Electric Exige?? (Dale Vince - Wind Car)

[kgb]

Ok so it's a little noisy.

There is a whole thread in which we "complain" about interior noise of the Tesla, but that is much worse! I can't imagine anyone would want a car in which you have to yell at the person sitting next to you. They are both yelling in that video. I don't care how fast it is, that is just too impractical... well maybe... how much trunk space does it have?

[TEG]

Puzzled by his remark that regen has no purpose in a rear wheel drive car.
Perhaps not fully effective, but the Roadster certainly makes some good use of rear wheel only regen.

[vfx]

On regen there is a valid argument for EV coasting that was brought up by the EVTV guys. I like regen and know it will only get better with continued development.

As for the noise and trunk space, this is another example of a prototype car that is not ready for prime time. Not that they couldn't isolate things and add a bunch of sound deadening material. Mine has had some 2010 padding added to it so even Tesla is still tweaking on that. As for trunk. Have you seen the Elises' oven?!

[doug]

sounds like the subway.

[ChargeIt!]

... this is another example of a prototype car that is not ready for prime time.

Never touch the RED button ! It's the fire extinguisher in the battery ! LOL !

[Doug_G]

Puzzled by his remark that regen has no purpose in a rear wheel drive car.
Perhaps not fully effective, but the Roadster certainly makes some good use of rear wheel only regen.

Of course it's fully effective. The regen isn't like standing on the brake pedal. If you need to stop fast, there are things called brakes! That comment was totally out in left field.

[doug]

Perhaps regen isn't that easy to implement given the type of motors they're using. Instead of saying "we couldn't do it" they went with, "we didn't need it anyway."

[TEG]

Perhaps regen isn't that easy to implement given the type of motors they're using. Instead of saying "we couldn't do it" they went with, "we didn't need it anyway."

Yes, that is about what I figured.

Actually I wonder if Dale Vince even knows the real story. Maybe one of the technicians or engineers working on his project fed him that line since they didn't want to have to implement it.
I find lots of "home-brew" EVs without regen find a way to rationalize why they didn't really need it.

( "Doesn't add that much range." "Too expensive." "Too complex." "Safety issues." etc.)

[mpt]

It's loud, doesn't have regen, doubt it has traction control, maybe no ABS, smaller batteries without thermal management, maybe no AC or heat, unfinished wiring and bodywork at the back and can't match a Tesla on acceleration, range or refinement.... and this took two years.

Sounds grim to me. In the interview it felt like he was avoiding the 300Lb gorilla; "You know, I don't know how far the Tesla goes on a charge, or this for that matter".

I think that he's either:
a. Living in a bubble
b. Not really focused on this
c. Suffering from sour grapes because Tesla had the idea after him but hit the problem with dedication and a big round of funding.

I hope it's a. because, in time I'm sure all issues can be solved and he'll have a compelling product for an interesting niche and whilst small car companies never last forever it'll keep the world interesting.

[dpeilow]

'Hippy' energy kingpin's electric Noddy-car in epic FAIL