My counsin got his Honda S2000 last year a few weeks after I got my Fit - he loves the car but then his wife was looking for a new car to replace her older Honda. She ended up getting a Preius which he was not too happy with because he really tried to talk her into a Fit - He has been research electric cars and is now really interested in Tesla Motors. I have never heard of it but went to their web site: Tesla Motors This car is a little two seater but it runs on electric. The thing can go 0 to 60 in 3.9 has 13,000 RPM and will get 135 MPG - wow! It can go 220 miles per charge - what do you guys think about that - oh yell - it sells for like $100,000.00 Yikes!

Cat

 

Well, if gas keeps rising in price like it has been, this little car will pay for itself in, like, 40 years.:D

But it's a step in the right direction.

 

well the thing is this. it will cost you electricity to recharge it. electricity is also expensive and right now in america most of our electricity is coming from burning coal which is worse for our environment than our cars burning fuel. so is it better? not really. is it cheaper? not really considering the 100k pricetag and the skyrocketing electric bill you will have. ill just stick to my fit.

 

Go to Autoblog.com, do a search of Tesla Motors, and you will find out all the information that's available about them.

The car is basically a Lotus Elise with batteries and an electric motor.

 

very very true. i like how tons of people drive hybrids and think that they are capton planet but dont even realize that a factory had to built to produce certain parts for hybrid cars. which just causes more pollution.
like dysprosium which is a rare earth element needed to make hybrid engines. 95% of the worlds rare earth elements are mined in china and domestic chinese consumption is supposed to consume chinas entire supply by 2012. that doesnt sound to good for the environment now does it? also down the road we are going to have to with disposing of hyrbid car batteries which supposedly arent toxic but i can garuntee that when we start disposing of them problems will occur.

what you said about the 100k price tag wont be applicable for long. as soon as these cars hit the market the price is going to shoot downward. as with any new technology why should everyone race to build it when its going to cost tons of money and not make that much profit when everyone can wait for tesla to put it out, then rip it apart see what makes it tick and then redesign with cheaper parts and a cheaper process.

this car seems nice but i am waiting for this to be released to the public...
::MOLLER::

just like the tesla the price tag is ridiculous and there is going to be alot of baggage that comes with something like this but as soon as it is in the hands of the public it is going to become way cheaper.

 

The Tesla is a neat project, but it is a waste of money--it's a toy for the rich.

But it DOES reduce pollution and saves gas money. Electric motors are much more efficient than gas. The amount of energy required to move an electric car is much less than a gas powered car, because less power is lost in the system.

There are other, less expensive, and more environmental options coming (the Aptera, the GM Volt, the Mitsubishi i MiEV, to name a few) that will actually save us a TON of money.

The Volt is plugged in, and can travel the first 40 miles on all-electricity, it then uses gasoline for the rest of the trip. It depends on how much you pay for electricity, but I would be able to travel that 40 miles (which is my commute to work and back) for only $0.56!!!!!!! That same trip would cost me $4.34 in gas in the Fit.

The Aptera is even more energy efficient--I would be able to drive that 40 miles for about $0.10!

Electric cars are coming--no doubt in my mind, and they are superior in almost every way. Less pollution (even if your grid is powered by coal), less gasoline, less maintenance, overall lower cost of ownership--all we need is cheaper and better batteries!

 

the more demand, the more the cost. more gas cars = higher cost of gasoline. more ethanol cars = higher cost of corn, higher cost of beef, higher cost of food. more diesel cars = higher cost of diesel.

 

they are building the tesla cars around here (in the bay area) ive seen one driving around. they are really good looking cars but silent cars scare me.

 

Neat design, cars like this very well may be the future... I could buy allot of gas for my fit & extra engines...and have alot of $$ left over, though.

~Rob


Here's an angle that emphasizes its resemblance to the elise:

A Blossom From Lotus: British Car-Maker To Build Tesla Electric Roadster

 

The info I have read on electric cars is that it costs roughly two cents a mile to operate them. Will your electric bill go up? Sure. But with no gas bill it's worth it. Is it better for the environment? Not necessarily. It's a shift in energy sources from oil, which we don't have a lot of, to coal which we are the Saudi Arabia of.

Personally it's all about independence from foreign energy sources and environment second. I'd drive a Tesla.

 

[quote=Cat;334254]My counsin got his Honda S2000 last year a few weeks after I got my Fit - he loves the car but then his wife was looking for a new car to replace her older Honda. She ended up getting a Preius which he was not too happy with because he really tried to talk her into a Fit - He has been research electric cars and is now really interested in Tesla Motors. I have never heard of it but went to their web site: Tesla Motors This car is a little two seater but it runs on electric. The thing can go 0 to 60 in 3.9 has 13,000 RPM and will get 135 MPG - wow! It can go 220 miles per charge - what do you guys think about that - oh yell - it sells for like $100,000.00 Yikes!

Oh yeah, their claims aren't verified yet. And they are in a big lawsuit with their fabricators who they say "stole their technology". And oh yeah, the car though based on the Lotus, hasn't passed fed structural requirements yet. If you have easy access to a library check the stories in Automotive News.

 

Would you rather have the high energy consumption in a central place, like a factory, where process and controls can be improved, or would you have it distributed across millions of free-range cars, many of which convene in dense areas, combining their emissions into smog that is detrimental to everyone's health? Similarly, the fewer the dirty energy producers, the easier it will be to make change.

Dysprosium has a lot of applications, including nuclear energy, lasers, manufacturing CDs, and sensors. This is a specious argument. Similarly, nickel mining out of Sudbury, Ontario and its (now recuperating) environmental impact was happening long before HEVs.

NiMH batteries have value in their recycling. Also, don't forget that the batteries in HEVs have a far longer life than the cells used in consumer goods.

I'm no Captain Planet, but at least I'm not sitting on the fence, heckling the solutions as they go by.

 

heck yea! silent cars scare me too.

 

I saw this car at a car show in Long Beach. It looked really sweet, but I can't afford that. Plus, I live in an apartment, so where am I going to plug it? I agree that electricity is very expensive. So I did the math: I usually spend $150/ month for gas. For the price I bought the Fit and 46 years of spending $150/ month for gas would be equivalent to buying a Telsa excluding cost to recharge it.