Would you buy an all electric car? How about this one?

[GreenTea]

Q & A
http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

http://www.teslamotors.com/styling/body.php

"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, it has a top speed of 130 mph. It has a range of 250 miles, goes from zero to 60 in about four seconds with so much torque....

Simply put, it is the most flagrant proof yet that we have been brutally, savagely misled.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.....

See, they lie. And they've been lying for years, decades. They lie about how difficult it is to replace the internal combustion engine. They lie about how unfeasible it is to eliminate auto emissions without sacrificing real performance (the 130-mph Roadster's lithium-ion battery system is estimated to be twice as efficient as a Prius and three times as efficient as a hydrogen fuel cell. Not to mention Tesla's fabulous solar option).

But they lie, most of all, about how much we still require foreign oil, because these billion-dollar corporations claim they can't possibly afford to develop sufficiently advanced technology in your lifetime to create a 100-percent emissions-free, oil-free, ultragreen vehicle that still has all the comforts and performance of a regular car.

Nice pipe dream, they say. Here, have a bloated SUV, they say. Sorry about all your dead kids in Iraq, they add, smirking like a chimp and blowing their noses into a big pile of Halliburton profits.

Did you already know? Did part of you suspect that we could be, if we were directing our country's massive resources at all correctly, already mass-producing the technology that could quickly wean us from our dependence on foreign petroleum?

Did you already calculate that if even a fraction of the $300 billion -- a truly staggering amount -- we've wasted on BushCo's failed and disgusting war could have gone to revolutionizing our nation's energy infrastructure (like, say, funding large-scale development of the Roadster's technology), instead of annihilating a pip-squeak nonthreatening nation over its oil reserves while simultaneously serving as the most successful terrorist-recruitment poster in world history, the United States could be considered the epicenter of integrity and invention once again? Of course you did. " http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2006/08/02/notes080206.DTL&feed=rss.mmorford



http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

[Donnachaidh]

1. beautiful cars -- but wouldn't work for us

We use our vehicle for deliveries. Looks slick as hell, but useless to people with families.

[GreenTea]

2. Point is, it can be done for ALL types of vehicles...as they've lie to us

and told us no way...keep buying our oil & gas and polluting the air you breath and kill off the planet with gobal-warming...We don't care, we're lying and getting even more filthy rich!!!

[eleny]

4. You don't think they could develop something for you in time?

If money and brains were put to the task - don't you think it could be accomplished? I do. It's probably a hop from a two seater to a family vehicle.

[rzemanfl]

3. Only time in my life I ever really wanted an $80,000 car. Couldn't

afford it if it were half that much.

[LaPera]

6. Of course they can-and they will-and the price will go down!!

[madokie]

5. in my case this is a proof in concept, in time many variables will be

offered, one day one just for me.

[liberal N proud]

7. Could use it for local diving, - What a beautiful automobile

It would get back and forth to work for a week. But I need an long range car for my road trips, wish it would go 500 / 800 miles on a charge.

[Warpy]

8. When they come out with a station wagon

I can haul fibre and equipment in, then I'll consider it.

I know they had to do the muscle car first, but jeez. They could probably extend the range if they didn't work to extend the penis with that thing.

The price tag will fall, of course.

[Robbien]

9. People in Chicago have to wait another year for this. Darn

I've been looking at Smart Cars, but this appears to fit better into out livestyle.

Maybe we will wait.

[lisainmilo]

10. What a Beauty!

Hell ya I would buy it! Let the patents begin... unfortunately the corporate greedmongers have sucked up most patents. Seems to me if these morons would allow vehicles like this we could re-generate the economy... It is a beautiful car! Don't forget to watch 60 minutes this Sunday....story on greenhouse effect.

[TwentyFive]

11. Sign me up - to buy the car AND work for the company.

Few people can afford 80 large for 2 seater -but- this car out does an excellent job of eliminating the stereotype that electric cars aren't fun to drive and look at.

[B Calm]

12. I like the car, but not the price tag. Damn why don't all auto companies

make these?

[DinahMoeHum]

13. I hear that Tesla is also working on two other proto models. . .

one for about $45,000 and one for about half that.

There are gonna be some kinks to iron out as these cars become more widely available, and as they become more widely available, the price will drop. The quality will also improve as the various bugs and kinks are solved.

So, I urge patience. It may be available and affordable sooner than we think.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1807986

(snip)
Almost any new technology initially has high unit cost before it can be optimized and this is no less true for electric cars. The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model.

Without giving away too much, I can say that the second model will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable. In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car.
(snip)


:bounce:

[rzemanfl]

22. If the government would support this research it would move

quicker. It could be funded with a graduated tax on gas-powered vehicle use based on distance traveled annually and vehicle weight.

[jilln]

14. Go see Who Killed the Electric Car for some answers...

and there are other options, such as the Prius conversion kit which allows you 20 miles pure electric (which fits many people's needs, especially if they could drive up to 20 to work and then plug it in there) and then automatically kicks into hybrid mode, working like a normal Prius.

[LaPera]

15. Exactly...I want to see the film, ("Who Killed the Electric Car") Oil ...

companies & the auto industry killing a great need, and a threat to their profits.

Screw the environment, real auto efficiency and the cost effect to consumers.

[cynatnite]

16. Perfect for when we retire and don't have to chauffeur anymore

Those cars look great! I'd buy one if it were feasible.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

17. Sure, if I win the lottery. n/t

[GreenTea]

18. Right now...But obviously the technology is here...which despite the

oil companies best efforts have tried to hide & never wanted us to see, with years of distortion....However, 130 mph - 0 to sixty in 4.0 seconds, no emissions, style, WOW...and SUV (and any other popular vehicle(s) they choose) can and will come close to the same...

[Freedom_Aflaim]

19. Nice car for $100k

Now I just need $100,000

[GreenTea]

20. Probably less than 80K - Still, its a much needed start - Without the

help of our ignoring government and oil & auto industry's help...Ironically, old republican CA Guv Arnold has ordered one....To join his Hummer fleet? WTF!

[Dover]

21. The other thread >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=60821&mesg_id=60821

[Jamastiene]

23. I definitely would if I had the money.

I don't want any more blood on my hands than I already have. I'm just poor right now and can't get a brand :spank: new electric car yet. Later, I plan on it, though.