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I do!

In an Ah Ah video.

Shining version:
YouTube - Danny accedently rides into a AH-HA video

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The world loves to be deceived.

vfx

What set the Tesla apart from all the garage operations and kit cars from the US or the UK is safety certification.

Do you have any idea how hard and expensive it is to pass all the crash tests here in the US?

The lightning is a cool looking car. but it's a long was off from being a reality here in the US.

An aside:
When they made the movie "Swordfish" here in Los Angeles they had to ship Travolta's TVR back to the UK when the movie was finished. Non DOT cars simply are not allowed here.

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The world loves to be deceived.

Finkenbusch

I know - the The U.S. government is planning to announce changes today for crash test safetyratings in an effort to offer more guidance for car shoppers.

These are in the EU (and especially in Japan) in parts far stricter then in the US.

Try and sit back at a Mercedes or Prius and take a good, hard, long look - and you understand what I mean.

Anyhow - the secret to the cars success is not the car itself but the professionalisation / commercialized handling of energy.

Or better said the availability of high power 380 Volt lines (at any petrol station, supermarket lot against pay - no big deal) for fast charging with high load and batteries like the Altairnano or super-capacitors who can sustain that high load without overheating.

At home for 110 /220V trickle charge (by solar panel)

tonybelding

That's the opposite of my impression. The Lightning is made by a small company with limited resources. Nobody's seen a working prototype from them. They basically have a gasoline-powered car and a guesstimate of what it might do after being converted to electric power, using technology provided by other companies (unlike Tesla, who make their own battery packs and motors).

They're about where Tesla was three years ago, and nowhere near as ambitious in their plans.

Finkenbusch

We shall find out in 3 weeks.
If the Lighning should be indeed turn out as vaporware (what is indeed a option - one I do nat believe but anyhow) then the Tesla still has t catch up.
And fast...

Becaus this company will steamroll the global market for sure:

Dieter Zetsche Confirms Electric Mercedes in 2010 - We were right!!*|*BenzInsider.com - The Official Mercedes-Benz Fan Blog

stopcrazypp

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you knew the news of Daimler and Tesla's cooperation, b/c when I first heard of the news of Daimler's EV plans I forgot:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news-...l-daimler.html

So Tesla has as much to gain as Daimler does if the deal continues or grows.
As for Lightning I hold the same opinion as tonybelding, they haven't really shown anything yet, not even a mule. In fact out of all the EV companies, still the Tesla the seems to be the one poised to deliver (though that's not saying much b/c most EV companies today just makes NEVs or have concept vehicles that doesn't look anywhere near production, even EVs from mainstream manufacturers are only produced in the hundreds, which is less than even the Roadster's planned numbers, and some only in limited trial phase).

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Because there are tons of crazy people in this world...

Finkenbusch

Mercedes' lithium batteries will come from a new factory in France, operated by JCS. That's a joint venture between U.S. components supplier Johnson Controls and French battery company Saft.

Why should a global company Mercedes Benz buy the "knowledge" of stacking a few thousand of-the-rack mobile phone batteries and how to cool / heat them?

From a company that cannot come up with a simple mechanical one-shift gear box in many months?

Have you seen the Mercedes headquater once?

Their men toilets seats at Mercedes R/D section alone, laid out overlapping, would occupy a far larger space then the whole property of Tesla & his parking lot amounts to - including Teslas most favorite pizzerias gardens space.

This does not say I'm in love with Mercedes (I hate the ridiculous service charges on my car even more as I love their product)

But Mercedes buys know-how from Tesla?
crazy idea if you look from a distance.

Musks probably starts to dress-up his former friends founding for IPO and uses the media for.
If history is any guide: he is good in that - if you understand what I mean - think Martin Eberhard...

stopcrazypp

That is from the plug-in deal a while back. That's the Mercedes PHEV, which seems to different from the EV news.

On the Daimler & Tesla cooperation news post, there is an update near the end with other sources other than Elon.

Even though Tesla's battery pack doesn't sound like much, it's still an integrated solution and unique in it's 50+kWh capacity. That it's thousands of cells linked together isn't that important, there aren't any other production ready packs avaliable today in that capacity or we'll be seeing a lot more 200+ mile range EVs. It has gone through all the relevant safety and durability tests too. It also addresses the quote that you gave:
"Mercedes taps the vehicle's air conditioning system for chilled liquid to regulate the battery pack's temperature and uses special components within the battery pack to draw heat from the cells. Kohler says Mercedes considers cooling mandatory to safe and reliable long-term use of lithium batteries, whether in a hybrid or a pure electric car."
The Tesla Roadster's pack basically uses the same kind of system.

I'm not under any illusion that Tesla's system is the most advanced or anything (ie for example the charging speed and safety can be improved futher by replacing the cells with newer chemistries, there should be better ways to make a large battery pack than linking thousands of cells), but it's attractive for it's own reason (relatively good energy density for a battery pack, a full integrated pack with temperature control, ready for production).

Of course as an EV fan, I'll be happy even if Daimler makes a pack that's better, alone or with JCS (of course if the pack isn't any better then I would think it's better off to have them support Tesla). That'll just make mainstream EVs come that much faster.

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Because there are tons of crazy people in this world...

stopcrazypp

A Prius is made in Japan and not every car in the EU is a luxury car like a Mercedes, so I don't really understand that comment about safety.

What I do know is small companies like Lightning (and even Tesla) have a hard time meeting safety standards, both in terms of cost of testing and in terms of engineering, which explains why small EV companies in the US go with 3-wheelers (Tesla got lucky this time since they are working with Lotus, which already sells the Elise here; the new Model S, AKA Whitestar, will be more of a challenge). I'm hoping that similar to Lotus, some of that "British Engineering" will be going towards safety so they might launch the car here in the US.

It's really hard to judge the Lightning right now b/c there is not even a prototype for the public to see, so I'll hold off any praising or criticism for the car until one comes out (if you look closely at the actual performance specs and not just the power & torque then you will start to ask why this car costs almost twice as much as a Euro Spec Tesla Roadster, £150k for the Lightning vs £80k for the Tesla, but again I'm withholding judgement until it's out in case they were just being conservative).

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Because there are tons of crazy people in this world...

tonybelding

I didn't say the Lightning was vaporware, not at all. I said the company is less ambitious. They aren't trying to be anything other than a small maker of small numbers of exotic sports cars. They also are working with more technology (motors, battery systems) developed by outside companies.

I also said that they are a few years behind Tesla. It's not because Lightning is a vaporware company. It's just because they started a few years later. AFAIK they didn't even start until after Tesla had already unveiled their engineering prototypes.

Britain has special regulatory exemptions for low-volume "boutique" car makers, which explains why so many such companies are located there. The people in Lightning Car Company have years of experience in that business, and I don't see any reason why they can't make a go of it.