[Moonman62]

Vaporware.

[sionnsar]

and you can charge it from any outlet, without ever stopping for gas.

Duh. Same for diesel and air cars.

How long does it take to recharge from a 110 VAC, 20A outlet?

[sionnsar]

Does the range go down if you turn the heat on in winter?

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“charge it from any outlet”

But,,, once The Dear Leader triples the price of electricity, and installs a “smart meter” on your house,,,,,,,,,,,

[DB]

Not very wise giving a down payment on a car that does not exist to a company that may not exist tomorrow...

[Brett66]

They said you can do quick 5 minute battery swap instead of a 45 minute recharge.
LOL! Yeah, that would be great having to swap batteries every 300 miles on my $50,000 car.

[Hoffer Rand]

Pfffft. The guys on Top Gear reviewed the Tesla Roadster. Gorgeous car. Also electric. Zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds. Handled pretty well. Some serious reliability issues. They didn’t get the 200 miles per charge, averaging about 55 miles, but then they were running it flat out on their track. And it’ll only set you back a cool 190,000 Pounds.

[xcamel]

More than a few..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=Tesla

[bpjam]

If this actually comes about, and that is a big IF, I’m going to be very happy.

Tesla Motors is NOT A GOVERNMENT SPONSORED CAR MAKER!!!! How is it that the ‘Chevy Volt’ is still not here and we’ve been dumping billions into that program and yet some Silicon Valley retiree decides to start his own car company and he has cut the learning curve down to 12 months and they are going to end up at the same price target but with way better performance and way better style and endurance.

If consumers want electric F’ing cars, let them buy them from companies who aren’t idiots and can make cars that people actually want. NOBODY IS LINING UP TO PAY $40K+ FOR THAT STUPID CHEVY VOLT!!! Yet the US government is loaning tens of billions to Detroit in order to make crap that pleases environmentalist (who don’t even like cars) and politicians but not the people who put 20,000 miles a year on their cars year after year.

[CPT Clay]

50k

[PLMerite]

It’s not a bad looking car at all. Slap a real motor in it (and not charge me an arm and a leg) and I might buy one.

[TASMANIANRED]

50K for a car...No thanks.

[edcoil]

I think a good business to look at would be mobil recharging trucks, just plug into a generator on a flat bed and charge as you drive down the road - like the plane in-flight refueling?

[Cheetahcat]

They yet have to show me a single advantage over Diesel power.

[preacher]

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuSkdo1qswk

[RedWireNut]

Why does the name Preston Tucker keep popping into my head?

[normanpubbie]

Here is an article from Popular Mechanics which has some details about the Tesla Model S's drivetrain:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4310750.html

According to the article, the standard battery pack has a 42 KW-hr capacity and the standard range is 160 miles. They also indicate that the 45-minute "quick charge" might be done at a recharging station between SF and LA (Google Maps says 323 miles). They also indicate that the charge time might be 4 hours using a standard 120V, 20A household outlet. The article further states that "Up to a 240-volt, 70-amp charging setup is possible, they say, in home applications". The article also states that the curb weight of the Model S is just over 4000 pounds...
So let's run the numbers:

Take the 120V solution first. Let's assume we are using the 42 KW-hr standard battery pack. We can expect a maximum of 120V times 20A = 2400 watts from our outlet. In four hours of charging, you have put 9.6 KW-hr of energy into the 42 KW-hr battery -- about 23 percent of battery capacity. With efficiency losses, it would take maybe 18 hours to charge the battery pack to 100 percent from a wall outlet. So that 4-hour charge claim does not hold water.

But let's press on. Assume that we have fully charged our 42 KW-hr battery pack and we leave LA toward the charging station. At 60 miles per hour, it will take 2.67 hours to reach the 160 station. During this time, we are discharging the battery pack at 42 KW-hr divided by 2.67 hours or a rate of 15.7 KW which converts to 21 HP. Can the 4000-lb Model S go 60 mph using 21 HP? I doubt it. So the second claim is questionable.

Now let's look at this "quick charge" claim. Every energy-conversion process produces less than 100 percent efficiency; the losses are typically in the form of heat. Let's assume 95 percent of the energy charges the battery and the other 5 percent is converted to heat in the battery. Then we have to supply 44.2 KW-hr of energy to the battery terminals in 45 minutes. This represents a useful wattage of 58.9 KW with 2.45 KW of heat -- equivalent to the heat produced by a baking element on an electric range. Hopefully the "quick charge" station has a really big fan to cool our battery! There is no fan in existence big enough to cool Tesla's hype.