “battery cars are not feasable” theory is garbage. Plus I have no oil changes, trips to the gas station, or air/fuel filters that clog up. It has never broken once in the years I have owned it, and is as quiet as a mouse. I travel at 70MPH on the highway, and have all of the modern safety equiptment like dual airbags and ABS brakes. I can tow or haul 1000 lbs of cargo, and have room for two passengers. Its a truck that has 0 emissions. If I had 3 solar panels on my roof, I would have FREE energy for quite a long time….FREE. Fact- no one car can do ALL tasks. Bottom line, Electric cars are coming and Tesla is leading the way. Hopefully, the other big auto makers will follow with their versions of electric cars. Remember, the average driver drives less than 29 miles per day. So serial hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt are totally FEASABLE at 40 miles per electric charge. The Tesla Model S is going to be rated for over 200 miles per charge. Gasoline is going to go back up past $4.00 per gallon, so the “energy in” dollar per dollar equation will swing with a vengance towards Electric Cars. Embrace the new revolution in the drivetrain…PLUG IN please! Oh and yes…I do own other gasoline vehicles and motorcycles, and I love them too…they are just expensive as hell to operate.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/tesla-roadster-goes-241-miles-on-single-charge-in-european-rally.html

please read that

@ Madcapp – I do agree with jdasch1, but I do understand your point that technologies like stop/start and dual clutch transmissions are more available to the mass market at this time. And as a Volkswagen driver myself, i am VERY excited for the new Polo and even more so for the Bluesport Roadster, i want one so bad lol

Musk calling Stross a “huge douchebag” is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. And while I may like the concept of an electric car, even an electric sports car like the Tesla Roadster the execution of said platform is lacking on a number of levels (obsolete battery technology and distaste for aluminum used as a structural chassis material are the two big ones).

So I’ll bide my time and wait for something actually good to come along. These things are like Plasma TVs 10 years ago. The prices will drop as the technology matures and the demand increases due to gas prices, etc. And while they may not be a direct replacement for cars as we know them today a few minor lifestyle adjustments make EVs worthwhile and practical … when the price point becomes reasonable.

15 years ago was very “unusual” to see a cell phone outside a bussiness meeting or a golf course, today anyone have one cell phone, the batteryes were worth for 1 hour calling airtime, today’s batteries have , at least, 10 hrs calling airtime. Great improvements in such a short time. Why not electric cars could achieve better improvements in a shorter time?

Once you call someone a “Douchebag”, you don’t get to call them an idiot
That’s just how I was raised
DrFill

Just got through the Car & Driver article on the Roadster. It’s a good thing there are people with the wherewithal and/or friends of Mr. Musk willing to part with an obscene amount of money for the privilege of owning what amounts to a pain in the ass both literally and figuratively (apparently the car will go farther on one charge than your gluteus maximus) . Being a middle aged white guy and therefore challenged in the aforementioned anterior area I think I’ll just sit back and watch the electrification of the automobile from a distance for the time being. If I need an electric chair in the short term my money’s on a La-Z-Boy that massages.

Thumbs up to Tesla. Both videos are fantastic. When the charging stations are setup and the lower priced car is available I will have my eyes and ears open.

Get’er done !

It’s good to see someone in charge of the auto industry having the balls to not talk like a CEO.

“Huge Douchebag”

He gets points from me.

It’s on JohnnyC. You know what I mean!!!!

Wednesday night Jake! ‘Nucks in 6.

Good for him! The NYT is such a pathetic rag anyway. Stross and the like should be embarrassed to call themselves journalists. Hypocritical communists is what they really are.

The technicals aside the simple fact is ,Madcapp, that if you never start working on it and making it work, you never will.

If you never go to school and get and education to get a decent job, you never will.

If you never start exercising and training, you will never be able to run that marathon.

If you never get to work on that electric car, it’ll never happen.

If you never take you head out of your @$$, then you will never know a good thing when you see it.

Kudos to Musk for standing up for this dreams and endeavors!

It’s ok to give away money to all these greedy moneywasting corporations and banks… but not ok to help out new technology that may revolutionize the future?
That NYT writer IS a douchebag.

I cannot stand naysayers. People, you need to give things a chance. I’m sure there were a lot of people who ridiculed the Wright Brothers.

Musk is big, but we most don’t know how big he’ll get very soon.

I agreed,

People like Musk is trying to develop something that will benefit our society enormously in the future. Is his efforts plus many other people and companies that will eventually make the electric car a feasible thing for the masses in the future. It might take 10, 20 or 30 years, but we need to start somewhere and move ahead.

Just thinking it’s hard and will not happen will not take us anywhere but to the bottom of the abyss. Thank god there are people in this word with vision and willing to take risks to accomplish their dreams.

Yes – technology takes time, and like all things – the first “prototype” examples will be somewhat crude,
not to up what we fully want, quirky …….and expensive in some cases.

I applaud this guy for at least getting the ball rolling …..he will take some flak – but he knows it.

GM is truly going to have a hard time i believe selling the Volt if it is around 40k….and i don’t care
if gas hits $4 a gallon or not. Price as usual – is king.

But on a side note -
It’s amusing that certain people know and have known that Americans say one thing – but buy another.
Large SUV’s certainly have their place in this country (not everyone lives in a large or small metro city)
and i cannot imagine having a small impractical econ car near my in laws where the snow is
deep and the country in rugged……..give me an SUV / truck any day. It just comes down to practicality
and what your needs are.

I hope someone starts looking at the geography of the USA and realizes that large vehicles are certainly needed and are used extensively here (the ones that actually are used as intended and not
a “status symbol” ………start designing / building all electric trucks and SUV’s and then watch someone make a fortune.

Maybe you should calm down a little bit , tasty and gugy. The Wright brothers were inventors not businessmen. Huge difference. And i don’t see what’s so great with tesla. They fit batteries in cars, don’t they?

Did I ever compare Wright Brothers to Musk?
I am very calm. I expect the transition to electric to take time for the masses. Go back and re-read my post.

This is a step in the right direction. The car compaines are stringing us along. GM (et al) has been and still is dangling the VOLT in front of our eyes like the proverbial carrot in front of the horse. The car companies are still in bed with the oil companies, trying to keep us interested while the oil companies figure out how to charge us for whatever the next power source is elec/hydrogen. My .02

Gugy you are gugy not tasty. He made the comparison. About your comment in particular, i think Musk’s dream is to be a milionair car company owner. Not “to develop something that will benefit our society” as you said.

SomeGreek: Musk is already a millionaire, if not a billionaire. He founded PayPal and many other companies. I am sure on some level he aspires to make even more money, but frankly when you’re that rich you wouldn’t put so much time into a difficult project like Tesla and risk a large chunk of your wealth if you didn’t think it was a worthy cause. There are much lower risk ways of making money than putting tens of millions of your own money into a new car company.

I´m 100% with you Nick. Why should Musk spend millions for the development of electric cars just to make money in 10 or 20 years. Sure, the intention to generate money from electric car sales is there but at the moment it would make more sense to invest all this money in stocks. At least stocks WILL go up again in the next few years.

Tesla just fits batteries in cars? I think they do a little more than that….
If it’s not so great… why don’t you try it?

Exactly,
Of course Musk has a financial incentive to became a millionaire owner of a car company, why not? I would too.
But if his car becomes a hit, this a large step towards other companies developing and people moving into electric cars. That will benefit the society as a whole for many reasons. Environment is one and the biggest, getting rid of oil is another, etc.
So, I hope he is successful as other companies too in developing electric cars. I can’t wait the day I will never have to go again and again to a gas station.

I didn’t knew those things about Musk… I guess then he has the vision. I do respect that.
@orange “They fit batteries in cars, don’t they?” That was a question. An answer would be welcomed.