22 posts
Just saw two of these on the road last night on my commute home, and they are beautiful. And made right here in northern California.
And then I saw this today: consumer reports' 'best car ever tested'.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/09/autos/tesla-model-s-consumer-reports/
I dig those cars a lot. I just can't afford them. We actually went green this year and I bought a Ford Energi C-Max Plug in Hybrid. I must say this car turned out way better than I could have imagined.
The car is rated at 43 MPG and I've been getting 50 MPG the whole time. We bought the car at the beginning of February and I have put gas in it 3 times. It won't be till the very end of this month that I might have to put gas in it. With the summer off I probably won't put any gas in it all summer if I stay local. What I'm saving in gas is making the car payment. It's actually a fun car to drive and very roomy. Way more roomy than you'd expect.
strangely, I'm reminded of the scene from "Tommy Boy" .... "big guy in a little coat..." ;D
The Tesla cars are awesome.
I firmly believe GM should have been let go and all the money they got, plus their facilities, should have been given to this company. these people are actually serious about electric cars and can obviously get the job done. GM has made a small come back, I guess, but their product is shit, imo. However, i think their product would be much better and cheaper if the union was put in the shitter. I hate a damn union.
Check this bullshit out.....
http://gma.yahoo.com/teslas-direct-sales-business-model-targteted-n-c-170402561--abc-news-money.html
Jeesh, what's next? Taking away the rights of people to buy things on the internet? The funny part is, I bet NC talks a really good game about "free markets" and "keeping the government out of people's lives".
I live in NC and that really pisses me off. Just think what this company could do with half the money given to GM and a few facilities. this company is for real, and they would be a huge, huge, success if they could cut the cost in half for their product, or get in line with the Honda and Toyota's of the world. And, what a huge kick in the nuts to oil companies that would be. My bet is the oil companies are at the top of the list for keeping this company down. What do you think?
I think you might want to do some research about batteries and energy. ;)
Sure, some of our energy comes from oil, some from coal, but increasingly from other sources too... wind, as you know, hydroelectric, solar, etc. And the more demand for electricity the more we are going to move to alternative energy... humans are adaptable. Will we be fast enough? I don't know, but I want an electric car.
CraigBert — May 16, 2013I think you might want to do some research about batteries and energy. ;)
I don't think I need to research that.
charger — May 16, 2013Sure, some of our energy comes from oil, some from coal, but increasingly from other sources too... wind, as you know, hydroelectric, solar, etc. And the more demand for electricity the more we are going to move to alternative energy... humans are adaptable. Will we be fast enough? I don't know, but I want an electric car.
Me too!!
The only reason I didn't go all electric is because I want to GO places and sometimes you don't know if they have a charging port or not. An empty battery still takes 3 hours to charge fully on a super charger. 7 on what I have.
You have to do your homework though. Everybody claims shit that ain't right. So i'll tell you the dirt on my car since I live with it everyday.
There are 3 categories in Fords. 1 Hybrid 2. all electric 3. hybrid with a big ass battery.
The tech ain't quite there for me on all electric. So that was out. I commute too far everyday to even bother with it. The hybrid (you have to be careful on these) is a combination of a small battery and a combustion engine. that small battery ain't shit and doesn't last long BUT the gas engine charges it up via an onboard generator. So your engine is constantly going back and forth between the two OR using a combination together. Not bad and if you are a cheap skate it's the best option really.
However, what I have is the hybrid PLUS a much larger battery. I get 20 miles give or take on that battery. Then it kicks into a hybrid. If you do a lot of short commutes this is really nice. I get half way to work each day on battery and have done 90mph on just the battery! So basically for my daily commute I've knocked out 1/4 of the gas per day that I would use just in battery. But I also now have a more efficient engine that while not a street racer does move just fine and also uses less gas than the Explorer it replaced. I went from getting gas every four days to getting gas once a month!!!!! Insane!
Still getting 50 MPG. Which is a number that should start to go up as I'm off for the summer bitches!
I'm looking at the C-Max too. It seems like a good alternative to the Prius, although I've heard Prius-V has more cargo space. What I really want is the Tesla S though. I was behind two of them on the freeway the other day and watching them accelerate in passing lanes and glide through traffic--those are some sexy cars. There is nothing on the road as cool as the acceleration of an electric car, with no gears, no waiting on torque buildup, all the power is just there... it's a whole other type of experience.
charger — May 22, 2013I'm looking at the C-Max too. It seems like a good alternative to the Prius, although I've heard Prius-V has more cargo space. What I really want is the Tesla S though. I was behind two of them on the freeway the other day and watching them accelerate in passing lanes and glide through traffic--those are some sexy cars. There is nothing on the road as cool as the acceleration of an electric car, with no gears, no waiting on torque buildup, all the power is just there... it's a whole other type of experience.
With the c-max energi (that's what I have) you do sacrifice a lot in the cargo area BUT you do have plenty of room for the whole family. The c-max drives like a car. It's fun to drive. The prius....drove like a toy and is slow. I like Toyota but it's the SAME technology in the Ford that is in the Prius. The difference is how the shit is programmed. Toyota has a sub company that developed it and passed on it but then Ford swooped in and bought up all the right to use it....then Toyota said "fuck that" and jumped in on it to.
It's SEEMLESS going back and forth between one engine and the other. There are a variety of different driving screens that show you how you are driving the car.
Another cool trick I discovered is that not only do you recharge a little bit when you brake but you can drop that bitch into LOW gear anytime you want and it charges the battery up. There are all sorts of neat little ways people are getting more and more out of the car. I love the damn thing. I do wish that the big battery held up longer. But gas once a month. Hells yeah.
If I could get 300 miles from a car, or even what the Tesla gets would do, I'd own one in a heart beat. The only thing stopping me is the lack of charging stations. I travel for work and if hotels had charging stations, I'd be all over that Tesla. We get paid by the mile. I'd easily pay for it working on the road.
Hookbender — Jun 05, 2013If I could get 300 miles from a car, or even what the Tesla gets would do, I'd own one in a heart beat. The only thing stopping me is the lack of charging stations. I travel for work and if hotels had charging stations, I'd be all over that Tesla. We get paid by the mile. I'd easily pay for it working on the road.
Charging stations are portable. One came with my car. Takes like 7 hours to fully charge both batteries. There is a dedicated charger that you can get that takes 3 hours but it has to be wired up to like 220 or something like that. That's ultimately why I went with the C-max because I could run out of battery and still drive. I've had the car almost 5 months now....been to the gas station 4 times in all that time. MY wife reset the gas meter and drove it to work every day this week. Because she is using NO gas to get to and from work it says I'm getting 999.9 miles per gallon. I have a little over a quarter tank in there and probably won't fill it up till the end of July.
How has this affected your electric bill?
Some of them require 220 to charge... and some you can get super-charger type things that require 440 (4 ganged circuits) at something like 50 amps... and those will charge in an hour or two. Pretty cool tech in these things. The coolest part is that Tesla is building their own supercharger stations, which will give you a 200 mile charge in a half hour. And, if you own a Tesla S, they're free to use. There are 9 in the country right now... and 6 of those are in CA. But they are planning to create a whole network of them along the interstate highway system so you could drive your Tesla cross-country.
Ford has a thing where they have 220 charge spots. There are two that I know about in Bowling Green. From my phone there is an app that looks for those places and tells you where they are located. The navigation in my car does the same thing. Pretty cool.
ironically, was channel flipping Friday night after we got home from the Reds game, and turned on Tommy Boy at exactly the point in the movie where Chris Farley puts on David Spade's jacket..... ;D
charger — Jun 07, 2013Some of them require 220 to charge... and some you can get super-charger type things that require 440 (4 ganged circuits) at something like 50 amps... and those will charge in an hour or two. Pretty cool tech in these things. The coolest part is that Tesla is building their own supercharger stations, which will give you a 200 mile charge in a half hour. And, if you own a Tesla S, they're free to use. There are 9 in the country right now... and 6 of those are in CA. But they are planning to create a whole network of them along the interstate highway system so you could drive your Tesla cross-country.
When that happens, I'm getting one. Lots of stuff on the net now about Tesla. I think their camery like sadan has really put them on the map.
Interesting.....
http://beta.fool.com/er529/2013/06/15/is-teslas-stock-to-pricey/37242/?source=eogyholnk0000001