The Tesla Roadster has set a new distance record for a production electric vehicle by traveling 313 miles (501km) on a single charge. The milestone took place during the 2009 Global Green Challenge in Australia where eco-friendly vehicles have been battling it out over a formidable 1800 mile course. The distance achieved is well above the 244 mile range Tesla quotes in its specs... and on top of that, the electric sportscar reportedly had 3 miles worth of charge left in its batteries when it finished the record breaking run.

Quite an accomplishment. To put that into perspective here are some interesting facts one can derive from the numbers

Fuel cost per mile based on USA average 11.2 cents per Kwh = 39 Kwh battery capacity = ($.112 x 39)/ 313 miles = .$014 per mile. That is about 1/10th the cost of the best high mpg gas burner.

Efficiency = 39 Kwh / 313 miles = 125 wh/mile Now I realize that may not mean much to some of you so let's convert that to Mile Per Gallon OK?

MPG equivalent = 36,650 wh/gal of gasoline / 125 wh/mile = 293 Miles Per Gallon. Not to shabby.

Now here is something to think about, and might even make some of you mad. Even if the fuel source of the electricity is nasty ole coal, and taking all the losses from the generator to the tail pipe of the car, produces about 1/5 of the emissions compared to gasoline car, and about equal if diesel were used in the vehicle. From that you can conclude you want to drive an EV as first choice even if powered with coal, and diesel as 2nd choice.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator

It all sounds great, but aren't these EV's hitting roadblocks at every turn due to Big Government's manipulation? These EV's will cut out several middle men (industries) in bed with BG. They won't allow that for too long. I'm sure there will be some sort of penalty, or tax on electricity or the EV to keep lining the pockets of those who have control over us.

Yes but I don't think it is for the reasons you pointed out directly. Think road fuel tax revenues. How would you like your salary cut 90%? It can be resolved by reconfiguring road fuel tax rates at the tag license office by basing taxes or license fees on mileage, but that is a fight for another day. Today that mechanism is not in place. Today in the USA depending on where you live like state and city you pay well over a $1 a gallon no matter what you drive. I am a Christian and believe in Tithe (10%) across the board for everyone to give and plant seed.

Here is my idea of fair and balanced. You go buy a new car, don't care if it is a GM Hummer, Honda Civic, or EV. At the time you buy you pay 12,000 miles tax in say 5 progressive tax categories from gas sipper to guzzler and EV. Each subsequent year you adjust to actual mileage with second year adjusted to plus or minus of first year. After the 7 year life cycle of a vehicle you carry over any deficit or credit when a purchase new vehicle. If you carry over past 7 years tax free, just paying your states admin and registration fees. It motivates you to conserve and save money with financial reward.. You get what you can afford and pay for without subsidies. Rich man pays for his luxury SUV, and poor man pays his/her fair share.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator

Need to be a bit careful about EV mileage records unless you get told a good deal about the test environment.
How fast was the tesla going, ie average speed.
Any headwind or tailwind.
The Solar car challenge in Australia is from Darwin to Adelaide over a very long , but mostly flat road with the cars heading south, so headwinds are rare and tail winds are much more common.
Any cars shadowing the tesla, ie driving in front and behind.
Was the tesla using a brand new battery pack.

The range could be easily done at 35 mph. According to the range graph in the Tesla blogs, the car is capable of 400 miles on one charge at 20 mph. I'm pretty sure it was a 2008 Roadster that set the record.

https://www.teslamotors.com/display_...me=range_blog5
http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=2022

The solar cars that do the Darwin to Adelaide trip can hardly be described as practical cars. They are virtualy just a big solar panel with a driver ,a battery and a small electric motor mounted on a very light frame with bicycle wheels.. SAo any figures they give you are not related to what you would ever get with a "normal" looking car.

I think the solar cars that run this race look neat. I am thinking about building my own as a commuter car. They can be useful as commuter cars if you can have enough battery storage to run the distance one-way. The panels will recharge the batteries while you are at work, giving you the energy to drive to home. But back to the topic of this thread, the Tesla Roadster is a Lotus Elise-based sports car that is 100% electric. Nearly 900 are on the road (incase you didn't know).

Homebuilt solar car
http://www.teslamotors.com

They might look neat but could never be used on public roads under normal circumstances.. as they lack a few things like lights, proper brakes any crash protection whatsoever.And they sit so low to the ground trucks would never see you and turn you into a very small disposable packege,

The cars that do well in the Solar Challenge also have a real lot of money behind them.
Not uncommon for a single car to have a million dollars worth of solar cells on it, so they must be using the best efficiency cells money can buy.
Its a good race for PR purposes, but thats about all.

Mauried you are correct, the solar cells are custom made, but they are not efficient, around 6 to 10%. They are a spin off of thin film technology where the material (plastic copper indium gallium diselenide) is printed on sheets of plastic. A couple of companies either have tried to bring them to the market in the form of roof shingles, and a vaporware company called NanoSolar. Problem is the durability as the weather elements destroys them, or even the slightest scratch will disable them. You have seen nthem before if you have ever seen satellites with the rolls up panels. Basically sheets of plastic stretched over carbon boron or graphite frame.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator