1. I was following your argument that we could kick the gasoline powered car habit pretty far until you hit the issue of long distance trips and then the whole thing kinda fell apart. To say that most people don't travel long distances is a pretty big fallacy. The idea of having this as say a second car in the house would be great, and still have a gas powered car for long trips. But you have to remember that a lot of people don't have this option, they only can purchase one car, and for those people, the idea of renting a car is cost prohibitive. Yes you can lay it out in a logical way such as "the cost in gas you are saving will more than pay for the rental", but many consumers don't think that way, they just see the up front cost.

Will this technology make a dent in the car market in the next 10 years, probably. But I don't think you will see widespread adoption until the issue of a QUICK recharge or batteries that are easily swappable and not so costly are resolved. And when I say quick recharge, I mean no longer than 5 minutes. Lets not forget that people are accustomed to travelling long distances and simply stopping for a few minutes to fill up.

Posted at 8:07PM on May 4th 2008 by Doug

2. Love it!

Thanks for posting this video. Obviously the car has always been hot, but the candid nature of this test drive really sold me on it.

Although, I fall in the category of people that will need that $50k price point, $109k is too rich for my blood.

Posted at 8:41PM on May 4th 2008 by Anthony Brown

3. AMAZING Car! As you say, it comes down to the will of people!
=-)

Posted at 8:43PM on May 4th 2008 by James

4. Wow that car is sick!

Posted at 10:23PM on May 4th 2008 by Duncan

5. The car is smoking hot!!! It would be great to have a longer range on the fuel cell. I am sure there will be improve in the tec field with the demand for electric cars increasing.

Regards Greg

Posted at 10:41PM on May 4th 2008 by Make Money online with HomebizSEO.com

6. really nice car!
when are we going to see drag between the vette and the tesla?

Posted at 10:26AM on May 5th 2008 by teymur madjderey

7. Love the test drive video. It looks like a great ride. If you need an extra driver, count me in. :-D

I have a Prius and am hoping to get a Tesla in the next couple of years. It's a beautiful car.

I don't think the re-charge issue is that big of a deal, but I only go to the gas station once every week or two since I get over 400 miles on a 10 gallon tank. With gas prices rising, Tesla has definitely entered the market at the right time.

Enjoy your amazing new ride!

Angela in San Diego

Posted at 12:56PM on May 5th 2008 by Angela

8. The #1 problem with this car is that it's in the hand of Tesla. Seriously , it's been around since 2006 , it's still not available. How many brand of cars exist that ship new model each years globally ?

you used 001 , why ? because there is no 002 ?

The #2 problem is it based of a car that's worth 70k , that as never been massed produced and is sold for 90k+.

The #3 problem is that the real interesting technology is the motor and there is not an exclusive motor division at Tesla. They should have one that try to integrate the motors into Fords , GM , Honda and other lowest priced cars and sale them as kit so that there could be local garage or even franchised garage that install it in local car for a fee.

The #4 problem it relly on batteries exclusively for it's charge and is a plug , charge and play. Once the battery are discharged you need to wait for them to recharge , how long does it really takes to recharges ? 4 hour ?

A) You say your going to use solar panel to recharge the car , what happen if the batteries are down and your not at home ?

Note , I am not against Solar energy , or solar panel , but with a maximum recharge charge of 8 - 12 hour if it's sunny , witch most days it's not , the reliance on the sun for solar panel recharging is DUMB ( not talking about you here , just the technology , it don't meet the real requiremnt need and that we have 24 hours per day ). Why ? we can use a replacemnt for the sun , we have tanning salons lightbulbs for tanning people , I am sure that they could charge the solar panel for 24 hour and replace the Sun if set at low levels. This means less solar panel need and more green energy available. You can also stack them horizontally and vertically , because you don't need line of sight with the sun.

B) Your going to say Tanning salons beds are huge and they take a lot of electricity. I forgot to say Miniaturized version with more efficient electric demand , not sure if first generation LED lights that emited heats would not be better as they are smaller and more efficient. That way you can have a portable charging source.

c) TM4 as created an electric wheel motor that recharge itself :

http://www.tm4.com/eng/tm4transport/moto_wheelmotor/

The thing keep spinning at uncontrolable rate that's why it's bad for cars as wheels. But take the design miniaturzie it to server size like 1u rackmount size.
Now you got a self sufficient power source that recharge itself by it's spinning. Hook up 4 miniaturized micro-windmill without the blades that create energy when the wheel motor rotate against it and you got 4 integrated chargers.

Hook the windmill to 4 1-6 hour or more batteries and you have a system that can alternate between themself so your never run out of elctricity without having an alternate battery that is charged.

The T-zero engine is the same technology used by tesla :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm6gD6r3-cw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqqtJpfZElQ&feature=related

Posted at 2:34PM on May 5th 2008 by Moulinneuf

9. Addition about the #3 problem or 3b supposedly called white star :

http://www.zenncars.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M88k6Ipp3c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsBkxFS4lag

Why don't they merge with Zenn , get the car and put Tesla engine in it.

Zenn as an assembly line already ...

Posted at 2:47PM on May 5th 2008 by Moulinneuf

10. Imagine all the kids you're going to run over with a car as silence as that.

Posted at 7:22AM on May 6th 2008 by Daniel

11. Most of the world's great advancements have been made in the face of criticism from those with imagination only enough to see problems rather than solutions.

Arguments about the "dangers" of silent cars, transfer of pollution from tailpipe to power station, high cost of early mass production models, etc. are all solvable problems. In fact, with the will of the people they could (in a perfect world) be solved within weeks. Instead it takes decades. Why? Because of nay-sayers and scrooges. Lets be honest. There are no problems with electric vehicles that aren't problems with people. Keep up the good work, Tesla, and don't let weak-minded pessimists get you down.

Posted at 11:45AM on May 6th 2008 by Lon

12. Lon,

You are correct...most advancements come at the rejection of "conventional wisdom"...as well as they also come from standing on shoulders of the great thinkers that came before them.

What doesn't help advancement of EV's is the introduction of "bad" science and charlatans ... keep the discussion on point and let the market decide!

Posted at 12:52PM on May 6th 2008 by Randall Van Engen

13. #8c ...

Uhh...why not wish for a warp core and dilithium crystals and a transporter?? Sounds like you have the workings for a perpetual motion machine...

Posted at 3:35PM on May 6th 2008 by Randall Van Engen

14. All great advancement have been made by
those who identified problems and helped
or found the solution to that problem.

Jason Calacanis when he built weblogs
did he imagine the solutions ? Or he
looked at what was availaible ? identified
the problem and offered is solution ?

When Jason built Mahalo did he imagine
the solution ? Or he identified the problem
and offered is solution ?

All great trouble of our days are there
because some Lon people made excuse for
incompetents.

-----

".why not wish for a warp core and
dilithium crystals and a transporter??"

Because they don't exist now and are not
working or availaible now , they are all
work of fictions today.

"Sounds like you have the workings for a
perpetual motion machine..."

No , as you always have one or two
batteries who are discharged or
recharging , lightbulbs always break
eventually too. so do windmill motors.
It's just greener energy created without
using oil.

It's based of the postrider theory , where
as instead of relying on one horse for the
distance you rely on multiple horse , who run
faster for a shorter run , then recharge but
the post rider keep on going.

The rider is the electric motor here so the
horse are the battery , I just solved the barn
or post point problem.

Let's go with an example some of you might
be familiar with so that you can visualize
and undertsand it.

You have a cellphone , who's battery last 6-8
hours. When it runs out and your in your car
what do you do , you plug it in the car , when
your nowhere a power source you bring more
battery or you use a solar charger on the
battery your not using.

Like I said , solar panel have for problem
the Sun , but we can recreate the sun effects.

The windmill problem is the wind itself , but
we can create device that will spin and recharge
itself by spinning. Solving the wind need for
the motor to spin.

BTW I am not talking about standard windmill but
about micro one like :

http://www.loopwing.co.jp/en/01wind/02tronc.html

Posted at 5:24PM on May 6th 2008 by Moulinneuf

15. Uhhhh...ok...one simple question...what is powering the charger of your batteries?

Posted at 11:33PM on May 6th 2008 by Uh huh...

16. The 4 motor wheel recharge their own one battery by spinning ( the more they spin , the more the battery keep being charged ) ... by also spinning the 4 windmill at stable 100km per hour or more , it create even more energy ... witch recharge the 4 battery ... who are used one at a time by the engine.

Just to be on the safe side , I included a solar system , who is using tanning bed light bulb at it's second level to create even more direct solar energy who are then transfered to the 4 batteries who supply the engine and one or two baterie that are used to power the tanning bed light bulb , to create solar energy when the sun is not there.

It has 198-200 hour of more of energy availaible at all time and stored and the engine only use 1 , when it's running. When the engine is not running the battery used to power the engine in energy can be used to power the recharging system to create even more energy.

The problem with the motor wheel was that it spinned uncontrolably as a car wheel and that it was stopped when used as a car wheel ( touching the ground and stopping when at stop or lights , or stopped in parking ) , because you need to stop the car. As a spinning power source with the wheel in the air , miniaturized , inside a casing it's perfect.

Posted at 8:09AM on May 7th 2008 by Moulinneuf

17. Sorry...you need to do a bit more research...sounds like over-unity to me. You cannot power a light bulb and then expect that the light bulb will contribute more to the solar cell. Just doesn't work that way.


However, if you REALLY think it will work, then do the world a favor, and don't ask anyone for money, just use your own money, and build it...if it works, you will be famous and rich...otherwise (and more likely), you will have at least not damaged anyone financially, and more importantly, damaged the EV movement!

Posted at 10:21AM on May 7th 2008 by Shrugs Shoulders

18. The funny thing is this :

I used two existing power source. I just went
looking for the component to make them at
the individual level.

One is used to make tunnel more safely. The
other is the next generation of rover design.
It just goes to show how lacking some people
are about discussing the technology that's
available or identifying them.

@ Shrugs Shoulders :

Lightbulb :

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=light+bulb&x=0&y=0

Tanning bed and it's lightbulb :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_bed

The difference is this :

"a device emitting ultraviolet radiation" , where
as regular lighbulb are only used for illumination
and heat and radiation generation is frowned upon
and removed in the design as much as possible.

I did not ask for any money , I don't think it work
, I know it does , I am already too famous both ways ,
I already pay too much taxes and I already did the world a favor. It's also already built , just used
for something else.

Also you can't help the people who don't want to be
helped.

I never damaged anyone financially or any other way,
The opposite actually , the EV movement as got itself and you to do the damaging.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_electric_vehicle

"The history of the electric vehicle began in the mid-1800s. An electrical vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. The high cost and low top speed of electric vehicles compared to later internal combustion vehicles caused a worldwide decline in their use, and only relatively recently have they re-emerged into the public eye."

"The early twentieth century was the height for the American electric car. Many factors contributed to the downfall of the electric car, but the final blow seems to be the production of the gasoline car by Henry Ford. His mass-produced cars cost half as much as the average electric car. The electric car was dead until the 1960s."

But your right , shut up or do the work.

Posted at 4:07PM on May 7th 2008 by Moulinneuf

19. How about some PROOF dude...what do you have that can power itself without external power inputs?

You are famous?? Pay too much taxes...(snicker)...riiiiiiiggghhttt...I am betting you are a 14 year old. ;-)

Post some links to a repeatable documentable experiment where what you say is demonstrated.

The other saying that comes to mind is "put up or shut up"

Posted at 5:37PM on May 7th 2008 by Double Shrug

20. So let me get this straight...you are powering your car 100% off its batteries...movement, lighting, whatever, and then you are recharging the batteries from the wheel motor movement to recharge the batteries, and supplementing that with solar panels that are powered (when it isn't sunny) by tanning bed lights? Did I miss something? Or was there also the windmill on the front of the car to recharge the batteries as the car drives down the street?

Posted at 10:11AM on May 8th 2008 by Shrug Delayed