
First Ride in Tesla Model S - russell
http://translogic.aolautos.com/2011/10/03/exclusive-first-ride-in-the-tesla-model-s-video/
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fletchowns
I wish every gas station in the world turned into a battery exchange facility
overnight. Or if there was some mass produced battery that charges instantly.
Throw in some massive clean energy projects for generating all that power. So
many problems facing this country would be eliminated. I hope that day comes
soon.

~~~
ubercore
I share the sentiment, but am wary of thinking of battery powered cars as a
panacea. The real problem is the design of our cities, and our lack of funding
for public transit. In my city, our bus service is partially funded by a _gas
tax_. Talk about perverse incentives.

Batteries are made from hard to mine and produce minerals, and unless we start
reducing our reliance on cars, we'll have replaced one problem with another.

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boucher
Some photos I took from the event:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossboucher/sets/72157627812097...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossboucher/sets/72157627812097410/)

~~~
cloudwalking
Here are pics I took of the factory:
[https://plus.google.com/photos/117116621786089717494/albums/...](https://plus.google.com/photos/117116621786089717494/albums/5659120224507196033)

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scrrr
I was ignorant towards this issue and don't know much about electric cars. But
the electricity has to be produced somewhere, right? Transporting electricity
isn't free either. What about building batteries? Would we have less emissions
if all cars switched to electric? What about other technologies like for
example hydrogen?

~~~
hristov
Yes. A powerplant is much more efficient in converting fuel to energy than a
car engine. A car engine wastes most of the energy on heat. Powerplants
usually include systems to capture excess heat and convert it to energy.

There have been many studies done on the effective MPG of a tesla roadster,
and of course they differ based on their assumptions, but all of the ones I
have seen show the roadster getting over 100 effective mpg.

The hydrogen technology has one big problem. It does not exist. Well to be
fair to them, it does exist but not in a consumer product. You cannot buy an
ordinary street legal hydrogen car now. But you can get an electric one.

If hydrogen ever takes off it will still have a similar issue as the electric
-- the hydrogen would still have to be generated somewhere (usually by taking
it from water) and that would require electric power.

Hydrogen does have some theoretical benefits over electric (such as more high
density energy storage), but currently electric technology is advancing much
faster. It is widely suspected that some of the proponents of hydrogen support
hydrogen only as a way to remove support from electric.

~~~
hyperbovine
We have a cheap and infinite source of electricity, it's called nuke power.
The main obstacle to its adoption, as well as the source of its cost, is
NIMBYism. That problem goes away once you decouple generation and
transmission. Build nuke plants at the ends of the earth and ship huge
quantities of hydrogen back to civilization.

~~~
a-priori
Transportation and storage of hydrogen is a problem too. Most metals become
brittle when they're exposed to hydrogen. This is one of the big hinderances
to using hydrogen as a fuel.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement>

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rdl
I'm going to get one of these, or a Karma. I think for daily use around the
Bay Area, having a white HOV sticker would be enough of a benefit to make this
an ideal choice; keep an older, gasoline or diesel car for long road trips,
which also keeps depreciation off the more expensive new car.

~~~
steve8918
I thought they stopped distributing those HOV stickers for hybrids years ago.
Can you still get them these days?

~~~
macrael
Tesla makes all-electric cars; no gas involved. HOV stickers are for all-
electric cars only, now. I've seen them on Nissan Leafs.

~~~
rdl
The problem is the leaf doesn't have enough practical range to go from SF to
Mountain View and back, and certainly not enough to do a full day of driving
around the Bay Area. A roadster does, and a model s probably does, at least
with the larger battery packs.

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jfb
I badly want one of these, as much as that defines me as a "mark". Actually, I
want the M5 competing Model S Sport, which is even more of a "take my money,
please!" proposition. Still. just look at the torque curve ...

~~~
ericd
Has that hit the mainstream press very hard at all? My jaw dropped when I
heard those 0-60 times. That it's for a car with 7 seats at a price comparable
or less than the M5 is unbelievable. And it's so simple mechanically, it
almost feels like going from a spinning hard drive to an SSD. I really, really
want one.

~~~
jfb
No transmission. Gotta love that.

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rodh257
Is there any legislation proposed to ensure cars make at least a certain
amount of noise while driving, for safety reasons? The new Prius will have a
noise generated so that blind people/distracted people will be aware of the
car coming around the corner, is there any plans to require this sort of thing
by law? Seems to me that once these types of almost silent cars start to
become popular we'll see an increase in pedestrian injuries.

This may be a little off-topic, and it's not a dig at the Tesla which looks
like a great car, I was just struck by how silent it was (I haven't seen a
fully electric car in person here in Australia yet)

~~~
chadgeidel
I honestly don't understand the need. It is the driver's responsibility to be
aware of pedestrians, and the pedestrian's responsibility to not jaywalk. Look
both ways and all that.

We need less noise pollution.

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channelmeter
Another video from the event: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NltAGcvubA4>

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ck2
Looks really nice! Hope it does well and I hope Top Gear gives it an honest
review.

Did their price point stay on target?

~~~
kevingadd
IIRC the original price-point target was $55k. Their listed price of $50k is
after a $7.5k federal tax rebate - so depending on how you measure it, they're
either slightly above the target or well below it.

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maxklein
Tesla is going to be one of the first indicators the bubble burst. The tesla
cars are overpriced, inconvenient, and they do not look particularly nicer
than other cars in their segment.

Tesla is just a game for financial speculators to make a lot of money of the
tech bubble.

~~~
kristofferR
Luxury is not a bubble.

Actually, in some countries, like Norway, Tesla Model S is actually really
cheap compared to similar fuel drinking cars because of the way lower taxes.

~~~
maxklein
Tesla is not luxury. It's an expensive car that does not look good and needs
many hours to recharge. It's not faster or better than other cars, it's just
needs longer to recharge.

If you are paying $80k for a car, you don't care about fuel taxes.

~~~
fr0sty
> an expensive car that does not look good

Seriously? What cars, in your opinion, do look good?

> It's not faster or better than other cars

0-60 in 5.5sec

400Nm torque

Those numbers are nothing to sneeze at. Yes it is expensive. It is a low-
volume exotic all-electric car. what are you expecting?

~~~
true_religion
5.5 seconds isn't that great for the class of car it's in.

The Roadster is a _sports_ car. It's 30k more than a 911 Carerra and slower in
0-60.

That said its torque curve is amazing which means you don't have to stamp on
the gas pedal, and handle the transmission like a race car driver to get that
0-60 time.

~~~
fr0sty
You have your prices backwards. Tesla S is $50k(est) and the 911 Carerra is
$79k.

Also, the S is a four-door sport _sedan_ that seats up to 7, not a two-seat
sports car.

~~~
true_religion
The Tesla S is 50k. I'm talking about the Tesla Roadster.

I assumed he was too because of the 0-60 time, but I see I was wrong.

So my point is invalidated. Oops.

