The radio commercials in GTA:IV reign supreme. Pißwasser (drive drunk off a pier) is great driving music, Dragon Brain (the dragons are flying upside down - Oh no, the CGI machine is broken!) cracks me up every time. It's all expert parody culminating in the insane El Camucho Roboto (the robotic Mexican pubic hair…
199 pigeons. I went back and checked every location... still 199 pigeons. ^%$#@!!
Repeat after me: CAFE mpg numbers aren't EPA mpg numbers. NHTSA says this, but unlike the EPA numbers at [fueleconomy.gov] they make it damn near impossible to figure out what the CAFE numbers are. Several people at TTAC claim any car with EPA 40 mpg will exceed this CAFE 56.2 mpg requirement. The CAFE number may be…
You're right hybrid sports cars aren't there yet. It might only be a little while longer. The Toyota GRMN concept has a RWD mid-engined V6 that might even have a manual transmission, and adds 50 hp of independent electric power at the front wheels (a "through the road hybrid"). So you get AWD, a power boost, great…
Anyone who wake up one day and decides "I want to drive a cartoon car that makes people smile" is A-OK.
I've got no problem with researching those other fuels, you're right that batteries aren't going to power airplanes.
A billion dollars is about right for a conventional car. But as people love to point out ("it's just a Lotus with batteries, any dummy could make one!") electric cars are simpler. Tesla's Advanced Technologies Vehicle Manufacturing loan is for $465M (and before everyone bitches about this Bush-era program, Ford's…
Instead of wondering you could read Tesla's financial reporting. Tesla sells Roadsters, sells battery packs to Mercedes-Benz, and gets money from Toyota for the RAV4 EV conversion. While they lose money hand over fist, those cash flows, its competencies in battery and electric motor management, and the prospect of the…
Lotus provides the chassis and Lotus is ending Elise production. Tesla ordered 2400-2500 gliders and have produced and sold at least 1650. The rumor is Tesla makes more money selling them outside USA, so that's where they will focus remaining sales. (And hyping limited supplies! never hurt.)
Unless you live in Hawaii, your electricity doesn't come from gasoline. Even when electricity prices rise, plugging in will always be cheaper than filling up with gasoline. I also don't see how getting in a car that you cheaply "refueled" overnight at home is a step backward for mankind.
For his one-off car he's got shirts, signage, web site, custom transporter, and a full race team? Damn.
That doorless wonder at 2:43 is BMW 328 Hommage 75th Anniversary Sports Car. I somehow missed Jalopnik's post on its announcement at this Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este while I was getting an oil change for my Riva speedboat
You don't seem to understand how companies can fund growth while losing money, but they do it all the time. Tesla was briefly profitable selling Roadsters in 2009, but GREW in its ongoing attempt to produce the Model S. At its IPO Tesla's CFO explained how Tesla would make a profit selling the Model S, but it will…
It's good to see you backtracking from the mindless exaggeration of "epic fail".
?? Based on its EPA efficiency number, a Leaf will use 5 kW·h to travel the 15 miles that YOU mentioned. Someone is having math problems, maybe it's me. ;-)
Tesla has produced and sold 1,650 Roadsters, the first production electric sports car and still the cheapest car with all carbon-fiber panels. They make their own battery management system, their own electronic motor controller, and their own motor. They have sold hundreds of battery packs to Daimler and Toyota. While…
A plug-in turbodiesel sports car wrapped in a gorgeous innovative body that BMW seems intent on bringing to production as the i8 is a "ludicrous vision for future cars"? This site is for car fans, maybe you're in the wrong place.
Unless you live in Hawaii, your electricity does not come from burning oil! Here's the EPA's map [www.fueleconomy.gov] . If you live in the midwest your electricity mostly comes from coal, which is probably not an environmental improvement over a fuel-efficient hybrid, but it's still a win for economic, geopolitical,…
If you traveled back to 1990 and said the most fuel-efficient car in America would be a practical reliable mid-size hatchback with trick technology combining two power trains, people would be puzzled yet somewhat excited about the future.
The EPA window sticker says the Leaf takes 34 kW·h to travel 100 miles, so you need 5 kW·h for your commute. That's going to be hard to achieve, unless you have 4 square meters of panels on the car and you park your car on a tilted rack that rotates to perfectly track the sun.
