Tesla Roadster Surprise: 0-60 in 1.9s and 600+ mile Range

[stevieturbo]

All the big claims about performance, range etc....

Has Tesla ever done the Nurburgring ?

Will it last for an entire lap pushing hard the whole way ? 2 laps ? Might be a better test of battery range, as their 600 mile claim is probably at 50mph on a straight downhill road with a tailwind ?

Impressive performance though

 

[pablo]

Would be epic to see it do a lap. 14 miles flat out should be doable but who knows.

 

[saxo_man]

@Marc I think you were surprised at the torque in my EV? Most of the innards of my car are stamped Tesla. I would love a run in this Tesla as I’m sure it’s mind blowing, getting grip would be interesting.

 

[Marc]

@Marc I think you were surprised at the torque in my EV? Most of the innards of my car are stamped Tesla. I would love a run in this Tesla as I’m sure it’s mind blowing, getting grip would be interesting.

It was the instant acceleration from the EV was surprising, and how quiet it was whilst propelling us forward

 

[roverspeed]

Would be epic to see it do a lap. 14 miles flat out should be doable but who knows.

They are well known for quickly dropping power to protect the batteries from overheating.

When customers complained about this, they changed the software but extreme performance could drastically reduce battery longevity and reliability.

Realistically, to output the kind of performance continuously, they need to move to super capacitors.

 

[DavidY]

I'm also one of those people that think the range is restrictive, but then I also think, in the last 13 years i've been driving, how many 500+ mile single trips have I done. Maybe one or two?
It's good that many years ago Tesla decided to crack on and progress this technology, but it's worrying that there isn't more of it. There are a lot of Hybrid options coming out but I'm yet to see any other manufacturer make real progress to make a decent all electric car, small city cars aside.

I'm looking forward to the future when electric cars actually become affordable. To cope with the torque, it is obvious that tyre technology will progress a bit more yet but I can't imagine how nice it is to drive a nice quiet car on a long trip. I'm getting fed up with all the noise from our little corsa you see. LOL

 

[Paddy_R]

While range is an issue for most it's the recharge time that's a bigger issue (for me anyway). Tesla can easily make their cars do 400 miles on a charge if driven normally and others are getting there. Bar one car that I had for just under 18 months I haven't owned a car that will do more than 400 miles to a tank in over 12 years and its not been an issue. This is because it takes about 5 mins to 'recharge' it with fuel and it will go again when even Teslas quick charge point takes 20 mins to get to 50% (which is actually too bad) or 75 mins for 100%.

For me if I could afford one, I'd have a Tesla tomorrow for all the normal, daily driving stuff (but then I do also have the Scooby which wouldn't be going anywhere).

 

[mk2driver]

Would be epic to see it do a lap. 14 miles flat out should be doable but who knows.

It won’t - I tested a Tesla Model S in repeated 0-60, after around 3 of those it’s performance drops. After around 15 it’s way down, circa 1.75 times slower. After around 20 it started to smell really bad (motors overheating) and performance was so far down it was over 2x longer to 60

All measured using proper data logging equipment

EV’s cannot with current cooling tech deal with repeated hard drives - this would not do well on a Nurburgring run

I like EV’s and tbh now we have a house rather than a flat I would consider replacing our second car with one when we come to change. The performance, in particular instant acceleration is great, but they aren’t a performance car for track days or similar

 

[Cooper]

I like EV’s and tbh now we have a house rather than a flat I would consider replacing our second car with one when we come to change. The performance, in particular instant acceleration is great, but they aren’t a performance car for track days or similar

Yet.

 

[BobSpounge]

It's good that many years ago Tesla decided to crack on and progress this technology, but it's worrying that there isn't more of it. There are a lot of Hybrid options coming out but I'm yet to see any other manufacturer make real progress to make a decent all electric car, small city cars aside.

Volkswagen accelerates push into electric cars with $40 billion spending plan

With investment like that I'd expect research and development to progress at a rapid rate.

 

[mk2driver]

Yet.

Agreed, I was speaking in the context of now.

Like I said I like EV’s and they will develop - will they completely replace ICE? Certainly not in the next 30+years unless there is a huge leap in tech which there could be!

As an engineer I like both ICE and EV and each has their pros and cons

 

[stevieturbo]

Hydrogen is the future !

 

[stevieturbo]

With these cars, how do they fair on safety matters ?

There's been a lot of news reports in recent times showing supercars basically vaporise after crashes, with their composite structures seemingly liking to go up in flames.

So surely these battery cars have to be a huge danger ? Even watching F1 the other day ( a rare occurrence ) something happened one of the cars, and the radio people were shouting for him to stop the car and get out, the car is dangerous, and do not touch the car and ground at the same time...ie jump off.

Surely this creates a huge potential danger for not only the occupants, but any safety crews ?

And even if the car is insanely strong...this then passes on greater risk to anything they hit !

 

[Cooper]

With these cars, how do they fair on safety matters ?

There's been a lot of news reports in recent times showing supercars basically vaporise after crashes, with their composite structures seemingly liking to go up in flames..

So surely these battery cars have to be a huge danger ? Even watching F1 the other day ( a rare occurrence ) something happened one of the cars, and the radio people were shouting for him to stop the car and get out, the car is dangerous, and do not touch the car and ground at the same time...ie jump off.

Surely this creates a huge potential danger for not only the occupants, but any safety crews ?

And even if the car is insanely strong...this then passes on greater risk to anything they hit !

Good point. Tesla have a 5 star NCAP on the P85 etc. There's no fuel for a fire on board which has to be a big plus, although it depends if you are comparing a fibreglass/CF roadster with the road car. What about the batteries, what does it take to burst one of those!

Agreed, I was speaking in the context of now.

Like I said I like EV’s and they will develop - will they completely replace ICE? Certainly not in the next 30+years unless there is a huge leap in tech which there could be!

As an engineer I like both ICE and EV and each has their pros and cons

In times of rising ocean levels, world powers at each others throats over fossil fuels, customer perception and the markets are pushing things fast for sure. I was behind a Nissan Leaf earlier, those sort of cars do nothing for exciting EV. Take yourself out behind the shed stuff. Tesla are giving us a glimpse of awesomeness. Despite cooling issues, range, availability of superchargers, Musk overpromising, hell Tesla could go bust... but they are also proving that EVs have the potential to outperform ICEs by some margin.

Old news but the P100D vs the 911 R...

Chris Harris Drives: the Tesla Model S P100D



It's loads of fun this. Electric wasn't a decade ago with the dreary Pious.

 

[mk2driver]

Good point. Tesla have a 5 star NCAP on the P85 etc. There's no fuel for a fire on board which has to be a big plus, although it depends if you are comparing a fibreglass/CF roadster with the road car. What about the batteries, what does it take to burst one of those!



In times of rising ocean levels, world powers at each others throats over fossil fuels, customer perception and the markets are pushing things fast for sure. I was behind a Nissan Leaf earlier, those sort of cars do nothing for exciting EV. Take yourself out behind the shed stuff. Tesla are giving us a glimpse of awesomeness. Despite cooling issues, range, availability of superchargers, Musk overpromising, hell Tesla could go bust... but they are also proving that EVs have the potential to outperform ICEs by some margin.

Old news but the P100D vs the 911 R...

Chris Harris Drives: the Tesla Model S P100D



It's loads of fun this. Electric wasn't a decade ago with the dreary Pious.

I completely understand how things are going and what challenges there are being in the industry

When I was testing the Tesla we were also testing a GT3 - the Tesla easily wins the drag race at the start.

However I also was out testing one of our Jaguar Project 8 prototypes the other day - no electric car can replace the noise of a V8 on full chat.

I don’t see this is a competition by the way - both ICE and EV can and will exist together serving different purposes for different people. More choice is a good thing for the customer

 

[FM155]

I know I can be banned, but can we ban the admin for non petrolhead behaviour..

 

[DavidY]

......Certainly not in the next 30+years unless there is a huge leap in tech which there could be......

Going by some of the talk on the web, aren't there likely to be complete bans on IC engines in some areas / countries by 2040. Also, looking at the trends,diesel engines will be out before that. That's not far over 20 years from now. Things need to happen now and at a rapid pace. As much as I love IC engines, sadly the EV is the future for now.

Hydrogen isn't the future @stevieturbo, Thorium is...... (perhaps)

With these cars, how do they fair on safety matters ?

There's been a lot of news reports in recent times showing supercars basically vaporise after crashes, with their composite structures seemingly liking to go up in flames.

So surely these battery cars have to be a huge danger ? Even watching F1 the other day ( a rare occurrence ) something happened one of the cars, and the radio people were shouting for him to stop the car and get out, the car is dangerous, and do not touch the car and ground at the same time...ie jump off.

Surely this creates a huge potential danger for not only the occupants, but any safety crews ?

And even if the car is insanely strong...this then passes on greater risk to anything they hit !

The progress wont just stop with the engines configuration, the whole car and it's safety features will be developed and engineered towards safety etc. Perhaps that's why a lot of it hasn't made it to production right now? Comparing the safety of an F1 car to a potential road car of the future is a bit daft though. Let's not forget F1 cars are still primarily built to be fast, same as the average Ferrari / Lambo. built to be fast primarily, luxurious as a secondary and safety as much as necassary to meet road safety standards.
Any car can be made more robust and safe but generally this makes them slower and that dissuades people from buying them.

 

[pablo]

dont forget 100L of jet fuel lol.

 

[mk2driver]

Going by some of the talk on the web, aren't there likely to be complete bans on IC engines in some areas / countries by 2040. Also, looking at the trends,diesel engines will be out before that. That's not far over 20 years from now. Things need to happen now and at a rapid pace. As much as I love IC engines, sadly the EV is the future for now.

Hydrogen isn't the future @stevieturbo, Thorium is...... (perhaps)



The progress wont just stop with the engines configuration, the whole car and it's safety features will be developed and engineered towards safety etc. Perhaps that's why a lot of it hasn't made it to production right now? Comparing the safety of an F1 car to a potential road car of the future is a bit daft though. Let's not forget F1 cars are still primarily built to be fast, same as the average Ferrari / Lambo. built to be fast primarily, luxurious as a secondary and safety as much as necassary to meet road safety standards.
Any car can be made more robust and safe but generally this makes them slower and that dissuades people from buying them.

Nope - common misconception of the announcements by government - it means ICE only vehicles will potentially get banned, but hybrids will be allowed. Diesel engines will still be around then.

Major OEM’s are still developing both technologies (ICE & EV) - those that announced they haven’t tend to be part of a group that still are

 

[pablo]

they might ban the sale of new cars but there will still petrol/diesel cars on the road for another couple of decades probably before they filter right down to the budget car level.

unless of course fuel becomes scarce/expensive due to higher tax/lower demand etc.

 

[j44nty]

Meh sewing machine it go fast.

I do love how the american crowd go crazy mad in the video. Horaah we love you elon yeeeaahhhh.

Would be great to see the same launch in belfast. “Thats pretty good mate isnt it” “i sweet mate”.

 

[trev 1515]

Yeah, ban the v8 v12 I dare you
Electric is brilliant unless you are a true petrol head, the clue is in the name. As far as I’m concerned derv is the same as electric. I’m happy enough using the planets resources to make my car go and sound better

 

[impact]

The 1.9 second figure apparently just for the base model.

 

[pablo]

how do they get tyres to work at those levels? I guess they have super clever and responsive traction control software which is way beyond what you can do with a petrol engine.

 

[stevieturbo]

how do they get tyres to work at those levels? I guess they have super clever and responsive traction control software which is way beyond what you can do with a petrol engine.

Simply the power delivery can be better managed from a standstill as mentioned before with electric motors, as all power is available at any instant, right from zero. Whereas any normal engine is already turning at say 1000rpm minimum, so there is always a mismatch of wheel speed vs engine speed that need addressed to prevent wheelspin.. There needs to be slippage somewhere with a conventional setup, there doesnt with electric.Next best would be an automatic and then some of the DCT types. Last will always be a regular manual.