Tesla…
March 27, 2009 – 12:59 pm
Beautiful... ain't it?
So the Tesla Model S is pretty and gets even the best of us drooling about a sleek environmentally friendly ride, and a plug-in garage and white picket fence to boot. However, there’s something fundamentally wrong with Tesla’s development and I doubt the company will survive to see its beauty on the market. Not only have they planned poorly (Musk says he underestimated the time, money, and effort required to build a car company), but they are relying on a $450 million loan from the DOE to actually manufacture the car. Not to worry, though. Worst case scenario is that those who paid in advance for the car lose their money. No big deal.
My father so astutely pointed out to me last night when I was reading the article that the numbers Tesla rattles off for vehicle performance and charging don’t make sense. They claim that the car can go 300 miles before having to recharge, and that it takes only 45 minutes to recharge completely. Say that an electric vehicle requires 0.25 kwh/mile (a very conservative estimate) and that it takes .75 hrs to charge. This yields a total of 100,000 watts per charge. Divide that by the rumored 440 volt charging that the model S requires and you end up requiring about 230 amps per charge. There aren’t even any public 440-volt charging stations in existence – with a “normal” charging station of 240-volts, the Tesla would need over 400 amps, which is a pretty high current. So not only do they have to worry about getting the money to build the car, but finding a way to build these unconventional charging systems with high current requirements to boot.
I’d love to see the car succeed, but I seriously doubt in five years I’ll be able to choose between purchasing a Ford Taurus and one of these.