Recent content by ProSkeptic

Despite what a freshman physics text might tell you, the reality is that a rubber tire on pavement will give the best traction with a small (~5%) degree of wheelspin. It's highly dependent on a number of factors, not the least of which is the particular pavement surface in question, so it's...

Something tells me that its coefficient of drag is substantially higher than that of the Model S, too.

Then what would they do with all the used 60 kWh packs? Vicious cycle, that...

Yikes. Does that cost include one season of wheel storage? That would make the price somewhat more reasonable.

At the risk of splitting hairs over a tragic situation... Looking at the front end of the Tesla, I'd say it was much closer to the 40% overlap crash scenario, albeit likely at a higher speed than the test protocol.

I'm guessing that you missed the recent Poll Validity Wars. If you want, I can try to find some of the better examples. They were a hoot.

That, and arguing. But seriously... I read Michael's take on CU's data collection a few years ago, and it's a big reason why I take their information with a large grain of salt.

Totally spitballling ideas here... perhaps the interpretation of ECE R85 dictates that the stated power be the maximum drawn for 30 minutes that will limit the voltage drop to 5% of nominal?

I've noticed this with every BT audio system I've ever used.

They're not scientific. Duh...

Yeah, but what fun would that be? The danger in feeling compelled to whip it out and compare size is that one runs the risk of it being trod upon.

Plus, the roof of the Silverdome is either down or off right now. Okay, maybe not right now... but it was two minutes ago when I walked out in the parking lot of my office.

One small point of order - If one were to actually put the P85D on a four-wheel dynamometer, it would not measure anywhere near 550 hp/410 kW. While that is the maximum power rate that the battery can output, there are losses in the inverter, the motor, the reduction gear, and all the other...

Having been a part of designing a vehicle structure to perform well in a small-offset crash, I can tell you that only one of those cars possibly experienced an impact similar to what's modeled in the IIHS test - The seventh picture down, with the car sitting in the grass.

Yikes... It's one thing for Tesla to want to cut ties with a guy who could have proverbially come in off the street and bought a Model S, but it's entirely another to be willing to alienate a previous buyer who has had a deposit down on a Model X for 2+ years.