BBC FUD Fest: Mini-E London to Edinburgh

[mpt]

Funny. If you were visiting a relative in a far away town I bet you would have better luck asking "Can I plug my car into a spare outlet while I visit?" compared to "Can I have 8 gallons of Petrol?"

Yes indeed, how would this go at the front desk of the Hilton, "I've traveled here in a gasoline powered car, would you mind popping a few extra gallons in the tank for me whilst I sleep?"

 

[mpt]

Slightly OT but, a photographer/motoring jurno friend of mine, who is french, that's important, reminded me that electric cars can take us back to simpler, friendlier times.

You have to imagine the french ascent but he said to me; "Imagin a journey across the country on an electric motorcycle. You will ride and enjoy the scene, when you run out of power you might stop at a house, you might ask for a little electricity? Who would say no to that? You plug in, you have a little coffee, you talk about your journey, everyone is very happy, no?"

It's a romantic notion but, I like it.

 

[vfx]

Well they eventually published.

I liked this one, a few posts down

As good as any tongue and cheek I've ever read. Brilliant!

But I guess it makes us J Thadddeus Toad:

...
Not far off, Toad lays eyes on a motorcar, and he now has found a new 'mania' to become obsessed over: motor-mania. Hearing his 'sputtering' rantings, Rat and Mole manage to get ahold of Toad, return him to Toad Hall, and lock him in his room, hoping that rest will calm him down. However, Toad now completely obsessed, sneaks out of his residency.

 

[doug]

You have to imagine the french ascent...

Would that be more Maurice Chevalier or Jacques Cousteau?

 

[TEG]

Touché !
I noticed the spelling error, but missed the snappy comeback opportunity.

 

[mpt]

That's how he sounds! You av tooo Im-Ah-jin is ascent

 

[vfx]

You have to imagine the french ascent

Would that be more Maurice Chevalier or Jacques Cousteau?

I just thought he was some Alp-climber dude.

 

[AndrewBissell]

The Register these days can be summed up with a single word: Snide.

It doesn't even rise to the level of sarcasm.

 

[Doug_G]

#2: Many of the store demo models seem to be Sports as it would make sense to offer the slightly quicker model when trying to impress potential customers on test drives.

They do, and I'm sure it's a very good idea from a sales perspective... but I would challenge anyone who had not driven a Tesla regularly to be able to tell the difference without a stopwatch.

 

[TEG]

They do, and I'm sure it's a very good idea from a sales perspective... but I would challenge anyone who had not driven a Tesla regularly to be able to tell the difference without a stopwatch.

Someone from Tesla once told me "2.5 Sport in standard mode is somewhat similar to non-sport in performance mode."
He changed the 2.5 from performance to standard, I did a 0-60 and could sort-of tell the difference.

 

[JRP3]

Slightly OT but, a photographer/motoring jurno friend of mine, who is french, that's important, reminded me that electric cars can take us back to simpler, friendlier times.

You have to imagine the french ascent but he said to me; "Imagin a journey across the country on an electric motorcycle. You will ride and enjoy the scene, when you run out of power you might stop at a house, you might ask for a little electricity? Who would say no to that? You plug in, you have a little coffee, you talk about your journey, everyone is very happy, no?"

It's a romantic notion but, I like it.

That's basically the experience of the couple who just went around the world in an EV.

 

[Doug_G]

Someone from Tesla once told me "2.5 Sport in standard mode is somewhat similar to non-sport in performance mode."
He changed the 2.5 from performance to standard, I did a 0-60 and could sort-of tell the difference.

Same thing with a non-Sport. If you randomly set it to Performance or Standard, I could tell you which without looking at the touchscreen, but I could not do that when I first bought it.

To me it feels pretty much the same, but I have "calibrated" my foot so I don't blow too far over the speed limit -- a fraction of a second extra acceleration is all it takes! I can usually stop accel within 3 kph of what I intended. But if I turn on Performance I always overshoot my target.

 

[dpeilow]

The story got picked up by Motor Trend.

http://wot.motortrend.com/500-mile-trip-takes-mini-four-days-tesla-roadster-makes-one-23779.html

Hopefully that will cascade through the rest of the mainstream car press.

 

[dpeilow]

Good circulation though; should bring the whole story to a lot of new people; they'll draw their own conclusions and, as I suspect many are techies they'll get the right end of the stick.

Actually, for a so-called techie audience, I'm surprised how many of them get the wrong end of the stick. Bleeting like Clarkeson's sheep every time.

 

[Norbert]

"But beyond the obvious PR stunt for Tesla, Pielow’s counter drive did serve to notice that despite the significant obstacles, the hurdles to widespread EV may yet be overcome someday."

There we go. "Someday" isn't far away, and doesn't depend on big "If"s anymore.

 

[mpt]

There we go. "Someday" isn't far away, and doesn't depend on big "If"s anymore.

Yes, unlike competing technologies there are no more "eureka moments" required, it's just hard slog from here on in.

 

[TEG]

The story got picked up by Motor Trend.
http://wot.motortrend.com/500-mile-trip-takes-mini-four-days-tesla-roadster-makes-one-23779.html

(Also posted previously in #89...)

 

[shark2k]

This was mentioned in the Tesla newsletter delivered today (at least I got it today in my e-mail).

-Shark2k

 

[TEG]

Newsletter clip:

 

[TEG]

http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/spin-distortion-and-edinburgh-by-electric-car/