Now that Tesla has backing from Daimler, it's moving aggressively towards an expanded lineup and more affordable models. At least that's what company CEO Elon Musk told Green Car Advisor.
Musk (pictured) said that in addition to the Smart EV, "there is also another major vehicle program that we will be doing with Daimler and that was part of the investment deal and would also fit into the 'everyman' category."
Good to see that Tesla is aiming to bring down the price of its electric cars, but given how much work it has left to do on the Model S, it seems a little premature to be thinking about additional cars down the road.
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firstwagon says:
12:42 PM, 06/ 2/09
It's easy to build an affordable electric car.
Just include a sticker that says "batteries not included".
The last numbers I heard the Tesla battery pack weighed almost 1000lbs, contained the same energy as 2 gallons of gas and cost $36,000 to replace.
Tesla and Daimler should spend their time on battery research and worry about the cars later.
Using current batteries they will never be affordable.
estreka says:
05:03 PM, 06/ 2/09
Tesla has to do something. They can't go on forever producing "almost production-ready" vehicles.
jimveta says:
06:05 AM, 06/ 3/09
".. contained the same energy as 2 gallons of gas"
Even so, a NA gas engine only extracts 10+ percent of that energy, with turbocharged engines up to 20%. So it's misleading to really say that alone.
On the other hand, with an electric motor, 90+ percent of that energy is used (96.5% being the highest far if I recall).
So 2 gallons of worth of energy from gas for an electric engine is about equivalent to 18 gallons of gas for a gas engine.
But you're right that energy density for batteries is a challenge. However it's being worked on. SSC will be using batteries with nanotechnology for their Aero EV. (the nanotech batteries has been in R&D for many years prior actually, outside of SSC I mean, in industry and in academia)