The 3rd picture is interesting with the house. It has rather unusual window treatments. Based on the satellite dish, that's apparently the south and west sides of the house, so maybe they block it in the summer for passive-solar reasons? (Given that they work on EVs, I'm assuming they're into the whole saving-energy thing). But back to the main subject, congrats on your purchase Daniel! That's really cool! (Or was the main topic bicycles...I'm easily confused).
I took the top off today for the first time. Takes just a couple of minutes. That was nice. The weather forecast suggests I may be able to leave it off for a while.
Their original plan was to build 2,500 Roadsters and then switch to the Model S. They are on track with that plan. They will discontinue making the Roadster and mid-2012 they expect to deliver the first of the Signature series Model S (300 mile range and ALL the options, probably for a whopping $80,000 or $90,000). After the Model S I think there's talk of a crossover called the Model X, and eventually an affordable family sedan. At some point they will build Roadsters again, but on a different frame, since their contract with Lotus for frames ends soon. And probably a whole new design, making mine a rare car. The Roadster was always a car to break into a tough market. It was never Tesla's long-term plan. That is, they never intended to be an exotic-car maker. They built an exotic car to get a start and eventually grow into a major auto maker. And it is one smooth car, with the highest power to noise ratio on the streets.
Just so you know, Daniel, I got to ride in a Tesla last year at Green Drive Expo. For me to be able to get into your Tesla, you'll have to remove the roof, lightly oil the inside, and use a large shoehorn. Removal will require a crane... ound: Seriously, though... it would be great to go for a ride with you!
Removing the roof is easy. I have the soft top and it's off right now. I may have to put it on this morning to drive out to the farm where they now have the first beets, but I'll be taking it off again for an afternoon drive out in the country. Takes about 2 minutes. I will not oil the inside. I do not have a human-size shoehorn or a crane. I will give rides to anyone who wants. Any excuse to drive my new toy.
No, just ask for help to oil your body first, and use that plastic Twister mat you always seem to have with you.
40 or fifty years from now, some lucky person will 'find' one in a barn. that will be an interesting reclamation project!
Went out for a drive in the country today on a rural highway (Route 27, headed south from Spokane) I drove a total of 104 miles. The Roadster gives two "estimated range" figures: Ideal range, which supposes that you drive like a sane person; and an estimate based on your driving style the previous 30 or 40 miles. Starting out having charged in standard mode (charge to 90%, limit discharge to 10%) my "ideal range" is 185 miles. (It's 245 if you charge in Range mode, which charges to 100% and allows complete, or near complete discharge, with the warning that it's bad for battery life.) After driving 104 miles my "ideal range" remaining was 70 miles. I was driving with the top off, between 55 and 62 mph, accelerating up the occasional hill, passing the occasional car with frightening bursts of speed, etc. My range remaining based on driving style was 60 miles. So an easy 160 miles driving hard, but not quite freeway speed limit, and that would still leave a buffer because you can always switch to range mode and use that bottom 10%, which would be around 18 miles driving moderately. It's been a sunny day here, but not too hot, making for a beautiful drive in the country. The car is set to charge at midnight, so tomorrow I'll report on how many electrons it took.
Daniel, you're going to have to change your signature here to reflect your new toy! ...and Hyo, YOU provided that Twister mat last year, remember? :huh:
"Annie" (because it was an orphan) started charging on the timer at midnight. At 4:50 a.m. when I woke up, it had finished. So it took some amount less than 5 hours to recharge after 104 miles of driving. (I've been told a discharge to 10%, which is the limit in Standard mode, and should be about 170 miles, will take six hours to recharge to 90%, also the limit in Standard mode.) It took 35 kWh. That of course includes the energy it took to run the compressor and pumps for the battery cooling system (which BTW is quite loud). I count that because it's part of the car's overall energy usage, analogous to a stinker's tank-to-wheels FE. So my cost to drive it remains 2 cents per mile, as with the Xebra, which has a less efficient drive train, but is lighter and does not run a cooling system. This is what I expected. At 3.75 per gallon, which I think is the typical price for gas where I live, and 50 mpg, which is what I get in the Prius on the highway, the Prius costs 7 1/2 cents per mile to drive. Toyota, eat my dust! If one gallon of gas contains 40 kWh of energy (very quick google search) then the Prius goes 50 miles on 40 kWh or 1.25 miles per kWh. which is 2.4 times as much energy as the Roadster. IOW, the Roadster is 2.4 times more efficient than a Prius. All while driving considerably harder. Only a bicycle is more efficient. A full charge to 100% from dead empty (driving and charging in Range mode) is supposed to take 8 hours using my charging connector (240 volts on a 50 amp circuit drawing 40 amps). So, a little more than twice the charging rate of the Leaf using Nissan's L2 charging system.
I use 114,000 BTUs / Gallon of gasoline, and 3412 BTUs / kiloWatt-hour. Giving 33.4 kWh / Gallon. This, of course, is only from tank to wheels, not well to wheels, but much easier to figure. (So, 1.5 miles / kWh for the Prius, and twice as much as the Roadster.) Pretty awesome.
I like it. Little orange Annie. Not to discredit your arithmetic, but this is only the fuel cost. 'Total cost of ownership' is the more relevant figure, and typically includes an amortisation of the purchase cost. In this case of Tesla versus Prius, amortisation is a significant difference.
Thanks for the correction on kWh/gallon. I just glanced at some web page. In that case, a 5-year-old Civic or Corolla beats a Prius hands down. I was, indeed, talking about fuel cost at the point of consumer purchase per mile. Of course, gasoline is subsidized by all sorts of give-aways to Big Oil, but since those are hard to calculate, I compare pump-to-wheels for a stinker with plug-to-wheels for an EV. So the Prius is half as efficient, and at Spokane prices costs 7 1/2 times as much to put fuel in. We've been brought up to think that more power means less efficiency, but electric motors do not follow that rule. Time to go to my Weight Watcher's meeting. I've lost 15 pounds since February, and I've been losing 1/2 pound per week for the last month and a half. (Slower as I get closer to my goal, as is to be expected.)
Yes, I do understand that. I don't disagree. My '95 Odyssey claimed a 13 second 0-60 and I have no idea if it took that amount of time or not, never tried. Did time a 0-35 'in traffic' - took about 8 seconds. Meaning, unless you are the lead dog and have a lead foot, you ain't going to hit 35 any faster if you have a 0-60 in 3 seconds rocket or 0-60 in 15 seconds turtle. Nice to know, I figured if smaller were more efficient, they could build a bit cheaper with a smaller motor and get more miles per charge. Anything reasonable to get the costs down and the KWh/100 miles down! Yep. Would be nice to know when and what the 'X' will be. Might be just my cuppa car. OTOH, I suspect it will arrive at a bad time in my car buying cycle. Got 112K on the '04 now. No problems, no complaints, but I suspect it will need replacing before the X comes out. The problem with the Leaf is the range. It would be OK NOW, but there is the possibility that my commute will shift to about 50 miles and at least at the moment, there is no way to charge at work.
I think you have to give the bike to Daniel or he has to give the car to you. Clearly they are a matched pair that somehow got separated!
