Posted on 01/16/2008 12:35:46 AM PST by Brian S. Fitzgerald
Right, but if we use oilseeds as a biodiesel feedstock (and diesel engines) we have better efficiency in both the production and the use.
The Vette is a niche car. The V-8’s in the Vette aren’t the same engines in the mass production products, so they can put in anything they want into a Vette.
The best gas engine I’ve seen in a Ford pickup was the 300 cu in. inline 6 industrial engine. Utterly reliable, easy on fuel, lots of low RPM torque, lasted forever. That’s my idea of a pickup engine.
What happens when they suck all the oil out of the ground and the earth goes fluttering off in space?
phlatttttttttttttttttttttttttt
;)
Too bad that electric sport coupe remains a dream.
Why do you say that? They are going into full production right now.
All the 2008 are sold but 2009 is not full yet.
Employee Bloodbath at Tesla Motors
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952798/posts
Posted on 01/12/2008
Tesla may begin delivering Roadsters with temporary transmissions[will fail in a few thousand miles]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1943844/posts
Posted on 12/24/2007
Oh man...this is like the director of the national zoo building habitats for Nessie, Bigfoot and the Yeti.
GM appears to have peaked.
We will have oil for lots and lots of years the only question is the cost.
We have lost control of the cost. We can either drill more or use less. At $100.00 a barrel I’m sure lots of people are drilling anywhere they can but thats the problem. The lefty nutburgers have won the PR debate on global worming for now and have the elected leaders falling over there selfs on who is the most green.
I don’t expect any of our elected leaders to allow for new large scale drilling in the short run.
I used to be a mechanic. I love the V8 and such but a electric engine is just a better idea.
No oil to change, only one moving part! I see no reason that a well made electric could not go 1,000,000 miles.
Brakes will last 4X or more longer.
No transmission!
And the best thing is no smog in the cities.
I live in Phoenix and I would love to be able to see the stars again. Anything that moves the smog out of the cities is a good thing.
The batteries if they are lithium ion have no heavy metals so could be deposed of any way you like. Lithium is not really toxic.
I don't think we're going to see any bacteria that can eat battery factory pollution.
Agreed, but does it not still result in lower miles per acre farmed and lowers the impact on gasoline imports? I think the gallons per acres are so much lower to offset the difference.
This is Peak Oil. This has been Peak Oil for a couple of months. The Peak doesn’t mean the flow of oil will suddenly cease while it is at the highest production rate since the Drake well. The production swing state is Saudi, with generations of reserves in the ground and no reserve production capacity. Find all the Prudhoes and Brazils you want, the Peak is already here. This is what the Peak looks like.
I missed that one.
I like Tesla for one main reason. It will make GM and others make a electric to prevent them from gaining market share.
The coupe is being made by lotus so it will never be a low cost or high volume product.
I would still love to see a new American auto maker.
Let's say they're off by half...that's 9 times as much as we have ever used, just waiting for us to go get it.
Prudhoe alone was about 20 billion barrels. Saudi is 400 billion barrels.
I can tell the Prius is becoming a mainstream vehicle, too. It’s not just that there are more of them. I do a pro-troop demo every Saturday and up until last summer I had (with one exception) never gotten a honk or a wave from anyone driving a hybrid. These days I get support from about 50% of the hybrid drivers. In fact, a year ago every hybrid driver I saw was middle aged and most were women, and all had sour faces. Not anymore.
“640 K ought to be enough for anybody.” — Bill Gates, 1981
Understood.
I say it because it remains a pipe dream. The company lust let go about 25 people (for underperformance.) Mostly execs and development heads - esp those in charge of the transmission. When the first cars ship (supposedly this summer, but more likely in 2009) they will have an ‘interim’ transmission that Tesla will replace for free, assuming they aren’t bankrupt at some later date. The interim transmission will get the vehicle form 0-60 in about 6.5 seconds - well slower than the “sub-4 seconds” touted, and well slower than the ‘vette.
Besides the new 2009 ZR1 (available later this summer to the lucky 2000 or so) will list about the same as the Tesla, and it’ll blow away even the Tesla fantasy car.
I hope Tesla makes it just for the fun factor. I love competition.
Right now the transportation system is monopolized by oil, introducing electric makes coal a defacto competitor to OPEC and oil.
Two choices are better than one.
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