# Tesla automobile



## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

We were out and about running some errands today and I saw my 1st Tesla auto.

I don't know which model it was, but it was a very nice and sporty looking car. Kind of a gray and the lines of the body flowed well. It had some extremely nice looking rims on it. Probably 18" or so.

It was stopped at a light and I had enough time to give it a good look-over. All I could see of it was it's rear and passenger-side. I knew right away it wasn't your usual European sports car.

The pic below is like the one I saw I'm sure. Same color as well.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Glad you got to see one our tax dollars paid them way too much to make them.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Wait until you learn the price!

...And don't forget that after about 300 miles, it's got to recharge overnight.

Sporty and comfortable as it may be, I really do not believe that the Tesla is a good solution to pollution.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

On another site, I was told that if you drive in a sane manner, you can get about 270 miles before you need a recharge. They said that it takes 30-45 min.

They also said that it has an insane top speed as well as a 0-60 mph time. Most gas powered autos can't touch it.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

paratrooper said:


> On another site, I was told that...a recharge...takes 30-45 min...


That's true...but only if you have access to one of the few special, high-speed, Tesla-specific recharge stations.
At home and elsewhere, it is an overnight process.

Musk has outlined better recharge systems, including "gas" stations where your empty battery could be quickly swapped-out for a full one, but there aren't any yet.

Me? I'm waiting for "scraper" pickups under cars, riding along power strips built-into most major roadways. Battery power would be used only on side roads, and the highway pickup would keep the battery charged.


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)

I am waiting for the vehicles the Jetsons had..........


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

...And pets like those in the Flintstones' household.


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## Craigh (Jul 29, 2016)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Me? I'm waiting for "scraper" pickups under cars, riding along power strips built-into most major roadways. Battery power would be used only on side roads, and the highway pickup would keep the battery charged.


I had a miniature version of those back in the 1960s. They were Slot Cars and we had two huge tracks about a half mile from my house where we'd race them.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

There are a lot of Tesla's in various models in my area. Fairly common car here. And while they are quick, the cars that can beat them in 0-60 runs and the quarter mile are among the quickest cars you can buy. And there are quite a few of those out there, too. Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Audi, Porsche, BMW... to name a few makers.

No way I would buy an all electric, or even a hybrid, vehicle. Just not my bag. The car I have now is pretty quick and with a few mods that would cost a heck of a lot less combined with the cost of my car than a Tesla, I could blow the doors off of a Tesla. But the Tesla's I've seen around here are beautiful cars.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

I wonder how well they could pull a horse trailer or hay trailer?


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

tony pasley said:


> I wonder how well they could pull a horse trailer or hay trailer?


Generally, pretty much like most any other "car". Horse trailers, of which there are a lot around here, and hay trailers, which we have a few, need a solid full size truck to handle that sort of load.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> That's true...but only if you have access to one of the few special, high-speed, Tesla-specific recharge stations.
> At home and elsewhere, it is an overnight process.
> 
> Musk has outlined better recharge systems, including "gas" stations where your empty battery could be quickly swapped-out for a full one, but there aren't any yet.
> ...


Interesting and that does make sense.

I have some DeWalt battery-powered power tools. I have a DeWalt quick charger that will recharge a battery in as little as 2-3 min. I also have some DeWalt traditional chargers that can take up to 90 min. These are the chargers that come with the tools.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Yea I figured they were just expensive toys or status symbols.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

tony pasley said:


> Yea I figured they were just expensive toys or status symbols.


Yeah, that's what most people thought about the first horse-less carriages that came out when horses were still all the rage. :watching:


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

tony pasley said:


> Yea I figured they were just expensive toys or status symbols.


Some years back I mentioned to my older cousin that I had bought a new car. I went on about the new features and virtues of this new model and that it got good mileage (that's really not that important to me). He told me that he also had an economy car... a later '60's Oldsmobile 98 with the 425 CID engine. I mentioned that his mileage had to be pretty low and he admitted that was true. But then he also mentioned that there was no car payment and the taxes were very low.

Good points.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

paratrooper said:


> Yeah, that's what most people thought about the first horse-less carriages that came out when horses were still all the rage. :watching
> 
> View attachment 13722


I wondered why I have been seeing so many horseless carriages around lately.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

SouthernBoy said:


> Some years back to mentioned to my older cousin that I had bought a new car. I went on about the new features and virtues of this new model and that it got good mileage (that's really not that important to me). He told me that he also had an economy car... a later '60's Oldsmobile 98 with the 425 CID engine. I mentioned that his mileage had to be pretty low and he admitted that was true. But then he also mentioned that there was no car payment and the taxes were very low.
> 
> Good points.


That is why I keep my 2 trucks and will not buy new ones plus I can still work on them without a computer telling me what is wrong


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

tony pasley said:


> That is why I keep my 2 trucks and will not buy new ones *plus I can still work on them without a computer telling me what is wrong*


This is S-O-O-O nice. I miss the simplicity of working on your own machine without having to worry about resetting ECU's or some of the really extreme nonsense we see in modern vehicles.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

SouthernBoy said:


> This is S-O-O-O nice. I miss the simplicity of working on your own machine without having to worry about resetting ECU's or some of the really extreme nonsense we see in modern vehicles.


Not only that, but the manufacturer's keep making their vehicles so that the driver has less to do and worry about. Back-up cameras, keep lane assist capability, parallel parking ability, emergency stop assist, super cruise control, vehicle interval assist, and a whole host of other features that take away from the driver responsibility.

Another 10-15 yrs. or so, and your typical driver will have long forgotten how to drive a car w/o all the above mentioned features. Don't even get me started on autonomous self-driving cars.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Don't you know humans are to stupid to survive on their own we have to have high tech to it for us. It is truly a amazing I survived learning and driving a 1950 International Harvester pickup which had power nothing and no computers to protect me.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

The vast majority of people don't realize that the single most dangerous thing they can do on a daily basis, is to get into a car and drive. They jump in their car and assume that they will get from Point A to Point B without a problem.

If anything at all, drivers need to pay *MORE* attention while driving, not less. Having your car take on more and more of the responsibility is not the way to go.

Technology is not fool proof. And, we all know that humans are the biggest fools on this planet.


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

Aren't most of the power plants that are required to recharge electric cars fueled by coal? I wonder what the carbon foot print of these "green" cars looks like in comparison to conventional internal combustion vehicles?

GW


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Maybe the car she was driving should have had a Correct Gear Affirmation Indicator System (CGAIS) in it. Once cars can read our minds, that will resolve a lot of misconstrued thoughts and / or actions on our parts.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/teen-taki...st-office-082203950--abc-news-topstories.html


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

paratrooper said:


> Not only that, but the manufacturer's keep making their vehicles so that the driver has less to do and worry about. Back-up cameras, keep lane assist capability, parallel parking ability, emergency stop assist, super cruise control, vehicle interval assist, and a whole host of other features that take away from the driver responsibility.
> 
> Another 10-15 yrs. or so, and your typical driver will have long forgotten how to drive a car w/o all the above mentioned features. Don't even get me started on autonomous self-driving cars.


This would kill me since I absolutely love to drive. Most of my vehicle-owning life, I have owned performance cars for my personal driving machines. And during that entire time, all but one of them had a manual transmission. The one automatic I purchased was in a 1983 Toyota Cressida. I thought I was going to tow a boat with it but would up towing with my wife's car instead.


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## AZdave (Oct 23, 2015)

paratrooper said:


> The vast majority of people don't realize that the single most dangerous thing they can do on a daily basis, is to get into a car and drive. They jump in their car and assume that they will get from Point A to Point B without a problem.
> 
> If anything at all, drivers need to pay *MORE* attention while driving, not less. Having your car take on more and more of the responsibility is not the way to go.
> 
> Technology is not fool proof. And, we all know that humans are the biggest fools on this planet.


Yeah and a motorcycle (aka organ donor vechicle) is so much safer! Please don't tell that to my collar bone.

Not only is the fuel (coal fired plants) not ecco friendly, but the production of batteries (mine li in Canada ship it to China ) is also not ecco friendly.

Not to mention li batteries have been know to explode once or twice.

I hope the motor wires are shielded. I wouldn't want to be sitting with my family jewels over that.

Nah I'll stick to the vechile that would never pass government red tape today, the gasoline powered cars and trucks. Maybe a diesel would be better.


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## tjkarch60 (Jul 14, 2017)

Southern Boy, I'm not sure what car you have. But I've seen videos of some Tesla's (P90D?) that are quicker than stink! I mean quicker than you can imagine. It's called Ludicrous Speed! Right out of Space Balls The Movie...
Of course this decreases the life of the battery and drive train.
If you get challenged, just be careful. 0 to 100% torque instantly is the electric cars strength.

It's time to go and Roll some Coal with my Duramax! lol


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

I saw my 2nd Tesla auto today. Different model / color than the one I saw a few days ago. I'll see if I can find a picture of it.

I think it was this one. All I could see of it at the time was it's ass end.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

tjkarch60 said:


> Southern Boy, I'm not sure what car you have. But I've seen videos of some Tesla's (P90D?) that are quicker than stink! I mean quicker than you can imagine. It's called Ludicrous Speed! Right out of Space Balls The Movie...
> Of course this decreases the life of the battery and drive train.
> If you get challenged, just be careful. 0 to 100% torque instantly is the electric cars strength.
> 
> It's time to go and Roll some Coal with my Duramax! lol


I have a 2016 Audi S4. With some of the after-market mods, this car can be made to run in the lower 11's (11.3's).

The newest Tesla roadster is quicker than that and has managed a 0-60 run of 1.9 seconds. That's the same time a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429, heavily modified for street, managed not too long ago. Other than that, I know of no current production car that will turn in 1.9 seconds for a 0-60 run.

I am not familiar with the various Tesla models so do you happen to know what kind of times a midsize Tesla sedan turns? FWIW, I have not heard of what the best times of these cars. I did watch a video of a 2013 Tesla Model S that ran a 0-60 time of 5.6 seconds but no quarter mile times were given.

I just checked on the current Model S and Tesla claims a 0-60 of 2.5 seconds. Even with the mods I mentioned for the S4. I don't believe it would be capable of such a time so I am going to have to stand corrected.

Thank you for your info.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

0-60 in under 3 seconds is hyper-sport motorcycle capability. 

For a car, that is stinking fast. Or, in other words, that's a whole Hell of a lot faster than my 1150cc BMW bike.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

paratrooper said:


> ...that's a whole Hell of a lot faster than my 1150cc BMW bike.


BMW bikes are supposed to be comfortable and indestructible, not super-hottie-go-fast.
You're not giving anything up.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> BMW bikes are supposed to be comfortable and indestructible, not super-hottie-go-fast.
> You're not giving anything up.


I had a 2003 Kawasaki ZRX-1200R. That was fast. I'm a very good rider, but not fantastic. It takes a skilled rider to get a good launch and a good 0-60 time. I could hit 60 easy in 2nd gear. Keeping that front tire on the ground was another issue altogether.

Anyways, my go-fast days are all behind me. Now, I'm quite happy to just go. :smt033


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Well I can go 0 -60 in 1 minute pulling over 10 tons of hay, or 0-60 in about 30 seconds pulling a 4 horse trailer, or 0-15 in a touch of a spur. That may not be fast but it is what I want done.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

The quickest cars in the world will do a 0-60 run in less that half a second and a 0-100 run in under three-quarters of a second. But then, these cars are most certainly not street machines and wouldn't last on the street more than a few miles before their engines seized up. In the 60's they were called AA/FD's (Double 'A' Fuel Dragsters). Today they're simply referred to as Top Fuel Dragsters. With over 10,000 horsepower and a weight of around 2320 pounds, you can easily see where this comes from.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

Bring back the BMW Isetta for this technology, and sell them at Sears & Roebuck's, like the Henry J.










This is German post-war 1956 technology. These things were all over the place when I was a kid.


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## tjkarch60 (Jul 14, 2017)

I just saw a video of the 2019 ZR1 Corvette and it said a 0-60 of 2.58 seconds and 1/4 mile in 10.6. The lower Z06 ran the same 0-60 time but 10.95 in the quarter.
I'm don't know much about the Tesla's, just from Top Gear/ Grand Tour, and Youtube.
I think it would be fun to have 3 Series BMW and put a LS engine in it. Might not be the fastest, but it would haul ass.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

tjkarch60 said:


> I just saw a video of the 2019 ZR1 Corvette and it said a 0-60 of 2.58 seconds and 1/4 mile in 10.6. The lower Z06 ran the same 0-60 time but 10.95 in the quarter.
> I'm don't know much about the Tesla's, just from Top Gear/ Grand Tour, and Youtube.
> I think it would be fun to have 3 Series BMW and put a LS engine in it. Might not be the fastest, but it would haul ass.


In 1969, Chevrolet build 69 Camaros with the famed ZL1 all aluminum 427 engine. They also installed this engine in two 1969 Corvettes. I have a Motor Trend mini road test of one of those Corvettes. That car did the quarter mile in 10.3 seconds at 130 MPH.

In 1967, Baldwin Chevrolet in Long Island, NY partnered with Motion Performance and offered a '67 Camaro which they guaranteed to do an 11.5 second quarter mile. The engine in that package was the 427 L88. I have an issue of Cars magazine with a drag test of that car.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

SouthernBoy said:


> The quickest cars in the world will do a 0-60 run in less that half a second and a 0-100 run in under three-quarters of a second. But then, these cars are most certainly not street machines and wouldn't last on the street more than a few miles before their engines seized up. In the 60's they were called AA/FD's (Double 'A' Fuel Dragsters). Today they're simply referred to as Top Fuel Dragsters. With over 10,000 horsepower and a weight of around 2320 pounds, you can easily see where this comes from.


Yeah. OK. They're fast.
But they couldn't corner worth a shoot. :smt033 :smt083

Back in a time warp, in a western state far, far away, when Corvettes were few and far between, organizers used to squad them with Mercedes-Benz 300SL wing-door coupes for road/track racing.
The Corvette easily out-powered the 300SLs, and beat them handily in the straights, but the Benzes could bend their way through corners much faster. Guess which car won most of the races.
Power isn't all that there is. Finesse also counts.

Someday, I should tell you guys about the supercharger some friends of mine built.
Don Garlits used it, during a record attempt at Bonneville.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Yeah. OK. They're fast.
> But they couldn't corner worth a shoot. :smt033 :smt083
> 
> Back in a time warp, in a western state far, far away, when Corvettes were few and far between, organizers used to squad them with Mercedes-Benz 300SL wing-door coupes for road/track racing.
> ...


Oranges and apple, i.e. acceleration vs cornering. The good thing is today, you can have both. Call it an oranges and apples cobbler.

I didn't know that Garlits did anything with speed records at Bonneville. I have only ever heard his name coupled with drag racing. Never had a chance to see him run his AA/FD but I have seen a bunch of other AA/FD cars run.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

SouthernBoy said:


> Oranges and apple, i.e. acceleration vs cornering...


Yeah. Of course I know that.
Us old sports-car buffs just like to yank the drag-racers' chains occasionally.



SouthernBoy said:


> ...I didn't know that Garlits did anything with speed records at Bonneville...


That's probably because he was unsuccessful.
The supercharger worked very well, though.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

No matter how long or straight a road might be, sooner or later, you're going to come to a bend in it. :watching:


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Yeah. Of course I know that.
> Us old sports-car buffs just like to yank the drag-racers' chains occasionally.


Drag racing is my preferred type of motor sports racing. Loved it from my first exposure to it in high school. During the 60's, I hit the local strips at least once a week. Sure there were some weeks I didn't go but the averages made up for those times. Got in my blood and still enjoys the prime spot as far as racing goes.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

I tend to like F1 racing. Never watched one in person, only on tv. NASCAR drives me crazy. Get in the car, floor it, and steer left. Try to avoid hitting other cars. 

Had plans to go see an F1 race while I was in Europe way back in the mid 70's. Wasn't able to make it.


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