Tesla cars

The Junk Drawer is for those Off Topical discussions where we can ask questions of the community that we feel might have the ability to help out.

Moderator: Harold_V

User avatar
tornitore45
Posts: 2077
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: Tesla cars

Post by tornitore45 »

Around Austin TX Tesla cars are are pretty common. However in Austin you often see, Maserati, Ferrari, a few Bentley.
Nothing wrong with Elon Musk in my book.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
User avatar
SteveHGraham
Posts: 7788
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:55 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Tesla cars

Post by SteveHGraham »

Former Coral Gables resident here. Teslas are EVERYWHERE. Common as dirt.

Is the Tesla a success? Well, Mr. Musk is extremely successful. In order to say that, I have to define his mission. His mission was to make Elon Musk very rich. He has done that.

You don't have to make a successful product in order to be a success. You come up with a product. You incorporate. You sell stock. You pay yourself a big salary, which is not refundable. Then if things go badly, you're insulated from liability, and you stay rich. This is what Arianna Huffington did when she created The Huffington Post, which doesn't make a profit. She paid herself, sold the company, and bailed out. She has her millions and doesn't care what happens to the website. The business itself appears to be a failure, but she's sitting pretty.

Is the Tesla itself successful? I don't know. I have read that Tesla cars run on government subsidies, not electricity. If this is the case, then I am not impressed.

I think the cars are stupid in their current form. They cost a lot, and you can forget about taking one on long trips. The web is full of Tesla fanbois who live to enter comment threads and claim Teslas are already perfect, and they cite the increasing number of Tesla charging stations. My response: a few stations in areas like Beverly Hills and Greenwich, Connecticut do not constitute a meaningful infrastructure, and besides, they still take over an hour to charge. That's totally useless except for eccentric people who think sitting at recharging stations for at least an hour a day is fun.

I would not want a Tesla right now, but let's face it: electric cars will eventually win. Sooner or later, we will have the technology, and it will be very nice to have super-reliable, low-maintenance cars that do 0-60 in 4 seconds. Electricity is good. If it weren't, our factories would be full of machines that run on gasoline.

The gas-powered car is already dead as a street drag vehicle. An ordinary Tesla can mop the floor with a Dodge Demon. The Tesla is a luxury car, while the Dodge is a sad, gutted drag machine which would be unbearable to drive every day. Think how badly gas cars will do when electric manufacturers start making performance models. Sooner or later, Tesla will hire better engineers and make a car that can go around corners. Look out, Porsche.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
User avatar
GlennW
Posts: 7284
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:23 am
Location: Florida

Re: Tesla cars

Post by GlennW »

To clarify my first post, in my opinion, Tesla is the leader in electric cars and battery technology, not the big 3.
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
User avatar
Steggy
Posts: 1973
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:19 pm
Location: JB Pritzker’s Hellhole
Contact:

Re: Tesla cars

Post by Steggy »

NP317 wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:44 pm I suspect that car fire statistics show that gas fueled cars burn far more often that battery powered cars.
Gasoline-powered cars vastly outnumber electrics of all makes. You'd have to qualify burned-up car statistics by percentage of type to have a meaningful discussion about which is prone to auto-ignition.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Music isn’t at all difficult.  All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!  :D
earlgo
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:38 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Tesla cars

Post by earlgo »

From the lengthy article in Wickopedia: The Rauch & Lang Carriage Company was an American electric automobile manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905 to 1920 and Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, from 1920-1932.[1]
1916 Rauch_And_Lang J-6.JPG
1916 Rauch_And_Lang J-6.JPG (20.91 KiB) Viewed 8182 times
Worth the read if you are interested.

--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Tesla cars

Post by SteveM »

SteveHGraham wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:39 pmElectricity is good. If it weren't, our factories would be full of machines that run on gasoline.
The difference is portability.

A stationary factory can have an unlimited power supply just by running wires to it.

A car has to bring its power source with it.

How large a battery pack would it take to replicate the 500-mile range with a refueling time of about 2 minutes that I have in my current car?

Steve
User avatar
NP317
Posts: 4551
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Tesla cars

Post by NP317 »

All good info and comments above.

Fortunately, battery technology is changing and improving at a stunning pace.
There are at least two new chemistries being developed now that will provide large increases in energy density, with lower volitility and chance of flames.
And a new generation of capacitor storage is equally maturing. They will provide faster recharging, too.
I am enjoying watching these technologies mature. No boredom.

But I still like steam better...
~RN
John Hasler
Posts: 1852
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:05 pm
Location: Elmwood, Wisconsin

Re: Tesla cars

Post by John Hasler »

As energy densities increase it is going to be very hard to eliminate all possibility of RUD (Rapid Unplanned Discharge), and a RUD will become more and more like an explosion, or at least a very fast fire. Using totally non-flammable materials doesn't solve this.

Batteries also need to withstand more charge/discharge cycles.
User avatar
warmstrong1955
Posts: 3568
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:05 pm
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Tesla cars

Post by warmstrong1955 »

NP317 wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:02 am All good info and comments above.

Fortunately, battery technology is changing and improving at a stunning pace.
There are at least two new chemistries being developed now that will provide large increases in energy density, with lower volitility and chance of flames.
And a new generation of capacitor storage is equally maturing. They will provide faster recharging, too.
I am enjoying watching these technologies mature. No boredom.

But I still like steam better...
~RN
Pretty much sums it up....we ain't there yet! It's all about energy storage, the same problem as with solar power.
And yeah.....the changes and new types of batteries are coming one after the other. At this rate, you get something state of the art this year, it may be obsolete next year. I was working on a battery powered LHD drivetrain design about a year ago, and the batteries were changing as I got information on them. It is s stunning pace.

So again....I'll watch....but I've no interest in buying. That includes hybrid cars too. Those combine all the problems of a typical gas burner, with additional problems with batteries. motors & more electrical & electronic gear. The more complicated it is, the more it will break. (Consult Mr. Murphy)
I'm fine with, like anything else, letting other people debug the things for the rest of us.

:)
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Tesla cars

Post by SteveM »

I think that the proper use of electric in motor vehicles is as a booster for the fuel engine. Rather than a 250 hp gas engine, you might be able to get away with a 100 hp engine and an electric motor assist. As electric motors have full torque RIGHT NOW and not 5 seconds from now, and electric motor of a certain HP has the "kick" of a lot more gasoline HP, you don't need a HP for HP trade to get the same performance.

Steve
RMinMN
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 8:50 am

Re: Tesla cars

Post by RMinMN »

SteveM wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:29 am
SteveHGraham wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:39 pmElectricity is good. If it weren't, our factories would be full of machines that run on gasoline.
The difference is portability.

A stationary factory can have an unlimited power supply just by running wires to it.

A car has to bring its power source with it.

How large a battery pack would it take to replicate the 500-mile range with a refueling time of about 2 minutes that I have in my current car?

Steve
Most people don't drive 500 miles in a normal day, more like 20 to 40. The electric car will be great for this commuting. When you need to do the 500 miles in a day drive you rent a conventional car. Put the cost of ownership on someone else.
Magicniner
Posts: 532
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 4:40 am

Re: Tesla cars

Post by Magicniner »

NP317 wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:44 pm I suspect that car fire statistics show that gas fueled cars burn far more often that battery powered cars.
And yes, SpaceX appears to be our leading space launch company, bar none.
More power to 'm.
~RN

But when viewed as a percentage of electric cars in use what do the stats look like?
Post Reply