Jackson Free Press

America's newest car company was founded in...Sillicon Valley. Tesla Motors is a new auto company founded by a group of dot-com millionaires who, well, basically wanted to build themselves an all-electric sportscar. So, they did. The Tesla Roadster claims to go 0-60 in 4 seconds, run 250 miles on a single charge and get the equivalent of 135mpg. It uses off-the-shelf (relatively speaking) battery technology that allows it to get 3-5 times the distance and extraordinary performance compared to any previous battery-powered car.

Previous Comments

ID

107290

Comment

shameless bump.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2006-08-09T14:18:53-06:00

ID

107291

Comment

This is one of those few things where even if the Tesla itself turns out to be a flop (and I hope not!), the basic concept will be a long-term success: It shows that already, in 2006, it is possible to build an electric car. Whether or not it's enviro friendly in the total planetary scheme of things remains to be seen (Correct me if I misread, but I think it's recharged with electricity from one's own house - which pushes up demand for fuel to run the power plants, etc). IMO, this car would probably serve its purpose best in larger cities (which have both more air pollution and higher gas prices). However great this is, this is only a start, for as I said above, the power source ultimately remains (as of now) on fossil fuels. We'd have to have at least a Tesla with a solar panel in order to have anything truly meaningful. Solar-powered Teslas would work best in the summertime, of course, particularly in the Western states (even so, we need all the fossil fuel usage cuts we can get). The ultimate, would be to combine the Tesla battery, the solar panel charger, and a Hydrogen-powered engine. That way, you can drive in sunny weather without sucking up a lot of water (good for conservation of H2O in moist areas and for driving in desert areas). Anyway, I strongly applaud this automobile and I hope to God and for our planet's sake that Tesla achieves financial success. Again, even if Tesla turns out to be non-successful commercially, its mere existence proves that we can develop more enviro-friendly transporation.

Author

Philip

Date

2006-08-09T14:34:14-06:00

ID

107292

Comment

Whether or not it's enviro friendly in the total planetary scheme of things remains to be seen (Correct me if I misread, but I think it's recharged with electricity from one's own house - which pushes up demand for fuel to run the power plants, etc). Yeah, that's always been my concern with electric vehicles, too, but if the Tesla ends up being a proof of concept, one impressive thing is the idea that the engine itself isn't just electric, but it's efficient enough to get the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon. And, if we did end up with more electric vehicles on the road, then we could also look to improving overall electric capacity with energy sources that are impractical for something as small as a car, such as cleaner coal, hydroelectric, safer nuclear options, widespread solar or wind and so on. (Added advantage -- we could generate that electricity at home instead of having to go to the Middle East for it.) The other thing I like about electric cars is that they represent more of a paradigm shift from the current distribution system for gasoline, which I think is part of the problem. One of the reasons that the larger auto/oil industry likes hydrogen is that it means pumps and pipelines and all the same infrastructure that's required for today's cars and roads. (And, at least at current tech, I think it takes an impractical amount of fossil fuel to create the hydrogen in the first place.) In other words, they don't have to think to hard to continue to realize extraordinary profits. And the idea that we would concentrate a great deal of our efforts on improving the creation and distribution of renewable electricity sources for both housing and transportation could suggest economies of scale that would negate the impact of all of the cars that we have on the road. For instance, if an electric car could be recharged for "free" by placing solar roofing tiles on your house -- with any extra gain sold back into the grid as a discount on your light bill -- that'd be an extraordinary step forward.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2006-08-09T15:55:49-06:00

ID

107293

Comment

The other thing to note is that it's often easier to control pollution from a single source, like a power plant, than it is to control millions of tiny, mobile pollution sources, like cars. And, love the name. Tesla was a wacky guy.

Author

kate

Date

2006-08-19T16:19:47-06:00