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But why would 4 motors be superior to 2 motors with electronically-controlled differentials? The difference in driveshaft lengths has got to be minimal. Are the differentials significantly slower to allocate torque? I just don't see big benefits here. For the record, the reason *not* to have...

stopcrazypp, You've apparently been doing some real "fuzzy math" in this thread. It leads to this quote being very, very bogus: First off, where did you get this 321Whr/mi number? The pack is 53kWhr. It goes 221 miles. Divide: 239.8Whr/mi. Let's use the Volt numbers, based on 233Whr/mi...

Much ado about nothing Wow. I'm continually impressed by how many people seem to care about this. Let me ask the most basic question: "why should we be comparing grid electricity to gasoline on a straight-up energy content basis anyway?" The sources of energy are so different that comparing...

so? I don't get it. What's the big deal here? A rich guy is paying for a high-performance EV conversion in a fancy sports car...it's been done lots of times. He's in this video describing "the challenge" like he's off intrepidly breaking new ground...maybe he should check the EV album at...

I'm not so sure about that...one tends to mitigate the damage in a bicycle or motorcycle crash by dismounting, which doesn't seem to be an option here. It might be more survivable when hit by a car, but in most of the single-vehicle failure modes it seems like it could be worse...

Hehe. Well, adding two gyroscopes means that within the operational range (that is to say, as long as you don't lean so far in one direction that the motor can't keep up) this craft is as stable as computer control can make it. But more importantly, I don't think anybody is envisioning this on...

Well, they claim to be considering the whole production chain's emissions. The part I don't like is that they aren't specifying the driving conditions or the specs of the plugin hybrid. How many miles are being driven? What's the electric range? If they used the Volt's range and an average daily...

Yeah, the military really seems to have a thing for series hybrids these days. Something about sneaking up on people... I saw this one a while back, seems like Quantum Tech is involved? And here's a rather boneheaded ("developing hybrid electric engines" etc.) AP article from a couple years...

Yeah, I agree, 3 models seems like the hot ticket if they can do it. And 70 miles would be perfectly wonderful for me...my current EV only does 30 (on a good day). I'd still have to keep my ICE beater around, but then what's new? I'd almost never drive it. I'll bet they go for 100 mile range...

Kardax and doug, sure, I follow the expense and range problem. But it's a problem whose solution lies in parts of the vehicle that both models (EV and REEV) will share anyway. They are still designing the REEV to be as efficient as they can make it while keeping expenses down. So they have to do...

I'm not sure whether to say there's anything improper going on here. Certainly there's nothing surprising. This guys predecessor was a VP at Toyota while she was on the air board, and before her they had GM's assistant director of auto-emissions control. I kind of feel like this position is...

Pretty sure "courtster" is just a poor attempt at poking fun at the amount of litigation going on over at Tesla. Not really very funny at all. But then this whole report is kind of dodgy. It really doesn't explain the thrust of the suit at all, and kind of glosses over most of the background...

I guess I just don't follow the premise of this thread. Why is it such a hard job to build Whitestar without a generator? The pure BEV is a lot simpler...seems to me like it's a lot harder to build it with an ICE. Anyway, Tesla has said the BEV would likely come out before the REEV... Boy I...

Brent, it seems to me that the fraud and breech-of-contract parts of the suit are more important than the trade secrets. The breech-of-contract is certainly the easy sell among the claims...these guys took the money for design work and then used that work themselves on a competing product...

TEG, yeah I did a bit more reading on the Zenn/EEstor thing and finally saw that Feel Good was Zenn. Doh. And I'm certainly sensitive to the fact that EEstor has convinced some serious investors that its technology has potential :tongue: But on the other hand I would say that both VCs and...

Well, perhaps. The only problem is they aren't really doing that...they're feigning it. We see a news story every couple of months hyping this incredible (and imminent) breakthrough. They've been saying exactly the same thing for years and years now. Apparently they don't show anything at all to...

Before I start, it makes some difference here which Tesla drivetrain we're talking about. For simplicity I'm going to stick with 1.5, which just has a single reduction gear. First note that these hub motors are not likely to run at wheel speed either, so they also need reduction gears. So...

Did you all see the Wired article on ZAP this past month? They really reamed them...basically saying it's entirely a scam. Apparently many people have purchased territorial dealerships for as much as $150k on the promise of new models which never materialize, and believing inflated specs for the...

That "rust and corrosion" part made me grin. I can see the final version now: "If any body panel rusts, ever, even 200 years from now, Tesla will replace said body panel at no cost." (Sure, I know there are other metal parts that might conceivably rust...I just thought it was funny to...

Hi everybody. I've mentioned this on the Tesla blog a couple times. Does anyone have any information concerning what resources go into actually building a Tesla Roadster? In particular, my understanding is that the carbon fiber and plastics used in construction are made from oil. I've even...

hmmm Wasn't there a bunch of talk a year or more ago concerning the wheel/tire design and how it was a carefully-selected balance between rolling resistance and handling performance? Seems like you could trade one for the other, but I'm guessing the Tesla engineers have already chosen what they...

Gvwr Hmmm...five seats perhaps. But the car's weight rating leaves only 771lbs (350kg) for passengers and cargo. That's an average of 155lbs/person assuming nobody brings anything along. Would probably work for a family with kids, but I wouldn't recommend taking one's big old tailgating buddies...

so... Ok, so they aren't putting in weight sensors for the airbags. This is not a big deal. But are they going to at least put in a switch of some kind? Because that does seem like a big deal. It's not expensive, either from a development or manufacturing standpoint. And it is clearly necessary...

I agree with those who like the Alfa Romeo for style, but I also agree that it and some of the others look like rear headroom would be compromised. Also, I like the BMW, except (like some of the others) that it follows the recent trend of really high window sills and thus tiny windows. What's...

I also like "Sedan." The only trouble is that Tesla intends to sell more than one model of sedan, so they'll need some way to distinguish the one from the other. The number/letter designation is problematic, whether you go by range or power. Range is determined late and changes at government's...

Yeah, I agree...Darryl and Elon both are leaving out the "top gear" part that changes everything. And also, when I read Darryl quoting them he said they "thought" that it "might be" the fastest they had ever tested. Anyway, imagine running your gas car in fifth gear (or sixth if you've got one)...

I thought it was funny how on the product page he claimed to have no idea why people doubted the specs and price. Gee...mathematics? I'm guessing the stack of LiPoly cells it would take to really move 2500lbs for 110miles at anything approaching highway speeds would cost more than the sticker...

A couple people have said the price seems steep. I just wanted to note that the article says Japan's ZEV subsidies cut that in half. $12k for a car with these specs just sounds fantastic. Obviously this price wouldn't carry over to the U.S., but then neither will the car near as I can tell. When...