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Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.1%

  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.7%

  • Yes - preferred over petrol car if price/power/convenience similar

    Votes: 78 39.4%

  • Maybe - preference for neither, only concerned with costs etc

    Votes: 38 19.2%

  • No - prefer petrol car even if electric car has same price, power and convenience

    Votes: 25 12.6%

  • No - would never buy one

    Votes: 14 7.1%
  • Total voters
    198
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Teslas auto pilot avoiding crashes, the one at 30second mark is freaky, the cars alert goes off just before the cars in front crash, Some how it measured the speed of the cars in front and knew they were going to crash before they actually did.

 

And then there are times they cause crashes, well at least that's what the family allege who claim it was in autopilot and were suing Telsa.

Warning, the footage isn't graphic at all however some people might find it uncomfortable as it is a fatal crash.

 

Yeah, so do people.

I don't expect autopilots to be perfect, just like the people they replace are not perfect.

If human drivers cause 1 death per 100 Million kilometres driven, while auto pilots systems cause 1 death per 200 million kilometres driven, I see that as a vast improvement.

This article says 50% less crashes happen with autopilot vs human only drivers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...s-autopilot-makes-accidents-50pc-less-likely/
 
Value Collector said:
Teslas auto pilot avoiding crashes, the one at 30second mark is freaky, the cars alert goes off just before the cars in front crash, Some how it measured the speed of the cars in front and knew they were going to crash before they actually did.
Click to expand...
Where is the alert? I paused the images from car in front veering to impact and the Tesla car was doing 113 km/h after the impact. I.e. the crash was visual before Tesla vehicle reacted and slowed down.
 
Wysiwyg said:
Where is the alert? I paused the images from car in front veering to impact and the Tesla car was doing 113 km/h after the impact. I.e. the crash was visual before Tesla vehicle reacted and slowed down.
Click to expand...

at 31 second mark, just before impact you hear the car beeping, thats the noise it makes to alert the driver something is happening and needs attention.
 
Value Collector said:
at 31 second mark, just before impact you hear the car beeping, thats the noise it makes to alert the driver something is happening and needs attention.
Click to expand...
Lol. I had the volume down because there are people here. Very good technology and just need the human to heed the warning and react. Could be hard for human to do if in a happy state listening to music.
 
Tesla just released its surprise new sports car.

1000 km range
0 - 60 mph (96km/h) in 1.9 seconds.
Top speed of over 400 km/h

It smacks down any petrol car in performance.

 

This is a super high end vehicle, It's not designed to compete at the lower end of the market, It's to compete with Lamborghini and Ferrari to show that electric drive chains are superior.

If the electric car industry focused on slow little compact cars, the industry would be dead in the water, Having an electric vehicle as the fastest car on the road that eats Lamborghinis alive generates buzz, and helps sell the other consumer models and will help the Trucks.
 
Of course a kWh of electricity will cost a gazillion dollars by the time this all happens.
 
Logique said:
Of course a kWh of electricity will cost a gazillion dollars by the time this all happens.
Click to expand...

In the truck announcement, Elon said his "Mega chargers" for the trucks are going to have a guaranteed price of 7cents per KWH, because he is going to power them with Solar panels and Tesla power packs.

But, do you think Oil is going to stay cheap? electricity with its multiple sources will continue to be the cheapest energy source, (Australia's current issues are political, not engineering issues)

----------------

Listen at the 7 minute mark, he talks about guaranteeing electricity charges.

 
Value Collector said:
Tesla just released its surprise new sports car.

1000 km range
0 - 60 mph (96km/h) in 1.9 seconds.
Top speed of over 400 km/h

It smacks down any petrol car in performance.

Click to expand...
What about the presently manufactured Tesla vehicles with at least the range? He might be focusing on the yuppy market and leave the typical vehicles for the established manufacturers. Same path as the iphone (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,X) First adopters beware in my opinion.
 

The model 3 will have a range of 480 km's, thats more than my current car, the Model 3 isn't cheap, but its much cheaper than some of the commodores, so its fair priced for its class.
Same path as the iphone (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,X) First adopters beware in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Those phones were good phones, lol.

I wouldn't have given up years of having an iPhone 4 or 5 just because the I phone X was coming out in the distant future.
 
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It all sounds wonderful, but the charging station thing is great, while there is few cars wanting to use it.
Go and stand above any major road, freeway, intersection and think about all of them cars/trucks requiring a charge.
I know they won't all need a charge at the same time, but the pure volume of vehicles is amazing, to have enough charging points will take years.
They haven't even decided on a standard charging plug design, or indeed a standard voltage, the process will take years.
 
sptrawler said:
They haven't even decided on a standard charging plug design, or indeed a standard voltage, the process will take years.
Click to expand...
This.

Long term I very much doubt that car manufacturers will own the charging stations just as Ford or Toyota don’t sell petrol or diesel. Or Rinnai don’t sell the gas that runs their water heaters. Or everyone from Apple to Kelvinator don’t sell the electricity that runs the products they make.

Someone else will run the charging stations in the long term almost certainly but I can certainly see the logic in an electric vehicle manufacturer setting them up initially to support use of their vehicles.

What remains to be seen is who will own them longer term?

The likes of Shell, BP etc is a definite possibility.

So is the electricity retailers.

Possibly the electricity network owners might do it.

Here in Tas there’s one in Hobart at a Nissan dealership but I’m pretty sure they’re not restricting use to only charging Nissan vehicles (the same dealer also sells Mitsubishi, Mazda and Kia but I don’t think they’d care too much if someone charged any car there). DJ Motors Nissan in Argyle St (Hobart) for those who want to use it.

There’s another one being built by a local council too. To my understanding their thought is that it may attract a few more customers to local businesses as a side benefit. It’s at Rosny Park not far from Eastlands for the locals (that’s a major suburban shopping centre).

For those not in such a hurry and driving to the West Coast of Tas there’s some normal power points at the public BBQ area outside Tungatinah power station (right beside the highway). They get used for some odd things, like people with RV’s with a clothes dryer sitting on the ground and an extension lead run to the power (seen that a few times actually - looks somewhat funny in a way) but you could plug your car in if you wanted to. They’re just standard power points though not an electric vehicle charger as such and you’ll need your own extension lead. No prizes for guessing that the BBQ’s are also electric given the location.
 

Buzz and luring investors and lenders to park their cash in Tesla's bank account doesn't hurt either

It's going to be at least 10 years before people would adopt EV in any meaningful way, on any meaningful scale.

That's not because people don't like EV or doubt its ability to be driven around or such. It's just a matter of affordability and the seconds, the mechanic and insurance (costs) issue.

For the lucky SOBs [ahem ] who can afford a Tesla early... money and costs of repair might not matter much, if at all.

For the average Joe who's living from paycheck to paycheck, even if the Model 3 is affordable at $US25K, how much will Tesla or their approved mechanics costs per visit? How much will insurers charge?

I took my 6 year old car to get a pink slip some months ago. The mechanic don't even bothered looking the car over and charge me $45.

How much will it costs the owner to take their Tesla for a check up at one of those showroom-like mechanics? When my car was brand spanking new, I took it for an oil change and they charge me $250. I heard Tesla charges you by the minute to just look at its user manual.

With oil being finite, and of course corporations' concern for the environment, electric vehicles is the future. Just the rate of adoption would be some 10 to 20 years before there's enough of the basic infrastructure and support system to make it affordable for the masses.

Tesla is currently burning some $1B a quarter. 10 years would make it 40 quarters... then there's the competition from established car manufaturers whose existing products are bringing in the cash. Then there's the logistics, the relationship with suppliers, gov't and other infrastructures they can leverage.

Tesla is going to have a pretty tough time making it out of this alive.

But credit where credit's due. Musk is changing the world. Just that history might be repeating with the original Tesla - a man of genius who gave the world its electric grid etc. etc. He died in poverty.
 
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