I just want to say...

[A-1 (imported)]

O.K., Yoli,

It's time that you graduated from all of the 'slower' gasoline-powered dinosaurs and got yourself a real fast ELECTRIC CAR! (http://www.teslamotors.com/)

Uh, zero to 60 faster than you go from zero to bitch... yeah? ...WANNA bet?

...might be nice to use to get some guy in a 'vette to bet his balls in a drag race...

...this thing beats Corvettes, Vipers, Ferraris (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/08 ... inum-in-t/) and so forth in drag races... and uses NO GASOLINE, EVER! It is just slightly slower than a T-Zero (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm6gD6r3 ... re=related) which is not yet in production.

Total price with the options,,, $104,000 (or so...)

[FianceeUvBigGuy (imported)]

O.K., Yoli,

It's time that you graduated from all of the 'slower' gasoline-powered dinosaurs and got yourself a real fast ELECTRIC CAR! (http://www.teslamotors.com/)

Yais, A-Wun, I've read the Tesla write-up in my latest issue of "Car and/or Driver". Problem: Though I can afford it (or so I think) I don't want to sweat running out of "juice" or anticipating the cost when the cells finally need replacing. Actually, I'm contemplating the new Jag supercoupe OR...are you sitting down?(I can't say it...and I hope I have enough sense NOT to do it.) Think "Bond...James Bond."

I'm gonna keep my Miata 'cause it's more economical to drive and I won't weep to copiously if it gets smashed or stolen, and I'll keep my four-door conveyance as well, since it serves well as a "Staff Car" for the office.

If I didn't have the free use of the ranch (or the boss's) vehicles, I'd have to scratch one of the cars in favor of something to tow a bass or bay boat with...probably a Tundra (if a truck) or some behemoth like a long-body Suburban.

There IS a pickup in the carriage house here, and I occasionally drive it for the same reason I drive BigGuy's classic Corvette...to keep it healthy. But there's another reason I drive that truck, and when I do it's usually to some Hill Country joint where the Good 'Ol Boys congregate. It never fails to draw a crowd. Why? Welllllll, you see, it's one of the old Studebaker pickups, fully restored. Not the most comfortable thing...no AC, no auto trans., no power steering, brakes, etc, only a crackly AM radio, and a clutch that cripples me for a day after I've driven it. Still, it's a crowd pleaser and I DO love the attention...blush!

I always dress the part. Ensemble One: Tight jeans, western shirt with Mom 'o Pearl buttons (snaps, actually), Resistol(TM) hat with feather, and my custom-made boots with those little silver caps on the toes...Pony tail.

E2: Bib overalls, plaid longsleeve shirt, straw hat or a "gimme" baseball type with either "John Deere" or some gun company or tackle company logo, Red Wing type work boots. And...Pony tail or one long braided "tail".

Many's the amazing $$$$ offers that have made for that truck, but it was bought new, back in the 40s, by BG's grandfather, so in the family it stays. But it's not so great for towing a heavy boat. Stopping it would be dicey too.

Frankly, I'd be nervous about towing a roller skate with it.

Well, this originally gloomy thread has been rescued, as have I, by my friends and lovers here. For that, I thank you.

Love,

Miss Yoli, Cowgirl Princess

PS: I effing HATE Country-Western music, but I can scoot a boot with the best of them. I'd also LOVE to introduce Carrie Underwood, Kelly Pickler, and a few others to Sapphic activity...if I'm not too late.

[A-1 (imported)]

Yoli,

With a 220 mile range (EPA said 249 in the warm climate of California-Arizona), you rould have to really commute a long, long way to run out of juice.

At any rate, I look for a small tow-behind trailer to be developed with a generator hooked up to a small motor to run a generator to hook up to the electrical system to extend the range of these indefinately, almost.

The eletrical draw at crusing speed is likely to be nominal and more than covered by a 5-10 hp motor that will run for 24 hours continuously on 5 gallons of gas. This would be the rig that you had to replace and repair regularlly.

You see, the problem with our cars today is that they are very, very inefficient and the energy available is wasted. With this system the motor could be designed to run at it's most efficient and just powerful enough to run the generating apparatus in the trailer.

In addition you'd never need a system like this if you only travel 200 miles a day or less.

By the time you pay for gas for your conventional sports car you will spend more money than you would on the Tesla. In addition, the car has about 1/4 the moving parts of ANY conventional car. No oil changes or tune-ups, minimal need for a mechanic, just charge it 3.5 hours and go.

The battery pack is guarranteed for 100,000 miles or five years. The Lithium ion batteries have a long life and more likely they would go 7 - 10 years and approach 200,000 miles before needing to be replaced.

Conventional lead-acid batteries do five years in conventional cars and mostly they do at least 5 years before their time to go comes from developing internal shorts. Mostly this is because they get water put into them that contains iron, calcium or some other mineral and the water evaporates leaving the goop behind to short out the plates.

With lithium ion batteries this does not happen.

Well, so much for the sales pitch. As J.T. says, "...I used to think that I was cool, running around on fossil fuel, until I saw what I was 'doin', was driving down the road to ru--in..."