Tesla Model S: $50,000 Electric Car that Seats Seven

[cujet]

Originally Posted by cujet

My friend has one on order. He is an electric vehicle nut, and is quite excited about it.

I will get the chance to drive it, and I'll report back.

He has a 2012 Zero DS electric motorcycle and I get to ride that any time I like. (yes, it's kind of cool, and performs quite well)

My friend took delivery of his new Model S with the 85KWH battery pack and 415? HP electric motor.

He let me take it for a solo drive out of the airport, and on some really nice back roads and high speed roads. I'm in love.

In short, the car is stinking fast. I took an iPhone video of a 20 to 90 acceleration run. Four seconds flat. The 90MPH run took place on a 3000 foot strip private airport here in South Florida.

The car drives perfectly. The "tach" is really an energy use gauge. It hovers around 20KW at 50MPH. The cornering is world class for a sedan, and the low center of gravity works well with the high quality suspension components. The steering feel is perfect. The brake re-gen system is exactly as you would design it. Lift the go-pedal and the car goes into re-gen. Lift a bit more and you decelerate more, lift fully and the car slows rapidly, creating significant re-gen. It took all of 30 seconds to be fully comfortable with this system. I love it.

The car has instant response, no downshifting, no lag, no messin' around that is so common in today's 6, 7 and 8 speed automatic transmission cars.

Using cruise control clearly uses less energy for the same speed. As the human foot is unsteady, and shows up on the "tach-energy meter". And, of course, the energy use is easily tracked by the built in programs and the large display.

[NeilBlanchard]

Here's Elon Musk's thinking in a nutshell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKWP...layer_embedded

[NeilBlanchard]

I saw a Tesla Model S "in the wild" today for the first time! It was a black one down on Walnut Street in Maynard just above The Mill. Sweet!

[NeilBlanchard]

I saw a second Model S a few days ago - I hope to see many more.

Consumer Reports gives the Tesla Model S a 99 (out of 100) rating - the highest rating ever!

Consumer Reports On Tesla Model S: Best Test Car Since 2007

Consumer Reports: Tesla Model S is 'best car we've ever tested' (Score: 99/100) : TreeHugger

It was docked that 1 point because it takes 6 hours to charge - oh the horror! It does have the Supercharging port that can do an 80% charge in under 1 hour, though - for free...

As noted, it is about 2X as efficient as a Prius.

[user removed]

Cost 90 grand, right?

regards
Mech

[NeilBlanchard]

No, the 60kW battery pack model is $62,400 (after $7,500 tax credit) and the 85kW model is $72,400 (after $7,500 tax credit). The 85kWh Performance model is $87,400 (after $7,500 tax credit) - so, none are inexpensive. But, compared to similar size and performance cars, they are actually pretty reasonable.

The Mercedes S600 starts at about $160,000 and it gets 12/19 according to the EPA. The higher performance BMW 7 Series are about $140,000. Driving these fossil fueled cars will cost you about $40K per 100K miles.

[user removed]

My Fiesta cost 10k and will cost 8k in fuel for 100k miles. Why would you think that using the most ineffecient vehicles for a comparison supports your position? Are there any MB or BMW V12 owners on this site? I'm fairly sure there are no Tesla owners.

Also, how much does the replacement battery pack cost for the 3 versions quoted?

Pragmatic balanced comparisons between vehicles does not negate your position Neil. People have enough sense to see the imbalance in any postion if they care about the topic.

Will Tesla even be here in 5 years? I'll bet MB and BMW will and I think one of those two companies is working with Tesla when this was posted.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

A ten year old Tesla with a marginal battery pack is worthless, unless you part it out.

regards
Mech

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

My Fiesta cost 10k and will cost 8k in fuel for 100k miles. Why would you think that using the most ineffecient vehicles for a comparison supports your position? Are there any MB or BMW V12 owners on this site? I'm fairly sure there are no Tesla owners.

Did you purchase that new? My Forester was five thousand, plus a thousand in unnecessary dealership fees, another two hundred for tinting that I never received, and $1,600 for a service plan that is only useful for my fourth and least expensive repair.

I have probably paid $1,500 in fuel.

I think that I would have been better off with a Festiva.

I am going to do a Google search for "How to Assume the Fetal Position." Maybe that would help.

As for Tesla, I imagine that plenty of people purchase [plug-in] Prii and that is enough of a status symbol. I do not think that hybrids or current electric cars are "the answer" by any stretch of the imagination, but if Tesla is successful, electric cars should improve faster than if they are not.

Please excuse me, I need to consult Google.

[Xist]

The Blue Book for a 2,011 Fiesta is $10,000. How did you do that?