The Re-Incarnation of the Electric Car?

[Gangster Octopus]

Despite the pessimism (and dishonesty) of the recent movie Who Killed the Electric Car?, there appears to be a major advance in electric car potential:

Tesla Motors: 0 to 60 in 4 seconds (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/business/19electric.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1153328401-sfF0rbOxeSdpB9NJlbMhuw) - NY Times, requires registration

...It goes from zero to 60 miles an hour in four seconds,
...the Roadster is supposed to go about 250 miles on a single charge.
...the battery pack weighs only about 900 pounds; the original EV-1 battery pack weighed more than 1,100 pounds.
...the Roadster has 6,831, arranged in what Mr. Eberhard called a complex network. The voltage of the batteries is added together, as if they were wired serially, like flashlight batteries. If one fails, only the computer running the car will notice

Too expensive for most at this point, but it isn't just a prototype, they are going to sell these and who knows, the electric car may have a future yet.

[ratatoskK]

If it weren't so expensive, I'd buy one in a minute. I'd love to have a fully electric car that had decent range and was capable of normal highway speeds. And I mean FULLY electric, not a hybrid.

[Rick]

And where the EV-1 had 26 batteries wired together, the Roadster has 6,831, arranged in what Mr. Eberhard called a complex network. The voltage of the batteries is added together, as if they were wired serially, like flashlight batteries. If one fails, only the computer running the car will notice, he said, and the effect on total energy storage would be like “dropping a couple of marbles in the gas tank of your car.”
As written this paragraph does not make much sense.
If the batteries are in series (serially) they will act just like cheap Christmas tree lights. If one goes out they all go out since there is only one path for the current to flow.
If they are a series parallel circuit you are still going to lose all the batteries on that series. I don't know just how many series there are, but it is likely that more than just the computer would notice.
Finally the statement about dropping marbles in a gas tank make less than no sense. The only effect of marbles in the gas tank I can think of would be to increase the weight of the car by 2 marbles. If that was the guys point, why the gas tank? Why not say the trunk? Or does he think there is some minor energy robbing bug that will occur if two marbles are dropped into a gas tank?

Here is the deal with electric cars. from the following list:
Fast acceleration
Long range
Low price
Pick any two. You will note the article says it will sell for a $65,000 premium over what a Miata sells for. Miatas are about 25-30K at the moment. (You know he is not talking about a stripper base Miata, they are going to quote top of the line on the Miata to make their car look less expensive)
That makes this 2 seat right at $100,000 with a nice CD player. :eek:

This car may be for real, or it may be vaporware. Only time will tell.