Tesla Electric Car

Ache · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2005 Posts: 241

Tesla Electric Car

Tesla Roadster - Featured on Hacked Gadgets

Ache · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2005 Posts: 241

My brother keeps saying we could do the switch, 63 % USA gasoline used no longer needed.

USA electricity mostly generated from coil.

Ache · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2005 Posts: 241

How It Works

When you build a car that's electric, you start with one built-in advantage: Electric cars just don't have to be as complex mechanically as the car you're probably driving now. Sophisticated electronics and software take the place of the pounds and pounds of machinery required to introduce a spark and ignite the fuel that powers an internal combustion engine.

For example, the typical four-cylinder engine of a conventional car comprises over a hundred moving parts. By comparison, the motor of the Tesla Roadster has just one: the rotor. So there's less weight to drive around and fewer parts that could break or wear down over time.

But the comparison doesn't end with the counting of moving parts. The engine and transmission of a conventional car also need lubricating oils, filters, coolant, clutches, spark plugs and wires, a PCV valve, oxygen sensors, a timing belt, a fan belt, a water pump and hoses, a catalytic converter, and a muffler — all items requiring service, and all items that aren't needed in an electric car.

The Tesla Roadster's elegantly designed powertrain consists of just the four main components discussed below. Mind you, these aren't "off-the-shelf" components, and each includes innovations, both small and large. But when you build a car from the ground up, you have the luxury of questioning every assumption — and to distill as you reinvent.
The Energy Storage System (ESS)

When we set out to build a high-performance electric car, the biggest challenge was obvious from the start: the battery. Its complexities are clear: it's heavy, expensive, and offers limited power and range. Yet it has one quality that eclipses these disadvantages and motivated us to keep working tirelessly: it's clean.

The Tesla Roadster's battery pack — the car's "fuel tank" — represents the biggest innovation in the Tesla Roadster and is one of the largest and most advanced battery packs in the world. We've combined basic proven lithium ion battery technology with our own unique battery pack design to provide multiple layers of safety. It's light, durable, recyclable, and it is capable of delivering enough power to accelerate the Tesla Roadster from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. Meanwhile, the battery stores enough energy for the vehicle to travel about 220 miles without recharging, something no other production electric vehicle in history can claim.
Motor

Some people find it hard to imagine our car's Lamborghini-beating acceleration comes from a motor about the size of a watermelon. And while most car engines have to be moved with winches or forklifts, ours weighs about 115 pounds — a strong person could carry it around in a backpack (although we don't recommend it). Compare that to the mass of machinery under the hood of $300,000 supercars that still can't accelerate as quickly as the Tesla Roadster.

But more important than the motor's size or weight is its efficency. Without proper efficiency, a motor will convert electrical energy into heat instead of rotational energy. So we designed our motor to have efficiencies of 85 to 95 percent; this way the precious stored energy of the battery pack ends up propelling you down the road instead of just heating up the trunk.
Transmission

Our transmission couples the fuel efficiency of a manual with the driving ease of an automatic. The Tesla Roadster has only two forward gears, allowing you to fine-tune your driving experience (but either gear will work for most driving scenarios). Unlike a manual transmission, the car will not stall if you have it in the wrong gear. There's also no clutch pedal. Just move the lever and the electronic control module takes care of the shift, so you can launch from a full stop to freeway speed without taking your focus off the road, your foot off the accelerator, or your hands off the wheel.
Power Electronics Module (PEM)

Most of the subsystems in the Tesla Roadster are completely electronic and under direct software control. But unlike all other cars, these systems are not a hodge-podge of independent systems — instead, they are designed as an integrated system, the way complex network and computer systems are designed today.

You'll see the hub of this network every time you pop the trunk — the Power Electronics Module. When you shift gears or accelerate in the Tesla Roadster, the PEM translates your commands into precisely timed voltages, telling the motor to respond with the proper speed and direction of rotation. The PEM also controls motor torque, charging, and regenerative braking, and it monitors things like the voltage delivered by the ESS, the speed of rotation of the motor, and the temperatures of the motor and power electronics.

The PEM controls over 200 kW of electrical power during peak acceleration — enough power to illuminate 2,000 incandescent light bulbs

BrazilianPO · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:35 am Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

This issue has been debated before, and I believe not Tesla, but electric cars in general will play a great deal in the change from a liquid fuel economy.

Most people here will say that the electrical grid would never stand the load of millions of cars plugged into the wall socket. However, the change from oil to electric could prevent a harder crash.

Also, other people will say that to replace the US car fleet would take decades. That could be right, but you are talking about a country where most households have three cars (1 for daddy, 1 for mummy and 1 for the little teen brat) + 1 another for fun. If households in the US were normal and had a single car in their garage, the change would be easier.

Anyway, the change will happen, and while for Europe, Latin America, Australia, and other places it will be relatively easy, for the US at will be a big pain the a**. But, the US is not the world, so, I believe the world will do just OK.

My birth country, Brazil, has replaced all its car fleet in a matter of 10 years, with cars with flex-fuel technology (ethanol and gasoline at any mix ratio). And it has in its cards adding LGP in the mix. So, soon there will be tri-fuel cars there (not backdoor conversions, but straight from GM, Fiat and Ford factories). LPG reserves could last a lot longer than oil/gasoline.

Most PO people have this rather annoying Mad Max view of the world, while I see the future as much more complicated than now, but still quite normal.

Time will tell. Wink

Flex-fuel car sales in Brazil

Edit: Sorry, just got a new info. Brazil has not replaced its entire fleet yet. There are 5 million flex-fuel cars sold since they began being produced. Now, over 88% of the vehicles sold are flex-fuel and the total already produced is about 10% of the Brazilian fleet. By the end of 2008, that will rise to 14%.
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cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3353

I'll give credit where credit is due.
The folks at Tesla have shown a tremendous amount of "bravery" by putting their money into his project.

However I've said it before and I'll say it again. Until I can walk into a car dealership and buy an EV car for cheaper than an ICE car:
I will never buy an EV car.
I think my opinion represents 95% of the population.

Here's an interesting article about an EV car company scam
Remember folks be careful who you give your money to. Rolling Eyes

EV car scam

Starvid · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

vision-master · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

Another toy for the weathly.

yesplease · Fission Joined: Oct 03, 2006 Posts: 2078

Vegas · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:02 am Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

It is too bad there isn't a farking thing inovative about tesla, not even the name.

Somebody elses chassis.
Somebody elses motor/controller
Somebody elses batt.

Um, are there any car guys there? Are there any enthusiests?
Or is it dilbert style suits running around looking for 'fastest way to market'.

Maybee they will penitrate the market, but when you are a manufacurer, and you don't MAKE anything, you ain't adding value.
Ya don't make margin. I bet they have locked themselves into a 20% margin, 100 cars they will tank.

Hmm. Motor/controller $25k(pretty sure about that)
Batts ~$25k(not sure about this number)
Chassis. How much do you think lotus is charging for that?
Heh, depends if the stupid yanks bought the wheels and brakes, and seats too.."Righto chap, would you like Two boxs of lucas relays then?"
Call it $20k
I'm at $70k already, and it isn't running yet, still just a box of parts.

They crash test it? Costs a fortune.

Oh, perhaps I should take it easy on these guys, but I had idiots in suits ruin the last company I worked at, so I am a little testy.
Honestly, EV world is infested with'this is the next internet' scammers.
It makes a stalwart craftsman pull out beard hair.

cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3353

cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3353

eastbay · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:27 pm Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

sameu · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car

I'm all for the electric car, too bad we lost 20 years
nice technology and all but this is a good example where the optimists forget the 'order of magnitude' factor
you just don't replace hundred of millions cars overnight it takes decades, further more, all these new cars will need metal, copper, plastics, will need to be manufactured is heated/cooled factories...
It's not a solution
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cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3353

eastbay · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:19 pm Post subject: Re: Tesla Electric Car