Tesla

Yes; i would rather have the heavy metals (ie: lead) in MY back yard to assure they do not pollute back yards.

Of course not. In an auction does everyone get the same deal? Does everyone give the same to the pol's war chest?

Almost certainly not.

It's not a given that this pays, either.

It's cheap to turn the heat down (but some buildings are air conditioned year around). Nails (for the windows) are cheap too.

There has been discussion, and some newspaper articles, about the new San Francisco style. Concensus is that we have none.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
lunatic fringe electronics 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

I doubt it. Tesla is following the successful tech startup playbook. They're rapidly prototyping new technologies, getting customer feedback, building brand trust, and building trust in electric cars. It's an expensive but critical starting phase. Next step is to trim production costs on a popular product while selling a small number of upscale products that finance R&D.

As far as I can tell, the SUV has refined electronics but is still in the phase of researching production technology. The vehicle that follows would be the money maker.

SpaceX is following the same formula. Parts of the rocket engines are expensive as @#$% and there's no way around it. That's why there's R&D money on getting the engines back in one piece. (Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne is tackling the problem of there being just a few places on Earth suitable for rocket launches.)

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I will not see posts from astraweb, theremailer, dizum, or google 
because they host Usenet flooders.

On Tue, 11 Aug 2015 22:59:49 -0700, Kevin McMurtrie Gave us:

Their showcase here in VA is pretty nice.

But... but... but...

Who's going to buy them? I don't know how they get this into mass market.

But then again, I consider essentially electric cars as mostly a way to go short on fossil fuels. Good luck with that.

There's a generic overcapacity problem in cars. And the actual operating cost difference between 20 and 40 MPG for people who commute less than two hours a day is relatively low.

Consider this:

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Les Cargill

Successful? The great majority of such startups fail.

The critical issue is whether the "trust" fades faster than costs can drop.

I wouldn't want an SUV with a thousand pounds of limited-life batteries, that has to be charged for a half hour a couple times per day where there may be no charging stations, and that won't go if the batteries get cold. Not what I'd want for a ski trip.

E-vehicles seem to sell a few units initially, until all the enthusiasts have one. Volt and Leaf sales are both bad and falling.

I rode in a Tesla sedan. It's sure ugly.

Do you drive an electric car?

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
lunatic fringe electronics 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

I suspect that the Tesla "SUV" is going to be more of an "MTV" (Mall Terrain Vehicle). No one would want an all-electric SUV with such limited range. Though I did see a Tesla with ski rack at Mount Bachelor in December, and a Volt with a ski rack at Mount Rose (though the Volt is not an electric car).

Starting an automobile company is incredibly expensive so it's not surprising that they haven't broken even yet. They did start with an existing factory which helped them.

I live near Tesla alley, a road where you see a lot of Teslas driving north every morning and south every evening. It's really not that expensive compared to other luxury cars that those people would have bought.

You miss the whole point of electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

The reality is that in areas with high electricity costs, electric cars do not have lower operating costs, they have higher operating costs.

The real reason people buy electric cars and plug-in hybrids, at least in California, is the access to the HOV lanes for single occupancy vehicles. This can be a really big deal, shaving half an hour per day or more off a round-trip commute. In southern California, the HOV lanes are

24/7 now, and some freeways have two HOV lanes. But as the HOV lanes become full of electric cars and plug-in hybrids the benefit is diminishing. But at least it evens out the lane usage on the freeways and expressways which benefits all drivers.

There's a Tesla charging station in Truckee. Out of 20 or so visits, I saw a car charging there once. I80 peaks at 7200 feet on the way up there, and I guess that's hard to climb in an electric.

That's my Audi. It doesn't quit if it gets cold.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
lunatic fringe electronics 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

I can wait 3 months...

There you go. 10 times the price, 75 times the coverage.

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Rick

Yeah, there are a lot of people here to feel that is a major problem in this country where the marginal tax rate is less than half your rate for most and the car tax is hugely less. We also have nowhere near the benefits. Education prices are going through the roof here. I put myself through college which I am sure I could not do today. Medical costs not uncommonly bankrupt people who have serious illness.

I think we need to move toward making more available to more people, but many believe we can't afford it. Obviously we aren't so wealthy a country.

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Rick

Another name is "excess profit".

Not in Maryland. The insurance company reports loss of insurance to the DMV and you are fined a considerable amount for each day you have no insurance.

In MD you have to give a policy number every time your renew.

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Rick

I have driven one and been in them. They're very popular in Silicon Valley where VTA and local traffic "engineers" are working hard to destroy traffic flow efficiency. You can charge and lease an electric Fiat for less than many people pay for gasoline. Charging stations are common at work. Batteries, when owned, do have warranties.

I own a gas guzzler because bicycling to work beats any car. Hopefully traffic is bad enough that traffic "engineers" can't get to work anymore.

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I will not see posts from astraweb, theremailer, dizum, or google 
because they host Usenet flooders.

er*??

ment

on

e a Mazda6 starts at $45000

red to the rest of the world

up to 67% of last earned krone, the danish currency), is that we have a lot of benefits, if you ask me to many:

per month)

is to live off the state and does not contribute in any way

The USA is a wealthy country, but the wealth is concentrate in the hands of the well-off to a remarkable extent - much more so than in any other advan ced industrial country. This does seem to be a very bad idea.

most_Always_Do_Better

was written by a pair of medical epidemiologists, and they present a mass o f statistics detailing what seems to go wrong with society if the rich have too much of the money. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but they do go into the mechanisms through which large difference in income create unfort unate social consequences.

Donald Trump doesn't get a mention, but he's a pretty horrible example of t he problems of too much money falling into the wrong hands.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

Ah VTA. Now they want to take the median of CA85, which was supposed to be for rail, and put in bus lanes for buses that no one will ride. They also want to take away lanes on El Camino and Stevens Creek Boulevard for more bus lanes for buses no one will ride. And the hidden reason they want to do this is because then the developers can say that the cities with these bus lanes now have "mass transit" so high-rise, high-density housing can be built near the bus lanes.

Employers are cutting back on free charging. My son's friend's mom has a Tesla and works at Cisco. She said that Cisco is going to end the free charging and start charging for charging. I did a spreadsheet on the costs of electricity versus gasoline for all the electric and plug-in hybrid cars, using non-time-of-day rates, but even with time-of-day rates gasoline would have to be much more expensive than it is now for the electricity to be less than gasoline.

The big reason for electric cars and plug-in hybrids is that you can use the HOV lanes. There was supposed to be a limit on the green stickers (plug-in hybrids) but under pressure from car dealers (mainly Toyota) every time the limit is reached the state raises the limit.

"Engineers" in quotes is exactly right.

The Koch Brothers are the most horrible example. The Donald is our country's jester.

What I read says they will be delivered in the fall. They had better be beyond any "research" stage.

What in a car isn't "limited-life"? Your description of the charging is ridiculous. You just have an attitude about electric cars not based in reality. But mostly you are stuck in a dinosaur mode thinking you have to live your life exactly like you do now and making any change is out of the question.

Your objections to electric cars isn't about the cars, they are about you.

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Rick