A Glimpse into the future? Perhaps. By Bob Bruggner
Last month while visiting my oldest son in California, I had the opportunity to visit the Tesla Motors showroom and assembly plant in Menlo Park. This Silicon Valley startup company is the only automaker currently selling serial production, highway capable all electric vehicles in North America and Europe. I figured if someone picked this point in time to start a new automotive company…. they must have something a little unique to offer.
The company is currently offer just one model for sale and you better bring along the big cookie jar. The Tesla Roadster uses lithium-ion battery cells and will travel more than 200 miles on a single charge. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds (we’re talking Corvette quick here) and has been rated at twice the energy-efficiency as the Toyota Prius. The sticker price is just over $100,000 and to date, over 600 Roadsters have been delivered worldwide. These cars are obviously cost prohibitive for the average consumer but as with all new technologies (personal computers, cell phones, flat screen TVs, etc.) the price tends to decreases proportional to the number of items sold. What was so exciting about these “cars without a tailpipe” was the simplicity yet sophistication of their design. Features that will most certainly be included, in one form or another, by all car manufactures in the very near future.
The big takeaway from my visit was that electronics and software have now taken the place of the mass amount of machinery and moving parts present on today’s vehicles. As an example, the typical four-cylinder engine of a conventional car includes over a hundred moving parts. By comparison, the motor of the Tesla Roadster has just one: the rotor. When we looked under the hood (actually two of people lifted off the fiberglass body) here’s what we found.
A large Energy Storage System (battery pack) sitting on the back of a lightweight aluminum chassis. Below the battery pack was the 115-pound electric motor (the engine) connected to the single forward-speed transmission. These components were all connected to a Power Electronics Module box in the front of the car which functions as the car’s brain, monitoring and directing all aspects of the car’s performance. That was pretty much it… battery, motor, transmission and CPU all for only 100K.
Last month three car companies, Tesla, Ford and Nissan, were awarded low cost loans by the Department of Energy to promote the development of energy efficient vehicles. Tesla will use their $465 million award to set up a plant in Southern California to begin production, engineering and assembly of the Model S, an all-electric family sedan that carries seven people and travels up to 300 miles per charge. Scheduled for release in 2011 with an anticipated sticker price of $49,000. They won’t be alone with every major car company racing to bring their electric and hybrid vehicles to market with Japan leading the way.
Currently, over 63% of the oil consumed in the US is used for transportation, a level that is both cost prohibitive and environmentally unsustainable going forward. Electric vehicles and rechargeable batteries are getting so much attention from auto manufactures because electricity is really the universal currency of energy. It can be generated from coal, solar, wind, hydro, nuclear sources or even hydrogen.
Advanced batteries are the major bottleneck in the chain of progression from internal combustion to all-electric vehicles. Last Wednesday, President Obama announcing $2.4 billion in stimulus grants aimed at helping US automakers with the development of electric vehicles, infrastructure and development of the advanced batteries they need to compete with Japan. Detroit's Big Three securing the majorities of these funds.
Are electric cares in our future? One thing is for certain; the auto industry is shifted gears rapidly. Your comments, ideas and suggestions are always welcome. (bbruggner@gmail.com)
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