Roadster on Top Gear

[dpeilow]

First of a hearty thank you to dpeilow for the play by play but I do wish he was familiar with the term. "Spoilers alert I hope he does not give the scores in sport to his friends who have PVR'd the match at home.

Sorry about that, I guess I was caught up in the moment :frown:


I thought about waiting until I had the video online, but I thought that either people would want to know straight away or someone else would just post it anyway...

I will remember to mark the post next time (and leave a big gap).

 

[malcolm]

Well anyway. Anyone who wants a hydrogen car is going to get fed up with waiting.

Just look at how impatient we all got waiting for the Roadster :biggrin:

Automakers like Chrysler are going to have to jump for the nearest green tech just to survive.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/17/and-i-this-i-is-how-chrysler-thinks-it-will-beat-the-volt/

 

[vfx]

... I'll admit that it would be nice to have an electric car where you fill up just like gas,...

Actually this is my favorite reason NOT to want a hydrogen car. I don't want one industry to have my transportation fuel all to themselves. They control supply, price and location.

Better to have an electric car where diffrent suppliers are fighting to supply my juice. Electricity can come from Coal and Nuke yes but also from Geothermal, Solar, Wind and Hydro power stations. It is already available everywhere and I can even make it myself.


EDIT: See here for the continuation of this topic...

 

[vfx]

Sorry about that, I guess I was caught up in the moment :frown:

Yeah, I know. Apology accepted. :smile:

 

[malcolm]

They control supply, price and location.

It is already available everywhere and I can even make it myself.

Once EV numbers take off they will place stricter controls on price and supply :frown:

But plan B is a winner, providing that you have sufficient capital and space to access solar or wind etc

 

[graham]

Better to have an electric car where diffrent suppliers are fighting to supply my juice. Electricity can come from Coal and Nuke yes but also from Geothermal, Solar, Wind and Hydro power stations. It is already available everywhere and I can even make it myself.

Yes, this is probably the #1 reason I wanted an electric car in the first place. Being able to generate my own fuel at home and not being reliant on either government nor cartel is important to me. This probably also means I would rather have a higher capacity long-range car over a shorter range battery-swap car too if I am given the choice.

 

[malcolm]

Martin's comments copied over from TF:

Martin sez:

I wonder if it was fully charged when they started. Most likely, it was at 85% of full charge - the normal charge.

But I am not totally surprised - he was driving the car absolutely at its limit - wasting lots of energy turning and braking, and especially, operating the motor near its torque limit continuously.

Because an EV is inherently more efficient, the energy consumption ratio between ideal driving and extreme driving will be more than the ratio for a gasoline powered car.

Similarly, an EV’s driving range will be more adversely affected by hill climbing and by headwind than a gasoline powered car.

I thought the Top Gear piece got kind of silly when they started talking about charging the car though. What’s the deal with that stupid little windmill they showed?

 

[vfx]

Martin E.

Because an EV is inherently more efficient, the energy consumption ratio between ideal driving and extreme driving will be more than the ratio for a gasoline powered car.

Similarly, an EV’s driving range will be more adversely affected by hill climbing and by headwind than a gasoline powered car.

Never quite heard this put this way before. Gives cause to think.

 

[graham]

The Truth About Cars posts about Rachel Konrad's rebuttal to Top Gear. Her comments also mention the Clarity article, which I had not seen here before.

Tesla Motors Responds to Top Gear Review | The Truth About Cars

If anyone continued watching the show until the end, you no doubt also saw the show’s astoundingly uninformed coverage of Honda’s hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, which cannot be purchased at all but rather leased for $600 per month in Southern California to 200 pre-qualified customers in the next three years. Clarkson rips on the Roadster for being three times the price of a Lotus Elise — yet I find it odd that the humble advocates for everyman at Top Gear never even mention the price of the Clarity, which is about five times the cost of a Roadster, according to industry analysts. (Honda refuses to divulge the price of the Clarity, but its previous FCX, first delivered in 2002, cost about $1 million each to produce, and executives have coyly indicated that the new ones are about half the cost of the old ones.)

A conspicuous omission, me thinks. Let the readers beware.

Surprisingly the comments are not too negative towards Tesla either.

 

[dpeilow]

Can anyone in the know say if there is actually a pump in the braking circuit?

Or is the fuse more likely to be on the regen?

 

[doug]

Can anyone in the know say if there is actually a pump in the braking circuit?

There's an electric pump for the brake booster since there's no engine vacuum.

 

[deenko]

The pump assists the brakes. If the pump were to fail, there will still be braking.

 

[vfx]

Surprisingly the comments are not too negative towards Tesla either.

And I did not even recognize any pro EV names.

 

[Cobos]

The Truth About Cars posts about Rachel Konrad's rebuttal to Top Gear. Her comments also mention the Clarity article, which I had not seen here before.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/tesla-motors-responds-to-top-gear-review/Surprisingly the comments are not too negative towards Tesla either.

Hmm I beleive I see a business opening setting up my ice cream factory in Hell, I've heard the weather forecast is favorable there now....

:biggrin:

Cobos

 

[dpeilow]

Rachel should also cite the extremely positive review that Top Gear gave the car in their magazine (http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news...op-gear-tesla-lots-more-come-4.html#post15065) and point out the hypocrisy.

 

[Cobos]

What I really don't get is the recharge time....
53kW/h battery means it should take:
120V x 15A = 1,8kW -> 29,4 hours
230V x 16A = 3,68kW -> 14,4 hours

So it seems the worstcase is actually just 14,4 hours, though as has been said, find me any half-decent race track that doesn't have 400V 3-phase power and you'll get a cookie. If nothing else they need it to run the lights on the track. Those are typically not the average 60W lightbulbs

Cobos

 

[dpeilow]

UK standard power outlets are 240V x 13A = 3.12kW -> 16.98 hours

 

[Bradleybang]

Clarkson said "16 hours" to charge from that plug (110) but I'd bet quite a few pounds that they have a 240 with higher amperage in that Hangar.


Edit: " just came back to see above comments. wierd that we were all on same wavelength.

 

[vfx]

You Tube / BBC has pulled the segments.

I did find the entire episode in two parts but does anyone know where we can link to just the Tesla and FCX segments?

 

[dpeilow]

I did post the files back up the thread, but if you want to actually have them viewable online (streamed) then I am not sure, is Google Video any safer?