Looks good.
If I was in the market for a 4-door, and there were charge points at work, it'd be on the list.
If I was in the market for a 4-door, and there were charge points at work, it'd be on the list.
TheGrimJeeper
It's getting to a price point that is beginning to look more market friendly. Still needs more charging points. Anytime I've been near Ikea (shudder) the 4 charging points there are usually full.
Decent looking car, reminds me of a the Ford Eetec concept shape that was paraded around mid eighties.
Decent looking car, reminds me of a the Ford Eetec concept shape that was paraded around mid eighties.
Had a test drive in a Model S last week, very impressive, having watched the Model 3 launch I'm seriously considering parting with £1000 deposit for a slot on late 2017/early 2018, talk me out of it if you can.
215 miles range is more than enough for me on a daily basis
Performance is pretty good
£3 to charge overnight at home, free in other places
I'd still have a "toy" for the weekend/holidays etc
£24000 start price is more realistic and makes it main stream
:biglaugh:
215 miles range is more than enough for me on a daily basis
Performance is pretty good
£3 to charge overnight at home, free in other places
I'd still have a "toy" for the weekend/holidays etc
£24000 start price is more realistic and makes it main stream
:biglaugh:
very, very, interested in this car. Probably the most intelligent and forward thinking response to future motoring needs I've seen in ages. Hoping it rides like a limo (ultra smooth ride, totally hushed).
Very much no... I think it looks awful notwithstanding it's no doubt impressive technology, I really don't think it's as good looking as everyone seems to be saying it is. It's got odd proportions and it too roundy
Hmmm, I prefer the Model S, if I had the spare cash I'd have one of those sitting on my drive (or more likely in the living room if it needed to be plugged into the mains)
G
Apparently pre-orders are now up to 250,000.
I'm as much a petrol head as anyone on this forum, but I'll admit this car could get me into an EV. I've a lot of respect for Musk and his philosophy of driving change in the auto industry, we've gone from 1st gen prius hybrids that to me were pointless to usable full electric vehicles not only from Tesla but other marques also, as well as vehicles like my dads Mitsubishi plug in hybrid capable of 30 mile or so on electric, which is great for him as that covers 90% of his driving.
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I'm as much a petrol head as anyone on this forum, but I'll admit this car could get me into an EV. I've a lot of respect for Musk and his philosophy of driving change in the auto industry, we've gone from 1st gen prius hybrids that to me were pointless to usable full electric vehicles not only from Tesla but other marques also, as well as vehicles like my dads Mitsubishi plug in hybrid capable of 30 mile or so on electric, which is great for him as that covers 90% of his driving.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I like the S a lot. I think the key to this is that it looks luke a nice modern car rather than someone's weird vision of the future. The grille, whilst superfluous,helps with that. The new car continues that so gets a thumbs up from me.
I remain unconvinced about the environmental benefits in a country where our leccy mostly comes from burning fossil fuels but hopefully that will change over time.
I remain unconvinced about the environmental benefits in a country where our leccy mostly comes from burning fossil fuels but hopefully that will change over time.
Well they're fantastic performance cars, but they're not really 'green' - as already pointed out all they're doing is carrying around power generated by something not-green (either fossil fuels or massively subsidized wind turbines / wave generators); there are greener alternatives (biomass or nuclear, well greenish anyway) but they're unlikely to get any real investment. Also the cars themselves definitely aren't green - the cadmium, etc used in making the batteries is very bad for the environment, and they're only going to have a finite life before they need replacing (in the case of the Mk1 Prius max 10 years, after which the car is scrap).
A far greener alternative would be a diesel-electric (like the 'co-co' trains, or that weird Top Gear contraption) with a tiny, very low-rpm diesel generator (they're most efficient running at a fixed slow speed) constantly running off vegetable oil to trickle charge a much smaller, easily replaceable battery, combined with regenerative braking, recycling the heat from the exhaust, and more investment in growing resilient algae with a high vegetable oil yield.
Since none of that's going to happen though, I'll stick with my petrol cars as everyday transport, though I'd love to own a Tesla Model S as a toy :thumbup:
A far greener alternative would be a diesel-electric (like the 'co-co' trains, or that weird Top Gear contraption) with a tiny, very low-rpm diesel generator (they're most efficient running at a fixed slow speed) constantly running off vegetable oil to trickle charge a much smaller, easily replaceable battery, combined with regenerative braking, recycling the heat from the exhaust, and more investment in growing resilient algae with a high vegetable oil yield.
Since none of that's going to happen though, I'll stick with my petrol cars as everyday transport, though I'd love to own a Tesla Model S as a toy :thumbup:
I doubt much of the power required to charge EVs will ever come from renewables in this country. EVs are sold on the premise that you drive them during the day, and you charge them when you get home - the car is always fully charged in the morning - all good. So everyone gets home at 6 or 7, plugs in and goes and has their tea. The average home charger needs about 10 hours and this isn't going to change without doing an awful lot of rewiring, most people don't have 3-phase, and the maximum they can possibly run is a 32A socket.
Given that it is night time, solar is out. So you're left with wind (which does blow at night) and hydro, which we don't have very much of.
The big problem is that peak charging time coincides with peak demand in the UK. Unless you start doing crazy "store the solar in one battery to charge another" schemes which are stunningly wasteful, there is no easy way round this, unless you start telling people that they can't charge their EVs between 18:00 and 23:00, and they've got to charge them before they drive to work in the morning.
But let's say you worked from home, and you could charge your car during the day. We've got a 5kW solar array on the roof, which is pretty much the biggest one you can have on a domestic connection - really big ones need 3 phase and it would have cost 30K to get 3 phase. Now at midday in the summer, that array does bang out about 4500W for a few hours. For the rest of the day, it operates at about 3kW, tailing off at the edges. The little meter says it does about 30kWH a day in the summer - so it would take 3 days to charge my Tesla (if I had one). In the winter, it would take 3 weeks.
If you imagine an electric future, the country will need to find an additional 22GW of capacity to charge 10% of the nation's cars overnight. That's roughly a doubling of current capacity, all at a time when the industry is more concerned about keeping the lights on at all. For reference, Sizewell B runs at about 1GW, so we're looking at 22 new nukes (+ spares) or some technology not yet invented.
Anyone worried about the environment should be taking the train - but that is only about 30 - 40% more efficient than private cars. If you're really worried about the environment, live local, work local and use a bicycle. Don't travel. There is no easy answer to this.
Given that it is night time, solar is out. So you're left with wind (which does blow at night) and hydro, which we don't have very much of.
The big problem is that peak charging time coincides with peak demand in the UK. Unless you start doing crazy "store the solar in one battery to charge another" schemes which are stunningly wasteful, there is no easy way round this, unless you start telling people that they can't charge their EVs between 18:00 and 23:00, and they've got to charge them before they drive to work in the morning.
But let's say you worked from home, and you could charge your car during the day. We've got a 5kW solar array on the roof, which is pretty much the biggest one you can have on a domestic connection - really big ones need 3 phase and it would have cost 30K to get 3 phase. Now at midday in the summer, that array does bang out about 4500W for a few hours. For the rest of the day, it operates at about 3kW, tailing off at the edges. The little meter says it does about 30kWH a day in the summer - so it would take 3 days to charge my Tesla (if I had one). In the winter, it would take 3 weeks.
If you imagine an electric future, the country will need to find an additional 22GW of capacity to charge 10% of the nation's cars overnight. That's roughly a doubling of current capacity, all at a time when the industry is more concerned about keeping the lights on at all. For reference, Sizewell B runs at about 1GW, so we're looking at 22 new nukes (+ spares) or some technology not yet invented.
Anyone worried about the environment should be taking the train - but that is only about 30 - 40% more efficient than private cars. If you're really worried about the environment, live local, work local and use a bicycle. Don't travel. There is no easy answer to this.
I'm using a hybrid bus for work today. Well half the journey is hybrid.
My plan is to replace using the car for commuting but after today and the time taken I'm not so sure.
My plan is to replace using the car for commuting but after today and the time taken I'm not so sure.
so what happens to the power grid when 200,000 Teslas suddenly come online ?
burn more coal ??
burn more coal ??
i would rather not be dependant on Middle East oil nazis thank you very much
remember when they went all feral and created that oil embargo back in the 70's ? i wonder if they ever stopped to think their actions then (when trusted with the worlds oil supply ) could have had a bearing on a lot of military interventions over the recent years ?
anything that is an alternative to dirty oil dependence cant be a bad thing, another is the hydrogen car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle
remember when they went all feral and created that oil embargo back in the 70's ? i wonder if they ever stopped to think their actions then (when trusted with the worlds oil supply ) could have had a bearing on a lot of military interventions over the recent years ?
anything that is an alternative to dirty oil dependence cant be a bad thing, another is the hydrogen car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle
It isn't wasted, the solar contribution simply blunts the middle of day demand. Very good in countries where the demand during the day is for air-con. Problem with solar is that the conversion rate is pretty terrible, and the embodied energy in the panels is high. If you add on a bunch of batteries, then you are barely saving anything, and you're also losing 10%+ on each conversion.
At 19:00 on a winter's evening in the UK, if the wind is not blowing, our renewable options are pretty limited. That's just a fact of geography.
Using existing technologies in a more efficient fashion has (so far) contributed far more than any of the much touted green technologies.
At 19:00 on a winter's evening in the UK, if the wind is not blowing, our renewable options are pretty limited. That's just a fact of geography.
Using existing technologies in a more efficient fashion has (so far) contributed far more than any of the much touted green technologies.
I've just spent an interesting evening reading about fuel cells, current nuclear programmes, etc.
This article makes interesting reading - according to a european research agency, using current electricity generation techniques my GTA is slightly more environmentally friendly than a fuel cell car, so I'll be doing my bit for the environment when I get it running again :thumbup:
This article makes interesting reading - according to a european research agency, using current electricity generation techniques my GTA is slightly more environmentally friendly than a fuel cell car, so I'll be doing my bit for the environment when I get it running again :thumbup:
G
I'm seriously considering sticking a grand down for a deposit this week, we have charging points at work so its a no brainer for me as i won't even be paying to charge it :smoker:
I had 4 put in at one of our sites during refurb a couple of years ago. 2 each in the visitors' and employees' car parks. One smart chap bought an Ampera cheap and hasn't paid for fuel during the week since.
How about this for an interesting new idea:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13545-nanomaterial-turns-radiation-directly-into-electricity/
If combined with traditional betavoltaic technology (e.g. nuclear pacemaker batteries) it'd provide an extremely efficient, long lasting battery (12.5 years before needing replacement) with a very low risk of radiation exposure (beta radiation has a range of 15cm, is blocked by lead and is deflected by electric currents). Just imagine a Tesla powered by an array of these - you could drive it on average 175,000 miles before needing to worry about running out of fuel!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13545-nanomaterial-turns-radiation-directly-into-electricity/
If combined with traditional betavoltaic technology (e.g. nuclear pacemaker batteries) it'd provide an extremely efficient, long lasting battery (12.5 years before needing replacement) with a very low risk of radiation exposure (beta radiation has a range of 15cm, is blocked by lead and is deflected by electric currents). Just imagine a Tesla powered by an array of these - you could drive it on average 175,000 miles before needing to worry about running out of fuel!
It's all sounding quite promising.
I have been using the bus to work this week. There is, or maybe was a long term interest. I fancy something quite different for daily use. I've always fancied a Maserati 3200/4200's and lately Maserati QP's. Older cars sub £15k. Thing is I probably can't fully justify to myself the high fuel costs for general use. It eats into other money a bit more than I would like.
Also thought about a possibly more reliable 911. Anyway the idea was to use the bus some of the time to offset the cost. Even thought about doing my bike test and buying a bike (though it would end up being a Ducati :lol
.
Maybe, just maybe that 'different' could be a Tesla. I'm not doing it yet but when the time comes I might be swayed.
Two buses I use. One is hybrid but I'm not certain how much is electric. When the bus stops the engine stops and when it starts off for the first few metres it uses the electric motor/s and then the ICE kicks in. I guess it makes some difference and looks good being a 'hybrid'
I have been using the bus to work this week. There is, or maybe was a long term interest. I fancy something quite different for daily use. I've always fancied a Maserati 3200/4200's and lately Maserati QP's. Older cars sub £15k. Thing is I probably can't fully justify to myself the high fuel costs for general use. It eats into other money a bit more than I would like.
Also thought about a possibly more reliable 911. Anyway the idea was to use the bus some of the time to offset the cost. Even thought about doing my bike test and buying a bike (though it would end up being a Ducati :lol
.Maybe, just maybe that 'different' could be a Tesla. I'm not doing it yet but when the time comes I might be swayed.
Two buses I use. One is hybrid but I'm not certain how much is electric. When the bus stops the engine stops and when it starts off for the first few metres it uses the electric motor/s and then the ICE kicks in. I guess it makes some difference and looks good being a 'hybrid'
In ludicrous mode the Tesla will leave the Masers, Porsches and most Ferraris standing at the traffic light grand prix and would even give a Ducati a run for it's money, so rather a good option for a 'green' alternative :thumbup:
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