FWIW, I have a good friend in the Pantera club whose brother is the chief battery engineer for Tesla Motors
For those who might not be aware, Tesla is the furthest along in producing a genuine electric-powered sports car. The chassis design is based on that of the Lotus Elise (and in fact the chassis/body/suspension/etc. is manufactured for them by Lotus in Hethel).
He brought the factory demonstrator to a Pantera club meeting a few months ago, and I was able to wangle a ride in the thing.
It feels very similar to an Elise, as you might imagine, but the acceleration is very different--extremely linear, and unlike a gasoline-powered car, the *rate* of acceleration seemed to go up, not down, as speed increased.
And speed DID increase, a bunch! This sucker is WAY fast.
With the complete absence of noise from an internal combustion engine, tire noise (and the associated noise of pebbles being flung into the wheelwells by the sticky tires) became very noticeable.
The overall sound and feel is that of a golf cart on steroids, with the distinctive golf cart whine from the transmission (nominally a two-speed gearbox, but with the lower gear locked out due to reliability problems, meaning it's effectively a single-speed transmission) and the aforementioned tire noise, coupled with wind noise as the only aural signals received.
And that is the great downfall of the thing. It just drove home the point that a substantial portion of the enjoyment of driving a sports car comes from the aural cues that you get from the engine and drivetrain. Whether it's the wail of a highly-tuned Italian V-12, or the basso profundo bellow of a 427 Cobra's open sidepipes, or the delicious scream of a Ford V8 through 180-degree exhausts, the engine noise is as important as its ability to propel the car forward.
So, no electric sports cars for me!
For those who might not be aware, Tesla is the furthest along in producing a genuine electric-powered sports car. The chassis design is based on that of the Lotus Elise (and in fact the chassis/body/suspension/etc. is manufactured for them by Lotus in Hethel).
He brought the factory demonstrator to a Pantera club meeting a few months ago, and I was able to wangle a ride in the thing.
It feels very similar to an Elise, as you might imagine, but the acceleration is very different--extremely linear, and unlike a gasoline-powered car, the *rate* of acceleration seemed to go up, not down, as speed increased.
And speed DID increase, a bunch! This sucker is WAY fast.
With the complete absence of noise from an internal combustion engine, tire noise (and the associated noise of pebbles being flung into the wheelwells by the sticky tires) became very noticeable.
The overall sound and feel is that of a golf cart on steroids, with the distinctive golf cart whine from the transmission (nominally a two-speed gearbox, but with the lower gear locked out due to reliability problems, meaning it's effectively a single-speed transmission) and the aforementioned tire noise, coupled with wind noise as the only aural signals received.
And that is the great downfall of the thing. It just drove home the point that a substantial portion of the enjoyment of driving a sports car comes from the aural cues that you get from the engine and drivetrain. Whether it's the wail of a highly-tuned Italian V-12, or the basso profundo bellow of a 427 Cobra's open sidepipes, or the delicious scream of a Ford V8 through 180-degree exhausts, the engine noise is as important as its ability to propel the car forward.
So, no electric sports cars for me!
