[Magick Man]

Happy Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah!

 

[ssrock64]

I've been off the forums for a few days on a trip to see family for Christmas. Can't wait to see photos of that Singer inside and out!

 

[Magick Man]

They did show up on Xmas Eve, at nearly 9pm. :blink: They went through hell getting it here, poor guys, I'm sure it wasn't the best way to spend a holiday. However, I feel worse for the hired driver, he had to take the truck back, the other guy hopped a flight back to California so he could be home for Christmas.

The car is pure pornography though, and the attention to detail borders on madness. I don't believe my wife was too impressed with it, however. She looked it over and said, "I don't know what's nuttier, that someone put this much work into it or that it was $500,000". :rolleyes: I have their build sheets, and they put in over 4200 man-hours in its construction, from start to finish. That's the same as 4 RR Phantoms, 2 Pagani Huayra (Huayras?), or an average 1800 sq/ft home. So, if you look at it from that perspective, it was only $110 /hour and the materials were all free, and that's a screaming bargain. Anyone who finds out and wants to be indignant over the price can get bent, I believe it's likely the quintessential sports car, and shames all the new so-called supercars being built today.

 

[Achmedisdead]

They did show up on Xmas Eve, at nearly 9pm.

They went through hell getting it here, poor guys, I'm sure it wasn't the best way to spend a holiday. However, I feel worse for the hired driver, he had to take the truck back, the other guy hopped a flight back to California so he could be home for Christmas.

The car is pure pornography though, and the attention to detail borders on madness. I don't believe my wife was too impressed with it, however. She looked it over and said, "I don't know what's nuttier, that someone put this much work into it or that it was $500,000".

I have their build sheets, and they put in over 4200 man-hours in its construction, from start to finish. That's the same as 4 RR Phantoms, 2 Pagani Huayra (Huayras?), or an average 1800 sq/ft home. So, if you look at it from that perspective, it was only $110 /hour and the materials were all free, and that's a screaming bargain. Anyone who finds out and wants to be indignant over the price can get bent, I believe it's likely the quintessential sports car, and shames all the new so-called supercars being built today.

Pics and specs? If I remember rightly,  it is like a fully optimized/maximized version of an earlier prettier 911?

 

[billybob_jcv]

Tesla in the news...
http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/27/tesla-model-s-software-update-guards-against-faulty-wiring/?ncid=rss_truncated

Wow - 40 amps being drawn to charge that sucker. And with the 240v/40 amp charger a full charge takes over 9 hours. If you use the 80 amp dual charger, then it's half that. Those are the specs that no one talks about.

To put this into perspective, this Lincoln arc welder can output 40 to 225 amps...

 

[music_man]

I think the tesla is a nice car. the economics of it do not exactly work. at least here. it goes what, 300 miles on a charge? say a comparable gas car gets 21mpg. it is much cheaper to operate. since on 15 gallons it will go about the same distance. gas up here is $3.30 a gallon for premium. so a tank is 50 bucks. a charge in the tesla is like $70 bucks here! maybe different in los angeles.
 
magick I had no idea a 1800 sf little home took 4200 hours to build. it must have taken 6000 hours to build our bedroom then lol.

 

[jimmers]

   a charge in the tesla is like $70 bucks here!

http://www.teslamotors.com/charging#/calculator
 
Your electricity costs 70 cents per kWh, wow! I thought ours was expensive.

 

[music_man]

you have to factor in "delivery" charge. in very rural areas it is very expensive. which is why most farms have a propane generator. most of which will not handle another 40a-2phase.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Well, I figure if I were to buy an electric car, then that would be additional electric power on top of what I use now. That means it would all be at my top marginal rate and go up from there. I'm already way over the ridiculously low baseline the state sets, so my rate would probably be ~27 cents/KWh, so a full charge would be ~$27 However, I suspect their "300 miles" is probably a bit optimistic in the real world. For example, if you use the Tesla range calculator and assume 100% highway driving @ 55 MPH, you get 306 miles. But increase that to 65 MPH, and the range drops to 261 miles. At 70 MPH, it drops to 240 miles. The way I drive, I would probably be lucky to get the one day round-trip to my office and back!

I also read somewhere that Tesla's big plan was to have battery swap stations. That way, you could just pull into a station and swap your depleted battery for a new one - and therefore you would actually be able to get back on the road much faster than if you needed to fill the tank with gas. I think the likelihood of stations all over the world stocking Tesla batteries is about on par with the odds of those stations stocking dilithium crystals for Mr. Scott's warp engines.

 

[wink]

If you took the real Mr. Tesla's idea you could transmit the energy to the car from home.

 

[ssrock64]

All the problems aside, the Model S is still an incredibly impressive car. It's arguably the first or second fully-featured and usable electric sedan of the modern era. Since the technology is still being developed it's true that the costs to operate won't meet the same efficiency as a common gasoline-powered luxury sedan, but I still think of the Model S as a proof of concept. Tesla's products aren't meant to be competitive yet on and practical values; they're meant to show the world what the electric car industry is currently capable of.

 

[Magick Man]

All the problems aside, the Model S is still an incredibly impressive car. It's arguably the first or second fully-featured and usable electric sedan of the modern era. Since the technology is still being developed it's true that the costs to operate won't meet the same efficiency as a common gasoline-powered luxury sedan, but I still think of the Model S as a proof of concept. Tesla's products aren't meant to be competitive yet on and practical values; they're meant to show the world what the electric car industry is currently capable of.

That's true, it's more of a really good prototype than a full-on production car. This is the time to buy one however, if possible, before they learn to cut corners to save a few bucks.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I agree - the reason I'm interested in the Tesla at all is because it is the first e-car I actually wish I could own. They are beautiful cars.

And yeah, the real Tesla would have been extremely disappointed in our pitiful progress. I do think the one downside of the digital age is that it siphoned off a huge amount of science & engineering talent that could have been working in fields like power generation & induction. Even Tesla's wildest ideas shouldn't be dismissed - he operated on a plane that put Edison to shame. I still think that someday, when the oil is all gone, whatever power source comes next will probably owe more to Tesla's work than anyone else. Tesla is my personal hero. If I could spend a month with any historical figure, it would be Nicola Tesla sometime around 1890-1900.

 

[billybob_jcv]

OK - so here's a question for the gearhead collective:

When buying a daily driver - just your average used transportation vehicle - how many miles is too many miles? Would you buy a vehicle with 100K miles? 150K? 200K? Does a history that includes an engine or transmission rebuild increase or decrease your likelihood of purchasing a higher mileage vehicle?

 

[Hutnicks]

OK - so here's a question for the gearhead collective:

When buying a daily driver - just your average used transportation vehicle - how many miles is too many miles? Would you buy a vehicle with 100K miles? 150K? 200K? Does a history that includes an engine or transmission rebuild increase or decrease your likelihood of purchasing a higher mileage vehicle?

That really depends on the vehicle itself. 200K on some is a warm up (aside from brake and other consumable wear) for some it is near the end of the life cycle. Also how many miles your commute is should have a bearing on that as well. The longer the commute the less miles you probably want on your used vehicle.
 
There a used Tesla in your neighborhood?