X-1 electric car blows away a NASCAR and...

[Mike70]

a lamborghini. the X-1 is a 300 hp electric car. the secret to its success in these races is due to the fact that its computer always provides the maximum amount of torque through turns. it also does not have a clutch or gears or even a transmission in the usual sense.

i orginally saw this in a program on discovery science.

uEXcLYqRcSs

[bassman]

That's impressive!

Of course just like sensory computers in modern day cars, once it faults you're f*cked. Nothing like good ol' mechanics that can be fixed in your garage...

I've got a truck in the shop now because of those damned things. And that's all it was....the computer screwed up. Everything was running fine. And now I've got to go pick it up and pay them a couple hundred bucks for fixing the faulty computer shit:dead:

[darth los]

Just wait until the car and oil companies try to obfuscate this one.


In a week you'll try the article again and it'll say, "page not found." :lol:

:lol:

[Mike70]

one thing that i forgot to mention is that the dude driving the NASCAR is an actual race driver. i'm having a moment with his name, its something like condon, cordren, corday. i'm not sure. there was an interview with him during the discovery science program that i watched about this but for the life of me, i can't nail down his name.

[LouCipherr]

This is the great thing about electric cars - they have the potential to be faster and more efficient than any petrol/gas powered car on the road.

Hell, look at the Tesla Roadster - a 70lb electric motor and can do 0-60 in under 4 seconds. :stunned: Faster than a Lamborghini (gas vechile that is)!

There is one major drawback that the "greenies" don't take into consideration about electric cars. While their performance is incredible, and they're very efficient, they're far from "green" - where are all those Lithium Polymer and Lithium Ion batteries going to go once they're no longer useable? We're gonna have landfills filled with nothing but non-biodegradable batteries. I'm not sure about recycling them, as I don't think LiPo batteries can be (not sure about Lithium Ion batteries).

Still, awesome to see electric finally putting the foot down on the gas burners. :D

[Skippy911sc]

Top Gear tested the Tesla and even raced against its gas counterpart (Lotus) and found that it performed well, but had some minor issues with breakage. They gave it a glowing review anyway. It did smoke the gas powered car in a drag race, but due to the weight of the batteries it had more trouble in the turns than the Gas.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I can't bitch about gas or electric cars, especially gas cars, as I drive one of the highest fuel consumption vehicles marketed under $30,000.00

I still have gripes about current gas prices, but I don't bitch to high heaven like most do because I knew going into the vehicle this is not something you expect to get 450 miles to a tank full.


There was talk in the mid "naughties" about a FWD fuel efficent Mustang and that lasted about a whole 2 months before Mustang fan backlash put an end to the project. However, I will give ford some props, the new 2011 5.0 GT Mustang will get 30mpg on the HWY... not bad for a 305 cu in motor. 19-21 City. However I only expect to achieve low 20's HWY, mid teens CITY considering I drive between 85 & 100 every where I go and every stop light is my own little drag strip practice. :D

[Tricky]

I still have gripes about current gas prices, but I don't bitch to high heaven like most do because I knew going into the vehicle this is not something you expect to get 450 miles to a tank full.



Just be glad you arent driving that in the UK dude, it would bankrupt you! We pay a ridiculously high price for fuel over here, and the vast majority of the cost is the governments fuel tax :( I think at present diesel stands at around £1.20 p/litre & petrol is around £1.10

[C5NOTLD]

Hell, look at the Tesla Roadster - a 70lb electric motor and can do 0-60 in under 4 seconds. :stunned: Faster than a Lamborghini (gas vechile that is)!

Still, awesome to see electric finally putting the foot down on the gas burners. :D


I love the look of the Tesla. :cool: One of the main problems is that it can do the 0-60 time but the power of the car is reduced the more you drive it with it's limited range. So if you want to race it you had better do it soon after taking it out of the garage. Hopefully they can improve on that in future models.

I still would like to know, as the point always seems to be avoided, how much the electrical bill is when you plug the car in when you are charging it. No one ever mentions that with any of the electric cars. You only hear how easy it is to plug it in.

But the Lamborghini still sounds better!

.

[LouCipherr]

I love the look of the Tesla. :cool: One of the main problems is that it can do the 0-60 time but the power of the car is reduced the more you drive it with it's limited range. So if you want to race it you had better do it soon after taking it out of the garage. Hopefully they can improve on that in future models.

True, and this is the fundamental flaw with electric vehicles. We have yet to see the next 'revolution' in battery technology (the last one was Lithium-based batteries, which unfortunately can be dangerous if the cells are compromised - ie: fire, minor explosions, etc. although I know Tesla Motors has a good solution for this with their battery modules) - they've been talking up this 'fuel cell' or 'power cell' battery stuff for quite a few years, but it has yet to be realized (or at least, revealed to the public).

The Tesla is a hot looking vehicle, isn't it? Its even named after my favorite inventor. :D

The price for charging - yeah, this is a sticking point no one really talks about. That, and, how much coal is being burned at the local power plant to create that electricity you need to power that so-called "green" car?

Electric cars are a great idea, but I'm not sure if they're going to be the 'breakthrough' technology that helps reduce vehicle emissions. While i'm not one that believes in the "global warming" scam (another thread for another time, let it go for now.. :lol:), I'm all about reducing emissions if possible and being as kind to the planet as we can. I think electric cars are a step in the right direction, but the battery disposal is a problem, as well as what it takes to deliver that electricity to your house or charging station.

We'll see, but this is pretty damn cool.

I remember a year or so ago, I saw a race between an electric motorcycle and a gas/petrol fueled cycle - the electric blew it out of the water. Awesome to see, but not sure how practical it is. :D

[Mike70]

The price for charging - yeah, this is a sticking point no one really talks about. That, and, how much coal is being burned at the local power plant to create that electricity you need to power that so-called "green" car?



i found this on wikipedia , so take it with a grain of the proverbially salt, but the math looks sound.


Electric car operating costs can be directly compared to the equivalent operating costs of a gasoline-powered vehicle. The energy generated by complete combustion of 1 liter gasoline is about 9.7 kilowatt-hours (35 MJ). Accounting for inefficiencies of gasoline vs. electric engines and transmission and battery losses, 1 liter gasoline is equivalent to 2.7 kilowatt-hours (9.7 MJ) from batteries.[11] Given the Tesla Roadster's plug-to-wheel mileage of 280 W·h/mi and an arbitrary electricity price of $0.10/kW·h, driving a Tesla Roadster 40 miles a day would cost $1.12. For comparison, driving an internal combustion engine-powered car the same 40 miles, at a mileage of 25 mpg, would use 1.6 gallons of fuel and, at a cost of $3 per gallon, would cost $4.80. This is approximately 4 times more expensive than charging the electric car. This cost advantage varies depending on the costs of gasoline and electricity, the mileages of the vehicles, and the type of driving being considered. The cost advantage of electric cars increases in start-and-stop city driving because the regenerative braking systems of the newer electric cars recapture much of the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle and use this to recharge the batteries upon braking. This cannot be done for gasoline powered vehicles, and this energy is lost as heat. By contrast, during highway driving, most of the energy used to move the car forward is dispersed through wind resistance, which is not easily recoverable. In this case, gasoline powered cars compare more favorably with electric cars.

the point you make about the cost of generating electricity is a good one. if you are living in an area where it comes from hydro, then i guess you can say it is "green." but coal is a whole other issue, so is nuke power.

[AcesandEights]

Anyone do the math on factoring out the drag coefficient of the mullet for the NASCAR?

[LouCipherr]

Anyone do the math on factoring out the drag coefficient of the mullet for the NASCAR?

Now that was one of the funniest damn things i've read today. :lol:

We will now refer to this phenomenon as "The Mullet Factor"

It would be interesting to see how The Mullet Factor has changed from the 80's up 'till the present day. I bet in the 80's the drag coefficient was much higher than it is now. That, however, is a statistic I'm not sure I want to know too much about. :lol: