Tesla Supercharger

[notamondayfan 44]

Just saw this and found it very interesting. Tesla are building "charging" stations across the USA in an attempt to make it possible to drive across the USA in electric powered cars, for free!

 

The concept is you drive 200 miles on 1 charge, then have the car charge for up to an hour at a charging station, have a coffee or meal, then continue on your journey. Tesla also don't charge for the electric, so it's free fuel.

 

I love the concept of this, and probably the most feasible and likely to catch on idea that I've seen in a long time. Tesla seem to have the right idea, and I hope other companies start to adopt similar concepts too.

 

http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

 

Would this make you move from petrol to electric?

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

Its a step in the right direction. With a bit of luck, if electric cars take off, that'll conserve a bit of petrol for us enthusiasts.

[harryskid 193]

Its a step in the right direction. With a bit of luck, if electric cars take off, that'll conserve a bit of petrol for us enthusiasts.

Think you might have got that wrong mate, if electric cars take off (heaven forbid) they won't bother to refine the oil!

[notamondayfan 44]

Think you might have got that wrong mate, if electric cars take off (heaven forbid) they won't bother to refine the oil!

 

Or you might eventually get to the stage where the demand for petrol is so low that petrol prices drop.

 

Or.........the oil might eventually run out all together and you'd just have to change anyway.

[hcmini1989 16]

Oil should never run out seen as it can be grown as algae (green oil )and refined into petrol or diesel.So i think in the future we will probably have electric cars as runarounds or commuting etc and the oil be it black or green saved for us enthusiasts .

[allye 530 3 Cars]

At the moment electric are not the future surely? Really gets on my tits, their batteries are made from stuff mined in Canada, then shipped to China, then back again to where ever they are being screwed together, then off to where they are being sold And the batteries have a relatively short life span

[jamie_1992 66 1 Cars]

dont think i would be buying one of those at a cost of $92000

[24seven 104]

Electric cars as we know them now are definitely not the future. Regardless of any environmental impacts of actually building the battery packs for them (oil still has to be shipped all over the world as with the battery materials), the real issue is in the storage capacity of current battery technology, not to mention the poor recharge rate. If you look at the energy density (Joules/Kg) of even the best modern batteries, then compare that to gasoline or diesel, it's not even close. Then you've got the inefficient supply infrastructure of actually getting the electricity from the power station to your home and into the car, then further losses by having to carry around those hefty battery packs everywhere you go. Having said all that there is one circumstance where pure electric cars do make sense and that's if we build more nuclear power stations; go back and look at that energy density table again and you'll soon see why!

 

I think bio-fuels are going to take off now that methods of producing them are becoming more and more efficient. Time was that to produce enough of the stuff to meet the existing demand for oil, most of the earth's dry land would need to be converted into farmland, but not any more. Then we'll have bio-fuels powering range extenders - generators that provide the electricity to drive the cars. Engines will be configured to run at a single RPM - no throttle, minimal pumping losses and a million and one different systems to prevent wasted heat energy going down the exhaust pipe or through the radiator. Mazda are already working on this as an avenue for it's next generation of rotary engines.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

If only they could find a way of harnessing sound waves and convert it into fuel, then with all the rattles in my 205 I could power the thing for the next 40 years at least!

[allye 530 3 Cars]

 

If only they could find a way of harnessing sound waves and convert it into fuel, then with all the rattles in my 205 I could power the thing for the next 40 years at least!

 

An entire football stadium of people shouting at the top of their voices can just about power a light bulb with the sound energy! So you need a very noisy 205

[welshpug 1,657]

still need to generate that electricity somehow, and the majority is still generated by fossil fuels

[Cameron 16]

Hydrogen fuel cells, or a similar way of converting chemical energy on-board in to electrical energy is the future, not batteries.

 

A bit more on topic, Tesla are a very impressive company and this is a good idea given the current state of technology.

[harryskid 193]

Harness all the farts in the world and we could all run super cars!

[notamondayfan 44]

still need to generate that electricity somehow, and the majority is still generated by fossil fuels

 

But the point is that electricity can be generate in other ways than fossil fuels, and in the future eventually all electricity will be generated from non fossil fuel stations.

 

 

At the moment electric are not the future surely? Really gets on my tits, their batteries are made from stuff mined in Canada, then shipped to China, then back again to where ever they are being screwed together, then off to where they are being sold And the batteries have a relatively short life span

 

That's just a logistical thing, and something that can be improved, and may seem a little backwards, but sometimes you've gotta take a step back in order to advance.

 

 

 

Hydrogen fuel cells, or a similar way of converting chemical energy on-board in to electrical energy is the future, not batteries.

 

A bit more on topic, Tesla are a very impressive company and this is a good idea given the current state of technology.

 

Yea I think it's great a company like Tesla are investing hugely into this type of thing, even if it's not for the average man yet. However I don't doubt for a moment that the oil companies and car manufacturers aren't working on something else, but for the forseeable future, they'll milk inflated oil prices and demand until there is literally no oil left.

[24seven 104]

... until there is literally no oil left.

 

This won't happen within out lifetime at the very least.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

If the oil companies are doing what the gas distribution networks are doing, they'll be making contingency plans for when supllies run out. Might take a little longer for the oil to run out, but there aint a lot of gas left.

[glenwah 20]

Gas is refined from crude oil so surely they will all run out together, gas, petrol, diesel, tar, etc.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

generally speaking, natural gas (ie domestic mains gas) isnt refined from crude oil, its the hydrocarbons that are already gaseous in pockets undergound. Can be found in areas around where oil is drilled from, but not always.

Also, all those will be refined in different quantities, and used at diferent rates, so wont necesarily run out at the same time

[minimaniacwhyard 17]

Will never go electric out of inconvenience and being stubborn. I would much rather have a grdt running on cooking oil. Also hybrids are a waste of time at the moment the Prius boasts something like 40 mpg and peugeots first diesel hybrid the 3008 45mpg they average. Maybe in the future if they move on leaps and bounds i may consider it

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

This won't happen within out lifetime at the very least.

 

This doesn't really help the billions who will be facing a much more dire situation in 50 years...

 

Gas is refined from crude oil so surely they will all run out together, gas, petrol, diesel, tar, etc.

 

No it isn't. The lightest distillates from crude are LPG and petrol. Natural gas can be found separately or along with oil in a reservoir and depending on its 'flavour' or quality, is either extracted or simply flared off.

The oil companies will continue to invest for more complex exploration, purely because it's worth it. I have seen holes drilled that have cost £20 million and taken over six months to a year to drill. When completed and producing, the hole has paid for itself in a month or two, with anything else extra being profit... (and thats a LOT of profit if it produces 150,000 bbls/day)

Oil companies are branching out into alternative energy methods, although personally I think this is purely a foil for upholding the green and clean energy/environment issue. They will continue to extract every last drop from the earth until there is nothing left. Filling our pugs will be the last of our worries when oil is needed for plastics, petrochemicals, textiles, solvents, detergents etc...

[glenwah 20]

Is LPG not gas? Therefore I'm not wrong.

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

Domestic or natural gas is the first thing that springs to mind when you say 'gas' and is what is in short supply, especially in the UK.

Gas condensates or LPG still has limited uses and burns with more energy, meaning you need more of it. It's still not really an option.

 

I'm not getting into a bun fight.

[TooMany2cvs 65]

But the point is that electricity can be generate in other ways than fossil fuels, and in the future eventually all electricity will be generated from non fossil fuel stations.

"Can be" and "In the future eventually" aren't a lot of help in the short-to-medium term, though. We already face a serious electricity generation shortfall in the next few years, as well as the serious reliance on fossil fuels and imports from unstable nations. Adding massively to the consumption of electricity isn't going to be a great help AT ALL.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19842401

 

What "non-fossil" sources are you suggesting? Solar isn't a great plan in the UK, even if we had the space for enough cell arrays. There's huge objections to wind and tidal installations, largely on environmental grounds. Nuclear was on the wane even before Fukushima.

 

B'sides, think for a moment about the type of vehicle use which could be easily replaced by electric cars. Low range, and very long recharge/fill times (compared to petrol/diesel) mean that they'll only be practical for short-journey users. Wouldn't it be better to encourage many of those on to public transport instead? Long journey users won't be tempted for a LONG while yet - and they're the ones using the majority of the fuel. Can you see many 50k mile/year sales reps being realistically tempted out of the diesel repmobile into a Nissan Leaf? Mebbe for the missus for the school run...

 

Then, of course, there's the very high costs over the vehicle life. A few years back, there was a ~5yo ~30k Berlingo on eBay. Tidy as it came, absolutely straight, only ever had light use - should be worth about half new price, right? Nope - no interest at a bit over weigh-in value. Because it was one of the electric ones, and needed a new battery set - which were only available from Citroen at a big chunk more than the new price of a diesel Berlingo...

Is LPG not gas? Therefore I'm not wrong.

It's _a_ gas, yes...

 

LPG is Liquified Petroleum Gas - it's a by-product of oil extraction, and very different to natural gas, the stuff that comes through Centrica's pipes to your central heating.

 

LPG _can_ be used for cooking/heating - we're out in the sticks, so don't get a piped natural gas supply, so there's a big tank behind the garage with LPG in it.

Edited June 2, 2013 by TooMany2cvs

[24seven 104]

This doesn't really help the billions who will be facing a much more dire situation in 50 years...

 

 

I wouldn't even say we'll run out in 50 years. Known reserves (by that I mean reserves that the oil companies will admit to knowing about) have more than doubled in the last 30 years.

 

In any case it doesn't affect me and I've no shame in admitting I don't really care - I'd rather enjoy burning the stuff while I'm still alive than sit around being miserable worrying about billions of people that don't even exist yet.

[TooMany2cvs 65]

Known reserves (by that I mean reserves that the oil companies will admit to knowing about)

Isn't it more of a case of "reserves which are economically viable to extract"? And, of course, as prices rise, what wasn't economically viable becomes viable...