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ya mum!
Mate seriously, I think you need to get over the Govt. subsidising of Tesla. It's called investing in innovation, and all modern democratic governments do it. With the amount of tax they take from the cost of fossil fuels, they can afford to pump a fraction of it back into innovation to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.

And in America's case, it's much better than the BILLIONS upon BILLIONS wasted in Military spending. The latest Aircraft Carrier comes in at a cost of around $30BILLION!!! Not to mention the new Zumwallt class destroyer. The first one has so far cost $3.5BILLION after an initial order in the 1990s, and it's so unstable in medium rough sees it can capsize!!!

So if you want to despise something, despise military waste...
 

Calaber

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Unfortunately, nobody in Australia seems to be prepared to finance the development of locally designed and manufactured electric cars, yet this is probably one form of modern technology which we could and should invest in. Whilst the establishment and R & D costs would be very high, the potential market worldwide for an AFFORDABLE electric vehicle (I don't consider the Tesla to be affordable) has to be huge.

Tesla's have a decent range but the high price puts them out of reach of the vast majority of potential customers. In Australia, limited range is the biggest problem faced by electric propulsion, in company with limited recharging infrastructure. With our particular problems such as vast distances between major cities, and the fact that most of our cities sprawl over large areas, the Australian development of electric vehicles which satisfy our market needs would ensure that the vehicles were well suited to other markets where distances were also great. (Think of Canada, US, Africa and Asia. Even Russia).

Personally, I remain unconvinced about Hydrogen as a future fuel, because of the manufacturing, storage and distribution network costs. Electric power is much easier to "feed out" to recharge stations and the power generation infrastructure basically already exists. How much would it cost to provide recharging facilities at existing petrol stations, rather than creating new outlets? Initially, they would only have to be located well away from existing petrol pumps but as the market grew, additional recharge points could be installed. Think twenty years or so ahead, and petrol stations could see fossil fuels phased out and recharge point take the place of fuel pumps. (The only major cost here would be either removing or nullifying the empty fuel tanks.)

Turnbull has recently stated that he wants to attract the brightest stars to Australia for future research and development of a multitude of technologies. This is one that the world really needs. I'd like to think we could be a world leader in developing effective, practical and affordable electric cars, with an eye to massive exports or licensed manufacture of our technology by foreign manufacturers. This is the sort of industry that is sadly lacking here and it's obviously time that Australia stopped seeing itself as the world's quarry and started making things here that the world needs and wants badly.
 
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VS 5.0

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Honestly, I despise Tesla, not electric cars. Each taxpayer owns a piece of a Tesla and does not even know it.

The technology always finds its way, is not to the Gov to give them a free pass and/or throw money to their problems.

How many free passes did the Govt give your existing vehicle manufacturers as a result of the GFC ???????

Each taxpayer also owns a piece of them as well, as does each taxpayer in any nation that has a car manufacturer.

The automotive industry is certainly not h=the only industry that receives subsidies. Take all government subsidies away from all industries that receive them and then see what happens lol.
 

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Regarding the high purchase price for the Tesla (or any other branded commercial EV)....this is normal for emerging technologies.

I remember when the first CD 'audio only' players arrived in Australia, they set you back around $1500, now you can buy a CD/DVD player that also plays MP3 format for $39.
The first plasma flat screen TV's which were around 60-80cm screens cost $25,000 - $30,000 initially, then dropped to around $15,000 or so and now the flat panel LED HD smart TV's (with internet connectivity) 150cm are bigger n better and only $1,500 - $,2800 or so
 

Nitro_X

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Mate seriously, I think you need to get over the Govt. subsidising of Tesla. It's called investing in innovation, and all modern democratic governments do it. With the amount of tax they take from the cost of fossil fuels, they can afford to pump a fraction of it back into innovation to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.

And in America's case, it's much better than the BILLIONS upon BILLIONS wasted in Military spending. The latest Aircraft Carrier comes in at a cost of around $30BILLION!!! Not to mention the new Zumwallt class destroyer. The first one has so far cost $3.5BILLION after an initial order in the 1990s, and it's so unstable in medium rough sees it can capsize!!!

So if you want to despise something, despise military waste...

This is off topic, but I agree, on top of that the US gov. has spent $1 TRILLION on the war on drugs since 1970 (many of their prisons are now built and run privately....for PROFIT), $1.6 TRILLION fighting terrorism, $2 TRILLION on the war in Iraq, $10 TRILLION pumped into Wall Street since the GFC, by the Federal Reserve, to prop up the economy (mostly only helping the wealthy elites) and since 1964 they have spent $22 TRILLION fighting poverty!

There are currently more people claiming food stamps in the US than ever before.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
 

Skydrol

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There is nothing wrong to give an aide but come on.... this is going too far. Has been proven many times the company is a money loosing operation. Link

Raj, is hard to get over when you see the Gov pissing money away.


Again, not against electric cars at all, just the company itself that is nothing more than a political white elephant.

Few months back, was working on a local college giving some input on Composites. They wanted to convert a Smart 42 to drag race, proof of concept, some like the Datsun White Zombie electric drag car. They took a perfectly good running 2nd hand car, pulled the engine out and installed some off the shelf car batteries (keep the cost down) Not enough room in the car to get enough power, the range limited to 20 miles, no AC, no Radio, nothing.... the total cost exceeded the original purchase cost. Turned out that was an excercise on how to waste a Gov grant for Green Technology.

If anybody create a battery with an energy density comparable to a full tank of petrol, or a fuel cell capable of producing a good amount of constant energy, will be an instant Billionaire. I think the tech needs further study and economical sensible research.

GM got it right with the EV 1. They paid for the research and was a decent alternative. Led to the invention of the Nickle-Metal Hydride battery. Research on it, you will find out how got killed.
 
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6LSSVE

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Recently been playing with some fairly extreme brushless electric motors and LiPo power cells in various RC craft (12S for those that know).
I can honestly say that the internal combustion engine is about to be superseded.
50,000+ RPM, 6Kw, 44V @ 300A - and it's just a toy!
I used to play with nitro methanol until I discovered this gear.
 

Skydrol

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One huge advantage of electric motors is the design freedom. No need to worry about radiators, exhaust or intake routing. Sound proofing and/or gearing, great weight distribution; very simple to work on.

As far LiPo, personally, I do trust them. Seen those thing burn on RC Aircrafts. That is more of a capacitor than a battery. Even the Lithium Ion are dangerous. The 787 has been grounded for such battery.

Still, a cost effective, portable and safe energy generation and/or storage is one illusive booger.
 
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Talking about emerging energy technologies and alternatives for cars, scientist in Germany recently confirmed STABLE fusion (sometimes incorrectly called "cold fusion") for one second. It was the planned duration. But it's a MASSIVE milestone. It's basically doing what the Sun does. Once THAT technology is harnessed it's basically UNLIMITED, clean energy.


So this could soon (and by soon I mean probably decades) be a real possibility:

back-to-future-ii-mr-fusion-home-energy-reactor-replica-xl.jpg
 

Darren_L

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doesn't really matter now if Tesla is going bust.

Even if they shut their doors tomorrow, their achievements alone will ensure the future of electric powered cars.
Most people didn't take EV's seriously until the Tesla, they were a bit of a joke. Hybrids have been somewhat adopted, but nothing ground breaking since some of the diesels now can achieve similar. There were some other electric powered cars, but they were awkward looking things that only a nerd would drive, gutless, very limited economy if not better. But Tesla has brought out electric vehicles that look like a half decent car, big luxury 4 door sedan comparable in size to a Commodore/Falcon, have a range of around 500kms, and are taking on some of the worlds fastest supercars in performance.

So whether Tesla is still around in a years time doesn't really matter. The technology is now there, proven and only going to get cheaper. People's attitude towards EV's have largely changed. Tesla's achievements have forced other manufacturers to step up their game and adopt similar technology in their own cars. Porsche, Maserati are just a couple of names who are now looking at electric power and that same technology is eventually going to filter down to more entry level cars.
 
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