Recent Comments:
California considers legislation for PHEV conversions {Autoblog Green}
Jul 25th 2008 5:00PM This is just emissions, and perhaps a warranty on battery life; it has nothing to do with safety.
California considers legislation for PHEV conversions {Autoblog Green}
Jul 25th 2008 3:05PM I actually don't like a lot of the CARB's regulations in regards to aftermarket parts, specifically b/c it requires you to buy specific brands that have the money to do the carb certifications. They don't just measure your emissions and pass you that way, your aftermarket parts actually have to be "carb legal". It's frustrating because even if your car passes emissions testing with the part, if the part isn't certified, you still have to take it off.
I don't see any good reason why there should be a regulation on charge time either.
Video: Lightning GT unveiled, in action, and spotlighted {Autoblog Green}
Jul 24th 2008 2:35AM Not when you are trying show your car is a 700hp electric sports car (they even call it a supercar in the video). For a normal gasoline car from an established automaker, even a sports car, I can understand a soundless video of the car cruising around (this is actually quite common, but even so it usually doesn't look as slow as the Lightning looked in this video) because there is no doubt the powertrain will work & little doubt it will get the horsepower numbers the manufacturer claims. For an alternative vehicle from a new company, it's not as good an idea.
It's a teaser video for a full documentary (the description leads me to believe that), so it should be showing the exciting parts (like most teasers do), not the car crawling along. Not sure if it's really slow mo, but the slow mo combined with no sound just makes it seem really, really slow. Not convincing. Maybe it's the marketing company's problem.
Look at Fisker's "leaked" video, it's a much better attempt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPYUd9pLEKo
Lightning can definitely improve the video.
Video: Lightning GT unveiled, in action, and spotlighted {Autoblog Green}
Jul 23rd 2008 10:20PM I don't get why they used slow mo and why they cut out the sound (you hear some sound in one part so it's not youtube's problem). It made it look like the car was just creeping along. Not exactly how you want present a sports car. But at least it's drivable :P, which is better than the last PML MINI.
Just look at the difference compared to the Roadster:
Lightning GT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVd_R-ikGw
vs
Tesla Roadster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09LlCKufLtc
Hopefully they make a better video soon.
Video: Lightning GT unveiled, in action, and spotlighted {Autoblog Green}
Jul 23rd 2008 10:08PM I also find it funny that the video title "World's first electric sportscar" makes it sound like the Lightning GT is the first electric sportscar, given the footage focused a lot more on the GT than the Roadster.
The 150 to 180 miles is sobering to hear considering they were advertising 250 miles not that long ago (but it was expected given the smaller 36kWh battery). So it really is a case of trading off energy density vs fast charge capability.
So in a sense the 30 batteries still haven't really beaten the thousands of laptop batteries, even with the higher price.
Nissan takes fuel cell vehicle on run of the 'Ring {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 7:19PM Looks a lot like the first gen FCX too.
http://images.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/112_0401_First_Drive_Honda_FCX_01l+Honda_FCX+Front_Drivers_Side_View.jpg
Lightning GT out of the bottle at British International Motor Show {Autoblog Green}
Jul 23rd 2008 2:43AM Perhaps it's just these particular motors/gearing (or no gearing) and the higher weight, but this 4wd doesn't accelerate faster than a Tesla, 0-60 in 4 seconds vs 3.9 seconds. It's making 700+bhp compared to the the Tesla's 250 (old) 300+bhp (new). 700+bhp, despite weight, should perform a lot better. 4wd however, as mentioned, should aid traction control and regenerative braking.
But in wheel motors are a fairly new thing for automobiles so I guess we will see more examples later on.
I agree on the part on how there are ways to compensate for the unsprung weight.
London 2008: Lightning GT EV in the flesh {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 9:47PM Correction on the Tesla production figures, there are 27 cars in various stages of assembly as of July 12th and car #1-5 is delivered already by my knowledge. They probably have delivered more by now, given at least 12 have already gotten to California for final assembly.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=62
So no, it's not just 2 cars. It was past 2 cars quite a while ago. Hopefully you get the message production is going at a steady pace already.
Lightning GT out of the bottle at British International Motor Show {Autoblog Green}
Jul 22nd 2008 9:33PM £120,000 price with those options make it not as bad as before, but you basically still get only the quick charge capability and maybe some more interior and cargo space as extra for spending £40k more. Again since they didn't reveal any more details, hopefully their original performance specs were conservative.
But it looks nice and any new EV is good news, so I wish them the best.
Founders Series Tesla delivered to founder, Martin Eberhard {Autoblog Green}
Jul 20th 2008 8:43PM @s10
Yep, I would rather have people connect EVs with "fast sports car" than the "golf cart" image most EVs have. I agree it's similar to the diesel image.
@EV-1
Give Autobloggreen a break, it's the weekend and weekends tend to be slow. Where is there another BEV for sale today that meets crash standards here in America? Even in the whole world, the BEVs you can actually buy now that meets normal car standards (esp safety standards) you can probably count on your fingers. And this one is also a hot sports car. You might not be interested, but I bet a lot of people are interested in hearing how it is to own and drive a Tesla Roadster. If you think autobloggreen's coverage of Tesla is overboard, you should look at Engadget and the iPhone :P.
BTW, Congratulations to Martin!
