Think! in 2008

DDB · 02-22-2007, 08:15 AM

Supposedly think is going to be coming to U.S. markets in 2008, with cars already on the road in Europe that can drive freeway speeds have ranges of 110-130:

http://news.com.com/2061-11128_3-616...l?tag=nefd.top

Note a couple of things in the article: The buyer will lease the battery from Think. And, "The company is battery agnostic, he added. The company will get batteries from Tesla. Willums, however, also said that the company is working with a Swiss company that makes a submarine battery"

...So Tesla will have another source of monthly income?

WarpedOne · 02-24-2007, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDB

...So Tesla will have another source of monthly income?

It looks like, yes. It may be a very good move to sell battery-pack tech. Tesla said they've put a lot of money into developement of battery support systems and almost everyone except Tesla is whinning about existing battery tech not being good enough. In this way more companies will produce electric vehicles and Tesla will have more money. Both will drive the prices down.

DDB · 02-25-2007, 05:51 AM

So why doesn't GM jump at the opportunity to find a decent battery for its Volt... Heck, even EDrive, EBox, and some of the other convestion companies have the technology.

tonybelding · 02-25-2007, 12:51 PM

The Chevy Volt has a smaller battery and actually flogs it a lot harder than the Tesla Roadster does. Today's li-ion cells aren't durable enough, they would degrade and soon need replacement.

You can do the math yourself. . . Assume the batteries are good for 500 charge-and-discharge cycles. At 250 miles per charge, the Tesla's battery needs replacement after 125,000 miles. At 40 miles per charge, the Chevy Volt would need a new battery after only 20,000 miles. It's not practical.

GM are trying to make a round peg fit into a square hole, while Tesla designed their car around the technology's strengths.

vfx · 02-25-2007, 01:13 PM

But if it were to cost 1/6th the price, would it not be a wash?

tonybelding · 02-25-2007, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vfx

But if it were to cost 1/6th the price, would it not be a wash?

The quoted capacity is 16 kWh, which is about 1/3 that of the Tesla. At today's li-ion prices that would be somewhere around $6500. (For reference the Prius has a 1.3 kWh battery.)