Volt goes 1,000 miles between fill-ups, says GM

[Mr. dB]

and Top Gear has no history of ridiculous expectations of sports cars they test

Like expecting it to have a useable range?

and RUF is still not a credible auto manufacturer because they use Porsche door panels, dashes, frames, engine blocks. Someone tell the Germans to revoke their auto manufacturer status.

I thought RUF was a tuner?

Do they take the Porsche badges off?

 

[mrplunkey]

Well of course the GM volt doesn't use much gasoline. That's because it also burns taxpayer dollars on the side.

DUH!

 

[ponyfitness]

Funny thing is they had an electric car in 2005 but of course the industry hadn't tanked yet so they shut it down.

 

[jester72]

It's one thing for Tesla to develop an electric drive system and drop it into an existing car, which is what they did with the roadster. It's a Lotus Elise with a body kit and the electric stuff. Let's see them develop a whole car.

BTW, the Roadster is a sports car, and if you drive it like one, the range is less than 100 miles. To get anywhere close to the claimed 250 mile range you have to drive like a granny.

Driving it like a sports car and getting 100 miles on a charge, is still TWICE (or better) what the major manufacturers can accomplish!

 

[jester72]

Yawn. I oversimplified for effect. Of course all the exterior panels are changed for the Roadster.

Was developing the Elise from the ground up (apart from its Toyota engine) a stupid business plan for Lotus?

I was responding to jester72's quote:



Tesla certainly couldn't do anything like that if they had to buy in a partially-completed car from another manufacturer and then just add their own drive technology and a body kit.

If they expect to become a credible auto manufacturer, they'll someday have to be able to develop a car. Otherwise, I think they'd be better off selling the electric drive technology as engineered "kits" to other car manufacturers.

As for range, Top Gear and some of the magazines "famously" got about 90 miles on a charge when driving it on the test track.

No, they certainly couldn't if they had to buy a pre-assembled vehicle. BUT if they eventually develop their own body/chassis combo, AND they can produce cars in the $17-$30K range, the major manufacturers will be served notice in a hurry.

BTW, I have a good friend in Las Vegas (lived there for 10 years before moving back to NY last year) who has a 2010 model Tesla. On I-15 and Rte. 95, highway driving both day, night, and rush hour traffic, as well as basic city driving, has gotten as high as 198 and as low as 144 miles on a charge. Not bad in my opinion for "Real World" numbers. Of course he really loves his 6-7mpg in his Lamborghini Reventon, and his 5mpg in his 1100hp 1967 Camaro! (Yeah, he's F'ing LOADED)!

:evil

 

[Mr. dB]

No, they certainly couldn't if they had to buy a pre-assembled vehicle. BUT if they eventually develop their own body/chassis combo, AND they can produce cars in the $17-$30K range, the major manufacturers will be served notice in a hurry.

$30K is a pipe dream. Even the all-electric Nissan Leaf costs more than that, and the plug-in-hybrid Volt is over $40K.

If Tesla took their present technology, dropped the horsepower down to about 115, and dropped it into a Honda Fit chassis instead of a Lotus Elise, I bet it'd still be $40K-$50K.