TEG

Gas Turbo Porsche=contender for Autobahn top speed king.
Electric Porsche=limited top speed, and rather short range at 100MPH+

Germany is trying to lead the way in all things "green", but I still don't see this as the place to emphasize battery technology. A country with 65MPH speed limits is better suited.

dpeilow

Yep, and now we have the introduction of their first diesel. Interestingly, that is raising less eyebrows.


So are you saying that German companies shouldn't bother exploring this technology, because it is not yet suited for their home market? Maybe that is why RUF brought the car to show off in the UK?

TEG

I am all for German companies offering electric cars and even electric sports cars. *But* a company like RUF, known for their top speed supercars is going to lead more journalists to note that EVs on the autobahn don't go nearly as fast as their gas counterparts and have limited range. EV sports cars in city driving and even in a 1/4 mile drag strip shine, but recall what happened when the German press first started taking Roadsters out on the autobahn.

dpeilow

All the more reason for RUF, Porsche and hopefully Tesla to invest in the engineering needed to banish the high-speed cooling issues, I think. It will ultimately lead to better track cars, even if triple digit speeds are not legal in your neck of the woods. That will lead to greater acceptance among the masses. Sure, it doesn't solve the range issue (we'll let SSC work on that ), but sustained top speed running can be solved more easily. Then the German journalists can go home happy.

TEG

Well, the electric motor's real strong suit is massive torque at very low RPMs. Top speed autobahn cars need high horsepower at high RPMs. In that case EVs would have a much harder time trying to be competitive (at least from a top speed performance perspective). Personally I hope Tesla sticks with cars that have a <130mph top speed.

Serge

I recall chimpanzee making similar remarks a while ago along the lines of using racing as testbed for engineering, design, and new technology evaluation. The idea does have a lot of merit, but my question is "can TM afford it?" They certainly have achieved "status" with current Roadster as is and continue to make incremental improvements. With that said, I would much rather prefer TM commit majority of resources to bringing more affordable models to market as soon as possible, rather than trying to improve performance in high-end model(s) (my uninformed guess is they have already picked all "low-hanging fruit" in that department). I will be shocked if Model S fails to impress (if delivered within advertised time-frame, specs and price range), clearing the road for greater acceptance of Model T by masses

dpeilow

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