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#409532
The all-electric car company confirms that a smaller vehicle is in the works, but it probably won't go on sale until 2017.

Tesla has confirmed that it's coming out with a new mass-market all-electric car called the Model 3. This vehicle will reportedly be a smaller, sportier version of its Model S sedan -- a bit like the BMW 3 Series, according to Auto Express.

While Tesla made the news of the Model 3 official with a tweet to its followers and a confirmation to CNET, the car won't come onto the market for at least another couple of years. The company intends to complete its plans on bringing its all-electric Model X SUV to customers first.

"We can confirm that the next vehicle Tesla will produce after Model X will be a mass-market electric car known as Model 3," a Tesla spokesperson told CNET. "We don't have any more details to share at this point. Our focus continues to be on Model S and preparing for the introduction of Model X."

Tesla introduced its Model S sedan in 2012 and has since seen spectacular sales. The company plans to release its Model X by the end of this year and the Model 3 should be unveiled sometime in 2016 with sales beginning in 2017. According to Auto Express, the Model 3 price is expected to be around $35,000.
:cloud9:
#409538
A team of drivers from car-shopping site Edmunds.com says it set a record for cross-country travel in an electric car, driving a 2013 Tesla S from Redondo Beach, Calif. , to New York, N.Y. in 67 hours and 21 minutes.

Edmunds says that broke the previous record of 76 hours and 5 minutes set by a team from Tesla.

Edmunds.com's director of vehicle testing Dan Edmunds and photo editor Kurt Niebuhr stopped at 23 Tesla Supercharger stations during the trip.

The Edmunds team had no backup or support team, counting on the Tesla being reliable and the high-power recharging stations being frequent enough.

Edmunds and Niebuhr documented their run on the Edmunds site. They say Tesla was uncertain they'd make it because they were using a charging corridor that Tesla considered undeveloped.

Tesla S has a long range -- well more than 200 miles -- but the battery pack to store that much energy requires a long recharge. Tesla's Supercharger stations use high power to fill the batteries in an hour or so instead of taking multiple hours.

The team figured the battery pack would fill faster if close to empty, so only put in as much juice as needed to reach the next Supercharger, rather than filling the battery pack as full as possible.

Often they arrived at the next plug-in with only a few miles of range remaining.

The drivers ate while the car recharged and took turns sleeping in the car.

They figure they lost an hour fussing with toll booths across the Eastern U.S.

They claim they didn't dawdle, but avoided needlessly fast and aggressive driving that drains batteries quickly. Cross-country, on batteries, by the numbers:

■ Distance: 3,331.9 miles

■ Total time: 67 hours, 21 minutes.

■ Driving time: 52 hours, 41 minutes

■ Average driving speed: 63.2 mph

■ Total Supercharger plug-In time: 14 hours, 40 minutes

■ Average Supercharger plug-in time: 38.3 minutes

■ Number of Other Stops: 0

■ Total energy consumption: 1.06 Megawatt-hours

■ Total fuel cost: $0 (thanks to Tesla's free Superchargers, available to all Tesla owners)
#421695
Oooh, TESLA!

Tesla Model S ‘D’: Four wheel drive, supercar performance


The McLaren F1 is the elephant in the room of any new supercar launch. Two decades old it might be, but few modern hypercars are as eminently likeable and interactive as Gordon Murray and Peter Stevens’ clean-sheet performance legend.

It takes a brave company to compare itself to such a car, but Tesla Motors is one of them. And with a claimed 3.2-second 0-60mph time, the new Tesla Model S P85D (a less evocative name than ‘F1’, admittedly) exactly matches the McLaren’s oft-quoted acceleration benchmark.

It’s all down to the Model S’s new dual-motor setup. Previous examples of Tesla’s saloon (hardly slow themselves) have sent power to the rear wheels. By fitting a motor at the front axle too the new car offers greater traction and more surprisingly, greater range.

Ordinary all-wheel drive systems benefit from greater traction at the expense of more weight and increased drivetrain friction, detrimental to efficiency. As an all-electric vehicle with no central propshaft, Tesla says the new dual-motor Model S splits current from the battery to each motor as required, giving each less work to do than the regular car’s single motor and boosting extra-urban range by ten miles, for a predicted total of 320 miles under European test conditions.

The new all-wheel drive setup is available on both 60kWh and 85kWh battery packs, while Tesla’s McLaren-beating acceleration is the preserve of the 682bhp, 686lb ft Performance model. Top speed doesn’t quite match the 240mph McLaren, at 155mph, but that’s still 25mph more than the single-motor P85 can manage.

Other Model S changes include an ‘Autopilot’ that finally allows the electric saloon to approach its more established rivals on active safety tech. Active cruise control, automatic braking and similar will roll out with all new Model S models, and Tesla has tweaked seat comfort, interior trim and refinement in its program of continual improvements.

There’s no UK pricing just yet, but in the United States the 60kWh D will cost $4000 (£2500) more than the two-wheel drive car, while the P85D costs $14,600 (£9100) more than its rear-driven counterpart. That equates to on-the-road costs of around £53,000 and £78,000 respectively.

Orders are already open, while Tesla says European deliveries will begin a few months after North American cars hit the streets in February 2015.
#421704
Tesla should have made a supercar that uses cheap unlimited sources of energy - food for ICEs - algae feeding on waste and producing energy, or bio fuels like rapeseed, or even energy from tidal waves, they should have checked in our Scuderia lounge to confirm that hybrids are a scam and do nothing for the environment because the batteries are produced from rare earth elements

Leaving lalaland and returning to reality, an affordable electric car with super car performance (as far as acceleration goes) could be the game changer the company needs - acceleration is ofcourse one of the biggest strengths of instant max torque with no need for gearing. Even the first Tesla was doing 4 seconds flat 0 - 100kph
#421705
Tesla should have made a supercar that uses cheap unlimited sources of energy - food for ICEs - algae feeding on waste and producing energy, or bio fuels like rapeseed, or even energy from tidal waves, they should have checked in our Scuderia lounge to confirm that hybrids are a scam and do nothing for the environment because the batteries are produced from rare earth elements

Leaving lalaland and returning to reality, an affordable electric car with super car performance (as far as acceleration goes) could be the game changer the company needs - acceleration is ofcourse one of the biggest strengths of instant max torque with no need for gearing. Even the first Tesla was doing 4 seconds flat 0 - 100kph

FYI: It's not a hybrid, it's a full-on electric car.
#421708
Sure its full electric and they both use batteries - hybrids are said to be a scam because producing the batteries are much more dangerous than burning fuel, so a fully electric battery car must be even bigger of a scam to the inhabitants of lalaland who posted that nonsense, agreed?
#421709
Sure its full electric and they both use batteries - hybrids are said to be a scam because producing the batteries are much more dangerous than burning fuel, so a fully electric battery car must be even bigger of a scam to the inhabitants of lalaland who posted that nonsense, agreed?

Disagree, but that's an old debate I don't want to reheat. You have your opinion, I have mine - end of story.
#421710
I think everyone sensible is happy to see more and more electric vehicles available with increasing range, more performance, and lower and lower prices, and that ICE's and then Hybrids can become a thing of the past soon. Could all be too late, we are past the environmental tipping point, however the last thing anyone needs is misinformation about the the damage burning fossil fuels do, and the last thing anyone bright wants to hear is a regurgitation of the petroleum lobby psuedo scientific claims that there is no greenhouse effect, no global warming, and that its all a big scam
#421799
I wonder if anyone has considered a hydrogen hybrid, with the hydrogen ICE being solely a generator to extend range.


It wouldnt exactly be a hybrid as the ice wouldnt be providing any drive but it has been thought of, or at least some variations. Jaguar had a concept using a micro turbine generator which could run off different fuels and could either charge the batteries or supplement the power for increased performance. At present i prefer this idea to all electric because there could be times when its inconvenient to be sitting waiting for your car to charge up.
#421800
...■ Total energy consumption: 1.06 Megawatt-hours

■ Total fuel cost: $0 (thanks to Tesla's free Superchargers, available to all Tesla owners)


That's amazing!! You can travel the world, without paying for fuel consumption!! :clap:

Oh, oh... wait a second!! For how long will Tesla supply free Superchargers to consumers, when this
vehicle makes it to the market? Does Tesla plan on supplying them free "forever"? If not, how much
is a Supercharger going to cost? What sort of maintenance / repairs can one anticipate? How much
do they cost? Who is authorized to perform the service? What sort of warranty is available? Does it
become void, if anyone other than authorized service centers perform maintenance on the vehicle?

:yikes: No, thanks!! I think I'll stick to mine!! :thumbup:
#421807
Some people are afraid of change, any change. Electricity is the one source of power that can be gathered in perpetuity for free once the initial investment has been made.


Anyway, with all these Tesla posts it would seem to me that our forum queen would quickly drop her knickers for Alon Musk.
#421811
Some people are afraid of change, any change. Electricity is the one source of power that can be gathered in perpetuity for free once the initial investment has been made.


Its amazing how thoroughly the fossil fuel lobby - the oil giants have taken over the more easily led segments of society. How people who walk down a street and are bright enough to notice that pollution is not as good as no pollution even when sitting in a City park - yet these same people would be the first to say charging up batteries sounds like a hassle, petrol engines are so great - oooh and mine even has a catlytic convertor. Or we have always had smoke belchy smog and asthma ridden citizens and its worth it to be able to drive across town for to visit our respitory doctor without having to fill up.

whats sad is when people are pushing the agenda of these lobbies without even realsising it one one hand and the arguing against them on the other hand - effectively arguing against themselves without understanding

if people just stopped been scared for a few minutes then it clear that electric transport supplied by nuclear stations is the best way for the near future until something else is developed that works and is practical and cheap in practice
#421813
Some people are afraid of change, any change. Electricity is the one source of power that can be gathered in perpetuity for free once the initial investment has been made.


It's not about change.

It's about the fact that the initial investment necessary for us to be an electrically-powered
world is not a financial possibility, for most countries, at the moment.

Yes, wind turbines have been proven to work in many communities, around the world. And,
yes, in Ontario with all the hydroelectric generating plants, it would probably be easier to
convert; but, that doesn't mean it would be financially feasible to do that in our life time.

And, yes, of course, we need to start "some time"! Just not sure that beleaguered taxpayers
are ready for it, at the moment.

p.s. if you're interested: Niagara Falls hydroelectric generating plants
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