While browsing for a some 'in flight entertainment' for my trip to Wyoming this winter break, I came across a television show that quite interested me. It is a British car show, called
Top Gear, and its on the BBC. It features hillarious hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, and they interview British celebrities, cause shenanigans, and of course drive some awesome cars. And in an episode I recently watched from the 12th season, they highlighted two vehicles that greatly intrigued me. The first of which I will talk about in this post. In this episode,
host Jeremy Clarkson test drives an electric sports car called the Tesla Roadster. The Roadster is manufactured only in California at the moment and it is based on the
Lotus Elise. And Clarkson's findings are quite interesting. He puts the Tesla up against a normal gas powered Elise in a drag race. And the Tesla kills the petrol powered vehicle, doing 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, and reaching 10,500 RPMs in the short drag. Another upside to this car is the cost of fueling it, since it is electric, filling it up from a power source costs just $5.5 dollars, as opposed to filling a Lotus Elise with gas for $65. Furthermore, Tesla claims that even if you drive fast or sparatic, it will travel 200 miles between 'refuelling'. But despite Tesla's promises, both of the Roadsters that Top Gear was provided with broke down one way or another, and the one lasted only 65 miles. However, it takes 16 hours to fully charge a dead battery on a Tesla, and it costs three times as much as a normal Lotus Elise. But keep in mind that it went round the Top Gear track slightly faster than a
Porsche 911 GT3, so it
is a true sports car. I think that if Tesla makes the charge time shorter, and improves the longevity of the Roadster, it very well may be 'the car of the future'. What is your opinion of the Tesla? The car of the future, or dead in the road? Watch the clip and decide for yourself.
While browsing for a some 'in flight entertainment' for my trip to Wyoming this winter break, I came across a television show that quite interested me. It is a British car show, called Top Gear, and its on the BBC. It features hillarious hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, and they interview British celebrities, cause shenanigans, and of course drive some awesome cars. And in an episode I recently watched from the 12th season, they highlighted two vehicles that greatly intrigued me. The first of which I will talk about in this post. In this episode, host Jeremy Clarkson test drives an electric sports car called the Tesla Roadster. The Roadster is manufactured only in California at the moment and it is based on the Lotus Elise. And Clarkson's findings are quite interesting. He puts the Tesla up against a normal gas powered Elise in a drag race. And the Tesla kills the petrol powered vehicle, doing 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, and reaching 10,500 RPMs in the short drag. Another upside to this car is the cost of fueling it, since it is electric, filling it up from a power source costs just $5.5 dollars, as opposed to filling a Lotus Elise with gas for $65. Furthermore, Tesla claims that even if you drive fast or sparatic, it will travel 200 miles between 'refuelling'. But despite Tesla's promises, both of the Roadsters that Top Gear was provided with broke down one way or another, and the one lasted only 65 miles. However, it takes 16 hours to fully charge a dead battery on a Tesla, and it costs three times as much as a normal Lotus Elise. But keep in mind that it went round the Top Gear track slightly faster than a Porsche 911 GT3, so it is a true sports car. I think that if Tesla makes the charge time shorter, and improves the longevity of the Roadster, it very well may be 'the car of the future'. What is your opinion of the Tesla? The car of the future, or dead in the road? Watch the clip and decide for yourself.
yes... Best show ever.
ReplyDeleteAs for the actual content:
I am much more optimistic about hydrogen fuel cells. As James May speaks about at the end of this same episode (if I am not mistaken), what makes hydrogen the fuel of the future is that it is exactly the same as the fuel today. One can stop, fuel up and keep going.
Though Top Gear is very interesting, informative it is not. They say that that the car only managed about 65 miles before running out. This sounds a bit outrageous, but when you consider the fact that most cars are below 5 mpg on the test track, that stat isn't too bad. Top Gear hates both American and Electric cars, it was their unfortunate bias showing through.
I too enjoy this show. And I am also in support of the idea of fuel cell powered vehicles. They're emission free, and relatively easy to fill up and maintain. I think the main things that companies are dealing with right now are getting the prices down to a more marketable level, and then making liquid hydrogen pumps more available.
ReplyDelete...Which might take a few years. But once those things are taken care of, I definitely think that hydrogen could be the fuel of the future.