Tesla S at Dell World 2013

[Melbosa]

Met the CEO from Tesla today as well as got to touch and sit ina Tesla S.  What an awesome car!

[Melbosa]

More pics

[Mr. Analog]

So is Elon Musk as nuts passionate as he seems IRL?

[Melbosa]

He is not "fake" feeling in person. Very down to earth and genuine. The interview during the keynote was very telling of this.  Contrasted by Micheal Dell who is very much a sales and PR guy when you see him on the same interview.

[Melbosa]

More pics

[Mr. Analog]

Oh, I didn't mean that, Elon is nothing but genuine...

[Melbosa]

More pics

[Melbosa]

And more...

[Melbosa]

Told my wife that if we win the lotto I want one.

[Darren Dirt]

There's also some high-efficiency non-electric cars finally being built -- but might be tough to get in North America, apparently.
http://www.trueactivist.com/volkswagens-new-300-mpg-car-not-allowed-in-america-because-it-is-too-efficient/



PS: on the subject of electric cars and whatnot, can a mod somehow combine this current thread with this ancient one?
http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php?topic=6454.0


...and maybe also where a 3rd thread branched off:
http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php?topic=2371.msg43432#msg43432

...and JEEPERS there's a 4th thread where electric/hybrid cars and mileage etc. were discussed:
http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php?topic=6621.0

[Lazybones]

There's also some high-efficiency non-electric cars finally being built -- but might be tough to get in North America, apparently.
http://www.trueactivist.com/volkswagens-new-300-mpg-car-not-allowed-in-america-because-it-is-too-efficient/

No it is because it doesn't pass basic safety standards and haze limited areas the concept car is allowed to drive.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/xl1.asp

That is where the Tesla is different, it is a fully realized car and capable of very reasonable range.

[Darren Dirt]

There's also some high-efficiency non-electric cars finally being built -- but might be tough to get in North America, apparently.
http://www.trueactivist.com/volkswagens-new-300-mpg-car-not-allowed-in-america-because-it-is-too-efficient/

No it is because it doesn't pass basic safety standards

I read the Snopes, and sure it makes sense that this is a test car and a limited run and therefore it's prohibitively expensive to modify the car to pass certain tests that are specific to North America. But also isn't it possible that it didn't "pass" those North American tests because it wasn't "allowed" to even take them? In various industries (not just for cars -- Big Pharma comes to mind) there is definitely cases where it would appear that some less-than-objective folks in positions of power make it near impossible for tests to be taken in NA when similar tests in Europe or Asia have already been taken and ended up with surprising (game-changing?) results.


Still, interesting specs to say the least:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_1-litre_car

[Lazybones]

North American safety standards are just different period.  For example several mini-vans have different seating layouts in the North American and Euro versions due to child restraint and crash test requirements.

The Mazda5 in Europe can optionally seat 7 instead of 6 with a hidden seat that pops up between the mid row seats.

[Darren Dirt]

North American safety standards are just different period.

Yeah -- see my edit above (sorry).

Concept car + limited run + expensive to modify the car to take those NA tests = obviously not a blatant Big Oil Conspiracy, agreed.

[Lazybones]

Makes me think of the two seat "smartcar" there is little or no benefit to it over a basic civic accept it is smaller.