Wall Street Journal

[vfx]

Did I miss this?

Testing the Tesla Roadster Electric Sports Car - WSJ.com

I searched !

And other than some charging wrongness...

According to the touch-screen display to the left of the steering wheel, we're charging at a rate of a mile every three minutes on Tesla's 24-amp plug.

It actually sounds like my "review".

 

[doug]

Testing the Tesla Roadster Electric Sports Car - WSJ.com

That's interesting, a friend of mine who now works for a solar power company must have been there when that picture was taken back in April.

 

[vfx]

Someone high up sent out a memo for reporters to do something on electrics. These were all in the last two days. Michael Ramsey was very very busy.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/10/18/electric-cars-a-boon-for-commercial-vehicle-trade/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552593434958302.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703384204575509933055156848.html
http://online.wsj.com/video/news-hu...ars/C04A736B-CF46-4DBA-A6B6-87F45D0E8DA2.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550293051492982.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546071601126064.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575519641915241922.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2...hy-dont-electric-cars-go-farther-on-a-charge/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536242934528502.html

 

[TEG]

http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/19/two-things-about-electric-cars-the-wall-street-journal-missed/

 

[vfx]

http://blogs.wsj.com/hong-kong/2011/01/31/why-electric-cars-arent-selling/

There is a lot of anti EV vitriol in the comments on this article. Old stupid arguments by the dozen.

 

[stopcrazypp]

http://blogs.wsj.com/hong-kong/2011/01/31/why-electric-cars-arent-selling/

There is a lot of anti EV vitriol in the comments on this article. Old stupid arguments by the dozen.

Hong Kong isn't that big a market in the first place (they only sold 300 Priuses in a year). I wonder how the Leaf will do there, esp with the DC charging (HK is a pretty small place).

 

[Jaff]

There looks to be an error in the slide show info...

"The Ford Focus runs on a 100 kw lithium-ion battery capable of running 100 miles on a single charge"...pretty crappy range for a 100 kw battery :biggrin:...besides, according to Mr. E, it'll "take at best" 14 hours to charge! :wink:

 

[bolosky]

There looks to be an error in the slide show info...

"The Ford Focus runs on a 100 kw lithium-ion battery capable of running 100 miles on a single charge"...pretty crappy range for a 100 kw battery :biggrin:...besides, according to Mr. E, it'll "take at best" 14 hours to charge! :wink:

Don't confuse KW with KWh. KW is a measure of power (think horsepower) while KWh is a unit of energy (roughly range/"gas tank" size). 100 KW is a little less than half what the Roadster has, and would mean that the Focus is probably slightly underpowered.

 

[Jaff]

Doh!.. my mistake...so used to only thinking in KWh now! :redface:

 

[TEG]

Don't confuse KW with KWh. KW is a measure of power (think horsepower) while KWh is a unit of energy (roughly range/"gas tank" size). 100 KW is a little less than half what the Roadster has, and would mean that the Focus is probably slightly underpowered.

100kW is probably sufficient to provide "adequate" acceleration. The Focus doesn't aspire to be a supercar...
It is in the same league with the Leaf.

 

[PaulM]

100 kW is approximately 133HP, about what is expected in a Focus.

 

[bolosky]

100kW is probably sufficient to provide "adequate" acceleration. The Focus doesn't aspire to be a supercar...
It is in the same league with the Leaf.

I guess I've just gotten spoiled. I've forgotten just what it was like to drive a 1.8L VW/Porsche 914 that had ~100HP. Seemed fun at the time, but after a long succession of more powerful cars (leading up to the Roadster), it sounds wimpy. On the other hand, the 914 handled wonderfully, probably better than the Roadster.

Also, power isn't the limit at low speed, torque is so I bet that the EV Focus will feel peppier than the ICE one, at least up to ~30MPH.

 

[TEG]

Also, power isn't the limit at low speed, torque is so I bet that the EV Focus will feel peppier than the ICE one, at least up to ~30MPH.

Yes, I would assume the same. More low end torque is a nice benefit even if max HP is no better.