The Solution - My Favorite Electric Car - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars

**fab** · 05-11-2008, 01:47 PM

Looking for a clean energy efficient car. Here it is:

Quote:

Tesla Motors achieved instant rock star status in 2006 when the company announced details about its Roadster, a screaming-fast, all-electric two-seater sports car built on the frame of the Lotus Elise. Since then, it’s been a nonstop media lovefest for Tesla and its heroic efforts to revive the dream of a mass-produced zero-emissions electric car. There’s a lot to admire about the idea of a Tesla Roadster: 0 – 60 mph in less than four seconds, 135-mpg equivalent, 200-mile range, and a brilliant tech design that wires together nearly 7,000 mass-commodity rechargeable lithium batteries.

Much of the excitement results from Tesla’s plans beyond the Roadster—to reinvent the entire auto industry in the model of a Silicon Valley start-up. The high $98,000 price tag for the Tesla Roadster should be forgiven because—according to company statements—the first e-sportscar is only a stepping stone to a larger, more affordable, mass-produced electric or plug-in hybrid car.

Tesla has faced serious technology hurdles in delivering its first vehicles; perhaps as a result, the leadership has been shaken up. In August 2007, Martin Eberhard, the company’s founding CEO, stepped down and was replaced in the interim with Michael Marks, an early investor in the electric car startup. By November, the company hired a new chief executive officer, Ze'ev Drori, an executive from Clifford Electronics, an automobile security company.

Mr. Drori inherited a host of technology and business challenges. Tesla racked up $43 million in operating losses from 2002 to 2006. After missing two scheduled release dates for their first production vehicles, the company had to compromise the Roadster’s much-ballyhooed four-second 0-60 performance. The first set of Roadsters will use an interim single-speed transmission in place of the planned two-speed unit. Meanwhile, the company will continue to develop a two-speed unit that can achieve the intended dragster level of speed. In keeping with Silicon Valley culture, Tesla plans to offer a free upgrade to its first customers, once the two-speed unit is available.

Another compromise came in the area of safety. Tesla sought and received a waiver from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to build the Roadster without advanced, occupant-sensing airbags for the first three years of production. Instead, the car will be equipped with lower-cost standard dual-front airbags.

The jury is not yet out on the 200-mile driving range.

These challenges notwithstanding, the first Tesla Roadsters have been shipped, breaking open a new era of possibility for electric cars. The company plans to produce 625 Roadsters in 2008, and another 1,600 annually for 2009 and 2010.

**H2FC** · 05-11-2008, 02:57 PM

Sorry fab...hate to burst your bubble but that car is only clean and energy efficient if the electric used to recharge those batteries comes from clean green alternative energy such as solar or wind.

**fab** · 05-11-2008, 03:24 PM

True! I just loved the car, thought that AG, might donate me one if I got the members to stop bashing him, LOL. In any case the car is extremely efficient, with an equivalent of 135 mpg .

**000** · 05-11-2008, 04:07 PM

Erie, Pa. (AP) - The Society of MMGW sponsored a gala event to celebrate a new initiative to rate and approve earth friendly people movers. Al Gore (clean shaven in orange hat) drove the only entry to earn the coveted 9-leaf award. Gore was cheered loudly by a sparse but enthusiastic crowd. In a brief statement, he remarked: "We hope to make this an annual tradition, financed by the generosity of taxpayers. It's for the children. Thin shell and all that." Off mike he was overheard to add: "OK, that's a wrap, let's par-taaay, smoke em if ya got em!"

**bd77** · 05-11-2008, 04:09 PM

You know whats funny? Most of the parts used in building this car are made out of plastic or metal. What is used to make plastic or metal? oil. You cannot get away from the use of oil no matter what fuel source the vehicle runs on. Its a fact.

**HarveyJ** · 05-11-2008, 08:52 PM

bd77: A lot of the more modern plastics are synthesized polymers made from substances other than crude, as they can get a purer grade material from raw elements. There are also a lot of bio plastics in use nowadays to supplant the use of polythene and polyeurathane, according to one of my material tech buddies at the CSIRO.

**H2FC** · 05-11-2008, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bd77

You know whats funny? Most of the parts used in building this car are made out of plastic or metal. What is used to make plastic or metal? oil. You cannot get away from the use of oil no matter what fuel source the vehicle runs on. Its a fact.

The main problem causing MMGW is the gas the car uses not the energy used to build the car. Its true the factories produce a lot of co2 but for every gallon (6.25 lbs)of gas the car burns it produces 19.5 pounds of co2 and other greenhouse gases. In other words just a few tankfuls of gas burned accounts for more co2 in our atmosphere than was created to build the car....and that of course continues on for the life of the car.

**000** · 05-12-2008, 12:56 AM

FCHV CO2 emissions:
Fuel production 54%
Vehicle production 13%
Material production 32%
Others 1%

Gasoline Vehicle CO2 emissions:
Driving 72%
Fuel production 8%
Vehicle production 6%
Material production 12%
Others 2%

This data* accounts for vehicle lifecycle emissions from raw material and parts production, maintenance, operations and disposal. Car manufacturers wish that their production energy cost and emissions were equivalent to burning a few tanks of gas. Today it equals a few years of driving.

*source: J*Reports/Toyota 2005

**fab** · 05-12-2008, 02:54 AM

Nice posts, very informative. My opinion on the matter is.
1. It's important to lower dependency on foreign (cartel) fuel sources,
2. Lowering pollution is also important. I am realistic, that 0 pollution is a long off dream.

The car I showed is not very practical due to price, although they are planning on lowering in the future. The two most popular Hybrids are:
Honda & Toyota, with excellent MPG, & reasonably priced relatively.

Saving on gas will, lower dependency, lower oil prices, and partially eliminate pollution.

**H2FC** · 05-12-2008, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 000

FCHV CO2 emissions:
Fuel production 54%
Vehicle production 13%
Material production 32%
Others 1%

They must have figured the 54% based on using dirty energy to separate H2 from dirty fossil fuel gas such as propane. If using alternative energy such as solar or wind to separate the H2 from water this figure would surely be much lower.

Quote:

Gasoline Vehicle CO2 emissions:
Driving 72%
Fuel production 8%
Vehicle production 6%
Material production 12%
Others 2%

The combined co2 emissions of burning fossil fuel is 80% or 4/5 of the total co2 output. I'm not sure that equates to a few years of driving....It depends on the total miles driven per year for the first few years of the cars lifetime. Since we know how much co2 a gallon of burned gasoline produces this could have been more easily figured if they had used the total average tonnage of co2 produced from building the car instead of a percentage figure.

Quote:

This data* accounts for vehicle lifecycle emissions from raw material and parts production, maintenance, operations and disposal. Car manufacturers wish that their production energy cost and emissions were equivalent to burning a few tanks of gas. Today it equals a few years of driving.

*source: J*Reports/Toyota 2005

This is very good information...thanks for posting.

**fab** · 05-12-2008, 12:50 PM

Here is another important bit as well.

Quote:

For Toyota Motor Corp., the future is "hybrids." Dr. Hiroyuki Watanabe, one of the forces behind the launch of the Prius seven years ago, declares that hybrid technology "is the core technology not only for future gasoline and diesel engines, but for fuel cells as well."

**DomainBELL** · 05-12-2008, 10:56 PM

it is a super looking vehicle...

have you ever seen one in RL ??

~DomainBELL (Patricia)

**fab** · 05-13-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DomainBELL

it is a super looking vehicle...

have you ever seen one in RL ??

~DomainBELL (Patricia)

Nope

**DomainBELL** · 05-13-2008, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fab

Nope

maybe one day you will...

at a car show of something...

at car shows they have the most beautiful new colors each year....
but then... you rarely see those "colors" on the road...

they're big color teases I think... grrrrrr....
I'm a color-queen... I admit it...

~DomainBELL (Patricia)

**elivate** · 05-13-2008, 10:42 AM

What bothers me about cars like the Prius is that there is no real incentive for an "average joe" to buy one. They are just too expensive. I realize that I can help "save the environment" by buying one, but I can get an Echo for about 1/3 of the price and get great gas mileage from it...

**H2FC** · 05-13-2008, 12:50 PM

I like the looks of that Tesla Motors sports car but my favorite from a practical veiwpoint is the new Honda CSX Clarity Fuelcell Car.

Honda FCX Clarity: Lease the Future for $600/Mo.
By Matthew Phenix November 14, 2007

Honda made good on its Tokyo Show promise today when it unveiled the fairly stunning FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The FCX Clarity's powertrain consists of Honda's V Flow stack, a compact lithium ion battery pack, a single hydrogen storage tank, and an AC synchronous electric motor driving the front wheels. Hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen combine in the fuel cell stack, where chemical energy from the reaction is converted into electric power (with water the only by-product). The energy is stored in the batteries and fed to the car's electric motor, with extra juice produced through regenerative braking and deceleration further supplementing the fuel cell stack when the need arises. Range on a full tank is expected to be about 270 miles, and efficiency, says Honda, will be equivalent to 68 mpg.

American Honda plans to lease the FCX Clarity to a lucky few retail consumers in Southern California starting next summer. The cost of a three-year lease, which is to include maintenance and collision insurance, is a piddling $600 a month. All in all, the Clarity is a far cry from the breadbox-shaped original FCX. Beyond its obvious purported earth-saving virtues, it's spacious, luxurious, and, if we may, even a little sexy. Now, if Honda can solve the problem of establishing a hydrogen refueling infrastructure, we may have a winner. Go here and see some pictures of it. http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/11/honda-fcx-clari.html

**fab** · 05-13-2008, 01:57 PM

Price does seem to be quite good, but the only shortfall I can see is:

Quote:

Range on a full tank is expected to be about 270 miles

**H2FC** · 05-13-2008, 03:45 PM

Hopefully the price and range will get much better. That $600/month they advertise is only to a select few who they intend to use on a trial basis. I'm sure when these cars go on the market they will be very high priced in the beginning at least until the 'economy of scale' kicks in. Actually the driving range at 270 miles is not too bad and I'm pretty sure they can make big improvements on that. http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/11/honda-fcx-clari.html