Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Electric Car

In class, we discussed the idea of going green and how it is needs to be an essential way of life. One way we can become more green is to reduce the pollution that is omitted by vehicles. Tesla, a company based out of California, is making strides to do just that.

The car looks just like any other high-end sports car. In fact, it performs like one too and has technology built into the cabin that current cars do not yet have. But what you may not notice is that this car operates strictly on electricity.




The battery life for this car is pretty fair, with a life span of five years, or about 100,00 miles. The battery takes only 3.5 hours to charge, and lasts up to an astonishing 244 miles per charge. This car literally costs pennies per mile to drive.

Perhaps the most impressive feature about this car is the performance. The Roadster has a top speed of 125 mph (which has been electronically limited) and a 0 - 60 speed of 3.9 seconds. Most cars that cost $300k or more can not match these specs. And due to the electric motor, the car has instant power whenever the driver needs it, whereas with a car that uses gasoline, the power shows up much more slowly. For more information, you should definitely check out their website
to learn more. http://www.teslamotors.com/

With all the benefits that come from such an impressive vehicle, you'd expect the price to be astronomical. Well, it isn't. The base price for this car costs about $109,000. Yes, that's a lot of money, but not when you put it against other cars in its class. For example, lets take the new Corvette ZR1. The base price for the corvette is about $106,000, and has about the same specs as the Tesla. The Corvette does have a higher top speed (close to 200), but it doesn't have that awesome electric motor under the hood. Put it up against any car, and the Roadster isn't outshined by much. And don't forget, it's a first generation car - the technology can only get better.

When put in comparison, I think the Tesla is more than reasonably priced. Perhaps even on the cheap side. But it's technology like this that will boost other companies to put out such cars and move along with the advancement of electric cars.







4 comments:

  1. that car is a pretty good idea but what happens if you finance it for 5 years and then it dies in 5 years.. that would suck!

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  2. Huge price to pay for technology. But the pay off is just as huge. I think after viewing about how water work this electric just doesn't measure up to the impact that water will have over solely using electricity.

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  3. 0-60 in 3.9 seconds for around 100,000.00, well worth the money. I would bet that we will see this type of technology in the near future for more then just sports cars. It literally does cost pennies to charge up,think of all the money you would save on gas!

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  4. This is a great idea and a great way to protect our enviornment unfortunately this price tag would scare allot of people. Plus allot of people cannot afford cars with this type of price tag especially if our economy continues to go the way it has been. I have a neighbor that has an electric car not a sporty one but a reasonable one and she has nothing but great things to say about it. Plus she really loves the fact that she is contributing to the go green.

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