Car & Driver got their hands on a Tesla Roadster for some real world testing, and it promptly stranded them:
Leaving the party some four hours later, I reused all my range-extending strategies from before, except I had to turn the headlights on. Some 38 miles later, as I was crossing I-69 near Flint, the estimated range had dropped to 45. Estimated range continued to drop faster than I was covering miles, sometimes jumping two miles on the display like the car thought my attempt at using an electric car like a normal one was a joke. Fifteen miles later, near Fenton, the range was 25 and then it dropped to nothing—just a couple dashes appeared where the range was previously displayed. Next to that ominous display lives a battery icon that had gone from green to red, still showing about 20 percent filled. I got worried.
I’ll never own a car that I can’t recharge / refuel in under 5 minutes. Tesla Motors’ business model doesn’t seem to involve making useful cars that people want, but they ought to do well sucking up gov’t subsidies and tax incentives.
Alan | 02-Feb-10 at 10:30 am | Permalink
It’s always about the batteries. Until that whole capacity and charging thing is fixed electric cars will only be a niche product.
Keith | 04-Feb-10 at 10:43 pm | Permalink
Depending on how many pumps I can get going, it takes a lot longer than five minutes to fill up my Ford, but I’ve got 138 gallons of fuel when it is full.
TJP | 06-Feb-10 at 12:55 pm | Permalink
Note that is was winter, and the driver had the heater turned off to conserve energy. And electrical cars don’t benefit from the gradual increase in economy that happens when fuel weight is burned away, as with traditional power. Electric cars like this aren’t the future, they’re the past. We’ve already attempted this technology with “more efficient”, more reliable electric trolleys that were powered off the grid. If we have to go Ford Tri-Motor-style in unheated cabins, the least they could do is issue animal skin loincloths to reinforce the motif.
I have a problem with the superlative “more efficient”. I had a Hyundai Accent that was “more efficient” than a Dodge Dakota I owned previously–but it didn’t have a six-foot bed or the torque to pull a trailer up a hill. If these sort of asymmetrical comparisons are acceptable, then car makers should start selling tiny rickshaws for ants to get their average fleet fuel economy down.
TJP | 06-Feb-10 at 1:06 pm | Permalink
Oh, and regarding batteries:
The best technology we currently have requires elements with lots of available electrons. How come so many people are worried about Peak Oil, but nobody talks about Peak Metals? Dependence on foreign oil is a bad thing, right? How many active nickel mines are there in the US?
Mycroft | 09-Feb-10 at 10:16 pm | Permalink
You should read the comments, including the link to Tesla’s response to this review and C&D’s reply. The original review was flawed according to Tesla and C&D’s followup impressed me less than Paris Hilton’s intellect.
I worked on GM’s EV1 program back in the 90’s. Even with the poor review in C&D, I’m impressed with the Tesla’s performance. It’s much better than I expected, especially during a Michigan winter.
Of course if you’re dead set against electric cars, the review is irrelevant either way. But I am surprised at how badly it reflects on C&D.
Weer'd Beard | 10-Feb-10 at 9:36 pm | Permalink
And in the end it’s still a coal or biomass powered car, as that’s where the electricity comes from.
Frankly I think our future comes from Algae-farm derived bio-diesel. Nothing else has the energy potential even close.
TJP | 11-Feb-10 at 6:26 pm | Permalink
The comments do not change my opinion of the car. It is, at best, a limited utility, warm-climate passenger vehicle and therefore not a viable replacement for conventional cars. Commenters are quick to point out that fossil-fuel burners vary with conditions–e.g. temperature, average speed, lights/heat–but let’s be honest, these type of drains don’t suddenly reduce fuel economy by two-thirds under normal driving conditions.
If I had 130K to blow, you can bet I’d be blasting around my neighborhood in one of these, but it’s otherwise impractical.