The Camaro Club (UK)

Last night at petrolhead Nirvana meet at Ace Cafe, a Mustang owning friend who has a Tesla has a daily driver let me have a quick go.... It was really very interesting..

My experience of electric cars is limited to passengering in my neighbours hybrid Lexus 300, and the odd trip in a Prius minicab.. this was something different.

1. It's a proper quality built car, certainly up there with Merc and BMW from the feel and finish of it.
2. It's loaded with tech, like constant 3g internet, so you speak a song to the dashboard and it'll search and play it.
3. It's fast !!!! properly fast.. This was the standard Model S 85D, so only had the equivalent of 350 odd BHP, but it flew, 0 - 60 is 4.2 sec, and qtr mile is 12.5 secs... so quick !!!! (the quicker P85D is 0 - 60 of 2.8 secs ... ) and it felt it. We were loaded 4 people up and still being thrown back in out seats when I booted it... . and all silently !!!
4. It drives very nicely, steering is nice, handles very well, and it's 4 wheel drive.
5. It'll do 300 miles on a charge, twice what the Camaro will do.

I've seen the future... and it is electric from what i've seen..
Only I issue I could see from me using one, is a long drive, then having to park somewhere I couldn't charge it like a car park, and running out of battery.. Apart from that I'd have one !!

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Many rechargeable battery powered devices I have owned have ended up being binned when the battery will no longer hold a charge.
The battery replacements are usually either not available, or cost so much that you may as well replace the whole thing.
At £80k, that's a bit of a worry.

Only time will tell on that score.

Having said that, I have loads of respect for Tesla, just about the only viable all electric car so far.
And jeeze, don't they go!
However, if you get to someplace near the end of the (impressive) battery range, you sure as hell won't be coming home in a hurry.

Yeh they are awesome pieces of kit. I'd love a go.

On a side note I had a go in a Lexus GS450H at the weekend. That was a eye opener too. So quiet and smooth then you floor it and it gets a fair shift on!

I saw a Tesla a few months ago at Ace Cafe. Very impressed at the style and the manufacture, Elon Musk has good taste. Would say that it sits on par with Jag styling / comfort. I saw another one last week, license plate TE55 LLA. I also have a lot of respect for the man and his company. Electric cars are definitely the way forward and he's finally proved it's viable. He did it the smart way by redesigning the layout of the car so you now have the weight distribution that all cars aim for. Anyone want to place bets on when we can see a Tesla racing series? Should pass within the db limit of any race track

I'd have one (still keep the yanks, switch between, best of both worlds). For people like myself who do a regular commute it would work really well... can park outside the house within range of plugging into a mains. Basement parking at work, so could plug in during the day too. Journey each day is about 30 miles, could go almost 2 weeks without charging. Usually fill up once a week in comparison. I think Tesla's as company cars would be a good business route for them - most buildings that have underground car parks or open car parks attached to the building, will have the infrastructure to run a lot of juice at high voltage to charge points, so longer distance commuters could do quick charges too if needed.

Looks like Porsche have also jumped onto the bandwagon, having the ability to charge to 80% in 15 minutes thanks to a 400v charge system: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 01837.html
Always wondered about that... i think they have a system to remove the whole battery pack and replace, don't think they revealed how many months / years / cycles a battery pack lasts for and how much they cost to replace. Guessing it will be more expensive than topping up a tank of fuel.

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Indeed, noise will be a non issue.. but might dull the spectator enjoyment.... Lots of us were saying be fun on a trackway, but apparently not, as running at full back the batteries will run down really fast, and will also overheat in trackway environment.
This is my thought, brilliant for deal use, work commute for most etc.. Longest regular journey I do is 170 miles. They will fast charge in 20 mins with another 180 mile range too.

Didn't the Prius get a lot of criticism for that as the batteries were so expensive, hard to recycle, and made the car obsolete when it for to end of life.... I think the Tesla battery tech is miles ahead of that though. What real world life expectancy is, I have no idea.

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Indeed, noise will be a non issue.. but might dull the spectator enjoyment.... Lots of us were saying be fun on a trackway, but apparently not, as running at full back the batteries will run down really fast, and will also overheat in trackway environment.
This is my thought, brilliant for deal use, work commute for most etc.. Longest regular journey I do is 170 miles. They will fast charge in 20 mins with another 180 mile range too.

Didn't the Prius get a lot of criticism for that as the batteries were so expensive, hard to recycle, and made the car obsolete when it for to end of life.... I think the Tesla battery tech is miles ahead of that though. What real world life expectancy is, I have no idea.

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Musk has conned Nevada much the same as Branson conned New Mexico.
He got a $1.3 billion tax break to build his lithium battery manufacturing plant in Nevada. Obvious location because Nevada has a huge lithium mine. But it was a con and he announced that he would be buying the lithium from Mexico. So the Nevada lithium mine gave in and worked a deal out. From the press release:
The deal calls for Pure Energy Minerals to supply Tesla with an undisclosed amount and quality of lithium within an established time frame. In exchange, Tesla will pay a “predetermined price that is below current market rates.” according to the release. The companies didn’t release the details of the agreement, which is subject to various terms and conditions.
To remind you about Branson 10 years ago he conned New Mexico into giving him $250 million to build a spaceport. It was built and still stands empty to this day.

No wonder it was so easy to sell London Bridge to Arizona

Blimey, didn't realise all that was going on! Guess that's the side of the story they don't want you to know about. Going to look up the spaceport thing, never heard of that. Also never heard of the London Bridge Arizona thing, what's that about?

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Way back in 1967 the Common Council of London (possibly a forerunner of the GLC) decided to offer London Bridge for sale. The story is than an American bought it for $2.4 million thinking it was Tower Bridge
Anyway he had it dismantled stone by stone and reassemble at Lake Havasu.
The new owner did OK because next to the Grand Canyon it's Arizona's biggest tourist attraction

As for the spaceport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceport_America

I think that story about them thinking it was Tower Bridge is a bit of a fable.
Apparently it was completely surveyed before the deal was struck. They knew exactly what they were getting.
Sorry. It was a tale I also used to tell, until the myth was exposed.