My Desultory Blog

That 245 mile range assumes no hills, no A/C (which can reduce range by as much as 25 to 30%) , etc. etc. Look at it this way – at the end of 245 miles there is no receptacle to plug in and not enough time (3 1/2 hours) to wait for more juice. You are in reality limited to destinations between 90 and 115 miles away. Guess wrong and it’s tow-truck time. That’s when the batteries are new. Every year the range will go down. How much? Your guess is as good as mine. So now, after three years, can you still get to that destination 100 miles away? Maybe, maybe not. The Tesla is simply not a viable alternative to the gasoline powered automobile, unless you tow a trailor containing a gasoline powered electrical generator. Won’t that look spiffy dragging behind a sports car? And what happened to all those emissions and all that gasoline the car lets you avoid?

Kent,

I beg to differ … for some people having a 100+ mile per day commuter car makes perfect sense. I can comfortably see a daily driver/commuter being a decent range electric that gets plugged in each night, although I believe that the fuel cell will eventually replace a rechargeable battery.

In a recent discussion about price and performance, the electric car was compared to the personal computer only 30 short years ago. (high priced, bulky and low performance) I suspect that the same thing will happen with the solar and electric powered transportation over the next few decades.

Will this replace all the vehicles we use? I am with you on that point … except for the gasoline part … since I am a BIODIESEL advocate.

Thanks for the comment.

Hi Mr. Corbett,

I couldn’t help but respond to this post, as Tesla is based in San Carlos, CA just up the road from Santa Clara. The 245 mile range is the average after a lot of terrain testing. The Tesla group has driven the roadster from San Carlos all the away to Lake Tahoe which is about a 6 hour drive on about a charge and half and continues to do extensive testing. Check their blog: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/ for results. The beauty of this roadster is that it can be plugged into any “standard” electrical outlet. As more electric cars hit the market there will likely be ‘charge stations’ just like gas stations all over the place.

The batteries are lithium-ion batteries similar to those in laptop computers, so their ware over time is very little. And even if they take 5 years to wear down, you will still be getting about 60% efficiency with a charge. Another note, as the batter technology increases, the price of more advanced batteries will be dropping exponentially. So in effect, if replacing the batteries is a cost worry, it shouldn’t be.

A big highlight of the Tesla company’s mission is their goal to develop and product 3 other models that “average consumers” can buy. They have already bought land in New Mexico for their own production plant of a luxury sedan and have begun the drawings for a smaller, mid-size sedan, and compact car. These cars are being designed in San Diego and Michigan. So they may seem like just-a-sports-car-company for now, but they have plans to surprise everyone with how efficient and economically friendly electric cars can be. So, yes I do think that electric cars will soon replace the gas-hogging cars that people continue to buy today. And the solar race for cars is not far behind. We have already mastered it with homes, just take a look at the Solar Decathlon results from this year.

Nora,

Although I haven’t looked at your site to read the details, a little bird mentioned Santa Clara’s impressive 3rd place in the Solar Decathlon! Congratulations to you and your team.
http://www.scusolar.org/

I appreciate your insight on the Tesla, although I’m not really up on all the specifics that put it out in front of the other EVs. (pricey batteries are probably a significant reason) On the other hand, its got pretty good eye appeal for a guy who appreciates a great looking car.