Tesla reveals Semi-Truck and new Sports Car

A hybrid is nice for long distance, but "charging themselves" is a fundamental energy inefficiency - and a significant one. Every time energy is converted to another form energy is lost.

 

I'm 6'2" 215 lbs... and the joints aren't what they use to be.

 

What’s with the wannabe Z06 rear brake vents on the C5??

 

No he's not. I get that in my 2012. And 40 highway.

 

A few years ago Tesla demonstrated that the batteries can be replaced faster than a fuel fillup. So for commercial truck operations all it takes is a battery changing location and an extra battery pack to be able to "refuel" with fresh batteries faster than a truck could be filled with diesel.

While it is still a long way off for electric cars to be affordable and viable to the average person, particularly if living in an apartment so no charging station, for commercial operations of large companies with large truck fleets there would be NO recharging time delays whatsoever. It simply would be pulling into the battery changing stall at the terminal and replacing the batteries. 5 miles later it is back on the road.

The cost and practicality factors are not the same for a company with fleets of trucks versus an individual. Cheap diesel and gasoline cars and pickup trucks will continue to be the primary personal transportation for many years.

 

The tracks have to be straight for high speed trains. The Japanese built their rails with high speed in mind. We'd have to completely redo our whole rail system before we could set a high speed train on it. There aren't enough riders in a day to pay expenses. There are only 2 rail systems in the world that are self sufficient-Kyoto Japan and Paris France.
But then again, progressives think they should be able to retire after high school and the government will give them a house to live in and a $200,000 Tesla to ride around in.

 

I don't know about "worse" but I also have my doubts about electric cars from the practical point of view. I don't see how enough charging points would be available in built up areas. I do believe that batteries will become more recyclable especially the rare earth elements which is the main concern.

 

Wrong. The PROGRESSIVES are the ones disrupting the cities infrastructure budgets to spend billions in unrecoverable monies on light rail. Better known as streetcar trolley's. You remember, you read about them in grade school 75 years ago. When they run into inclement weather, a bus will called in to bail them out.

 

Not only charging points but capacity of the existing grid. I can't even imagine the draw of fleets of trucks plugging in every night to charge their massive banks of batteries.

 

Ok, your Democrat plan... The Government orders everyone to move to the Northeast and bans living anywhere else. Having reduced the size of the USA to the size of Japan we can then have the same transportation network as the Japanese. Of course, the government also would order people have houses no larger than the average Japanese home too.

THERE IS NO comparison of transportation issues between the USA and Japan or Europe. Tiny countries only need tiny transportation networks.

 

All the United States need to do is start a war in Afghanistan so we can mine enough Lithium.

 

Do they not convert the heat energy that would normally be just emitted into the air to electrical energy to charge the batteries

 

I forget the name, but there was a company, some years back, that was installing a pilot system in Israel that was an electric car company like you describe. You buy the car, but the batteries are owned by an energy company. You pay for usage. They install simple battery swap stations all around that are essentially the size of a car wash stall, and 100% automated. You simply drive in one end, and the old battery is removed from the underside of the car, and a new one installed, as you travel through.

They had a bunch of different pay models, one was an 'unlimited' subscription model, one was a pay as you go model (I presume based on miles), etc.

I do not know if they ever did it.

 

It’s liberals, not progressives, who are detached from reality. Let’s get that straight. I think Musk has a good start. Both these cars I think are prototypes, so they’re still in development, not actually in production. It really is time to put an end to the dependence on fossil fuels, both diesel and gasoline, even though diesels cleaner for the environment. I have a feeling Tesla is still finding a solution for this truck in terms of long range hauling.

 

Neither will you will your tesla, and in about 7 years be you'll be buying a replacement battery that will cost more than his focus. And given proper care and maintenance his focus will still be running seven years from now.

Arrogance on steroids. It isn't competitive right now because it has a little more than a third the range would take 2 to 3 times as long to go CA to NY at least, because of charging times. Let me put it to you this way. HOw many big rigs do you think you could sell in 1850 before we could make diesel?

 

That was said about gas stations a century ago.

 

I'd agree with the comments about the Truck and Yes both the car and the truck are prototypes. Please note Musk's last prototype still isn't in production at the numbers he was promising, and frankly at the numbers he needs for it to show a profit. In order for his truck to be competitive he needs about three times as much range and to find some way to bring charging times under an hour at full range. Every hour you spend 'filling up' sixty miles further behind you are.

 

Trucking I have a feeling will be eventually replaced by automation, which I’m thinking is a long term goal Musk has in mind.

 

Hell I can't wait to buy my first self driving car.

 

Wow. Considering there were only about 700 or so 1970 GS 455's produced, and perhaps only 3-400 had the GSX Stage 1 package, most people wouldn't do much to alter their stock specifications, considering their value.

 

Great for a small car but you'll need a a whole lot beefier battery when you hauling 80 tons of freight up and down hills.

 

That doesn’t crash.

A lot of them seem to be wanting to crash lately.

 

The latest one was stationary when a human driven van crashed into it

 

Amen. A lot of the crashes I think involve an inability to react to the stupid things humans do.

 

That was a Weakness in the design ... they're going to break, you just don't want it to happen at top speed.

Also the Heads and Rear End Leaks and the radiator is too small, and the fuse box shorts.