[PLUG-TALK] Electric cars and Wall Street

[John Jason Jordan]

On Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:33:16 -0700 (PDT)
Gregory Salter <winterbeastie at yahoo.com> dijo:

>>I doubt that anyone is working on that or that anyone ever will. You
>>neglected to factor in an important human element: Car buyers are not
>>rational. They want a car that will do jackrabbit starts and will go
>>150 kmph. Even I like a car that feels like it has some soup under the
>>hood, in spite of the fact that I know how unnecessary it is.

>Tell you what. Go rent "The Fast and the Furious" on DVD. 
>Then find me two electric cars that can do the things we see on that
>movie. Make electric cars "cool", then the kids will buy them. 

I can't give you two, but I can give you at least one by way of proof
that it is possible: The Tesla does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. There are a few
makes and models that can beat it, but not many. Here are the best 0-60
times from other makers of sports cars:

	2010 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 0-60 mph 2.5
	2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1  0-60 mph 3.3
	2005 Ferrari FXX (Enzo)  0-60 mph 2.8
	2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggra  0-60 mph 2.8
	2008 Lotus 2-Eleven  0-60 mph 3.7
	2005 Maserati MC12  0-60 mph 3.7
	2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet  0-60 mph 3.1

The Tesla carries a price tag of $109,000 (less $7,500 federal tax
credit), and I imagine the cars on the above list go for similar sums.
I guess if you want to be really cool you need to be really rich as
well, although the Tesla can be financed for a mere $20,000 down and
the balance in 60 payments of $1,700 at 5% APR.

On a more serious note, electric motors are not to be trifled with in
the torque department. They handily beat gas engines.