Input requested: Bonnie's Top Ten List / EV Urban Legends

[TEG]

Q: "How long does it take to charge"
A: "A few seconds, as I plug in at night before I go to bed, and always wake up with a full car."
( People tend to like that idea. )

Q: "How much range does it have"
A: "Enough for my daily routine, but I can rent a hybrid if I need to go on a long road trip."
( If I had Model S, then "Supercharger network" might be a better answer. )
( Basically trying to give a specific number on range starts a needless debate, as the better answer is usually "works for me." )

Q: "With only one gear, don't EVs have limited top speed?"
A: "Tesla P85D can go 155MPH!" ... "Also, any production EV can break the speed limit and merge onto freeways just fine."

Q: "How much of your electricity is coming from burning coal?"
A: "I have enough solar panels on my house roof to power all my driving, so none..."

 

[dhrivnak]

Bonnie I hope you post your slides if you have then as I too would like to use the information in some of my talks. The one big question I often get is how much are the batteries. And to be honest at $42,000 they are QUITE steep, about as much as a new Corvette.

Because there are often more people at car shows than I can talk to I post common questions (in a much prettier format of course) on my windshield.


How far will it go? A good 200 miles on a charge (EPA rates it at 235)

How long to charge? The real answer is 10 seconds, 5 seconds to plug it in when I get home and 5 seconds to unplug in the morning as it charges overnight; or in as little as 3.5 hours.

But can you take it on a trip? The reality is the infrastructure is only fair. But MUCH progress is being made. I have covered 500 miles in less than 24 hours.

How fast does it go? I’m told 125, but the fastest I have gone is 105, on the ¼ mile.

How much does it cost to run? Electricity is about 20% the cost of gasoline. So 200 miles of driving costs $5 in electricity or 1/3 the cost of a Prius.

What does the car cost? It is not inexpensive but out accelerates and corners a Ferrari 550 or Porsche turbo Carrera with a lower sticker price and yet is greener and cheaper to run than a Prius.

How long will the battery last? Two Roadster owners have crossed 100,000 miles with 200 miles of range so we hope along time. Tesla announced they plan a 400 mile battery upgrade so many owners may decide to upgrade before the battery dies.

What type of motor does it have? 3 phase AC induction motor that runs at 400V and 700 amps. It produced 248 HP and 280 ft-lb of torque from 0-7000 RPM and then a slow drop off to 120 hp and 60 ft-lbs at 14,000 RPM.

Can I buy one? Not a new Roadster, as they are no longer made. This was a proof of concept car; only 2500 were hand built to prove that electric vehicles can be fast, fun, and go far. But you can buy a Tesla Model S, Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus EV, BMW I3, Plug-in Prius, Mercedes B class EV or the Mitsubishi Mi-EV.

 

[CatB]

This should be good for a laugh. A year ago, a male friend responded to all my raving about the Tesla with "it'll never take off, environmental cars won't appeal to men"
i gave him a test drive. He put an outlet in his garage...

 

[SteveS0353]

This should be good for a laugh. A year ago, a male friend responded to all my raving about the Tesla with "it'll never take off, environmental cars won't appeal to men"
i gave him a test drive. He put an outlet in his garage...

Priceless! This one belongs in the "Tesla moments" thread.

 

[freds]

In answer to "Driving an electric car is no better than gas, you’re just changing where the pollution happens". Sure but the pollution occurs with 52 tons of equipment to help migrate it, what kind of gas mileage would you get if that was in your car?

 

[dhrivnak]

In answer to "Driving an electric car is no better than gas, you’re just changing where the pollution happens". Sure but the pollution occurs with 52 tons of equipment to help migrate it, what kind of gas mileage would you get if that was in your car?

When you crank through the numbers, it is amazing how much cleaner an EV is compared to a gasoline powered car. Even with our local utility which is 80% coal based the emissions from an EV is half of that from a gas equivalent. For details see https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/94320747/GAS_VS_Electric.xlsx

 

[bonnie]

Update - Pretty much a bust. Last night, just before working on slides, I was told that the AV equipment was not going to be available "so all presentations would be verbal". Hey! Cool! No prep work required. It's pouring rain here (really, my place is flooded - check pics on my twitter feed - have been in the creek this evening removing debris that was damming things up), so we got a late start ... meaning there were no presentations, really, just became really informal.

But I think this will make a good talk, so probably will still pull it together for another time.

 

[neroden]

I have no idea why, but a ridiculous number of people seem to worry that the car will be "slow". (Golf carts, I guess?) When I've been at car shows, this is the #1 misconception which I have to correct.

 

[rcc]

Heard this one today: "Tesla is 30% subsidized."

 

[Citizen-T]

Too expensive (usually only looking at msrp).

+1, I get this all the time.

 

[Madartist]

I'd be happy to - maybe it would be good to have an area of the forum where 'member produced' material (like some of the event posters, for instance) are kept, so that people can find and modify for their own use at other events. We could say the main requirement for posting material there is that it isn't copyright protected & is free to be reused and modified.

That's a wonderful idea. I remember there were previous threads/posts where members have shared their posters, flyers, and cards about Tesla and EVs in general. It would be good to have a wiki as a central depository of this types of material for all to use.

 

[GabrielB]

How did this Urban Legend miss the list?
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/13775-Model-S-A-Chick-Magnate! (sp)

I can't believe yesterday was my two year anniversary with "Rock'sAnn", my P85, and it was only today I found "Off Topic". What a hoot!
I can count on a stack of transparencies all the nights spent preparing presentations that ultimately got shrunk to a 45 second review...

 

[ariporad]

In answer to "Driving an electric car is no better than gas, you’re just changing where the pollution happens". Sure but the pollution occurs with 52 tons of equipment to help migrate it, what kind of gas mileage would you get if that was in your car?

I know this thread is a little old, but I have to say, very poor, all that stuff would be very big and weight a lot.