Finkenbusch

[bobw]

I think that ship uses electric motors to avoid having transmissions!

[Finkenbusch]

Yes - but there are more reasons -

- no shaft to the rotor means no vibrations
(A very big deal on a cruise ship)
- cost effective
- the heavy engines & generators can be located anywhere where they fit the ship structure best
(as the current is delivered to the motors by a wire thick as a Sumo wrestlers arm)
- huge torque
- the ship can land by itself (380 degrees motors - 2 main 4 for maneuvering total 6) without trawler in every harbor - saves a huge amount of money
- the excess heat is multiple used - e.g. on board water desalination, waste decomposition e.g.

[TEG]

Yes, but do they have regen braking?!

[Finkenbusch]

It is high time we had those debates. When President Eisenhower warned us against the "Military and Industrial Complex" he didn't tell half of it. There is an advocacy, bureaucratic, and commercial complex in every policy area.
[/COLOR]

I like your statement.

Anyhow - to understand the hesitation the USA are confronted today it is important to know why and that what many feel here.
Dont believe the **** Bush is quacking - "bcs "we" are free..."

Basically every halfways intelligent men adored the USA and everything what what going / coming with it, good, also less attractive and yes - we accepted also some bad manners (softly spoken) whatever. More then I can express here we admired everything what came with, was attached, had the trademark or somehow close with the USA.

Over time we have lost the America we knew / slice by slice the love cololed and turned - for some more some less / faster / slower
-then electing G.W. twice was the crossing of the Rubicon for most

and that very US politic and government deeds affected (including legitimating torture) makes a lot of people rethink, repelled, worrisome and even angry.

Surely inside, but many outside other the USA. And that figure is growing - only Obama could bring the spirit back - the way I see it.

So its not a anti-something - its more hope for fundamental change
- more a cheated lover feeling - a bruised love-affair.

I duly hope that this can be mend in a few generations - at least so long it would take to repair what high-jackers have done to "our" common beloved USA, the american constitution, the former beacon of hope for so many - we all trusted once.

If you recommend / drag a Nobel price winner into your argument
- I have one too your should carefully listen to - so you understand better:

Harold Pinter Nobel price winner literature

[youtube]GY2Z27Y-HJE[/youtube]

---quote---
Mr. Pinter is not only one of the great literary figures, but a man of immense compassion and a great social and political critic. One has to pity the idiots who are afraid of Mr. Pinter, afraid of his ideas, his integrity.
---unquote--

My condolences to 9/11 to America

[vfx]

Dont tell me kids stories that the development of a tiny gearbox for a comparable ultra-simple Tesla car is rocket science in a country having send men to the moon, McDonalds system to Beijing and Coke to Moscow - and huge electric seagoing vessels to the sea.

It simply cost too much.

[Finkenbusch]

Yes, but do they have regen braking?!

Worse - they have not even a electrical storage for (huge wasted - but ok - its free) surplus energy.
They have batteries capable running the full ship (maximum for 30 minutes) until the auxiliary motors are jumping in - but thats it.

You should note that while in harbor only one diesel is running - at full speed most or all are powered up.
So to say conserving is done

[Finkenbusch]

It simply cost too much.

If you mean the car - here in Europe its a mere 160.000 US$
your right.

[tonybelding]

I duly hope that this can be mend in a few generations - at least so long it would take to repair what high-jackers have done to "our" common beloved USA, the american constitution, the former beacon of hope for so many - we all trusted once.

This has all happened before. Suggested reading:

Propaganda of the Spanish American War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spanish–American War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philippine–American War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What we learn from history, most of all, is that we don't learn from history.

[TEG]

I just returned from a cruise...

Cruise ship pollution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friends of the Earth | Ship Pollution | Land, Air and Water
Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans: Stop Cruise Ship Pollution
Surfrider Foundation A-Z: Cruise Ship Pollution
KAHEA: Stop Cruise Ship Pollution
Cruise Ship Pollution in the Caribbean/Planeta.com
Pollution from ships causing thousands of deaths | Environment | guardian.co.uk

At least it cut down on forum pollution for a while.

[stopcrazypp]

If you mean the car - here in Europe its a mere 160.000 US$
your right.

But that is the price they will charge after they have made the car, they don't have all that money in their pocket already. That is the problem with being a startup and starting on their first car.

Remember, all the money Tesla has right now is chump change compared to the budgets of any one of the mainstream automakers. You talk like the US government (going to the moon) or some large corporation (McDonalds & seagoing vessels) gives money to Tesla Motors. This point was brought up before, but 2000 units per year is probably too small for most transmission companies to really care, esp when it also involves expensive R&D (which is why Magna sued).

I just don't think the transmission problem is as trivial as you make it out to be because if it was, Tesla should have been able to take it off the shelf like most of the other parts. Wanted to add I'm not saying Tesla didn't make bad decisions and screw up, but I'm saying the transmission isn't as easy to design as you say it is.