Favorite E. V.?

[Jeremy Driscoll]

What's your favorite Electric Car?

I don't have.

But if I did have to pick one based just on price, so far the cheapest one I can find in the USA is the Smart car that is for under 13k and is only a two seater but can do average 90 miles a day, and can charge at home in only 7 hours for a full charge, which means that is just a little over 2 hours for every 30 miles when not fully charged. And for a couple thou more you can get a charger thing to charge in an hour at a charging station which seems like a good deal too. I have never bought from a dealer before in my life, but I think with the government incentives I heard about that it could mark a few grand off the price, and if I am correct that is my best bet to get a car in the us in wa that is when all said and done both the cheapest out there and when all said and done after the government is also under 10k total, or for lease for under 150 a month.

 

[placetime]

http://ebikes.ca/store/store_edgerunner.php

 

[Caligula]

Only electric I'd even bother looking at is the $ 150k Tesla Roadster Sport... and even then its an impractical 2 seater with no room for cargo.

Ill pass on paying a premium to go slower and for shorter distances.

 

[FrogBoy138]

Do you know the battery chemistry how volts what's the ah?

 

[CentiZen]

Ill pass on paying a premium to go slower and for shorter distances.

If we were talking about last generations electric cars, I'd agree with you. But Tesla has made some incredible headway on the electric car, and the conversation at this point has shifted from electric cars not having enough power, to electric cars having far to much.

The Tesla S (this is their $50,000 car, not the sports car) can go from 0 - 60mp/h in 4.2 seconds flat. That's their consumer grade vehicle - I'm not even talking about the sportscar. This is performance akin to a top of the line BMW; and it handily slaughters any vehicle in it's price range, even if you doubled the price. Same with top speed, where it can sustain 133mph. On a single charge, the smallest battery option will take you 230 miles of drive distance. Right now there is an argument going on about just how powerful these vehicles are, and how they should be limited or governed. I mean, this $50,000 vehicle can outrun police cars, and some departments are even purchasing Tesla S's as interceptors.

Now, it's true combustion cars are better for long range driving right now, as you can simply drive up to any gas station and fill your tank in a few minutes. But things are moving fast in that regard, and Tesla is starting to set up centers that you just drive your car too, and in 1 and a half minutes you have your battery exchanged for a freshly charged one at a fraction of the cost of filling a 60 liter tank. And even then, most people have no need for that kind of range. For city driving and even longer commutes, the Tesla has more than enough juice.

I get why it's not for everyone, but I think it's important for people to know that Tesla is making some really compelling electric vehicles that stand far out from the crowd of lackluster creations in the past. For the model S to be named motor trends car of the year speaks for itself.

Do you know the battery chemistry how volts what's the ah?

Tesla is currently using Lithium Cobalt Oxide cells custom manufactured by Panasonic in 18650 dimensions. They have some really interesting technology behind the pack, which includes individual cell balancing, load sharing and wear leveling.

The Tesla S pack is around 395v fully charged, and the smallest battery has a capacity of around 60kW/h's. They also have an 85kW/h option and are working on higher power density packs right now.

 

[Caligula]

If we were talking about last generations electric cars, I'd agree with you. But Tesla has made some incredible headway on the electric car, and the conversation at this point has shifted from electric cars not having enough power, to electric cars having far to much.

The Tesla S (this is their $50,000 car, not the sports car) can go from 0 - 60mp/h in 4.2 seconds flat. That's their consumer grade vehicle - I'm not even talking about the sportscar. This is performance akin to a top of the line BMW; and it handily slaughters any vehicle in it's price range, even if you doubled the price. Same with top speed, where it can sustain 133mph. On a single charge, the smallest battery option will take you 230 miles of drive distance. Right now there is an argument going on about just how powerful these vehicles are, and how they should be limited or governed. I mean, this $50,000 vehicle can outrun police cars, and some departments are even purchasing Tesla S's as interceptors.

Now, it's true combustion cars are better for long range driving right now, as you can simply drive up to any gas station and fill your tank in a few minutes. But things are moving fast in that regard, and Tesla is starting to set up centers that you just drive your car too, and in 1 and a half minutes you have your battery exchanged for a freshly charged one at a fraction of the cost of filling a 60 liter tank. And even then, most people have no need for that kind of range. For city driving and even longer commutes, the Tesla has more than enough juice.

I get why it's not for everyone, but I think it's important for people to know that Tesla is making some really compelling electric vehicles that stand far out from the crowd of lackluster creations in the past. For the model S to be named motor trends car of the year speaks for itself.



Tesla is currently using Lithium Cobalt Oxide cells custom manufactured by Panasonic in 18650 dimensions. They have some really interesting technology behind the pack, which includes individual cell balancing, load sharing and wear leveling.

The Tesla S pack is around 395v fully charged, and the smallest battery has a capacity of around 60kW/h's. They also have an 85kW/h option and are working on higher power density packs right now.

I think you are omitting and/or confusing a few points.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/design
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_S

The $69,900 base model comes with a weak 60 kWh battery which allows the vehicle to accelerate from 0 - 60 (a useless metric IMO) in a snooze inducing 5.9 seconds... a mere 0.2 seconds faster than the vanilla 2013 V6 Honda Accord (http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/...ord-ex-l-v6-vs-2013-nissan-altima-3-5-sl.html), and hardly matching the 3.9 second 0-60 achieved by the $60,000 E93 BMW M3, which isn't even their "top of the line" vehicle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M3#E90.2F92.2F93_M3).

The "Tesla Signature Performance Model S" is the vehicle with the larger (and more powerful) battery, and is the one capable of the numbers you described. Thing is the MSRP on that thing is $106,570 (http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-tesla-model-s-reviews). That being said, I can find you LOTS of cars at or under said price which will eat the Performance Model S alive in every performance category.

As for the rest, sure they are working on it. Things are getting better. But they arent there yet. The infrastructure isnt there. The user base isnt there. In the future this is all fine and dandy but for now (e.g. reality) its a non contender.

BTW, police cruisers aren't anything special. In fact they are typically slower than their civilian counterparts because of all the excess weight added to the police duty versions. At most there are some suspension and brake changes done to compensate for the weight, but power is typically not added. Also (IMO) police departments arent typically known for their sensible spending on vehicles.

http://www.enca.com/world/police-buy-ferrari-patrol-car

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/occupy-free-state-project-dhs-police-concord

Then of course we haven't even delved into the environmental impact of producing the electricity that you're charging that plug in vehicle with.

edit: Yes, Im aware there are cash-back incentives from the government for buying electric vehicles. Even with every rebate available the Performance model still costs well over $100k USD. Before taxes.