Tesla 'accuse' Top Gear of being 'lying b'stards'

[the Interceptor]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article5483422.ece

Clarkson writes about the Tesla.

Interesting article that, even if there's no actual new info. Nice to read the view of the big man.

I find his understanding of the "truth" a bit odd though. Sure, you do tell the truth and nothing but the truth when listing actual happenings. But leaving other important bits and pieces out is where "truth" clearly ends.

 

[NecroJoe]

Not to mention using the Tesla for a purpose it's not meant for...taking a Tesla and thrashing it on a track is no different than Tiff and Jason using the Lotus and the KTM Xbow for "speedy parcel delivery." It's not meant for that.

 

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I fucking love article comments.

on hydrogen as a car fule
1. as pepol have said it is actually less efferent as a fuel cos of manufacturing costs
2. h leeks very baddley . leave a h powered car in parked for a week and you might finds it has no fule left in it

 

[MMX]

AFAIK the Tesla comes with a charger that can fully recharge the batteries in 3.5 hours.


Unlike electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars are really too far away from real life - those few you see on the TV are just million-dollar prototypes.
and, have you ever wondered, where does hydrogen come from?

well, at the moment most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels. obviously this would make fuel cell cars pointless.

we can also use electricity to get H2 from water. the process is inefficient, so lots of electricity would be wasted. this method would be even less efficient if you factor in the efficiency of power plants. as you can see, a lot of energy would be wasted before we even start to use the hydrogen.

some scientists are working on using Solar energy to produce hydrogen from water. but it could be decades before it make it to commercialization.

Fuel cell cars are not that efficient either. it only gets around 40%, meaning less than half of the energy stored in hydrogen will actually make it to the wheels.

In short, all the hype about hydrogen is bullshit.

this post is of course, 'IMO'

 

[vikiradTG2007]

40% efficiency for the fuel cell? Normal petrol engines, AFAIK, only get some 20-25% efficiency... Diesel engines might be closer to the fuel cell's percentage.

 

[MMX]

Yeah but Tesla can do 80-90%. Charging Li-ion batteries should be much more efficient than making hydrogen with electricity, I can't be 100% sure on this since I don't know about how this particular charger performs.

 

[the Interceptor]

The efficiency of electric cars is actually very good. The real problem is energy storage. Todays batteries just aren't good enough, and given we'll invent the perfect battery tomorrow, we still need to charge it.

Now, assuming that the battery will have 53 kWh like the one in the Tesla (ignoring that future battery generations should have more to improve range), and you want to load it up in 10 Minutes, you'll need to put in 318 kW. With the highest voltage available for the private home today (400V), that'll be 795 Amperes. That'll not only melt every cable you can imagine, you'll also have a problem pulling that power.

 

[doigal]

AFAIK the Tesla comes with a charger that can fully recharge the batteries in 3.5 hours.

True, but it is very heavy and requires an 80Amp input, which in every single case means hard wiring it into the fusebox.

So, if you go on a road trip, you'll have to stop off for the night every ~200 miles. Dont forget your extension leads as well, as most hotels dont have power sockets in the garage.

 

[NecroJoe]

*face palm*

Which exactly the kind of this this car is NOT made for!

a) it's not for long distance road trips
b) it's not made for trashing on a track.

Chances are, the far spread out times you go on road trips, you either take your other car (since a $100,000 2-seater convertible probably isn't your only car) or you rent something.

 

[MDBT]

To the interceptor;

If we all promise so jump on the "electric is great, even though it's crap" bandwagon will you leave the thread alone like you said you would last month?

To tomcat;

Your arguments are based upon speculation and assumptions, not having all the details means you can't be sure what happened and neither can anyone else who wasn't present during filming. Your righteous indignation at what you view to be the tone and quality of the show is nothing more than whining for attention. You seem to have come under the illusion that anyone here actually cares about your opinion, much less wants you to express it. Please go complain with the Fifth Gear folks about the degradation of their format and content. The rest of us are able to deal with seasonal fluctuations in programming without implying the host(s) is a corporate whore.

 

[freeferrarisdonotexist]

*face palm*

Which exactly the kind of this this car is NOT made for!

a) it's not for long distance road trips
b) it's not made for trashing on a track.

Chances are, the far spread out times you go on road trips, you either take your other car (since a $100,000 2-seater convertible probably isn't your only car) or you rent something.

Well, that's the point, isn't it? It kills the all-round appeal of the thing. No-one is going to spend ?100,000, or even ?30,000, on something which seats only two, requires a huge amount of time to charge, and can't be thrashed or traveled with. No better than a jumped-up G-Wiz, at least for now.

 

[NecroJoe]

Well, that's the point, isn't it? It kills the all-round appeal of the thing. No-one is going to spend ?100,000, or even ?30,000, on something which seats only two, requires a huge amount of time to charge, and can't be thrashed or traveled with. No better than a jumped-up G-Wiz, at least for now.

I think you're missed the past 8 pages or so of conversatoin.

The idea of this car is no different than the idea of, say, someone purchasing a Mustang over a Civic. A daily driver, that has a certain something special.

 

[freeferrarisdonotexist]

I think you're missed the past 8 pages or so of conversatoin.

The idea of this car is no different than the idea of, say, someone purchasing a Mustang over a Civic. A daily driver, that has a certain something special.

No, it is different- the problems with the Tesla are twice as much, and twice as bad, as the problems with one of the impractical sports cars.

 

[NecroJoe]

The problems are no worse, just different.

Having to recharge my daily driver at home, rather than twice a week having to stop at a gas station and stand around in the cold and wind while I fill up is not an inconvenience to me.

Having a car that is refuled with cleaner-every-day electricity isn't a problem for me.

0-60 of less than 4 seconds is the only real performance figure 98% of the car buying public ever tests out. I'd be surprised if even .1% of drivers ever take their daily cars on track days.

Who is going to take their Viper ACR's out on a cross-country trip? Probably no different than the number of people taking Tesla's on cross-country trips. They are about the same price, right? One is more practical for driving on the street, one is more for the track. They just have trade-offs.

If they don't suit your needs, that's fine, but that doesn't mean that they are completely irrelevant for every other person on the planet.

 

[Fawks]

I understand the "toy car" role of the Tesla. However, I would rather spend $66,000 on an Elise R and use the extra $40,000 to buy some gas, plant some trees, save some wales, support some homeless shelters, and buy some beer! The people who are going to buy this car don't care about it's 0-60 time. All they know, is that it is "green" and expensive.

 

[NecroJoe]

The people who are going to buy this car don't care about it's 0-60 time. All they know, is that it is "green a gadget" and expensive.

Fixed that g-word for you. It's a car for gadget people, not necessarily a gadget for car people.

The CEO/founder himself said buying the car isn't a a "green" decision.

Question: What are your thoughts on the Evora? It'll only roughly $10K cheaper than a Tesla (and you can't say that anyone is buying it for the back seat to take the kids to school. That's just ridiculous) and it'll be slower to 60 by nearly a full second.

 

[Twerp128]

Not to mention using the Tesla for a purpose it's not meant for...taking a Tesla and thrashing it on a track is no different than...

What exactly did Tesla think Top Gear would do when they loaned them the car? I guess they hoped James would get the review.

 

[shellygrrl]

What exactly did Tesla think Top Gear would do when they loaned them the car?

+1. Not to mention they loaned them two Roadsters, remember. They had to have thought that there was a very strong possibility it would be power-tested on the track, meaning it would receive a proper thrashing just like its muse (Lotus Elise) and virtually every other car they've reviewed.

 

[NecroJoe]

Yeah, to be fair they also had two Veyrons too, when all they were doing was a straight back and forth race. No track thrashing there.

 

[Fawks]

Question: What are your thoughts on the Evora? It'll only roughly $10K cheaper than a Tesla (and you can't say that anyone is buying it for the back seat to take the kids to school. That's just ridiculous) and it'll be slower to 60 by nearly a full second.

I think that the freedom to refuel your car in a matter of minutes at any one of a million locations is far to ingrained into most societies. I don't like the idea that my fun would be limited because of a dead battery. Electric might work for a commuter machine, the purpose of which is to get from place to place. But the idea of a strictly limited range in a "toy" car takes all the freedom and fun out of it.

Envision this: You are out for a drive on a beautiful day and you realize that your car is almost out of charge. You drive home and plug it in.

Now this: You are out for a drive on a beautiful day and you realize that your car is almost out of fuel (gas, ethanol, hydrogen, etc.). You stop at a service station, fill the tank, and continue to enjoy your day.

The purpose of a sports car is to drive. And why buy the sports car that limits your ability to do so?

Will they be able to sell electric cars? Yes. Will they sell enough to justify the time and cost required to develop them? I think not.