
Long-awaited electric sports car rolls out - epi0Bauqu
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/05/03/electric.car.ap/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular
======
patrickg-zill
They talk about a home charging station that uses 70 amps. Assuming that is
120VAC, and it takes 3.5 hours, that is roughly 7KW per hour times 3.5 =24.5
KWH. At 10 cents per KWH you are talking $2.45 per charge.

------
tlb
The number of batteries is an interesting number: 6831. That's 9 * 11 * 23, an
unusual number of large prime factors.

One reference suggests that it's 11 groups of 9 series strings of 23 parallel
cells. Somebody there likes prime numbers.

~~~
abless
Except that 9 is not prime.

------
ardit33
Haha.... All those people that are calculating this car's running cost, forget
that given the price tag, the people that will be buying this are the ones
that don't give a frick for the running costs. This car is only for those rich
people, that have multiple cars in their garage, and want a new toy they can
drive around, and feel good (and brag) about being "green".

A game chaning car would be one that costs less than 15k, so the average
commuter can actually afford one (we probably are few years away from it).

~~~
dangoldin
Well as history dictates you first need to capture some market and then move
on to grab new ones. I'm sure the cost will come down closer to 15k as time
goes on and technological progress has been made.

Take a look at "The Innovator's Dilemma" for some examples of disruptive
technologies.

------
ivankirigin
I think newly acquired startups shouldn't be told "go buy your Porsche"

Now it's "go buy your Teslas"

~~~
shaunxcode
I wouldn't normally point out spelling mistakes BUT it's Porsche.

~~~
ivankirigin
something about a Porsche made you point it out? :)

Thanks - corrected. I usually spell check with Google when FF fails me.

Buying a car (before the Tesla) was pretty low on my list of post-liquidity-
event fantasies anyway. Starting riskier startups in comfort and owning a
large working space are high on my list.

------
edw519
18 month waiting list.

Let's see. Get on waiting list. Hack. Angel. Launch. Series A. Acquisition.

Perfect timing.

~~~
johnrob
How about: Get on waiting list. Wait 18 months. Sell to an impatient wealthy
buyer for a hefty premium.

------
rglullis
Since I have no idea how much does energy cost in US, I'll be the one to ask:
how much would be the electric bill for someone who drives, say, 100
miles/day?

Better: how much would cost each driven mile?

~~~
ph0rque
From the tesla website: less than $0.02/mile. My calculations for my car (99
Camry) come out to be $ 0.12/mile, and with gas prices going up, I wouldn't be
surprised if the savings increase to 10x.

~~~
tlb
Either electricity or gas is a small fraction of the cost of driving.

Sporty tires: $800 / 20,000 miles = $0.04 mile

Depreciation: $100,000 / 200,000 miles = $0.50 / mile

Driver's time: $100/hr / 40miles/hr = $2.50 / mile

~~~
whatusername
It is a car that does 0-60 in under 4 seconds..

So I'm not sure that you can charge every km you drive on t against the
drivers time.. (Granted - this doesn't apply if you're just driving to work..)

