Tesla vs. Ford...

[houndawg]

Plus it doesn't have a traditional torque curve. The torque is basically 100% output instantly. Electric motors can and will put internal combustion motors to shame. The thing is, when will we have the infrastructure to support them, and do customers want silent sports cars?

I continue to think the biggest limiting factors impeding "consumer friendliness" are the recharging aspect and the range for recharge. I think it'll eventually be overcome. But I don't think it's been overcome at this point. People are used to pulling into one of countless gas stations that are located all over the place when they are low and completely "recharging" in a couple of minutes. Right now Tesla is crowing about having a total of 366 super charging stations in the whole country right now and it takes 30 minutes to bring the battery up enough to regain about 60% of the fully charged range. And the fully charged range still ain't that great to begin with. It's a lot better than it's been in past electric cars but, for example, my wife's Ford Explorer is a friggin' SUV and it's got a highway range of about 450 miles on a tank of gas. 270 miles of range on a full charge and substantially less than that if it's cold is not real great by comparison.

And, again, when my wife nears the end of a full "charge" after 400+ miles she can pull into a gas station just about anywhere without having to worry about planning her trip so as to be near one when the time comes and "recharge" COMPLETELY instead of to 60% in less than 5 minutes.

Like I said I think the obstacles will be overcome in time but right now the charging time and range issues are still significant.

Its already overcome, its just a matter of expanding the network.

[BDKJMU]

BDK as usual knocks this one out of the park.

When will these electric cars have the ability to tow heavy loads for 300 miles? Like he said, wake us up when this stupid subject is a viable option to the real world.

You're talking about a niche capability. The avg consumer isn't towing heavy loads.

You're talking about a niche capability. The avg consumer isn't doing zero to 60 in 3.2...

[CID1990]

All the ink spilling in this thread aside-

The one limiting factor with the tesla is cost. They cost 80 fvcking thousand dollars.

If Elon Musk builds his battery death star like Clitz says and gets the cost down into the 30s Id buy one immediately- but Im not talking about the new tennis shoe car they are talking about- I want to see the S in the high 30s or low 40s

THEN it will be revolutionary, and the greens can whine about the environmental impact of all those batteries

[JohnStOnge]

Its already overcome, its just a matter of expanding the network.

No, because it still takes 30 minutes to recharge the thing to 60%. That's a problem. The range is still not that great as compared to gasoline powered vehicles and every time you stop you have to take 30 minutes to get it to even 60% of capacity.

The convenience factor is just WAY on the side of gasoline powered vehicles right now for most people.

[Ibanez]

You're talking about a niche capability. The avg consumer isn't towing heavy loads.

You're talking about a niche capability. The avg consumer isn't doing zero to 60 in 3.2...

Exactly.