Introducing the Tesla Model S

One day electric might work. For me it doesn't. You can argue your case, I can argue mine. It'll go on and on and on. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
Bom15
Not quite as easy as that. What if your in the middle of nowhere? Like the countryside? In town. Are you gonna knock on peoples houses and ask.... 'can i borrow a plug for a few hours?'. If it was that easy then why is there still an issue with charging your car up?
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I can knock on anyone's door, I can with 99.9% guarantee they'll have an electric socket.

Not sure how many would have a petrol pump or willing for me to syphon from their tank.

The issue is simply because as little as 5 years ago battery technology only got you 30 miles. It's taken all that time for politicians to catch up, when in fact most city centre charging points will be entirely pointless by the time electric vehicles mature. Much like no-one keeps a drum of fuel in their garage, just in case.
 
but will they let u use it? that's the question. most people probably wouldn't. And what happens if you do by accident run of electric in the middle of nowhere? At least with a petrol car all i need to do is fill up a jerry can. And people don't keep drums of fuel in their garages because there's usually a petrol station nearby and most don't arrive home with no fuel. If they do then there's always that jerry can again. I never said electric cars where useless or rubbish. All i've said is that i do not believe some of the stats or that they are the way forward. In time maybe yes they might be better. think i've said that before to.
 
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Bom15
Not quite as easy as that. What if your in the middle of nowhere? Like the countryside? In town. Are you gonna knock on peoples houses and ask.... 'can i borrow a plug for a few hours?'. If it was that easy then why is there still an issue with charging your car up?
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They have place where you park your car and you can charge it, most electric car don't plug straight in to an electrical plug.
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The two extra seats are just for dogs and golfclubs really. Like in a 2+2 GT car. Nobody is forcing you to use the two extra seats, but they're good to have for emergencies. Like when your bro's family is stuck with a broken down ICE car and need you to pick them up, etc.

Having a trunk at the front and a hatch at the back makes for uber storage. I like how they have taken advantage of the electric drivetrain in ways that are impossible to achieve in ICE and hybrid cars.
 
Bom15
But will they let you use it? That's the question. Most people probably wouldn't. And what happens if you do by accident run of electric in the middle of nowhere? At least with a petrol car all I need to do is fill up a jerry can. And people don't keep drums of fuel in their garages because there's usually a petrol station nearby and most don't arrive home with no fuel. If they do then there's always that jerry can again. I never said electric cars where useless or rubbish. All I've said is that I do not believe some of the stats or that they are the way forward. In time maybe yes they might be better. Think I've said that before to.
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^ Please try and use proper capitalization in your posts. The spelling mistakes aren't such an issue, but sentences are a lot easier to read if you get the basics right.

Anyway:

You're still basing most of your opinions on something that, in practice, isn't turning out to be the case.

People's electric cars aren't conking out in the middle of nowhere, because the people who buy them aren't dim enough to attempt a journey that their car isn't capable of.

In fact, the only person who I know has run out of charge in an electric car was another car/tech journalist, who got extremely tetchy when I suggested it was because he'd deliberately tried a journey unsuitable for the car. Though funnily enough, he didn't deny it either.
 
Grand Prix
Having a trunk at the front and a hatch at the back makes for uber storage. I like how they have taken advantage of the electric drivetrain in ways that are impossible to achieve in ICE and hybrid cars.
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And a lot more likely as electric vehicles are built with a blank-sheet engineering philosophy. As you may have seen, all the Tesla S batteries are placed along the floor of the vehicle, not lumped in the boot/bonnet/"transmission tunnel".
 
Robin.
I cannot believe legislation would allow kids to sit in the boot facing the rear window like that!
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homeforsummer
It's a big, murky grey area as far as legislation is concerned, I expect.
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While they probably wouldn't let kids sit in seats like that without a booster, there's no organization that really cares about rear impact... yet.
 
With the release of the slightly cheaper, family oriented Model S sedan at the end of this year, Tesla is also looking towards competing with Nissan with the Tesla BlueStar and releasing it's first full-electric SUV, the Model X.

Tesla-Model-X.jpg


For me, I love the look of Teslas and I have to respect the company for taking such huge risks. Hopefully, they can make enough money off of the sales of their other cars to prevent themselves from going under before their much more affordable BlueStar arrives in 2014-2015. And...they pretty much re-ignited the electric car craze. Sure, the Prius was released before the Tesla, but the Tesla made the bigger statement of "We can make an electric car that's fast, looks good, and gets a huge range."

Now, we have the Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus EV, BMW hybrids, Mini EVs, Ferrari hybrids...yeah...all from the minds of three guys about making a fast, good looking, long range electric car. It's really an inspiration to everyone who thinks they have a good idea, really.
 
Where does all the water go when you open the doors in torrential rain?
 
Omnis
Where does all the water go when you open the doors in torrential rain?
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I expect there are drainage channels, though there's no avoiding getting wet in torrential rain anyway. This one looks like it'd provide a bit of cover over your head as you get in.

Tesla calls them "falcon wing" doors. I don't completely understand what makes them different from gull wing doors, which Elon Musk insists they aren't, but I expect the positives and negatives are much the same. Apparently they don't require as much space to open as either gull wing nor normal doors.
 
Yeah. That double hinge makes it Falcon Wing doors. I personally think it looks like a Pelican, but Falcon Wing does sound much cooler. The dual trunks is a cool idea, and using the front trunk as a very large crumple zone is a great idea. Heck, toss in some airbags and you might have the first SUV ever to earn a 5-star crash test rating. I am curious how the front doors open up, though. Are they the same as the rear doors to do the open up normally?
 
Is it just me who thinks those doors are impractical inside a garage/multi-storey car park!?

I like the twin boot, I like the emphasis on the crumple zone.
 
ExigeEvan
Is it just me who thinks those doors are impractical inside a garage/multi-storey car park!?
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In what way? Tesla says they open less far than conventional doors, so I don't see any problems parking next to other cars.
 
I would think so. They seem to open up to the same height as the trunk...maybe a little higher, but...just think of it this way: If you can park a Hummer H2 in it, opening these doors shouldn't be a problem.
 
Nice to see the way they sidestepped the Gullwing name association and by calling them Falcon doors. I'm sure Mercedes would have rumbled about that eventhough they don't own it as some sort of trademark.

The Model S I think is a great looking car but I'm not so sure about this SUV, the rear is OK but the front looks too generic. I doubt the doors will make it into production as many other concepts using that style havent because of real world practicality. When you own an SLS you don't park in multistory car parks!
 
Does this Van/SUV have the same exploding hinges design with the present day gullwing or do the passenger's have to climb up to the front door's in the event of a rollover?
 
Robin.
Nice to see the way they sidestepped the Gullwing name association and by calling them Falcon doors. I'm sure Mercedes would have rumbled about that eventhough they don't own it as some sort of trademark.
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The latter part of that answers the former bit. "Gullwing" isn't a Merc trademark, and indeed it was only ever a nickname anyway - neither the 300SL nor SLS have "gullwing" anywhere in the name.

The Tesla doors are different anyway, owing to the hinged middle.

The Model S I think is a great looking car but I'm not so sure about this SUV, the rear is OK but the front looks too generic. I doubt the doors will make it into production as many other concepts using that style havent because of real world practicality. When you own an SLS you don't park in multistory car parks!
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Funnily enough, I'm the other way around. The back of the Model X is a bit slab-like for my tastes (its like they took the S and extended it upwards... which essentially they have), but the front works well.

As for the doors, it's at quite an advanced stage of production-readiness, so it'd cost more to drop them now than it would to produce them like that. And Elon Musk is a bit like Steve Jobs in that he wants to do things his way. If he says it'll have falcon doors, it'll have falcon doors.
 
I was at Santana row this afternoon and one showed up at a Tesla showroom. Only decent pictures I could get. Small space and lots of people. Ill post them later today.

EDIT: here we are

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*bump* Thought I'd update this thread a bit. The Tesla Model S has been declared the Automobile of the year by Automobile magazine and Car of the Year by Motor Trend. Tesla is making 200 a week, and wants to make 20,000 a year. The range is real, and the performance model is faster than an M5. Tesla has begun to unveil its supercharger systems that can add 150 miles of range in 30 minutes. I want one.
 
I want one too. Official 265 mile range from the top model (someone has got 400 driving gently), 210-ish EPA from the next one down. Range of the base model hasn't been revealed yet.

Incidentally, if you like Tesla, keep your eyes on GreenCarReports (link in sig) tomorrow morning (8am EST) ;) I've got a Christmas treat...
 

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