Tesla S at Dell World 2013

[Tom]

I dunno, it seems like a normal sized car, but with much better mileage not including the electric engine.

[Darren Dirt]

I dunno, it seems like a normal sized car, but with much better mileage not including the electric engine.

Yeah, in brief it's a normal-sized 2-seater with a super-tiny gas tank but an incredibly efficient (and very differently-designed) engine hence the "100km per 1L" claim. But in NA that engine is not available for this car (because of not being tested, see above).

[Thorin]

It's the same reason we'll never see a Tata Nano in North America - our laws require cars that hold up better in crashes, have proper signalling devices, and (in Canada) have headlights that stay on at reduced power during the day.  Amongst many other requirements.

If you want to dig at a conspiracy, there's the question of the GM EV cars from the late 90s.  Although from what I've seen about them, I think GM shelved the project due to cost - pickup trucks were selling like crazy and raking in the profits while the EV cars were costing GM millions of dollars and the lack of range on the old battery packs made them pretty much unusable outside of a small city.

The Smart cars originally had tiny turbocharged engines and were very efficient on gas - their fuel economy and size was a selling point in high-fuel-price, crowded cities in Europe, where people sometimes parked them sideways in parking spots to fit more cars in less space.  In Japan, they were small enough to be classified as Kei cars, which allowed the Japanese to avoid a large amount of gas-guzzler tax.  In North America, where cities are newer and have been designed with more space in mind, the tiny size isn't a big selling point.  One of the main complaints of drivers in North America was the lack of highway power, so the engines increased in size, which in turn reduced the fuel economy.  Yes, nowadays a Smart Fortwo and a Honda Civic cost close to the same but the Civic uses more gas and has more space.

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

Holy crap, I think that's the first time I've seen you agree that there's not a conspiracy at play!

[Thorin]

A further example of how standards are different:

In early 2006, prior to formal importation to the United States, a specialty firm - G and K Auto conversions of Santa Ana California received DOT, NHTSA, and EPA approval to market a modified European specification Smart Fortwo in the US. Modifications for the grey market vehicles included DOT certified headlights, reinforced doors for additional side impact protection, an odometer in miles rather than kilometers, and soft padding on the interior pillars and ceiling.

So the doors weren't strong enough, the headlights weren't bright enough, and the interior was too hard to protect occupants in a crash.  The Europeans had no problem with the car as-is, but the Americans said it wasn't safe enough for their roads.

Basically the same is happening with the VW X1.

Now, why don't we have a VW Amarok in North America?

[Darren Dirt]

Now, why don't we have a VW Amarok in North America?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Amarok Explain the inclusion ITT please?

If you want to dig at a conspiracy, there's the question of the GM EV cars from the late 90s.  Although from what I've seen about them, I think GM shelved the project due to cost - pickup trucks were selling like crazy and raking in the profits while the EV cars were costing GM millions of dollars and the lack of range on the old battery packs made them pretty much unusable outside of a small city.

As Portrayed In MovieFilm(s)!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Electric_Car

Holy crap, I think that's the first time I've seen you agree that there's not a conspiracy at play!

THEY got to me! 

[Thorin]

Now, why don't we have a VW Amarok in North America?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Amarok Explain the inclusion ITT please?

VW vehicles not sold in North America.  While the XL1 is in low production and can't pass North American crash standards without modification, the Amarok can pass those standards and if it had to be modified then doing so would not be nearly as expensive per unit as the XL1.  And if your complaint is that I switched from one vehicle to another, well, it switched from Tesla to VW earlier.

[Darren Dirt]

No complaint or objection, I was actually just curious the reason you mentioned a particular model. Interesting.

[Darren Dirt]

Elon Musk has released the Tesla Motors patents to the public domain, and cited the spirit of the open source moment as his motivation
"Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis ... We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform"

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you


Nicky Tesla would be proud...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/12800228845
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/14405402742

A noble move, Elon -- get the innovative ideas OUT THERE and waste no time in CHANGING THE WORLD!

http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/dear-elon-please-do-what-you-think-best-humanity-dont-worry-about-patents

[Mr. Analog]

It would have even been better as a share and share alike license, but still, pretty cool

[Tom]

Very cool, and a smart business move. If more people adopt their technology for charging and other similar things, that just furthers Tesla's cause. The fewer different types of charging stations needed, the better.

[Darren Dirt]

imo this was Elon's way of pre-empting a modern equivalent of That Thief Tommy Edison.

[Mr. Analog]

Keeping in mind that the whole world runs on Nikola Tesla's electric motor and he died penniless and alone in a hotel room

[Darren Dirt]

Keeping in mind that the whole world runs on Nikola Tesla's electric motor and he died penniless and alone in a hotel room

Compared to Elon right now, Tesla was ... shall we say, "lower profile" at the time of Edison's tomfoolery...

[Mr. Analog]

I've yet to see him cook an elephant ;-)

[Lazybones]

Keeping in mind that the whole world runs on Nikola Tesla's electric motor and he died penniless and alone in a hotel room

Compared to Elon right now, Tesla was ... shall we say, "lower profile" at the time of Edison's tomfoolery...

Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison Epic rap battle (loud)

Edit: PSA always hover over links at work and if it is YouTube assume the worst.