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The $109,000 E-Car

October 5, 2008 8:16 PM

Tesla Motors chairman Elon Musk says the company's Roadster model is twice as efficient as a Toyota Prius. But that efficiency comes with a steep price tag: $109,000. Musk says it's "a deal."

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by mvproject October 6, 2008 5:59 PM EDT
Excellent segment! I ordered my Tesla last year and expect to receive mine very soon. I am designing a 21st Century house (Mount Vernon Project) located just south of George Washington4s Mount Vernon 18th Century estate near Washington, DC in Virginia. The goal is to demonstrate a dwelling of significant size that generates more energy than it consumes.

It is very clear to me and to millions of other Americans that the future of this great country depends upon freeing ourselves from foreign oil. Electric cars, energy efficient homes and renewable sources are sure ways to achieve this very reachable goal.

John McEwan
Alexandria, VA
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by hamster17 October 6, 2008 1:02 AM EDT
Scott, you''re wrong.
VW Jetta TDI is rated 40 mpg freeway. That translates into 250 g of CO2 per mile.

Tesla uses around 300 wh per mile. GM EV-1 used 200-250 wh. Aptera will use around 100 wh. I don''t have numbers for Volt. The most recent estimate of greenhouse gas emissions for California is 275 g/kwh. (And it''s dated 2000, today it''s even lower) That equals 28 g of CO2 per mile for Aptera and 83 g of CO2 per mile for Tesla.

And even if you use nationwide averages (California has cleaner electricity than most states), Tesla still comes out lower on emissions than TDI.

The reality is that burning coal under tightly controlled conditions in a plant is far more efficient than burning diesel in an internal combustion engine. Diesel engines only achieve about 40% efficiency, gasoline engines are lucky to get 30%.
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by hamster17 October 6, 2008 1:01 AM EDT
Scott, you''re wrong.
VW Jetta TDI is rated 40 mpg freeway. That translates into 250 g of CO2 per mile.

Tesla uses around 300 wh per mile. GM EV-1 used 200-250 wh. Aptera will use around 100 wh. I don''t have numbers for Volt. The most recent estimate of greenhouse gas emissions for California is 275 g/kwh. (And it''s dated 2000, today it''s even lower) That equals 28 g of CO2 per mile for Aptera and 83 g of CO2 per mile for Tesla.

And even if you use nationwide averages (California has cleaner electricity than most states), Tesla still comes out lower on emissions than TDI.

The reality is that burning coal under tightly controlled conditions in a plant is far more efficient than burning diesel in an internal combustion engine. Diesel engines only achieve about 40% efficiency, gasoline engines are lucky to get 30%.
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by ginnik-2009 October 6, 2008 12:18 AM EDT
No, Leslie did not miss the mark. I have 9.8kw of solar pv on my roof. i produce more electricity than i use and feed it to the grid.. no gallon of gas used to produce my electricity, just the beautiful sunshine. i would love love love to have an electric car that i could plug into my electricity producing house. i would love to buy the tesla or the next gen larger sedan. unfortunately, i really can''t justify spending more than $60,000 -$70,000... the tesla is out of my reach..
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by houscott October 6, 2008 12:05 AM EDT
Leslie Stall
You really missed the boat on that piece. You never asked the important question. If a gallon of gas us used to generate electricity and charge the car how far would it go compared with just putting the gas in the car directly? That is the test, the only advantage of an electric car is that it doesn%u2019t pollute where it operates, but it does pollute at the power plant were the electricity is being generated. My bet is that if you really investigate this you will fine that if you use say diesel to generate electricity and account for all the inefficiencies the step up and down losses and the power line loses and the losses from charging a battery, power in, power out, the amount of fuel the electric car consumes is enormous. This doesn%u2019t even account for the pollution efficiencies of the two places the gas or diesel is being burned. I think you will fined the diesel engine of say a VW Tdi pollutes less with its gallon of diesel than any commercial power plant you might burn it in and change your electric car. So your silicon guys may in the end be dead wrong, like they were when their so-called clean industry polluted all the ground waters of the Santa Clara Valley.

Scott
Houston Tx.
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by houscott October 6, 2008 12:02 AM EDT
Leslie Stall
You really missed the boat on that piece. You never asked the important question. If a gallon of gas us used to generate electricity and charge the car how far would it go compared with just putting the gas in the car directly? That is the test, the only advantage of an electric car is that it doesn%u2019t pollute where it operates, but it does pollute at the power plant were the electricity is being generated. My bet is that if you really investigate this you will fine that if you use say diesel to generate electricity and account for all the inefficiencies the step up and down losses and the power line loses and the losses from charging a battery, power in, power out, the amount of fuel the electric car consumes is enormous. This doesn%u2019t even account for the pollution efficiencies of the two places the gas or diesel is being burned. I think you will fined the diesel engine of say a VW Tdi pollutes less with its gallon of diesel than any commercial power plant you might burn it in and change your electric car. So your silicon guys may in the end be dead wrong, like they were when their so-called clean industry polluted all the ground waters of the Santa Clara Valley.

Scott
Houston Tx.
Reply to this comment
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