>>>> afaik he is also the one behind the tesla roadster.

>>That's dumb !!! :-)

> An electric car is a dumb thing to do? Doesn't sound like a comment from
> you, Russell. From the info I have seen the Tesla Roadster is a decent bit
> of technology - just somewhat expensive.

There was a "!!!" there.
The technology is indeed somewhat decent.
No rocket science - electric motor, lightweight materials, grunty electric 
drive, fragile gearbox, ... .
You could almost buy the parts at Macmaster Carr. Almost.

But.
See my previous comments on the Tesla in late July (pasted below).
Some electric cars may not be dumb, but a super performance one that chews 
out gearboxes due to its low end torque, uses a battery that costs a large 
(and undisclosed) percentage of the cost of the car,  achieves an 
only-usable range by fielding an ultra light-weight vehicle, and ...

It's a rich [wo]man's toy. Great fun to play with (and I'd love to play with 
one) but not meant to be a viable alternative to 'real' vehicles. It does 
act as an exemplar of what electric traction can do for you (and for 
gearboxes :-) ). [Probably closer to realism than a Maclaren F1 though 
:-) ].



        Russell


___________

It's a dream.
53kWh of battery capacity.
If that 200 miles is at, say, 66 mph then it takes 3 hours
so you have an average of 53/3 =~ 18 kW available.
Do it at 50 mPh and it's an average of about 13 kW. That is,
apparently, adequate for a super modified Lotus Elise
lugging who knows what value of LiIon cells around but it's
far from practical. And the ~ $US100,000 price tag gives an
idea of what it takes to achieve that result at present.

I'm not suggesting that Hydrogen fuelled cars are much more
practical at present. Nor much less :-). But as an example
of what could be achieved practically long term I think
Hydrogen has the inside running at present. LiIon's energy
density compared to hydrocarbon fuels is utterly abysmal.
And its cost is attrocious. And its longevity is laughable.
Choose any three.

Now, if they were talking about Vanadium redox batteries ...
:-) !!!

____________

And:

> "Dream car" doesn't mean doesn't exist - just means 'stupid'
> that it exists :-) - even if I'd want some of the dream cars
> around.

> You can also buy a Hydrogen fuelled car. Odds are that for
> $100k you could have a car AND your own refulling station.
> Not that that makes it practical. 

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