Tesla electric car now being marketed in Europe

probe

• 0-100 km/h in 4.0 seconds
• 365 km range
• 200 km/h top speed
• Price 99.000 €

http://www.teslamotors.com/eu/

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gerky

This may seem a strange question but since I first read about the tesla I've always wondered about its purpose.
What I mean is are they just selling it for what it is, an high spec electric sports car or are they trying to change people's perception of what an electric car is and whats its capable of before they go in to production of other electric cars targeted at ordinary people.

It just strikes me that if they can make this amazing machine then they have huge potential for making really efficient ordinary electric cars.

probe

gerky wrote: »

This may seem a strange question but since I first read about the tesla I've always wondered about its purpose.
What I mean is are they just selling it for what it is, an high spec electric sports car or are they trying to change people's perception of what an electric car is and whats its capable of before they go in to production of other electric cars targeted at ordinary people.

It just strikes me that if they can make this amazing machine then they have huge potential for making really efficient ordinary electric cars.

Yes. The potential is there.

Renault is seriously committed. So is Nissan. Tesla has the google lot behind them. And lots of other car manufacturers are racing to catch up.
http://news.google.ie/news?hl=en&q=renault%20electric%20car&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

I was chatting with a friend of mine (age under 30) who is seriously into fast cars, (probably his #1 obsession) – he drives a BMW M3, which he waited for two years for a factory order for the latest model with his spec down to the colour of the carpets etc. He is thinking of dumping it and buying either a Venturi Fetish (www.venturifetish.fr) or a Tesla (www.teslamotors.com) because both the Fetish and the Tesla electric cars can outrun his M3 and cost a few cents to “tank up” with electricity, and otherwise seem to fulfil his needs, in a green, quiet way.

If an electric car can meet this perfectionist guy’s demanding automotive requirements, they can satisfy the requirements of 95%+ of the population. My postman delivers my mail in an electric Peugeot, and has done so for at least seven years, the cable TV guy uses a similar vehicle, the gas company, the electricity meter reader, also. It works for basic day to day bog standard life too.

We just need the battery charging support infrastructure around the country (which the postman, cable TV guy etc don’t need because they are serving a single urban area, and can recharge back at base). They are installing that infrastructure in Israel and Denmark of late. If you were travelling around the place on a horse or bicycle, would you not be afraid to invest money in an old fashioned combustion engine car if there were no filling stations?

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gerky

Yea I suppose people don't want a car if they can't get fuel and companies don't want to provide fuel if theres nobody to buy it.

probe

gerky wrote: »

Yea I suppose people don't want a car if they can't get fuel and companies don't want to provide fuel if theres nobody to buy it.

Making charging points available is a relatively simple exercise – (eg nothing as complicated as setting up a hydrogen distribution system).

Employers could for example, put one or two charging points in the employee car park, for starters. Shopping centres and multi-story car parks could do similar. Give people confidence to move to electric vehicles. Most people won’t need to charge their vehicles because the battery will have enough range for the normal day to day commuting / shopping activities.

A website showing public charging points – no big deal money wasting €2 million government IT project - just mark the locations as POIs using Google maps (http://maps.google.fr/) [maps.google.ie is broken at the moment] with a downloadable POI list to upload to a GPS.

Employers based in business parks are a major source of pollution in terms of transport and other issues. As fuel edges up to €2 per litre and more, this will inflate salary costs. It makes sense for employers do the needful so that employees who want to can travel to/from work using electric transport. Most out of town business parks don’t have the density or critical mass to support tram systems – unless they are fortunate to be close to a public transport node, leaving little alternative to using a car or telecommuting.

The same could be said for out of town shopping malls. You’ll spend money shopping or in a restaurant while your car is charging.

If companies don’t wake up and take the initiative, is it not time to pass legislation to force them?

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towel401

and it looks like they finally sorted their gearbox problems
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/27/tesla-finally-finalized-its-single-speed-gearbox-on-track-for-c/#comments

it would probably be cheaper to buy one in america and have it sent to ireland in a large container. which costs about 5000 eur to do. especially with the dollar being as worthless as it is these days.

probe

probe wrote: »

• 0-100 km/h in 4.0 seconds
• 365 km range
• 200 km/h top speed
• Price 99.000 €

http://www.teslamotors.com/eu/

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VAT, VRT & dealer charges you looking at a total round €140k - €150k, might be a green friendly car but not green friendly on my pocket.

sonicthebadger*

hellboy99 wrote: »

VAT, VRT & dealer charges you looking at a total round €140k - €150k, might be a green friendly car but not green friendly on my pocket.

Good point, but then look at the stats. You want an internal combustion engine that'll do that you'll be paying closer to 250k... and you'll be filling the damn thing up every 250km or so at a cost of close to 100 euro a fill (at current prices, imagine next year!). Unless it's a Ferrari, then it'll probably cost you even more if it doesn't break down on the way!:D

towel401

hellboy99 wrote: »

VAT, VRT & dealer charges you looking at a total round €140k - €150k, might be a green friendly car but not green friendly on my pocket.

there is no VRT. so you should be able to get one for just over 100k. still a ****load of money but wait till their new model comes out

towel401

towel401 wrote: »

there is no VRT.

You sure ?

towel401

hellboy99 wrote: »

You sure ?

not on electric cars. since january. dunno how accurate that site is but it looks ok
http://www.irishvrt.ie/vrt-changes/changing-vrt-in-ireland/seven-new-bands.html

towel401

towel401 wrote: »

not on electric cars. since january. dunno how accurate that site is but it looks ok
http://www.irishvrt.ie/vrt-changes/changing-vrt-in-ireland/seven-new-bands.html

Thanks

sonicthebadger*

hellboy99 wrote: »

Thanks

So can you afford one hellboy?

If you get one can I have a spin?

Capt'n Midnight

would it be possible to re-engine cars
take an ordinary car remove the engine and gearbox and fuel tank and pop in an electric motor / battery in the space ?

towel401

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

would it be possible to re-engine cars
take an ordinary car remove the engine and gearbox and fuel tank and pop in an electric motor / battery in the space ?

someguy did it to a pickup a while back. it was on Digg