Little News From Tesla

[KenK]

I think price does play a role in the hate, but I also think the media adds to it. Today, everything has to be sensationalized to sustain that sweet online ad revenue based business model. It's rather unfortunate.

I have an X 100D out in the driveway at this moment. It is a loaner while they replace the window (rock chip) on my S 75D. Both cars are amazing.

I think this sums it up:

 

[Made in USA]

This might prove interesting in the future.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3309580-co2-emissions-cut-eu-vehicles?uprof=45

If the USA follows suit, then the Elio will be one option to help cut CO2 emission's. Maybe not as much as an electric like Tesla, but it would be a reduction compared to most vehicles. Also, electric vehicles do cause pollution, mostly in the construction of the vehicle and the energy source that provides the electricity to recharge. From a technical viewpoint, controlling pollution at the manufacturer is more effective than dealing with individual vehicle pollution. Also, batteries, solar cells, etc., require raw materials that usually cause pollution when obtained and processed. A good way to reduce this is to design with 100% recyclable materials. While that helps, the recycle processing pollution must also be taken into account. In other words, the whole life cycle of a product should be taken into account when initially designed and engineered.

 

[johnsnownw]

Li-Ion is nearly 100% recyclable, and there has been no study that actually looked at the carbon footprint of manufacturing batteries while citing evidence to back up the numbers used. The most high-profile study made a complete guess on manufacturing emissions.

The Tesla Gigafactory is supposed to be run almost entirely on RE. Tesla is also sourcing as much raw material from NA as possible, including the lithium from just down the road. EVs aren't magical, of course, there will always be a cost to manufacture them, and their "greenness" is entirely dependent on the fuel used to generate the electricity. One positive for Tesla is that their battery packs appear that they will last much longer than anyone anticipated, and the longer the pack is in use, the lower its carbon footprint.

As for Elio, if they can meet their efficiency guidelines, and replace someone's single occupancy commuter vehicle they will definitely be making a huge improvement on the state of emissions. The Avg. US new car is only something like 26mpg...

 

[RSchneider]

Something to remember is that the Elio is considered a motorcycle. Thus it only has to meet motorcycle emissions. Exhaust emissions are not just CO2, but hydrocarbons, CO and NOX. NOX is what VW got nailed on because everything else was fine but NOX was too high. There are a few other things that cars have to adhere to and one in particular, the overall mileage. Cars have to keep their emission levels maintained for 150K while motocycles are 20K. There have been various tests that have found out that CO2 is less for a motorcycle, yet CO, HC and NOX are much much higher.

Hopefully Elio will follow and get certified by the EPA for the car standard for all tailpipe emissions including all weather conditions (including cold startup) and the mileage requirement. This is because Elio will be selling 250K of them per year and most will be getting the standard 15K miles per year just like a car. Plus most areas have no emission tests for motorcycles yet they do for cars. This will not give a check over the life of an Elio to make sure it's compliant for tailpipe emissions. A 10 year old car with 150K on it has to pass the same tailpipe emissions as when it was new. A 10 year old Elio with 150K miles does not and there's no check in the system to make sure it does if Elio tells us it should.

What nobody wants is less CO2 emissions yet 10X the amount for what causes smog. As we all know, VW got crucified for too much NOX emissions and they only sold 450K of those TDI's over a 6 year period. Elio will have sold 1.5M which is over 3X the amount during the same time period. I do remember a while back that even mythbusters did their own test of car vs motorcycle. I know it was not an official test but it gives insight as to the car vs motorcycle tailpipe emissions.

 

[Johnny Acree]

This sentence is confusing to me. What nobody wants is less CO2 emissions yet 10X the amount for what causes smog.

 

[johnsnownw]

In atmospheric chemistry, NOx is a generic term for the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution, namely nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).[1][2]These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as tropospheric ozone.

For instance, diesel vehicles are more efficient than petrol engines, effectively lowering their carbon footprint. Unfortunately, they produce higher NOx than petrol engines. You can reduce NOx by using urea, but the diesel gate scandal was basically centered around automakers not doing so, instead cheating on the emissions testing.

 

[Rob Croson]

Something to remember is that the Elio is considered a motorcycle. Thus it only has to meet motorcycle emissions.

EM cannot, and will not (I hope) try to get out of meeting specifications/regulations by playing the "it's a motorcycle card" any more than they need to. If they play the motorcycle car and produce something that does not meet as many automotive specs/regulations as they possibly can, they will fail to achieve mass market acceptance, and they will fold. They need to be, in essence, identical to a four wheel automobile, but with one less wheel.

 

[Sailor Dog]

Something to remember is that the Elio is considered a motorcycle. Thus it only has to meet motorcycle emissions. Exhaust emissions are not just CO2, but hydrocarbons, CO and NOX. NOX is what VW got nailed on because everything else was fine but NOX was too high. There are a few other things that cars have to adhere to and one in particular, the overall mileage. Cars have to keep their emission levels maintained for 150K while motocycles are 20K. There have been various tests that have found out that CO2 is less for a motorcycle, yet CO, HC and NOX are much much higher.

Hopefully Elio will follow and get certified by the EPA for the car standard for all tailpipe emissions including all weather conditions (including cold startup) and the mileage requirement. This is because Elio will be selling 250K of them per year and most will be getting the standard 15K miles per year just like a car. Plus most areas have no emission tests for motorcycles yet they do for cars. This will not give a check over the life of an Elio to make sure it's compliant for tailpipe emissions. A 10 year old car with 150K on it has to pass the same tailpipe emissions as when it was new. A 10 year old Elio with 150K miles does not and there's no check in the system to make sure it does if Elio tells us it should.

What nobody wants is less CO2 emissions yet 10X the amount for what causes smog. As we all know, VW got crucified for too much NOX emissions and they only sold 450K of those TDI's over a 6 year period. Elio will have sold 1.5M which is over 3X the amount during the same time period. I do remember a while back that even mythbusters did their own test of car vs motorcycle. I know it was not an official test but it gives insight as to the car vs motorcycle tailpipe emissions.

The pertinent point 250,000 ELIO's a year & 1.5 million ELIO's in 6 years, right?! Seriously though, in my amateur opinion, the 3 cylinder ELIO engine looks like it would be ultra low emissions and appears to me to be your typical ICE if more advanced than most and thus lower emissions when just factoring weight and aerodynamics.

 

[Donnyboy]

I don't hate the Tesla, I just don't love it. I have the means to purchase one, but after a grandfather drilled Great Depression lessons into my head as a child I am unable to part with that much money to get me from point A to point B. Or maybe too many Economics courses in college did it to me. Was probably a combination of both.

 

[Made in USA]

Some good Tesla news:

https://seekingalpha.com/news/33104...sses-just-180-built-october-elektrek?uprof=45