Tesla's newest car; the Model S Plaid.

[Idaho45guy]

I just heard about this car today, and when I learned that it was the fastest production car ever made, I instantly knew where he got the inspiration for the name. I laughed out loud when I did a search and confirmed it.

Anybody else honestly know where he got the name without searching the internet?

Cool looking car. 4-door luxury sedan that does 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds and a low 9-second 1/4-mile. I hate electrics, but those numbers are ludicrous...

284331

[cwtebay]

The schwartz must be strong with you!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[FISH4BUGS]

I would seriously question those numbers - particularly the quarter mile E.T.
Can you cite the source?

[jakharath]

It's Spaceball One!
They've gone to plaid!

[farmbif]

have no idea where they got the name but got a feeling its so simple its almost stupid
I saw a guy driving a Tesla about a year ago, I was impressed. at o-60 in 2 seconds I sure hope they got a bunch of body shops that know how to fix em.
I guess if I had an extra $100k laying around I wouldn't mind getting one just for fun.
but in all reality I'm needing a new lawn mower and saw an electric ryobi zero turn 100ah at Home Depot about a week ago. it was 25% off but I figure I better wait till they get these things perfected. I've got acres to mow and a plain old $1500 rider from Walmart might last a year or 2 and they sure don't make it up some of the hills I have to cut.
all the major car manufacturers are committed to building electric cars in the next 10 years or so, that's just the way things are going.
me, ill make my old chevy 2500 last as long as possible.

[Idaho45guy]

I would seriously question those numbers - particularly the quarter mile E.T.
Can you cite the source?

https://insideevs.com/news/513360/tesla-model-s-plaid-acceleration/

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36686742/tesla-model-s-plaid-price-increase/

https://www.thedrive.com/news/40921/jay-leno-confirms-tesla-model-s-plaid-set-a-production-car-quarter-mile-record


Recently, unconfirmed reports suggested the electric automaker may have secured the quarter mile record for production cars at a recent test of the Model S Plaid in California. With little more to go on than the word of an anonymous source, one could be forgiven for holding a skeptical view of the claim. It seems that Jay Leno has put that speculation to rest, though, claiming to have made a record-breaking pass in the car himself in a phone call to Spike's Car Radio, reports Tesmanian.

Reports of the record attempt first dropped in mid-May, with Drive Tesla Canada citing a confidential source who claimed to be on site for the attempt. Occurring at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, the informant quoted the Tesla Model S Plaid as laying down a 9.23 second pass with a trap speed of 152.16 miles per hour. They also noted that Jay Leno was in attendance, and that the famous Tonight Show host set a 9.50 second pass, albeit with two passengers on board.

[Rick R]

Chevy claims the electric Hummer generates 1,000 horse power. With the scrutiny Tesla and it’s owner get I’m sure they’ve got video to support their claims.

The biggest reason I “choose to remain dubious” is each company’s variation of electric car takes a different charging station. I can go fill up a 1972 VW Beetle or a 2021 Jaguar at the same gas station but if traveling Tesla is the only game outta town with their network of chargers.

[rbuck351]

Getting an electric vehicle to perform is easy, keeping it charged and keeping things cool while pumping thousands of amps in or out of the batteries and the time it takes to charge are real problems. Think of a semi pulling the grapevine hauling 100,000 lbs and imagine the heat created on the wiring, motors and batteries. And that doesn't take into account the loss of hauling capacity because of the huge batteries or the many stops required to recharge.

Now let's take our family EV on vacation to some less traveled part of the west loaded with family and camping gear. We have to stop every 200/300 miles for an hour to charge the battery assuming there is a charging station in the area.

Another issue is the amount of charging "pumps" that a typical gas station will have to have compared to gas pumps. It takes maybe 5 minutes to gas up per car or an hour to charge an ev. A "gas station" will have to have 12 times as many chargers as gas pumps to handle the same number of cars. Also it will have to have the parking to match the chargers and probably a very large cafe, diner, park or some other place for the people to wait while their car is charging.

I can't wait until some politician decides airplanes need to be electric. Who wants to be the first to head to Hawaii on an electric 747?

Electric cars are neat but we currently are not ready with the infrastructure or the technology to go to even a high percentage of electric vehicles. We are already having brown outs in some areas of the US and even complete failures like Texas. The production of reliable steady electricity is not clean nor is the production of batteries.

I believe electric vehicles are a method for the left to limit our mobility.

[popper]

some politician decides airplanes need to be electric
Uh, American Airlines!

[waksupi]

Electric vehicles will be great, as long as you don't need a heater or air conditioner. Around here, you need both the same day.

[TyGuy]

Electric vehicles will be great, as long as you don't need a heater or air conditioner. Around here, you need both the same day.

Heat is a byproduct that can be easily repurposed as both a creature comfort as well as for beneficial dissipation from the vehicle. Electric A/C systems are also no big deal but will result in additional power consumption and loss of range. Some of our hybrid vehicles use a dual scroll compressor that can be driven by mechanical means via the traditional accessory drive belt or by an electric motor when the gasoline engine is off during EV mode driving.

[cwtebay]

I see where Tesla has mitigated the differing power supply interfaces.
My biggest issues with any of the electric cars are:
How are we paying for roadways and bridges etc without fuel tax?
Where/ how exactly shall we dispose of the batteries when they go kaput? (Recycling.....look at those industries in our Asian neighbours ....not exactly green).
Where do all of the electric car consumers think that the electricity is coming from? We've had to tear out a good chunk of our true "clean energy" sources from hydroelectric, wind is not even remotely"green" if you actually consider the carbon offset, solar is ridiculously dirty from the manufacturing side of things.
I do like the idea of nuclear, and am looking forward to not having a Chernobyl II, WY with the new plant going in there.
I just feel that it's extremely short sighted and naive to purchase an electric car and believe you're doing 1 single thing for the environment!!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[Rick R]

Electric vehicles will be great, as long as you don't need a heater or air conditioner. Around here, you need both the same day.

My sister-in-law was hiking somewhere out west and came upon a Tesla parked alongside the road at a trailhead. Inside was a big dog, a note on the window “Dog is fine. AC is on!” and a thermometer showing it was 65° inside.



I believe electric vehicles are a method for the left to limit our mobility.

At the risk of getting “political” I fear you are correct

[Handloader109]

Several states have taken an average of miles driven and are charging a flat rate EV tax equivalent to the lost gasoline taxes paid at the pump. This is the ONLY fair way to make EV pay for the roads they drive on. A couple are looking at tax for miles driven for all vehicles. (but how do you really enforce that. flat tax better.

Oh, and I saw a review the other day on a 15k service of a Tesla. tires were gone at 17k miles.... WHAT? regenerative breaking maybe? known issue supposedly, the tires go quick.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[popper]

His dual motor 4 wheel drive model. Only way you can get those times - need TRACTION from the tires. Traction motors are different from gas, they have torque at low speed IF you can get the current to them. Some guys tried a post office truck with elec and normal batt for 1/8 mi times. Couldn't keep the belts on the motor. Then twisted the drive shaft off. They made good times till drive broke.

[Duckiller]

Semis don't pull 100000 lbs over the grapevine legally without a overload permit. Not sure that Caltrans would give such a permit. Probably reroute along 101.

[Kraschenbirn]

some politician decides airplanes need to be electric
Uh, American Airlines!

In the last couple weeks, PBS ran an hour program that covered three or four private companies working on developing electric aircraft. A couple of them are already flying manned prototypes and another is flight testing a cargo drone. All are predicting the conventional power (both recip & turbine) for aircraft will be on it's way out in the next 10 years due to climate change restrictions. Watching, I kept thinking about dusting off my A&P, investing in a few run-out Lycomings and Continentals, and doing some rebuilds as a retirement supplement.

Bill

[lksmith]

For cities and/or short trips, EV makes sense. But rural areas where I live (true/real America), most folks drive 30+ miles each way to work not to mention any errands and the frequent power outages from storms, squirrels, heat, etc. How long would one of those EV's work with 100mile round trip, AC blasting, and radio in 100deg weather? Also, what makes one think that employers are going to let their employees plug into their electricity for free, when any benefit other than a paycheck is a luxury that not all get? Not to mention the dirt driveways, mudholes and potholes that are as common as crooked politicians.
I just think EV's are a limited market for areas where folks are pack together.

[Mal Paso]

Teslas are almost as common as Prius here. Lots of them on Hwy 1. There's a Supercharger at Ventana Inn, Big Sur then no public utilities until you hit Cambria. Don't leave the lights on. LOL

I noticed a tesla sitting at a vacation house because the brake disks had rusted in the salt air. Huge Disks for something I would think would have regenerative braking or maybe that doesn't work with full batteries?

[Mk42gunner]

Without doing any searching at all; I thought of the old joke of the French snails and the race car. Escargot anyone?

Robert

[Gator 45/70]

With the way its going on this computer chip shortage thing for new vehicles I may start looking for something that runs on a carburetor, distributor, coil and spark plugs

[MrWolf]

Watched a special a few years back where a guy created a battery based upon a virus. Tested it driving a motorcycle and blew the engine as it could not handle to power. Other specials have shown technology being bought by oil and gas companies who squashed any further research. Could get interesting if some of that research is allowed to move forward.

[Gator 45/70]

Another un-reported electric car deal that happened along the Texas Louisiana coast last year is when people evacuated for last years hurricanes they left these electric cars behind in the garage.
Only to return finding the house burnt down,Yep you guessed it, They don't do well in flooding conditions.

[Mal Paso]

The first big producer of Solar Panels was the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. They built the first Commercial Solar Generating Plant in Carizzo Ca and ran it from 1983 to 1994. It was the largest solar plant in the world at the time. Panels were over $10/watt at the time, they lost money, the plant was shut down and the panels sold off. That was the start of private solar farms. I have 9 of the original ARCO panels and they are STILL IN OPERATION.

The Conspiracy Theories that big oil would hide a technology rather than use it themselves is a load of manure.

Secrets don't keep.

[waksupi]

When you get right down to it, fossil fuel vehicles will be around until the price and efficiency is at a point where people prefer the electric vehicles. Buggy whip factories didn't go out of business because they were outlawed. People just decided they preferred Henry Ford's cars, and buggy whips died a natural death.

[Cast_outlaw]

some politician decides airplanes need to be electric
Uh, American Airlines!

On of our local small short hop operators here now has electric planes it call harbour air based out of Nanaimo bc apparently it’s working quite well for them

[Mal Paso]

I limbed these 2 Oaks with that HF electric chain saw and recharged the batteries on my Solar System.

I spilled some gas fueling the milling saw to make up for it and to prove I Am Not a Greenie.

[farmbif]

y'all got me real curious, saw a jay Leno review of this new Tesla on youtube, he said something like it will go 400 miles on a charge and that includes with air conditioner running. he also said the $130.000 price tag for the performance is real cheap when compared to other cars with gas engines that have similar performance like a $1million for a Ferrari or I think he said an almost $3million Bugatti. having been to school to learn engine mechanics in past I could have never envisioned electric vehicles the same way stage coach drivers could have never envisioned horseless carriages traveling cross country in just a few days.

[Gator 45/70]

y'all got me real curious, saw a jay Leno review of this new Tesla on youtube, he said something like it will go 400 miles on a charge and that includes with air conditioner running. he also said the $130.000 price tag for the performance is real cheap when compared to other cars with gas engines that have similar performance like a $1million for a Ferrari or I think he said an almost $3million Bugatti. having been to school to learn engine mechanics in past I could have never envisioned electric vehicles the same way stage coach drivers could have never envisioned horseless carriages traveling cross country in just a few days.

130K ? Dang, Wonder how much gas/diesel I can buy for 130K if I had 130K to blow on a toy ?

[lksmith]

130K ? Dang, Wonder how much gas/diesel I can buy for 130K if I had 130K to blow on a toy ?

Not to mention repairs and inevitable battery replacements every 5 years or so

[TyGuy]

130K ? Dang, Wonder how much gas/diesel I can buy for 130K if I had 130K to blow on a toy ?

I think point they are trying to make is that on the high performance market $130k is the shallow end of the pool yet this car can go toe-to-toe with the heaviest hitters that cost 5 to 10 times as much. Sure, it doesn’t have the exotic body lines of a Lamborghini or a screaming V12 engine but take them both to the drag strip and the Tesla will at the very least give them a run for their money and will get the W against most. So you pay a fraction of the price tag for a faster car that doesn’t have to stop at every gas station you pass and without the absolutely ludicrous maintenance the real exotics demand. You can even daily drive it and it won’t break the bank (assuming you can swallow that initial investment).

The Model S has an 8 year unlimited mileage power train warranty. Nearly a decade of practically worry free driving is sounds pretty sweet to someone like me who would put over 600k on the car in that time… Let’s see any high performance car pull that kind of mileage. People lost their minds when Mr. Bean crossed the 40,000 mile mark with his McLaren F1. I do more than that just commuting every year.

The top of the line Model S isn’t meant to compete with basic commuter sedans like Honda Civics and Chevy Cruzes. It’s meant to be a car that will wipe the smug smirk off of the face of a Vette owner at a light while getting a thumbs up from the tree huggers.

[TyGuy]

Not to mention repairs and inevitable battery replacements every 5 years or so

This is a very valid concern after the driveline warranty expires. If I remember right, the cost to replace the batteries/motors (which are generally replaced together) runs over $20k on the basic Model S. I’m sure the bad boy is even more. But again, if you have ever seen a dealership repair bill on a high end performance car you realize that’s still not bad. A basic oil change on an exotic is typically four figures.

[Idaho45guy]

This is a very valid concern after the driveline warranty expires. If I remember right, the cost to replace the batteries/motors (which are generally replaced together) runs over $20k on the basic Model S. I’m sure the bad boy is even more. But again, if you have ever seen a dealership repair bill on a high end performance car you realize that’s still not bad. A basic oil change on an exotic is typically four figures.

Yep, most people have no idea how crazy the maintenance costs are on most of the exotics. I remember a few years ago that to change the oil on one exotic, it had to be flown back to Europe and serviced. Over $30,000 for an oil change.

https://www.woodsidecredit.com/typical-maintenance-costs-exotic/

That site listed a new transmission for an Aston Martin Vantage at $80,000. $20k for new batteries/motors seems like a bargain.

[MrWolf]

The first big producer of Solar Panels was the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. They built the first Commercial Solar Generating Plant in Carizzo Ca and ran it from 1983 to 1994. It was the largest solar plant in the world at the time. Panels were over $10/watt at the time, they lost money, the plant was shut down and the panels sold off. That was the start of private solar farms. I have 9 of the original ARCO panels and they are STILL IN OPERATION.

The Conspiracy Theories that big oil would hide a technology rather than use it themselves is a load of manure.

Secrets don't keep.

I remember the shows back when but do not have the details. Here is a quick search from a Tesla forum discussing "Who Killed the Lithium Battery? (for 30 years)"

https://forums.tesla.com/discussion/68344/who-killed-the-lithium-battery-for-30-years

Not saying it is gospel but somehow I just don't see major gas and oil companies willing to give up their life blood.

[Gator 45/70]

Lol, I saw 4 of those spiffy Elec.cars at the Tesla station in front of petco this morning, Seems like one has plenty of time to get out and stretch ones legs while waiting on a fill up? About how long does that take?
Wonder how much more generating capacity will have to be added over the years to keep up, 25% more generators?

[Gator 45/70]

Well bought the wife this mower today at Lowes since we want to go green and everything.
Thinking about mounting a cordless drill on this baby to speed up the operation.
What do yall think, Pulley and belt ?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Earthwise-16-in-Reel-Lawn-Mower/50329467

[Mal Paso]

I remember the shows back when but do not have the details. Here is a quick search from a Tesla forum discussing "Who Killed the Lithium Battery? (for 30 years)"

https://forums.tesla.com/discussion/68344/who-killed-the-lithium-battery-for-30-years

Not saying it is gospel but somehow I just don't see major gas and oil companies willing to give up their life blood.

The idea for Lithium batteries was proposed in 1973. The next 18 years was trying different materials to make them stable and to produce enough electricity to be competitive. The first commercial batteries were sold in 1991, there were fires and failures. Capacity and reliability has been a slow uphill battle ever since with breakthroughs every couple years. I couldn't find any 30 year gap.

I maintained a Nickel Iron battery bank. Cells were not supposed to go bad but I replaced failed cells until we couldn't get more. They were made in eastern Europe so there may have been patent issues but if they were better than lead/acid money would have talked. I think they were 1.2 volts rather than 2+ volts of lead acid.

I'm sure somewhere someone has buried technology but I think more often it's the "Journalists" putting one over on us.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Problems with the electrical grid are - It's already being run at over capacity, they're shutting power plants down, instead of installing more, the wiring isn't being upgraded, for more capacity, demand is going to vastly increase if we go "all electric", so to put it in one sentence:

You cannot squeeze 1000 gallons of juice out of 1 pound of grapes.

It just plain doesn't look like many with a clue are there in DC, frankly.

I do imagine that it's a very fun toy though LOL

[GhostHawk]

I saw something on TV at least 8 to 10 years ago. On one side was a modern 1/4 mile drag racer. On the other was a car powered by old recycled cell phone battery's.

It left the dragster at the start like it was standing still. And with a huge lead the dragster never caught up.

The real advantage is they can figure out at what point there is too much power, and the wheels spin.

On an electric car they can set it to never cross that line. Huge torque at slow speeds, don't have to wait for the engine to rev up. Nothing lost in transmission of power. No loss of speed to shifting. Just pure acceleration just below the power level at which the wheels would spin.

They will be years getting all the bugs out and charging stations setup. But it is the wave of the future.

[Idaho45guy]

Problems with the electrical grid are - It's already being run at over capacity, they're shutting power plants down, instead of installing more, the wiring isn't being upgraded, for more capacity, demand is going to vastly increase if we go "all electric", so to put it in one sentence:

You cannot squeeze 1000 gallons of juice out of 1 pound of grapes.

It just plain doesn't look like many with a clue are there in DC, frankly.

I do imagine that it's a very fun toy though LOL

And don't forget that the state most famous for being unable to maintain demand for electricity has mandated that in just 14 years, it will be illegal to sell any new cars, pickups, dirt bikes, or ATVs that aren't electric...

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/california-mandates-electric-cars-for-2035.html

It is going to be a massive boondoggle if California remains a part of the Union for that long. The way things are going, I don't see the US remaining unfractured for more than a decade, however.

[Brassmonkey]

My only gripe with the electric clean energy crap is the consumption, no one seems to care how much energy is used as long as the greenies can deem it clean. As a slight conservationist myself it just doesn’t jive with me. Sure the exhaust from my truck isn’t rainbows and unicorn farts but I run less then 30 gal a month through the filler neck of the tank, likely less energy than folks plugging in their car everywhere, and it was built 30 years ago should still be running 30 years from now. Doesn’t stop the smugness and science denier scowls.

[Finster101]

Teslas are almost as common as Prius here. Lots of them on Hwy 1. There's a Supercharger at Ventana Inn, Big Sur then no public utilities until you hit Cambria. Don't leave the lights on. LOL

I noticed a tesla sitting at a vacation house because the brake disks had rusted in the salt air. Huge Disks for something I would think would have regenerative braking or maybe that doesn't work with full batteries?


Regenerative braking is not designed to stop the vehicle only to scavenge power when lightly braking or coasting. You still need mechanical brakes for performance and emergency stopping.

[jonp]

The schwartz must be strong with you!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

+1. Nice catch. First thing I thought of was " you went over my helmet"?

[jonp]

The first big producer of Solar Panels was the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. They built the first Commercial Solar Generating Plant in Carizzo Ca and ran it from 1983 to 1994. It was the largest solar plant in the world at the time. Panels were over $10/watt at the time, they lost money, the plant was shut down and the panels sold off. That was the start of private solar farms. I have 9 of the original ARCO panels and they are STILL IN OPERATION.

The Conspiracy Theories that big oil would hide a technology rather than use it themselves is a load of manure.

Secrets don't keep.

A carburator that got over 100 mpg was bought up by "big oil" to keep it secret. Anyone remember that?

[Mal Paso]

This one? https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nobodys-fuel/

[rbuck351]

Diesel injectors do what the pogue carb was claimed to do, that is to micro mist the fuel. Diesel cars get nowhere near the 100 or 200 mpg claimed and diesel has more BTUs per gallon than gas. There is just not enough power in a gallon of gas to push a car that far no matter how much you atomize the gas. Well if you could split the atoms of gas you could get that kind of power.

[abunaitoo]

The USA becoming a "throw away" country, electric vehicles work.
Very little maintenance, good for short trips, here they have lots of incentives, easy to drive.
After using for 4 or 5 years, throw it away and get another.
I think a battery change cost $10,000.
Us "old timers" keep our old gas vehicles going by fixing them ourselves, long trips, no waiting for it to charge.
I drive a 1990 Maxima, 1999 Frontier, and a 1999 PreRunner.
Fix them myself, not worried about trading it in every 4 to 5 years.
Two things that would make EV practical.
1) Cheaper batteries that have 100% more capacity, and are charged by solar panels on the roof.
2) Superconductor wire so power loss would be "zero"
If these happen, fuel engines will be gone.

[Lloyd Smale]

My only gripe with the electric clean energy crap is the consumption, no one seems to care how much energy is used as long as the greenies can deem it clean. As a slight conservationist myself it just doesn’t jive with me. Sure the exhaust from my truck isn’t rainbows and unicorn farts but I run less then 30 gal a month through the filler neck of the tank, likely less energy than folks plugging in their car everywhere, and it was built 30 years ago should still be running 30 years from now. Doesn’t stop the smugness and science denier scowls.

I use even less. Force me to buy an electric car when some yuppys living in the city buy a home 60 miles away in the suburbs and both of them drive a 120 miles a day. Come home to a house that is heated and cooled thats twice the size of mine. Have ever electric do dad that sold by man.

Fuel injection did make cars burn more effeciently but it isnt the drastic change you think it is. Typical 4 cyl car gets between 30 and 40 mpg. My buddy had a 4 cyl chev chevette with a carb that got 43 in 1985. If i use logic and think that who is hurting the environment more. A guy today driving a 120 miles in a corola getting 30mpg and burning 4 gallons of has or him driving that same 12 miles using 3 gallons of gas. Tail pipe may be a bit dirtier but the pollution producing that gallon of fuel and transporting it and keep that gas stations lights on and the pump running probably add up to more pollution. Ill add to that that its not fuel injection that changed the car industry. Its ELECTRONIC managment that did. The ability of a computer to adjust fuel air rations and timing in milliseconds. Chevy fooled with it in the last years of carbureted motors but even the fuel injection tech was in its infancy back then. They no doubt could have made vast improvements in carbureted motors.

[rondog]

Electric vehicles are a hard "nope" for me. Not interested.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Let's do a quick engineering "back of the envelope" calculation on an electric vehicle carrying solar panels along to recharge itself.

Let's start by making some assumptions - I'm simplifying the heck out of this, I'm not a solar expert but I do a lot of electronics. So... Let's say 40,000 Wh to recharge it fully, assume that the solar panels are super light and don't affect the car's aerodynamics, or mileage, and assume that you live in Nevada or California so you have decent sun, and that it's summer so it's even bright sun. And the panels magically always keep themselves at right angles to the sunlight, for max efficiency. OK...

And let's assume that the panel is 6' x 6' in size, just for the quick calculation. That could be a pair of SunPower SPR-E20-435 panels, a decent one. I'd suspect you won't get Horror Fright panels here LOL

OK so the core math is then, hours needed for the recharge = Watt Hours / Panel Wattage, or hours = 40,000 Wh / 870 W = just under 46 hours to recharge your vehicle, of constant bright sunlight on the order of Nevada or California brightness?

If you live somewhere that has sun for almost 2 days in a row, I strongly suspect it's inside the Arctic circle or Antarctic circle. And sunlight there isn't quite tropical in intensity.

So - I don't see carrying your own panels as a great plan, unless you carry a LARGE array, like 10+ of those panels, and then have someone re-aiming the array every half hour or so, or you could carry fewer panels and a lot of mirrors and use those to cast a lot more light on the panels, if you do that someone/something has to aim the mirrors regularly, and it'd be a REALLY good idea to cool your solar panels so they don't melt down.

Or just use Diesel or Gasoline?

[Gator 45/70]

Well someone has come up with a solution for all the Hipsters on-board with the electric cars that can give you whip-lash on take off....and extended you're range until at least a service station, Where the rest of us knuckle dragg'n Squatch's fill up at.
You'll be needing a trailer hitch btw.

[para45lda]

Ludicrous Speed!!

[rbuck351]

Electronic management doesn't do much for carbs but it works great with electronic injectors and valve and ign timing. But no matter as there is only so much power available in a gallon of gas or diesel. What does matter is the availability of charging stations and electricity to charge the batteries. Also there is the pollution caused by creating the electricity and the disposal of the parts of the worn out power generators and batteries.

If we turn off all the generators the greenies don't like we couldn't run half the things we do now let alone going to all electric vehicles. They don't like hydro electric (kills fish), nuclear (kills peopie), natural gas, oil, coal (all kill the planet), wind turbines (kills birds). The only thing left is solar and that gives you skin cancer. Maybe we are looking at this wrong, maybe we should get rid of greenies.

[Lloyd Smale]

Let's do a quick engineering "back of the envelope" calculation on an electric vehicle carrying solar panels along to recharge itself.

Let's start by making some assumptions - I'm simplifying the heck out of this, I'm not a solar expert but I do a lot of electronics. So... Let's say 40,000 Wh to recharge it fully, assume that the solar panels are super light and don't affect the car's aerodynamics, or mileage, and assume that you live in Nevada or California so you have decent sun, and that it's summer so it's even bright sun. And the panels magically always keep themselves at right angles to the sunlight, for max efficiency. OK...

And let's assume that the panel is 6' x 6' in size, just for the quick calculation. That could be a pair of SunPower SPR-E20-435 panels, a decent one. I'd suspect you won't get Horror Fright panels here LOL

OK so the core math is then, hours needed for the recharge = Watt Hours / Panel Wattage, or hours = 40,000 Wh / 870 W = just under 46 hours to recharge your vehicle, of constant bright sunlight on the order of Nevada or California brightness?

If you live somewhere that has sun for almost 2 days in a row, I strongly suspect it's inside the Arctic circle or Antarctic circle. And sunlight there isn't quite tropical in intensity.

So - I don't see carrying your own panels as a great plan, unless you carry a LARGE array, like 10+ of those panels, and then have someone re-aiming the array every half hour or so, or you could carry fewer panels and a lot of mirrors and use those to cast a lot more light on the panels, if you do that someone/something has to aim the mirrors regularly, and it'd be a REALLY good idea to cool your solar panels so they don't melt down.

Or just use Diesel or Gasoline?

sometimes up here in the winter you dont see the sun for a month.

[MrWolf]

Another way for them to keep you home or very close to it without you realizing. Think about it.

[Lloyd Smale]

Another way for them to keep you home or very close to it without you realizing. Think about it.

good point. Keeps us from seeing the farce at the capital building or whats really going on at the border. It would keep the average guy from seeing with his own two eyes the destruction of this country by the liberals.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Around Seattle we just mutter about "I heard this rumor about a bright light in the sky"... Hard to see it except during tourist season.

[nvbirdman]

I agree, electric vehicles are the future, but at 77 years old I ain't going to see that future anyway so I'll just keep driving my gas guzzler.

[JackQuest]

Electric vehicles will be great, as long as you don't need a heater or air conditioner. Around here, you need both the same day.

Not to mention that a lot of Montanans drive 3 hours 1 way to get groceries. Montana is the electric car’s worst nightmare.

[JackQuest]

Around Seattle we just mutter about "I heard this rumor about a bright light in the sky"... Hard to see it except during tourist season.

Having grown up in western Oregon, and visited Portland routinely, the Seattle stories about rainfall are mostly hogwash. Portland has a U of O Suicide study center because the weather is so grim. Seattle is in the rain shadow of the Olympic forest, but they neglect to tell “the rest of the story”.
You want extreme weather unlike any other part of the country? Try the Columbia Gorge. Try The Dalles.