Tesla at Jan 15th AX - Drive it!

[Curt Yaws]

Tesla Motors will bring a Tesla electric car to our autocross on January 15th at Qualcomm Stadium. They will have representatives available and you will be able to drive the car. We don't anticipate that it will be driven on the AX track, but will be available for street driving.

Much like our Porsches, this car is an engineering and technological marvel, and it should be of great interest to our members. All members are welcome to attend, even if you are not driving in the autocross.

[Mmagus]

Very Cool!

Though I am sure you have already planned this, might we send the info to the SDR membership? I am guessing that lots of non-ax regualars would love to know.

[Curt Yaws]

I'll have Angela spam it.

[ttweed]

We don't anticipate that it will be driven on the AX track...

Why not? It would be fun! Instant max. torque from an electric motor housed in a Lotus chassis would be a hoot on a short course. Summon your powers of persuasion and make it happen, Curt.

I wish I could afford one, but we ordered a Nissan Leaf for my wife instead. Not nearly as sporty, but 1/4 the cost of the Tesla. I am definitely planning to sneak it out past her somehow and try an autox in it when it arrives this spring.

TT

[Jad]

I seriously wanted to buy the Tesla type S, but it has been delayed so many times, I gave up long ago. Would be fun to drive the original. I image there will be enough demand without advertising to much

[Curt Yaws]

Tom, they said something about "race track" and "insurance" in the same sentence, and that we would not be able to put it on the AX course. However, I saw one out in Borrego Springs yesterday and talked to the owner. He said it was staggeringly quick. Anyway, it will be fun to get in it and drive a bit! It's very small.

[pecivil]

not as quick as an elise, nor as fast thru the corners. I think it adds 400 or so pounds from the elise weight from the batteries.

In lotus circles its is considered an overweight piggy!!

[ttweed]

In lotus circles its is considered an overweight piggy!!

In EV circles it is considered a performance king.
"One man's ceiling is another man's floor."
TT

[ttweed]

I'll have Angela spam it.

OK, I got an email from Angela yesterday with more info about the details regarding the Tesla Test Drive at the Q on Jan 15th. What she wrote seems to have a lot of contradictions with what was posted here previously. It said the Tesla would be allowed on the track, and that there would be 5 PCA members selected to drive it by a "raffle" drawing, and 10 "guest" Tesla owners from the 32 in San Diego who would be invited to enter their cars in the AX if they wished. Additionally, it didn't seem that we would be able to test drive the car at all, even off the track on surface streets, if we weren't one of the "lucky five" to win the raffle, or weren't willing to put down a $9,900 refundable deposit on the car. There was also mention of the Tesla reps providing an unknown quantity of "VIP Private Test Drive Certificates" to "qualified" Porsche owners to be scheduled "directly at their home or office" (implying at a later date).

Now I'm totally confused about what will actually be happening on the 15th. It sounds like that for most of us, there will be a static display of two roadsters which we can examine and ask questions about, but not drive. Hopefully, more info will be forthcoming as we get closer to the date? How does one "qualify" for one of these "VIP Private Test Drive Certificates" other than by putting down a deposit?

TT

[Mmagus]

I'll have Angela spam it.

OK, I got an email from Angela yesterday with more info about the details regarding the Tesla Test Drive at the Q on Jan 15th. What she wrote seems to have a lot of contradictions with what was posted here previously. It said the Tesla would be allowed on the track, and that there would be 5 PCA members selected to drive it by a "raffle" drawing, and 10 "guest" Tesla owners from the 32 in San Diego who would be invited to enter their cars in the AX if they wished. Additionally, it didn't seem that we would be able to test drive the car at all, even off the track on surface streets, if we weren't one of the "lucky five" to win the raffle, or weren't willing to put down a $9,900 refundable deposit on the car. There was also mention of the Tesla reps providing an unknown quantity of "VIP Private Test Drive Certificates" to "qualified" Porsche owners to be scheduled "directly at their home or office" (implying at a later date).

Now I'm totally confused about what will actually be happening on the 15th. It sounds like that for most of us, there will be a static display of two roadsters which we can examine and ask questions about, but not drive. Hopefully, more info will be forthcoming as we get closer to the date? How does one "qualify" for one of these "VIP Private Test Drive Certificates" other than by putting down a deposit?

TT

I think, perhaps, what we are seeing Tom are not contradictions, but rather changes. It was thought/hoped to be the first thing, then as finalizations were made it was changed to the other. Isn't that the way life is? My impression is that the current information is exactly as described in Andela's email and no more will be forthcomming. But hey, the plan changed once, so who knows? I don't know how you get a VIP Cert, but they will have reps with the cars all day and I am sure they can let us in on it. Its cool that they are choosing to even bring them out, I sure havn't had the opportunity to even see one, much less get up close and personal with it. Plus if some owners do come out and run, that would be great, I would love to see how a car like that stacks up to our various models of Porsches. Should be fun!

[Curt Yaws]

Tesla has in fact changed their driving offer mostly due to re-charging issues of the batteries, especially when driven briskly.

However, we will be able to see this historic car and some members will be able to drive it. There are currently 32 Tesla owners in San Diego and some of them may also be there to drive and participate with us.

[LUCKY DAVE]

I can see there might be an issue there. How long do you suppose a Tesla will "charge" around an AX track on a (full) charge?
Will they have to bring a huge trailer mounted diesel generator behind a heavy tow tow vehicle to demonstrate how "green" the car is?

From the above you may guess that from an engineer's point of view I'm not a fan of EVs or hybrids. If we really want to save fuel we should all be driving modern turbocharged smart diesels as DDs like they do everywhere else in the world where fuel is expensive.

[ttweed]

I can see there might be an issue there. How long do you suppose a Tesla will "charge" around an AX track on a (full) charge?
Will they have to bring a huge trailer mounted diesel generator behind a heavy tow tow vehicle to demonstrate how "green" the car is?

The Tesla roadster has a range of about 250 miles on a full charge. Heavy-footed use may decrease that by 20-30%, so it should be able to drive 25 easy miles to the stadium, run 100+ hard laps on the longest track we have ever thrown there, and still make it home with battery charge to spare.

From the above you may guess that from an engineer's point of view I'm not a fan of EVs or hybrids. If we really want to save fuel we should all be driving modern turbocharged smart diesels as DDs like they do everywhere else in the world where fuel is expensive.

Reducing petroleum fuel use through efficiency is not the only goal or appeal of EVs. Economic and political considerations for reducing our dependence on foreign oil imports is only one aspect of the problem. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is important as well, unless one chooses to deny the scientific evidence of global climate change from anthropogenic sources, which is a popular strategy among fundamentalist Christian creationists, conservative talk show hosts, and former female vice-presidential candidates from Alaska, who shall remain nameless here, but accepted as fact by 97% of the experts working in the field. For the nation as a whole, the total greenhouse gas emissions from our US light duty vehicle fleet are expected to be reduced by 27% from the projected penetration of PHEVs and BEVs. In areas that do not depend on coal as the source of energy (like San Diego and most of the west coast) this number is more like 40%.

Despite the FUD being spread around, there are careful, unbiased studies that you could appreciate from your engineering POV, which calculate these benefits and estimate that we could power 73% of our LDV fleet in the US without major improvement to the utility grid by utilizing off-peak generation capacity. Higher utilization of total grid capacity will result in reduced average utility costs for everyone. It is a win-win situation all around, and we have to start somewhere. I am the last guy who wants to give up my gas-guzzling hot rods, but we can't continue to pollute our planet and spend massive amounts of our money defending our oil interests in foreign countries forever. It is an unsustainable path we are on, I believe. I am going to try to do my small part by at least converting my run-around-town vehicle usage to electric power.

TT

[LUCKY DAVE]

Tom, where do you suppose the electricity that comes out of your socket comes from? Good guesses would be Washington state (hydroelectric - good) Utah (coal - bad), and Arizona (coal - bad). We sure aren't producing enough in California to meet our needs, and the nature of the power grid is real-time spot sales in any event so you never really know where that particular kilowatt hour came from.
Then there are transmission losses. Only a small percentage of the load on that distant generating station ends up charging your car, yet the fuel consumed there is consistent with the large load. Now it's true that large scale generating is more efficient than small stand alone equipment (cars) but the transmission losses alone often render that a moot point.
If you want to talk about climate change research and the "head in the sand" nonbelievers I can do that all day, as that's what I do for a living at Scripps Insitiution of Oceanography. Too much typing for a forum though....

[JERRY B]

The trailer mounted genset would be a turbo diesel, Soo there green as can be
They actually requsted a 220 plug from the stadium I haven't heard if that worked out, If not they will recharge at the Marriot's plug