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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Tesla Roadster Unveiling

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Tesla Roadster Unveiling

Posted Jul 20th 2006 8:01AM

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AutoblogGreen's intrepid editor, Sebastian Blanco, was a busy man last night at the unveiling of the Tesla Roadster in Santa Monica, CA. Check out our exclusive video (iPod format) of the unveiling that features interviews with Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard and the company's chairman Elon Musk, as well as footage of the car in motion from both inside and outside the cockpit.

Category: Convertible, Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Green, Videos

Tags: Elon Musk, ElonMusk, Martin Eberhard, MartinEberhard, Tesla, Tesla Motors, Tesla Roadster, Tesla video, TeslaMotors, TeslaRoadster, TeslaVideo

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Tony
The A123 Batteries should sort out all the pollution problems as they are based on nano phosphate technology, if the Tesla decides to use these batteries they could do away with there battery cooling system.

Read all about there the advantages here: http://www.a123systems.com/html/tech/power.html

and here: http://www.a123systems.com/html/apps/trans.html
August 19 2006 at 5:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sam
"So you people spouting filth about an electric car creating more pollution than a conventional one, go do some homework"

I could not have said it better myself!!!! Every point is absolutley right on man!

I guess it is difficult for most people to take off that veil of ignorance that shrowds them on this issue.

Electric cars are the way to go! PERIOD! The technology has been feasible for years, but has been kept from us by the special interests of multinational conglomerate companies who feel threatened by the arrival of this to the masses. There is absolutely no question about this!

I am so happy Tesla has done this outside their scope and is looking to push this thing to the next level. Maybe it will finally tip the scale and will get the ball rolling in the right direction again. (since the momentum was squashed with the death of the EV1)

If I was an oil company, I'd start using most of my R&D into developing solar and other energy technologies to be ahead of the game in providing the next source of energy....

Fossil fuels are a DEAD END no matter how you slice it!
July 30 2006 at 10:06 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Don
Well, this looks like a great car. Not for the everyday driver - but for the "green" rich who like performance, but don't care about the extra dollars.

No wonder they started with a high end sports car. Low volume means lower cost to manufacture, higher price brings in profits more quickly. This is a start up company - I doubt they could afford the setup for a $20k mass appeal electric. Let Toyota and the gang work on the cheap mass market cars.

Is electric just as polluting as gas? Is the CO2 just be off loaded to coal plants? If you read the research (and I suggest you do before commenting) - no it does not. Coal plants are only one method for producing electricity, and their emmissions are 1% of gas vehicles when compared to the same energy requirements. Hydro does not pollute at all (albeit it does have enviromental impact). Solar, wind and tidal do not have an environmental impact anywhere near the others.

Gas vehicles are very inefficient. Only about 30% of the energy in a tank of gas goes to moving the car - the rest is wasted heat. Electric cars, it is about 90%. So not only are gas cars big CO2 producers, they require 3 times as much energy to move a vehicle as electric.

It also brings the energy need home rather than being dependant on other countries. Shipping is not required - we used the current electric grid - thus less energy required and less polluting.

The cost of manufacture is CHEAPER for an electric car - less moving parts. Service is also CHEAPER - less moving parts, no oil changes, spark plugs, filters etc. This also reduces energy needs and pollution.

As for batteries - they are not disposed - they are recycled.
July 26 2006 at 12:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gary
OH BOY! ... how our personalities bleed through via our electric car opinions. The sour grapes folks say, "BOO HOO electricity comes mostly from coal, blah blah", or, "... this car is no good because it costs more than a mustang, blah blah". What ever. Sure, vaperware will come, and vaperware will go, but I pray to God these folks make it work ... despite all the nay sayers. Our poor country is adicted to oil (life blood of terrorist revenue) and all that most of us can say (as the advertising folks want us to think) it's not as sexy as my gas guzzling V8. Sexy? Macho? Cool? Sheeze. How about we all just develop a little bit of integrity and moral character in stead of parroting what the ad man says, and stop all the whining about how, "the Tesla folks aren't doing it right waah waah". You GO TESLA. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I had the 100K. I'd love to be a sales rep for you folks!
July 23 2006 at 2:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

GhostDoggy
I'd rather buy a Corvette, bank the $35K difference, and have plenty of money for buying $5 per gallon gasoline for +80K miles worth of better driving. BTW, I'm not even a GM or Corvette fan.

And how many households affording $80-120K automobiles are 'really' concerned with the $3 per gallon price of gasoline?
July 22 2006 at 10:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

AlexF
It's true that there is radioactive waste from nuclear power, however one thing you may not know is that there is actually more radioactive waste per megawatt produced from other types of power such as coal. The difference is that the nuclear waste is containable whereas coal radioactive waste is released into the atmosphere.
July 21 2006 at 12:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

why not the LS2/LS7?
To all you saying that electric cars just relocate the pollution, please desist making such statements until you investigate and get the right info.

An electric car such as this has the energy equivalent of 1.6 gallons of gas in it and yet still goes up to 250 miles. That's a lot more efficient than a gas car. So, even though you have to generate electricity to run it (perhaps by burning coal), it still comes out cleaner.

As to the making batteries, I'm of two minds. Making LIons is essentially an enviromental disaster. They're made in China for a reason. I do feel this can be cleaned up over time, and the batteries are recycled, so perhaps that gets mitigated a bit.

Why are these EVs always 2-seaters? Because the car already requires 1,000lbs (it says) of batteries just to go 250 miles carrying two people. It'll take a lot omre to carry four people. And that will add another $30K to the price of the car too just for batteries. I agree, we're not really getting anywhere with these two seaters, as far as replacing the gas car. It is at essence an extravagance for the rich and dedicated to the environment. Which is why it's smart to debut it in Santa Monica, the epicenter of the pissed-off ex-EV1 leasers.

Capacitors are not an answer. They don't hold much (even the nanotubes ones) and they leak out their power too fast.

I look forward to the day we can all use cars (probably electric) that allow us to select amongst multiple sources of energy (coal, oil, hydro, solar, wind, nuclear) so that we don't have these oil shocks and we aren't all shut down if we find that even burning the oil/gas we have puts the CO2 levels too high to live with.

Charles S: I'm again disappointed in your positions. Nuclear power is one of the cleanest, most dense and available sources of energy we have. It'll play a big part of weaning us off of oil.
July 21 2006 at 3:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Andy
also, just noticed the 10k charge for out of area purchases cover future expense of servicing it since they have to ship it to a service center. interesting
July 21 2006 at 1:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Andy
You guys are nuts. It thoughts like these that hold back society and technology.

NOTHING is zero emissions when you think about production and blah blah. We are humans, we consume the resources of the earth. If you make that argument you should stop eating and polluting everyday when you have a bowel movement.

So some pollution from production versuses amazing amounts of green house gasses? I'll take the cool electric car. We have to start thinking differently fast, it ain't gonna fix itself.

Also you critics fail to realize li-ion batteries are recyclable as well. CO2 isn't
July 21 2006 at 1:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cal
I like it...

Anyone know if it does it does regenerative braking?

Regarding the argument that it is just moving the pollution to coal power plants:
-Consolidation of pollution sources in a single location (power plant) is a very good thing. It makes the pollution much more controllable and easier to reduce/regulate than trying to keep everyones ICE engines in optimal condition.
-There are many options for producing electricity which create no pollution or very little. But the only way to extract energy from oil/gas is to burn it which always pollutes.

If ICEs aren't completely replaced at least having new alternatives will push development of more efficient ICEs and fuels. Or it may just cause the anti-electro-propaganda-opec-conspiracy-campaign to go supercharged :)
July 21 2006 at 12:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

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