Can a Little Known Car Company Save the World from War?
October 10, 2006 by John Allen · Leave a Comment
Can a Little Know Car Company Save the World from War?
Tesla Motors Wages War Against the Past and Drives Towards a Real New World Order
by John P. Allen
With our U.S. Veterans suffering more than anytime since Vietnam and with no end in site for our soldiers on the ground fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, can a little known car company and its leaders save us and the world from war?
Well, if one can bypass the rationale for war given to us by our current leaders in Washington D.C. and subsequently follow the money into Big Oil, then, yes, one can make the connection.
First, is there a doubt that oil is the biggest scurge in our world over the last 100 years. If there was no oil in the Middle East would our solidiers really be there? And when the history of our past 100 years is written might our future humans look back at this time as The Dirty Oil Wars?
Now while the internal combustion engine and our industrial revolution provided tremendous world change that has benefitted the world in many ways, it’s also comes with an extremely high price in both enviroment and more.
So now what? Seems to me that if we are going to realize our visions, hopes, and dreams, it’s time for a wholesale change. The current paradigm in Washington is not working and now it is time for a Real New World Order. But wait, here she comes …. a new idea, a new player, a real part of the solution……Meet Tesla Motors!
Just in time, here comes Tesla Motors; a maverick, a fresh face, a chance at a new place where our world is clean and not forced to dominate others just to serve a dirty commodity that we must have to fuel the economy. Is this the real answer to ending terrorism and war? Well……First, remember the name Martin Eberhard. Then after you read this article and check them out and ask yourself “Is Mr. Eberhard a profiteer or a hero? I urge you to challenge yourself and even me. You should know that this writer say’s he is both which is great! This is the only way to get it done! It must be both. A win/win for everyone insures that we now have a real chance for victory against pollution, oil wars, and dirtied integrity.
Efficiency & Performance
Gone are the days when sports cars demanded a choice between efficiency and performance. Now it’s no longer a zero-sum game. Instead, you get peak performance at every moment, with little mileage penalty.
Instant Freedom
The first time you drive the Tesla Roadster, prepare to be surprised. You’re at freeway speed in seconds without even thinking about it. There’s no clutch to contend with and no race-car driving techniques to perform. Just the touch of your foot and you’re off, without any of the sluggishness of an automatic.
How powerful is the acceleration? A quick story to illustrate. A favorite trick here at Tesla Motors is to invite a passenger along and ask him to turn on the radio. At the precise moment we ask, we accelerate. Our passenger simply can’t sit forward enough to reach the dials. But who needs music when you’re experiencing such a symphony of motion.
Rest assured that this responsiveness works at all speeds, as noticeable when you’re inching your way through parking lots as when flying along freeways.
100% Torque, 100% of the Time
The Tesla Roadster delivers full availability of performance every moment you are in the car, even while at a stoplight. Its peak torque begins at zero rpm and stays powerful beyond 13,000 rpm.
This is the precise opposite of what you experience with a gasoline engine, which has very little torque at a low rpm and only reaches peak torque in a narrow rpm range. This forces you to make frequent gear changes to maintain optimal torque. With the Tesla Roadster, you get great acceleration and the highest energy efficiency at the same time. All while requiring no special driving skills to enjoy it. This makes the Tesla Roadster six times as efficient as the best sports cars while producing one-tenth of the pollution.
How It Works
When you build a car that’s electric, you start with one built-in advantage: Electric cars just don’t have to be as complex mechanically as the car you’re probably driving now. Sophisticated electronics and software take the place of the pounds and pounds of machinery required to introduce a spark and ignite the fuel that powers an internal combustion engine.
For example, the typical four-cylinder engine of a conventional car comprises over a hundred moving parts. By comparison, the motor of the Tesla Roadster has just one: the rotor. So there’s less weight to drive around and fewer parts that could break or wear down over time.
But the comparison doesn’t end with the counting of moving parts. The engine and transmission of a conventional car also need lubricating oils, filters, coolant, clutches, spark plugs and wires, a PCV valve, oxygen sensors, a timing belt, a fan belt, a water pump and hoses, a catalytic converter, and a muffler all items requiring service, and all items that aren’t needed in an electric car.
The Tesla Roadster’s elegantly designed powertrain consists of just the four main components discussed below. Mind you, these aren’t “off-the-shelf” components, and each includes innovations, both small and large. But when you build a car from the ground up, you have the luxury of questioning every assumption and to distill as you reinvent.
The Energy Storage System (ESS)
When we set out to build a high-performance electric car, the biggest challenge was obvious from the start: the battery. Its complexities are clear: it’s heavy, expensive, and offers limited power and range. Yet it has one quality that eclipses these disadvantages and motivated us to keep working tirelessly: it’s clean.
The Tesla Roadster’s battery pack the car’s “fuel tank” represents the biggest innovation in the Tesla Roadster and is one of the largest and most advanced battery packs in the world. We’ve combined basic proven lithium ion battery technology with our own unique battery pack design to provide multiple layers of safety. It.s light, durable, recyclable, and it is capable of delivering enough power to accelerate the Tesla Roadster from zero to 60 mph in approximately four seconds. Meanwhile, the battery stores enough energy for the vehicle to travel 250 miles without recharging, something no other production electric vehicle in history can claim.
Motor
Some people find it hard to imagine our car’s Lamborghini-beating acceleration comes from a motor about the size of a watermelon. And while most car engines have to be moved with winches or forklifts, ours weighs about 70 pounds a strong person could carry it around in a backpack (although we don’t recommend it). Compare that to the mass of machinery under the hood of $300,000 supercars that still can’t accelerate as quickly as the Tesla Roadster.
But more important than the motor’s size or weight is its efficency. Without proper efficiency, a motor will convert electrical energy into heat instead of rotational energy. So we designed our motor to have efficiencies of 85 to 95 percent; this way the precious stored energy of the battery pack ends up propelling you down the road instead of just heating up the trunk.
Transmission
Our transmission couples the fuel efficiency of a manual with the driving ease of an automatic. The Tesla Roadster has only two forward gears, allowing you to fine-tune your driving experience (but either gear will work for most driving scenarios). Unlike a manual transmission, the car will not stall if you have it in the wrong gear. There’s also no clutch, so you can launch from a full stop to freeway speed without taking your focus off the road, your foot off the accelerator, or your hands off the wheel.
Power Electronics Module (PEM)
Most of the subsystems in the Tesla Roadster are completely electronic and under direct software control. But unlike all other cars, these systems are not a hodge-podge of independent systems instead, they are designed as an integrated system, the way complex network and computer systems are designed today.
You’ll see the hub of this network every time you pop the trunk the Power Electronics Module. When you shift gears or accelerate in the Tesla Roadster, the PEM translates your commands into precisely timed voltages, telling the motor to respond with the proper speed and direction of rotation. The PEM also controls motor torque, charging, and regenerative braking, and it monitors things like the voltage delivered by the ESS, the speed of rotation of the motor, and the temperatures of the motor and power electronics.
The PEM controls over 200 kW of electrical power during peak acceleration enough power to illuminate 2,000 incandescent light bulbs.
