Electric vehicles, gasoline-electric hybrids, diesels, and flex-fuel and hydrogen-powered cars are inching up the consumer on-ramp at a faster pace, judging from world debuts of 21 alternative-fuel vehicles. (CM Monitor)
Tesla
The car pictured in the article can be seen at http://www.teslamotors.com.
It is 100% electric, goes 0 to 60mph in 3.8 seconds (that’s faster than any street legal Porsche) and can travel 250 miles on one charge. That’s to Grandma’s house – and back. But there is more; since it utilizes a very sophisticated electric motor, it has continuous torque through almost all speeds, which means you can accelerate from 60 to 120 mph almost as fast as you went from 0 to 60mph (we are talking about APOLLO 16 kinds of accelerations). Of course, unless you live in rural Texas, and carry a gun on board, you will probably never see 120mph.
The cost to drive it is about 1 cent a mile in California, or the equivilant of 16 cents a gallon. The battery and motor are said to last 100,000 miles, with no tune up, oil change needed; just brakes and tires. Since it is purposely a high end sports car, it is pricey at 100k, but Tesla promises an Audi sized 4 door in 2008 that will be priced at around 45k.
This is a revolution, and every major car manufacturer in the world has been to CA to check out Tesla: they are taking notice.
The most efficient form of energy known to man is electricity. Also, electric energy can be made from multiple sources, like wind, clean coal, nuclear, natural gas and oil. Infrastructure is in place (the socket in your garage) and only the lost profits of the oil companies stand in the way.
Put a solar panel on your roof and you will be energy positive; you’ll harness more energy from the sun than you use in your vehicle. Our affairs in the Middle East could be a thing of the past in a couple of decades, and gas stations could be obsolete. Sounds to good to be true.
There is an electric car that performs better than a gas vehicle, looks fantastic, and is the hottest thing in the automotive world today.
Now, if that is not GOOD NEWS, I don’t know what is. Check out Tesla, and buy one of their cars. I’ll be the first name on the list for the 45k four door coup.
rhg