0-100 in 4 sec (On AC!!)

[degrom]

Tesla Motors Website...

An electric car with an acceleration of 0-100 in 4 seconds and
a range of up to 320KM.(Fully charged in under 4 hours)

Great stuff if you ask me and it also looks nice.

[Black Bandit]

Oh ho, you think that's a flashy number - check this out:

• EXOSKELETON: Exposed structural components in the car's frame are shaped to reduce drag and direct airflow around the central passenger pod.
• HIGH RIDE: The clean underbody and high-downforce aerodynamic pod permit higher ground clearance than conventional supercars. This generates a more comfortable ride without hindering high-speed performance.
  
• WHEEL FAIRINGS: Streamlined pods minimize the tendency of exposed wheels to create lift.
  
• WHEEL POWER: Four lightweight 85-kilowatt electric hub motors eliminate the need for a large engine. They also integrate shock absorbers, brakes and drive-by-wire steering controls into the wheels.
  
• AERODYNAMIC MORPHING: Based on your preferences, front- and rear-wing surfaces morph to an ideal aerodynamic shape to either increase downforce or reduce drag, thereby improving efficiency.
  
• VARIABLE COLOR: The Javelin's electrochromic paint job can be adjusted to any hue, with natural fades between colors. Program your car to cycle through color schemes as you accelerate.
  
• SMART SEATING: Passenger pod minimizes drag with a tapered front and rear shape. Inside, you'll find an unusual 1+2+1 tandem-seating configuration.

OK, so technically you win cause this is only at "concept" stage of design.

[James Deuce]

It's the automotive equivalent of an Internet leecher.

[Black Bandit]

It's the automotive equivalent of an Internet leecher.

Eh? Say wha?

[Dave Lobster]

What does the power station run on that produces the electricity to charge it up? Coal?

[Colapop]

Tesla Motors Website...
An electric car with an acceleration of 0-100 in 4 seconds and
a range of up to 320KM.(Fully charged in under 4 hours)
Great stuff if you ask me and it also looks nice.

I like it but after 320 k's it takes 5-10 minutes to gas up, clean the windscreen, take a piss, buy a pie and pay for the gas in my car now. Waiting 4 hours... Hmmm it'll have to be quicker than that for road trips.

[degrom]

Oh ho, you think that's a flashy number - check this out:

• EXOSKELETON: Exposed structural components in the car's frame are shaped to reduce drag and direct airflow around the central passenger pod.
• HIGH RIDE: The clean underbody and high-downforce aerodynamic pod permit higher ground clearance than conventional supercars. This generates a more comfortable ride without hindering high-speed performance.
• WHEEL FAIRINGS: Streamlined pods minimize the tendency of exposed wheels to create lift.
• WHEEL POWER: Four lightweight 85-kilowatt electric hub motors eliminate the need for a large engine. They also integrate shock absorbers, brakes and drive-by-wire steering controls into the wheels.
• AERODYNAMIC MORPHING: Based on your preferences, front- and rear-wing surfaces morph to an ideal aerodynamic shape to either increase downforce or reduce drag, thereby improving efficiency.
• VARIABLE COLOR: The Javelin's electrochromic paint job can be adjusted to any hue, with natural fades between colors. Program your car to cycle through color schemes as you accelerate.
• SMART SEATING: Passenger pod minimizes drag with a tapered front and rear shape. Inside, you'll find an unusual 1+2+1 tandem-seating configuration.

OK, so technically you win cause this is only at "concept" stage of design.

Looks nice!!! Is it available for buying yet? Any websites with more pictures and info?

[degrom]

What does the power station run on that produces the electricity to charge it up? Coal?

Well consider this.. This car runs at about 135mpg. Take a little diesel generator(or YOU can use coal) to charge it and you will still burn 2/3 less of it than using petrol.

[degrom]

I like it but after 320 k's it takes 5-10 minutes to gas up, clean the windscreen, take a piss, buy a pie and pay for the gas in my car now. Waiting 4 hours... Hmmm it'll have to be quicker than that for road trips.

I do agree... 4 hours is a long time.

Compared to a few years ago when it almost took a full day to charge,I must really congratulate the engineers and scientists because it's getting there.

Hydrogen is also a good way to go because it will take the same time to fill as a normal car.(Hydrogen fuels cells are basically battery's in gas form)

[James Deuce]

Hydrogen is a terrible way to go, way worse than hydrocarbons. It takes as much energy to extract hydrogen form the medium it is bound to and as you get out of it. I believe hydrocarbon extraction is down to single figures in regard to extraction cost vs energy output. The emissions generated by the Hydrogen extraction process are worse than anything we are currently doing.

Until a new technology is developed to make hydrogen extraction cost effective, the only use for hydrogen in a vehicle is in a fuel cell (essentially a portable ionising power station), not liquid hydrogen dispensed from a bowser.

For those of you who think vegetable oils are the way to go, they would only be sustainable in a world where most people worked from home and used public transport to go anywhere else, forfeiting personal vehicles entirely. Rapeseed is hugely resource hungry and makes the field it is harvested from fallow until significant amounts of fertiliser and trace elements are pumped back into that particular micro ecology. I do like the idea of a small percentage of the fleet running on used Fish and Chip shop oil. Smacks of good resource use.

[degrom]

Yes,solving global warming does not seem to have an easy/cheap/quick solution.

However I think electric transport can help. I think it's easier to regulate power stations over millions and millions of car exhausts.

And if the traffic problems keeps on growing as it does at the moment it would be common sense to have a car that does not have to use energy to idle.

(Another fact about the above car is that the engine weights 30kg... Amazing?!? (Wonder what the battries weight?!? LOL))

[James Deuce]

Electric cars that need to engage a national grid will increase pollution not reduce it. Most western countries will be forced to start burning coal again to generate electricity in the way that recharging cars will require.

Nuclear energy isn't a solution for fluctuating peak electricity requirements either, as has been so eloquently described by Jantar and K14, at least not in NZ.

I did say in my post that until different technologies are developed Hydrogen isn't a goer.

The real problem with the Greenhouse effect is not CO2. CO2 is minor percentage of our total atmosphere, 1.7%. The biggest problem is H2O as it reflects far more energy than CO2 ever will.

The current round of higher temperatures is a short term response (in the global sense) to Mt Pinatubo's eruption. Sulphuric Acid aerosols reflect even better than H2O, sea temperatures rise at the poles, and evaporation means there is more H2O in the atmosphere. Temperatures and precipitation rise marginally and the sea temperatures go up again providing the energy for super cell storms. Sea levels go up because the volume water occupies rises as it expands due to heating up.

The mid-Atlantic trench burps out more CO2 in a day then we do in a decade. It's currently going through an active phase which has disrupted the reproductive cycle of phytoplankton and caused algal blooms along the coast of Africa and Sth America.

Everybody makes fun of Augie Auer, but he's not saying Global Warming isn't something that can't happen or isn't happening. He's trying to point out that the current atmospheric conditions on Earth have existed for 100s of millions of years. We've actively sampled and monitored weather for about 160 years. The extrapolations and climate of fear being constructed by global warming alarmists requires a huge leap of faith to accept, but people are all too willing to do so.

[Colapop]

Geothermal is renewable... and the projected 10 geothermal plants that Mighty River power is in the process of designing and building will provide a large part of the electricity requirements this country is lacking.

Of course that is this country... not others...

[degrom]

Electric cars that need to engage a national grid will increase pollution not reduce it. Most western countries will be forced to start burning coal again to generate electricity in the way that recharging cars will require.

Nuclear energy isn't a solution for fluctuating peak electricity requirements either, as has been so eloquently described by Jantar and K14, at least not in NZ.

I did say in my post that until different technologies are developed Hydrogen isn't a goer.

The real problem with the Greenhouse effect is not CO2. CO2 is minor percentage of our total atmosphere, 1.7%. The biggest problem is H2O as it reflects far more energy than CO2 ever will.

The current round of higher temperatures is a short term response (in the global sense) to Mt Pinatubo's eruption. Sulphuric Acid aerosols reflect even better than H2O, sea temperatures rise at the poles, and evaporation means there is more H2O in the atmosphere. Temperatures and precipitation rise marginally and the sea temperatures go up again providing the energy for super cell storms. Sea levels go up because the volume water occupies rises as it expands due to heating up.

The mid-Atlantic trench burps out more CO2 in a day then we do in a decade. It's currently going through an active phase which has disrupted the reproductive cycle of phytoplankton and caused algal blooms along the coast of Africa and Sth America.

Everybody makes fun of Augie Auer, but he's not saying Global Warming isn't something that can't happen or isn't happening. He's trying to point out that the current atmospheric conditions on Earth have existed for 100s of millions of years. We've actively sampled and monitored weather for about 160 years. The extrapolations and climate of fear being constructed by global warming alarmists requires a huge leap of faith to accept, but people are all too willing to do so.

Okay, so we are in a warming cycle as described by "Augie Auer"...

How is this going to effect on human life? (Do I need to buy an air-con or a heater?)

[degrom]

Geothermal is renewable... and the projected 10 geothermal plants that Mighty River power is in the process of designing and building will provide a large part of the electricity requirements this country is lacking.

Of course that is this country... not others...

Well if every country starts being proactive things will end good. I think its a great time for any country to take the lead and that includes New Zealand.

(Did I mention that there are lots of money to be earned from this?)