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REPORT: Mercedes Preparing 532 HP Electric SLS Gullwing
Detroit, 4:07 PM
Sun Nov 8
7 posts in the last 24 hours
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REPORT: Mercedes Preparing 532 HP Electric SLS Gullwing |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
07/10/09
We've seen electric sports cars, they look slick. We've seen the power and torque numbers, we're all very impressed. We've been shown that electric cars can be a lot of fun, it's exciting. But every single time they come up short on range.
112 miles wont cut it because, as recent history has shown, it will take 4-8 hours to charge this thing up for another 112 mile run. Yes, that's fine for a commuter rig that gets you to and from the office. But on the weekend I want to take an 800 mile road trip and I need to be able to keep up 60-80mph the whole time. I don't have time for 64 hours of recharging in one weekend.
We've got high performance electrics coming out our ears, what we need is something, anything, that can get the road trip done. I don't even care what it looks like at this point. Make an electric minivan with a 500 mi per charge range and I'll be impressed. Come up with that technology and you'll turn some heads. Once the road trip is conquered we can take a look back at the sports car and merge some technology. Until then every electric sports car that comes out is just another toy. Master the electric road trip and electric will have turned the corner toward a viable transportation alternative.
07/10/09
Why not incorporate a 2-cylinder gas engine driving a generator instead of 500 lbs of batteries?
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Bur really, I think in the case of this car with the 4 independent motors it is much more efficient to have them just directly drive each wheel. You sacrifice some top end speed sure, but, 120 mph is still pretty fast, especially when you spend a vast majority of your time doing between 50 and 80 on the highway.
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