Electric cars are coming!

[dpeilow]

We're sorry to be buzz kills. But we've heard this one before. Like in 1990. And 1910. Do the automakers have the juice this time?

Electric cars are coming! | Salon

The big automakers can thank independent upstarts for helping electric cars today lose their glorified golf-cart stigma. The flashy, very limited Tesla Roadster goes for a cool $110,000. If that's a bit steep for you, you're welcome to put down a $5,000 deposit for the forthcoming Tesla Model S, which will go for around $57,000. Some 1,000 would-be Model S drivers already have done so. (German automaker Daimler announced that it bought an almost 10 percent stake in Tesla on Tuesday.)

Interesting article...

 

[graham]

Does the Prius really belong in this group? You can't plug them in (yet) unless you have someone hack them to add more batteries.

Can you plug in any of them yet? :smile:

Toyota has announced there will be a plug-in Prius some day, so that seems just as real as a Model S to me right now...

 

[vfx]

wow.

After G.M. took Spertus' EV1 away, it charged her several thousand dollars for dents in it, despite the fact it was headed to the great auto-body shop in the sky.

.

 

[AnOutsider]

Good ole GM for ya. Now that Daimler has taken an interest in Tesla we can return to hoping for their demise without worry about the negative side effects it'll have on Tesla.

 

[dpeilow]

The disappointing thing about this article is that it says that battery tech is mature and don't expect changes, without taking into account that most of the big new battery claims are coming from the nanotech area. We shall see.

 

[vfx]

without taking into account that most of the big new battery claims are coming from the nanotech area. We shall see.

And that governments across the planet is making battery tech and manufacturing a major priority. This cracks the chicken/egg problem wide open.

 

[EVnut]

Can you plug in any of them yet? :smile:

Yeah, good point. The Mini is right on the cusp though. They're all built. Just awaiting delivery at this point. It is odd to have the Prius in there....

Factory PHEV Prius do exist... in Japan. They've had them for years.

After G.M. took Spertus' EV1 away, it charged her several thousand dollars for dents in it, despite the fact it was headed to the great auto-body shop in the sky.

Ah.. you hadn't heard about that little issue? Many of us were charged insane amounts for scratches and such. Not dents - the dang things wouldn't dent. Just TRY to find one with a dent in it (I mean before the crusher!). But they were charging for scratches on the underside of that front dam - the dam that is about 3" off the pavement! Worst I heard was $2600 - charged just weeks before the car was crushed.

 

[vfx]

Electric vehicles are coming this year, but will they be ready?

Electric vehicles are coming this year, but will they be ready? | MNN - Mother Nature Network

It’s really close. We can almost reach out and touch it. The electric cars are coming, and they’re just over the horizon. Not a decade away, not even a year away, but only months away. Remember that thing about it being “too quiet” in old cowboy movies? That’s where we are now, the calm just before the storm.

...all hell is about to break loose.

 

[bobw]

Ah.. you hadn't heard about that little issue? Many of us were charged insane amounts for scratches and such. Not dents - the dang things wouldn't dent. Just TRY to find one with a dent in it (I mean before the crusher!). But they were charging for scratches on the underside of that front dam - the dam that is about 3" off the pavement! Worst I heard was $2600 - charged just weeks before the car was crushed.

Talk about a corporate death-wish.

I worked at EDS when Ross Perot sold it to GM. Hordes of EDSers who went to Michigan came back with stories about how you couldn't rearrange an office without triggering a union grievance.

The whole company was twisted, from the boardroom to the factory floor.

 

[vfx]

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/ideas/author/randyr/

I note the part about

...For the first time, electric cars were given their own hall in Germany’s big auto show. ...0.

That would be fascinating and telling to count the bodies into that hall. Would be worth a study.