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Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this threadTesla Roadster production has begun, cue the angels
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Electric Cars Suck @ Mar 17th 2008 7:06PM
I truley hope that people are just makeing a huge deal of this company because its one of the first of its kind that has potential. But for $98K you get junk. Im sorry to say it but its 100% true. For 98K you could buy a real Lotus and still have half the money left. Plus with a real car it takes all of 4mins to fill the gas tank up and up the 3.5 hours of batterys that will have to be desposed of when they cant hold a charge.
ckm @ Mar 17th 2008 7:31PM
I'm not much of a fan, but you have it wrong.
The car costs $80k and will out run almost anything in that price class. 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and it cost $5 to drive 250 miles. The battery has a seven year lifespan, which is the average lifespan of most cars. And they built a car company with $160 million in funding (Panoz spend $500 million, most new model dev cost $2 - $4 billion).
The question is not really whether the Tesla roadster is a good, niche car (it'll be a second or third car for most people), it's whether they can turn the technology into mass production. But you can't argue with the performance, it's stunning, and so is doing it with only $160 million.
skr @ Mar 17th 2008 11:25PM
you serious? production fully electric car that is a) fast b) looks cool? whats wrong with that?
BlackbirdHighway @ Mar 17th 2008 9:49PM
You are wrong. It only takes about 20 seconds to charge it. Ten seconds to plug it in when I get home, and ten seconds to unplug it in the morning. That's much faster than the 4 minutes or more it takes to fuel a conventional car.
That 3.5 hour thing you mentioned happens at night, while I'm alsleep, so that doesn't matter the slightest little bit.
Plus. no oil changes, no sparkplugs, air filters, clutch, distributor, fuel pump, fuel filter, oil pump, fuel injectors, catalytic convertor, muffler, starter, alternator, etc. Over the years, I've had to replace or service all that stuff and much more on the vehicles I've owned.
Best of all, you don't have to buy gasoline for it. Exxon made $40 billion in profit last year. If you still want to give them more of your money, that's your problem. I don't.
It's not the 4 minutes you spend filling up that's the killer, it's the $60 you spend filling up. Look for that to go even higher soon.
jake @ Mar 18th 2008 2:09AM
Sorry man, a Lotus isn't just half the price. The Tesla is about the size of the Europa and the performance is even better than the Europa SE (0-60 5.5secs) which is already $65k. Tesla's performance is that of the top of the line Exige S 240 (0-60 4 secs) also starting at $65k. That's off by $33k. That's not bad since you get both a bigger car, similar to the Europa (like the Europa, the Tesla roadster's door sills are lowered for easier ingress, egress, the chassis is also has a longer wheelbase), and the performance of the upcoming 2008 Exige S 240. Let me remind you of what you get over the Exige S, which is described as such by R&T "The seats are still uncomfortable, the ride is harsh and so much engine, road and wind noise make their way into the cockpit that you can forget about talking on your cellphone. Hey, that’s a good thing! Getting into the diminutive machine isn’t hard, but getting back out over the large sills can be downright comical." The Exige S was slower than the Tesla too and it was already $65k.
And don't forget about the benefits of the electric motor, 100% trq @ 0rpm. With the 1 speed transmission, there is also NO effort to get that power. Just step on the accelerator and it goes, no hesitation. In any of the aforementioned gasoline cars you will have to shift and be in the powerband to get your power; not so in the Tesla. Then there is the efficiency; 100mpg by counts so far. Even at half that, in spirited driving conditions, you get 50mpg. You struggle to get a quarter of that efficiency in an Exige or Europa. Not to mentioned with renewable energy you will effectively not be polluting at all. Before mentioning the "toxic" battery, the battery is actually nontoxic and landfill safe and 60% is recycled. http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=66
So people stop comparing the Toadster to a $44k Elise,(which obviously you are trying to do); it's not the same size or performance. In the Tesla, you get the performance of an Exige S240 with the size of a Europa. If Lotus is already charging $65k for either, then a Tesla with actual new tech (and don't forget it's a completely new model from a NEW COMPANY) isn't charging too much at $98k.