Smokin' New Electric Car from Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs (Tesla Motors)

[Dover]

Oooooobaby! Move over Detroit. The future's so bright you gotta wear shades.



Introducing the Tesla Roadster >>> http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1


Tesla Motors says its Tesla Roadster can accelerate, brake and handle like a high-end sports car. The company, in fact, claims the car can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in four seconds.

The big difference is that it runs completely on electricity. It plugs into the wall and is not a hybrid. The battery gives it a range of 250 miles.

"We have made a sports car that is really a sports car," said CEO Martin Eberhard. "It is first and fundamentally a driver's car."

A public unveiling of the car is slated for July 12 in Santa Monica, Calif., at which buyers will also be able to sign up to buy the first cars that come off the line.

The secretive start-up, founded in 2003, has also attracted some big-name investors. Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page have put money into the company, as have Elon Musk and Jeff Skoll of eBay fame, VantagePoint Ventures and Draper, Fisher Jurvetson. In all, Tesla has attracted $40 million in venture investing...cont'd

http://news.com.com/Electric+sports+car+ready+to+challenge+Porsche/2100-11389_3-6080269.html

Story on NPR Marketplace:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/07/20/PM200607208.html


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And here's a competitor...




German start-up Loremo AG presented its super-efficient Loremo LS coupe that costs only 11,000 Euro and features a mind-blowing 157MPG mileage. That's 1.5l per 100km. So, the car is about two times cheaper and three times more fuel-efficient than Toyota Prius hybrid that costs $26,000 and runs only 55 miles on one gallon of gasoline.

The secret is quite simple. The new Loremo LS, which is scheduled for production in 2009, weighs only 450 kilograms (that's about 990 pounds) and is powered by a tiny 20hp 2-cylinder turbodiesel mated with a 5-speed manual transmission. The diesel is powerful enough to provide the car with 160 km/h top speed and it takes about 20 second to accelerate Loremo LS from zero to 100 km/h. Too slow for you? Well, Loremo AG plans to make a sister car, Loremo GT, that will satisfy your need for speed.


http://autoreview.belproject.com/item/19

http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2006/03/23/billionaire_green_entrepreneurs_the_sweet_loremo_sfs_cleantech_competition.html

Other Green Designs:
http://www.vestaldesign.com/blog/2006/07/tesla-motors-unveiled.html


Silicon Valley racing ahead with electric cars

Thursday, June 29, 2006; Posted: 2:15 p.m. EDT (18:15 GMT)



SAN CARLOS, California (AP) -- Like many Silicon Valley engineers, Martin Eberhard loves cars, especially fast ones. But the self-described "closet gearhead" didn't feel comfortable buying a hot rod that guzzled gas from the Middle East or some other troubled region.

So three years ago, Eberhard and friend Marc Tarpenning launched Tesla Motors Inc. Their goal: to design a sports car that would go as fast as a Ferrari or Porsche, but run on electricity.

With about 80 employees, Tesla just raised $40 million from high-profile investors including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. It plans to start selling its first model next year.

"I'm not the only person that would like to buy a car that's beautiful and fun to drive but also remain on the moral high ground," said Eberhard, 45, who sold his previous company, electronic book maker NuvoMedia, for $187 million to Gemstar/TV Guide International in 2000. "None of the energy that goes into an electric car comes from the Middle East."

Silicon Valley thinks it can do what Detroit could not -- create a thriving business selling electric cars. In the 1990s, General Motors and other automakers spent billions to develop battery-powered vehicles, but they flopped because most couldn't travel more than 100 miles before having to recharge...cont'd

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/06/29/electric.cars.ap/index.html

[benburch]

1. But it is NOT A GREEN VEHICLE.

Battery recycling is a cruel joke.

[don954]

2. not really

were up to 95% recyclability and I was just reading about a 0 waste process that involves all solvents and chemicals being filtered and reused. Its a much cleaner tech than an I.C.E.

[benburch]

3. The reality is quite different.

Batteries are shipped to third world nations and "recycled" using the most primitive of means, poisoning local watersheds.

Yes, you CAN do this in a green fashion, but no, that is not what is being done at all.

[greenman3610]

4. Ok, so that can be fixed with a law, right?

[Massacure]

5. Not until we get rid of Republicans and Diebold.

[benburch]

7. Maybe.

NAFTA means that our law might not matter at all.

[krkaufman]

20. Agreed. I don't think it's necessary to wait for....

... a *perfect* recycling process before introducing electric vehicles. We *do* need to ensure that they *can* be recycled (cradle-to-cradle-ish tech), but shouldn't penalize the car producers for failings of the recycling industry.

[don954]

10. I googled for problems with recycling programs and coudnt

find any articles on waste. Please let me know the source you are getting this info from.

[LSK]

25. then the techonology itself can be done correctly

So batteries in itself is not the problem, it is getting companies to dispose of them properly which is the problem.

[IDemo]

8. The 'Tesla' uses lithium-ion batteries, not lead acid

"The Tesla Roadster is powered by 6,831 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries -- the same cells that run a laptop computer."

[benburch]

9. Have you looked at how those are recycled? nt

[IDemo]

14. I also googled the issue, and I didn't find a problem with LI-ion

The batteries are basically chopped up and incinerated ("pyrolysis") to recover the metallic content. If anything, the real ecological negative sounds like the energy required. It sounds as if most of this is being done by facilities within the US and Europe, particularly the UK.

http://www.buchmann.ca/Article16-Page1.asp
http://www.electrochem.org/dl/ma/202/pdfs/0068.PDF
http://www.cea.fr/gb/institutions/Clefs44/an-clefs44/clefs4474a.html

NEMA: "Spent consumer lithium batteries are not hazardous wastes because they are neither toxic nor reactive. Consumers routinely dispose of these batteries commingled with other garbage in the municipal solid waste stream. Spent consumer lithium batteries disposed in this manner do not pose environmental or safety hazards. Thus, there is no need to require the collection and recycling of spent consumer lithium batteries for the purposes of environmental protection."

[Massacure]

22. Lithium is quite rare on Earth, would there be enough to use it in cars?

[NNadir]

23. I think Skids did a calculation some time ago showing that theoretically

there could be enough lithium in response to one of my challenges.

Basically he showed that my objection on this score was overstated: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=50249

Whether there is enough lithium as a practical matter is another question.

[arenean]

6. Reasoning behind it....

Hmmm......interesting, but no mention of climate change. Just that he didn't want the energy to come from the Middle East.
I suppose if the end result is the same, it doesn't matter if his decision wasn't based on environmental considerations.

[Pierzin]

11. Reduce Ourt Dependance on Oil

As long is it reduces Americas dependance on oil and helps prevent or at least slow global warming, it is a step in the right direction.

[NNadir]

12. It's definitely better than having people in this market buy cars

with twelve cylinders that get twelve miles per gallon.

These are cars that scream, "Look at me!" If we can get people on this level of thinking to be even a little bit more responsible, it helps. It would be even better if they drop an extra twenty or thirty thousand to fuel the things with solar cells on the roofs of their McMansions, depending on what the administration in gated communities allows.

[Ready4Change]

13. Telsa is looking into providing a "solar option."

I read on their website they are looking into 2 ways of providing a solar option. The first would be that they would hook you up with a local solar installer, and put in place enough solar panels on your property to cover your expected milage, plus a bit, so that you'd at least be getting your recharges completely from solar, and feeding any excess back into the grid.

The second option is to hook you up with a local green energy supplier, so that your recharge energy comes from their solar or wind generation. (Many areas already allow people to choose what source gets paid for their energy usage.)

No comment on how many panels or what kind of battery storage would be needed for this. Lacking such info, they might be planning for you to feed energy into the grid during daytime, and draw energy from the grid to charge up the car at night. (Buying electricy is often cheaper at night, anyway.)

The whole thing is interesting, and the car looks to be very fun. If I had the money I'd so be there.

[NNadir]

15. Well the battery for the system is, of course, the car itself.

Actually, I'm kind of hoping this thing takes off.

I've never been a sports car kind of guy and never will be, but let's face it, the per capita environmental cost of wealthy people is enormously high. These are the sort of people who believe in 500 watt tube stereo amplifiers and believe that they must keep the tubes warm at all times or they might face some imperceptible extra distortion while they play some rare Bob Dylan bootleg recorded by a high hippie in 1965.

If we can make their conspicuous consumption somewhat less odious, I'm all for it. It may be that they don't actually charge the car during the day, since they're more likely to be driving the thing, but if they charge it on weekends, it's a good deal.

The batteries in this car are lithium batteries. I believe that there is more impetus for recycling these batteries on economic grounds, and note that while lithium is toxic, it is far less toxic than lead.

[Ready4Change]

16. Car might be driven during peak sun hours.

But I had an idea for solar golf carts. Many golf courses use only electrics. The golfers are used to returning them to the garages and plugging them in anyway. Cover the roof of the garage with PV panels, and use the cart batteries for storage.

Plus, put a single PV panel on each carts roof (with a protective plexiglass cover for errant golf ball protection) and, should the batteries get depleted out on the course, you've got the ability to limp home.

As you say, get the affluent big energy consumers into green energy now. They can afford it.

[NNadir]

18. Well let's look at it this way...

If they end up installing the solar PV system, it will operate whether they charge their car, or run their stereos, their computers or their air conditioner. Still the energy will be there, and that's a good thing.

The car represents a way for them to add a solar system to the "look at me" mystique. Electricity is available from many green sources. If the car sucks up the wind, so much the better. If they have solar PV systems, so much the better. If they live in an area served by nuclear, so much the better.

One of the things that helped the Prius was when Cameron Diaz, the actress, bought one. That instantaneously made the car "sexy." She is wealthy and I think she did a good thing with her wealth and her fame, promote an environmentally more responsible product. This car, the lithium battery electric car, appeals to the most egregrious consumers in the only language they understand, prestige.

[Dover]

17. Nicola Tesla's "Magic Car".

When I first read the article about the new Tesla Roadster, I didn't know about this historic connection and it's namesake:



Did Nikola Tesla really run a touring sedan on free energy?


July 11, 2006

In the summer of 1931, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current and the holder of some 1200 other U.S. patents, along with his nephew Peter Savo, installed a box on the front seat of a brand new Pierce-Arrow touring car at the company factory in Buffalo, New York. The box is said to have been 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high. Out of it protruded a 1.8 meter long antenna and two ¼ inch metal rods. Inside the box was reputed to be some dozen vacuum tubes -- 70-L-7 type -- and other electrical parts. Two wire leads ran from the box to a newly-installed 40 inch long, 30 inch diameter AC motor that replaced the gasoline engine.

As the story goes, Tesla inserted the two metal rods and announced confidently, "We now have power" and then proceeded to drive the car for a week, "often at speeds of up to 90 mph." One account says the motor developed 1,800 rpm and got fairly hot when operating, requiring a cooling fan. The "converter" box is said to have generated enough electrical energy to also power the lights in a home.

The car is said to have ended up on a farm 20 miles outside of Buffalo, "not far from Niagra Falls."

cont'd

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x22319

[krkaufman]

19. Think where GM might be, had they....

.... combined their EV1 effort with a Tesla-like modification of their Corvette? Alas...

[Dover]

21. Mark Morford : How much has Big Auto lied?

How much has Big Auto lied? Take a drive in this four-wheel electric orgasm, and find out
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Wednesday, August 2, 2006




Oh my God do they ever lie.

All of them: Big Auto, Big Oil, BushCo, Pennzoil and Havoline and Saudi Arabia and crusty Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and the oil lobbyists and lackey scientists working for the Department of Energy and all the rest, on down the line and right up to your garage door.

Lie lie lie lie lie like evil little ratdogs because they are, after all, corporate greedmonkeys and war profiteers and duplicitous oil-sucking cretins (is that too polite?) who would eat their own mother's heart for a notable uptick in share/barrel price. Nevertheless, it's always a bit of a jolt when you see it all up close and personal and they basically rub it in your face.

Just look. Look over here. It's a new sports car. It's a new sports car that looks deliciously like a Lotus Elise and reportedly drives like Michael Schumacher's wet dream and goes from zero to 60 in about four seconds with so much torque and freakishly instantaneous power it makes the gods swoon.

This car, it has a top speed of 130 mph. It has a range of 250 miles. It also has GPS navigation and air-conditioning and air bags and it surely will come with a very badass sound system. It has heated seats and (I presume) iPod integration and Bluetooth. You know, just like a real car.

Oh, and by the way, this car? It's completely silent. It is 100-percent emissions-free. Doesn't even have a tailpipe. Because it has no internal combustion engine of any kind.

It's not a hybrid. It's pure electric, powered by a "3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor," which I'm sure is rather impressive if you know what the hell it means. But it means one thing for certain: The only oil in this car is in the buffing fluid for the leather seats.

It's called the Tesla Roadster, unveiled just recently to a gaggle of giddy auto peeps in Santa Monica and coming to an elite showroom in about a year for around the price of a Porsche 911.

..cont'd

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2006/08/02/notes080206.DTL&feed=rss.mmorford

[LSK]

24. any ideas on how much these cars will cost???

Also, how practical would it be to attach a solar panel of some kind onto it to help charge it when parked outside during the day??

[redqueen]

26. I could have sworn I saw $26 K mentioned, but that seems awfully low.

I could go back and read again, but... :P

[NNadir]

27. I think the price is around $80,000.

[redqueen]

28. oops i was thinkin about the Prius

:dunce:

[NNadir]

29. Well, I wish it were true.

I think it would be popular at $26,000.

[Dover]

33. The article says that the high price will come down once it gets

established and manufactured in larger quantities. That's how it usually works.

[LSK]

31. they should make a "slow" one and sell it for us normal people

Its a perfect vehicle for someone to just drive to work and back home.

[NNadir]

32. My understanding is that the plug-in Prius will so function.

[Viking12]

30. $80K-100K today. would drop in time