Quote:
Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
Well at least the Tesla is a lot less of a tease than a Chevy Volt- which IMO is still in pipe dream stage and less appealing each day.
How 'green' is the electric Chevy Volt? | Green Tech - CNET News
Yesterday there were articles on Chevy hitting up the Government for a handout to support them developing battery technology. Psh. The last time GM developed battery technology they sold the patents off to the oil companies, and stalled electric car production for years, even halting Toyota's electric development and forcing the development of hybrids.
So the Volt is scheduled for release the end of 2010. Styling as already changed for the less cool, and mileage isn't even impressive- and it's not even out yet. Predicted to run on electric for the first 40 miles. On a 100 mile trip they say it should avg 50 mpg. And on 200 mile trip- 35 MPG. whoop dee do. Stick with a golf diesel for road trips. Already the projected price has went up to $40K. And remember the EV1? Yeah, they are talking about a lease program again. It's already turned to crap and more will change if it ever comes out- let alone by the end of 2010. GM has no real interest in bringing a real, competitive product to the market. If they did they wouldn't of #$%^&% the EV1 program. And sold the battery patents to Chevron/Texaco. |
This is very true.. I too doubt that the volt will ever see the light of day and GM isnt the company they once were. Thats why its easier for them to air commercials than to actually try to build an electric car.
The fundamental issue that I see with the tesla is that after all is said and done that it does not serve a purpose... The idea behind the electric car was to either allow you to drive without depending on oil or to make driving cost less or to lessen the environmental impact of owning a vehicle. The problem is that the tesla (and in fact most electric cars) tend to fail in all of these aspects:
If we want to drive around without using oil then we need to produce energy from somewhere else but the easiest way to do this today is to use existing IC engine technology and fuel it with something else (e.g. natural gas or propane, or synthetic gasoline produced from biomass). Same goes with cost: electric cars are simply way too expensive to operate practically and certainly not cost competitive with gasoline. RichH correctly points out a number of fallacys regarding grid power incuding the onerous idea that there is large amounts of almost free electricity to be had at nighttime when this is simply not true.
Dont get me wrong.. I like the idea of the tesla.. I like the idea of an electric sports car simply because the idea in itself is cool but its wrong to pass it off as a practial answer to our energy and environmental problems, even as a partial one. The tendency is to say "well at least these guys are trying when everyone else does nothing" but that does not help us. I applaud tesla for trying to do this, I just wish they thought things out better.