New electric car battery plant.

[Seasoned Oak]

This seems like progress. The good news is its going up in the USA and not farmed out to china or some other jobs black hole. ELectric cars wont solve all of our problems but they sure can help as a viable alternative.
Side note: Gas prices are spiking in PA as a new wholesale oil tax takes effect.
People will buy electric cars for the same reason they buy wood stoves,to get the oil gorrilla off their backs.

 

[WiscWoody]

I heard something about Consumers Union picking a Tesla electric car as top rated? It is expensive now but it will the cost will come down and at some point in the future I think they'll look at internal combustion engines the same way we look at steam engines of the past.

 

[BrotherBart]

How many sq. ft. will a Tesla heat?

(broken link removed)

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Although id be surprised if tesla is around in its present form 5 years from now,they have done wonders for the electrification of the automobile. Literally embarrassed GM into
developing the volt.
Interesting ,milestone 400 million electric miles and rising. At some point they will make a significant dent in the transportation fuel consumption rate.
http://gm-volt.com/2014/02/25/volt-fleet-to-cross-400-million-ev-miles-today/

 

[WiscWoody]

How many sq. ft. will a Tesla heat?

(broken link removed)

From the flames I see I'd say a good 4000 sq ft! It doesn't look like a EPA burner.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

From the flames I see I'd say a good 4000 sq ft! It doesn't look like a EPA burner.

Being electric its not a CAT model either.

 

[fossil]

http://www.businessinsider.com/17-cars-catch-on-fire-every-hour-in-the-us-2013-11

 

[scooby074]

How many sq. ft. will a Tesla heat?

(broken link removed)

About the same as a Ferrari

Or an F150

 

[BrotherBart]

Looks like the F-150 would heat the largest area. Well, depending on insulation and windows.

 

[scooby074]

Looks like the F-150 would heat the largest area. Well, depending on insulation and windows.

Maybe for a sustained burn..Like a old Smoke Dragon

But the Ferrari would get things heated in a hurry then burn out. Sort of like those high efficiency, modern European Gassifiers.

 

[BrotherBart]

Insured: Hello Bill. Had a fire. Vehicle is totaled.

Insurance agent: Please tell me it was the F-150. Not the Ferrari.

 

[begreen]

 

[begreen]

I'm excited by the new factory, especially because it is in the US. If they apply the same assembly techniques that have been learned with the Tesla S then it should dramatically lower the cost of batteries. This is good for Tesla, Toyota or Chevy.

Not sure about the Volt comment. Chevy was showing a Volt concept vehicle in early 2007, a year before the Tesla? FWIW, I really like our Volt. It's a great driving car.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Li-ions are also known to flame out in laptops and airplanes if not thermally regulated correctly. GM seems to have got it right.

Not sure about the Volt comment. Chevy was showing a Volt concept vehicle in early 2007, a year before the Tesla? FWIW, I really like our Volt. It's a great driving car.

Tesla may have influenced their decision to go ahead with production. Bob lutz commented at the time, that if a couple of guys can do this out of their garage a big car company like GM can certainly do it as well or better.(May not be exact words)

 

[begreen]

I'd think he was referring to the roadster. The S came out much later and was not made in a garage.

 

[begreen]

Has anyone calculated how many batteries a plant this size will produce a day and how many cars they will power?

 

[peakbagger]

The big value with lots of electric cars is the battery packs lose capacity long before they wear out. Chevy teamed up with an equipment supplier to use used Volt batteries for stationary power storage. I expect Tesla will also. A Tesla battery is supposedly large enough to supply a house for three days. That make non gird tied power a lot easier and if some well off person wants to subsidize the cost of the battery by buying a Tesla so I get a battery for a far lower cost used, great for me.

 

[midwestcoast]

Has anyone calculated how many batteries a plant this size will produce a day and how many cars they will power?

I read that they are planning to be building 500,000 Tesla/yr by 2020 and to supply all the batteries from this plant. Not sure if they are planning to sell to other companies as well? Since Panasonic is one of the partners, I'd expect yes.

It's awesome to see a company succeeding by building an electric vehicle that looks gorgeous, drives like the best luxury vehicles (so I hear anyway), gets rave reviews for quality, and doing so much of the fab & assembly in the U.S.
Hats off to Musk. He's got extraordinary vision & seems to be extraordinarily able to make his visions into reality.

 

[semipro]

I think Tesla has plans for these batteries beyond cars, things like grid storage, etc.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Yes when we can take the old batteries from our vehicles & place them in our homes, tie them to the solar panels, then we are getting places. Even if all we can do is slowly remove the residential loads from the grid it will make a huge difference.

 

[Redbarn]

Tesla have stated that one of the reasons for dramatically increasing their battery production capacity is to help buffer electricity demand at their charging stations. By using large battery banks, they can even out power demand and avoid the high use charges that power companies put on high draw surges.

One of the limitations of electric cars is that they can accept charge faster than the electric grid can supply it.
By using Li ion battery banks, charge turn around time can be reduced.

 

[semipro]

Its interesting to think that underground storage tanks full of petrol fuel at filling stations and supplied by over the road tankers may be replaced by banks of batteries at charging stations charged continuously by the grid and able to very quickly 'fill up' electric vehicles.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Its interesting to think that underground storage tanks full of petrol fuel at filling stations and supplied by over the road tankers may be replaced by banks of batteries at charging stations charged continuously by the grid and able to very quickly 'fill up' electric vehicles.

So far no one has gone that route. As ranges increase it probably wont be necessary.

 

[jebatty]

I can foresee in the near future the local power distribution company having battery banks staged throughout its system which may largely make the concept of need for peak power generation from large power plants a thing of the past. Also will make distributed power a reality. I can foresee the power company furnishing and leasing a battery pack to a homeowner or business for her grid-tied system, soaking up the extra power from the home solar and then delivering it back during non-production times; also soaking up excess grid power, on and off, as power demand changes from minute to minute, and then delivering it back to even out distribution.

The importance of peak power demand as currently emphasized by Big Power is a ruse to kill competition and protect profits. If a company like Tesla can raise money for a big battery plant, Big Power can easily do it. I think Big Power is a dinosaur in its own time, and will be passed by with innovation from those who see a brighter future than fossil fuel based power. What's the common thread among horseshoes, Swiss mechanical watches, buggy wheels and Big Power? Extinction.

 

[brenndatomu]

Electric cars solve one problem, create several others...not a solution IMO.

buggy wheels... Extinction.

Not extinct, just endangered

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