San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Where are the details? The car looks pretty sweet but how much does it cost? What is it's range on one charge? What are its acceleration, weight, stopping distance, crash test performance, etc?

All I read from this is that it's WAAAAY far from being available, affordable, or even completely designed.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/...

"I can say that the second model [code name: White Star, scheduled for 2008] will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable [...] all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car."

Slightly OT on an OT. Another reason why you don't tax the hell out of the rich. 

selfportrait

----- Sour grapes for everyone!

It is definitely consumer-driven. We will not further alternative energy vehicles until there is a demand for them. Problem is, the price and performance of electric vehicles is still far from that of gas-driven... so people will usually choose the gas-driven unless they have the luxury (i.e. funds) to go with the electric. Even I am relying on my combustion-engines to this day.

45K for a family sedan?
I can get a prius for 28K and it's backed by toyota

That silver one in the picture is the roadster, being delivered now or soon and completely sold out. With regards to performance vs gas, it outperforms, 0-60 in 4.0 or similar, will outrun a lambo or ferrari at twice the cost but it completely sold out to celebs and the same ilk that buy ferrari's. They only made it to get street credibility and to prove that a car that gets over 100 mpg equivalent cost (that was when gas was $2.50) can perform and not be what they call a "punishment car" and what I call a "birth control car." Their white star was supposed to be similar to a 5 series bmw and go for 50k but their real invention was the battery and powerplant technology, how to take those high end remote control sports cars and make them big. They will likely never become an auto giant but go with a microsoft or intel business model and just make and license the power and battery for major auto makers. They don't make much more than that on their cars now, having lotus build the frame and body for the roadster. It's a silicon valley startup so that's my guess where things will end up and the Daimler talks is the first evidence that they are leaning that way.

I know you'd prefer a prius but there are many people out there who see their car as more than just a mode of transportation, the prius rules at the pump but fails everywhere else. Plus it's 50 mpg isn't enough, tesla technology would take the prius beyond 100 mpg equivalent and it's my guess that it will be incorporated into it. Or if someone else gets their first, it will put the prius out of business if you can get a mercedes c class to get 100 mpg for 40k, game over.

Regarding  Hybrid cars. From a pure financial sense, some numbers...

Toyota Prius $22,160 (if you can buy one for that).
Toyota Yaris $15,885 (almost same equipment)
$6,275 diff.
Prius 46mpg/avg
Yaris 32mpg/avg
prius 15k/yr $4.50/gal. = $1,467.41
Yaris 15k/yr $4.50/gal. = $2,109.38
diff = $641.97

9 years to see the savings.

Realistically, I believe you end up spending closer to $26k for a prius because toyota "makes" to get options you might not want, versus something else like a Yaris you can "strip" down a car (I don't see a point in folks that want basic transportation to load up the car with luxuries either).

Some claim prius is a mid-sized car, so this isn't a fair comparison... So, if you want a fairer comparison

Toyota Camry LE $20,685
Toyota Camry Hybrid $25,860
$5,175 diff.

Camry LE 25mpg/avg
Camry Hybrid 34mpg/avg

Camry LE 15k/yr $4.50/gal. = $2,700
Camry Hybrid 15k/yr $4.50/gal. = $1,985.29

diff = $714.71

It will take 7 years to recoup the cost.

Also, this doesn't include the cost of replacing the battery out-of-warranty if you plan on keeping the car for that long, which will currently set you back $3k for toyota's  and $2k for hondas respectively, though owners of the first gen prius have reported less than 1% needed a battery replacement. For me, I keep my cars until they go into the ground. Don't know if that applies to everyone though.

selfportrait

----- Sour grapes for everyone!

Is this real ???

You got to see this one: (a car that runs on water !!!)

http://www.yahoo.com/s/899388

It is all good....But it makes little sense to plug in an electric car to your outlet in your garage if that power is just being generated from carbon atoms like coal or oil....We need more Nuclear Power plants to be the source of the energy...If we could only get the bleeding hearts, save the dolphin crowd and the earth first people to stop equating nuclear power with nuclear bombs....Carbon atoms in the form of smog and the political realities of middle east policies, war etc have killed tens of thousands more than nuclear power plants have and will ever....

We need more companies like this and more work on the "supply side" of energy like nuclear and drilling in Anwar (sorry caribou) - if we are to break free from middle east oil...I dont want my kids going to another war in 20 years...

Plug it into this:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/12/to...

"But it makes little sense to plug in an electric car to your outlet in your garage if that power is just being generated from carbon atoms like coal or oil....We need more Nuclear Power plants to be the source of the energy...If we could only get the bleeding hearts, save the dolphin crowd and the earth first people to stop equating nuclear power with nuclear bombs."

Wait, we shouldn't equate nuclear power with nuclear bombs? I guess you'd be cool with Iran deingvelop a nuclear energy infrastructure, then, since the two have nothing to do with one another. :P

I agree that nuclear power plants are far less the problem than the hippie movement thought they would be, but that's mostly true because the cat is out of the nuclear weapons bag.

Also, it's true that plug-in cars are shifting the source of pollution to other hydrocarbon sources, but a major power plant has a better chance of exercising strict emissions controls than millions of individual cars on the road. Also, the whole idea is that over time, we'll develop more and better clean energy sources, and replace the dirty ones.

What does Iran have to do with nuclear plants in the US?...We already have nuclear power plants so adding more is mainly a political hurdle...

LarryTheRenter:

Why invest all the time and money in nuclear (given the inherent risks) when it is still a finite resource (uranium, thorium, etc.)?

The only viable long term solution is to use the virtually endless supply of renewable energy provided by solar/hydro/wind/etc. This would break our dependence on oil, foreign or otherwise, as well as reduce carbon emmissions and avoid any nuclear accidents.

Drilling for more oil in ANWR and in coastal regions will only supply a fraction of what we currently consume and will not come anywhere near breaking our dependence on foreign oil. Of course, if you run a domestic integrated oil company and are paying $130 a barrel in the open market for oil to refine - the thought of drilling new wells in the US at a cost of $5-10 barrel would result in huge margins & profits, even if it doesn't affect global (much less US) supply that much. That is why the current administration, oil industry, and the thinktanks & talking heads that pander to them push such an agenda.