Tesla Motor Company

[BIG JOE]

Saw a piece last night on "Letterman". He had the CEO of Tesla Motor Company, who has built an ALL electric Sports coupe that has a range of 240 miles.. $100K, but also has a Sedan coming in the near future that will be $49K, or so, with possibly.. a longer range.

Anyway.. They spoke briefly about the EV1 (GM).. almost as if they were hesitant to Even speak of it. I guess they were all Called back and Destroyed (Crushed) and the concept was stifled ...... even though the Beta test consumers were basically.. In Love with the car, and were not haveing any problems with them.

Anyone remember any more of the details about the Death of the EV1 ??



Joe

 

[powerboatr]

Saw a piece last night on "Letterman". He had the CEO of Tesla Motor Company, who has built an ALL electric Sports coupe that has a range of 240 miles.. $100K, but also has a Sedan coming in the near future that will be $49K, or so, with possibly.. a longer range.

Anyway.. They spoke briefly about the EV1 (GM).. almost as if they were hesitant to Even speak of it. I guess they were all Called back and Destroyed (Crushed) and the concept was stifled ...... even though the Beta test consumers were basically.. In Love with the car, and were not haveing any problems with them.

Anyone remember any more of the details about the Death of the EV1 ??



Joe

didnt gm spend billions on it and then pulled the plug so to speak....

i think battery costs and technology were killing them.
but now who knows

 

[DaveBen]

I don't know about the EV1, but Chevy is now pushing the Volt. Their newest electric car. I get an email every week about it. Out of curiosity mostly as I would never buy one. No return on investment yet. Testa has their home office and development offices a few miles north of me and their only Dealership is in my city, Menlo Park. I at least see them around.

Dave

 

[BIG JOE]

They mentioned the Volt guys.. But with a range of only 40 miles or so.. GM is guna be hard pressed in sales.

They also eluded to some "outside" influences being involved the demise of the EV1.. which then...... has put us back 20 years, in Electro-motive delelopment.

I smelled a Rat ? Maybe ?

 

[DaveBen]

The differences in price will tell a lot. GM and Toyota both claim that something like 80% of the people drive under 40 miles a day, so the recharging is not a problem. Longer trips will be a problem with electric vehicles that don't have onboard charging, like the Toyota.

Dave

 

[JLDickmon]

The differences in price will tell a lot. GM and Toyota both claim that something like 80% of the people drive under 40 miles a day, so the recharging is not a problem. Longer trips will be a problem with electric vehicles that don't have onboard charging, like the Toyota.

Dave

Which is why I think electric vehicles will never work (with current technology). Because you know there's gonna be ignorant people all over, that are just gonna hop in them and drive them right untill the batteries are drained.. then bitch 'cause GM won't tow them back to their house..

Someone is working on a fuel cell that uses gasoline as the fuel source.. I'd almost lay odds that is the way to go, and I'll further lay odds the Government will squish the technology because it uses a (GASP!) fossil fuel.

 

[Zookie400]

ford had an electric ranger that the "test customers" LOVED. it got pulled with no real explanation of why.

 

[DaveBen]

Someone else is working on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell. No pollution at all. I think this is the way we all will eventually go.

Most of the manufactures use current vehicles for test mules. Old vehicles with new drive train. Chevy Volt is currently doing this.

Dave

 

[BIG JOE]

Several years ago, I was involved in a Beta Test for some General Use, Alternative Fuel/Power Vehicles.

Had a Battery powered van, a Total failure. Had a range of about 20 miles, put 6 folks in it, or some cargo.. 10 miles, maybe. (it was 6 miles from one end of the complex, to the other. Round trip, Do the math ?)

Had a CNG powered van, Better but not much. Had a range of about 50miles.. had to be re-filled at least daily. (Many of my employees were Gun Shy about a 2000 psi pressure vessel.. just behind the rear bumper too. Even though we all had watched a Safety related Video on the tank)

The Infrastructure and funding required, to support and convert the vehicles, with the Special wiring for re-charge stations and Big construction requirements, for CNG filling stations, was another issue.

In the end, The testing was suddenly suspended (?), the vehicles went away. Nothing further was said (?).

New Tech is not cheap, and sometimes.. is not "economically feasible".. I guess ? (Rat enters, stage left)

 

[Zookie400]

a utility company bought a bunch of CNG trucks from us, and didnt keep them in service for a full year......no range, trucks were always being towed to the nearest filling station.

i have dealt with a few mercedes sprinter vans that had a DC motors slipped between the engine and transmission, they worked great but the batteries took up a significant amount of cargo area.

i think a huge problem is the marketplace for these vehicles.....only as of late have us Americans started to think "small" and economical. of course that is a generalization, but i think most would agree with me.

i would like to design a gas turbine powered generator driven electric vehicle. i think it has potential. i dont have the R+D funds available though....