Tech Directions - April 2008 - (Page 10)

technology today Alan Pierce pierceaj@optonline.net Seeing Beyond Gasoline-Powered Vehicles Our world’s population now spends $3 trillion a year on automobile- and gasoline-related purchases. This global economic spending on paper is a perfect split with $1.5 trillion a year going to the auto industry and the same amount of money funding gasoline purchases. (BusinessWeek (2008, Feb. 4), p. 43) The volatility of gasoline prices is slowly forcing auto manufacturers and consumers to recognize that at some point in the future automobiles will need to be completely weaned off gasoline. The current U.S. demand for hybrid vehicles shows that people are ready to switch to vehicles that squeeze more miles out of a gallon of gasoessentially indicated that GM celebrated its lawsuit victory by crushing all its EV1s. However, the electric car didn’t die, and with the major auto developers diverting their research to Photo 1 was scheduled to start on March 17, 2008. This makes Tesla Motors the first assembly line manufacturer of an EV. The Tesla Roadster has already met all Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT NHTSA) required standards for sale in North America, including all crash testing. Since this vehicle’s fuel is electricity, Tesla Motors wanted to determine the distance that its Roadster can go on a single charge compared with how far a car could Photo 1—The Tesla Roadster, an electric car that costs only 2¢ per mile to operate. Photos courtesy Tesla Motors Photo 2— Component details line, are friendlier to the environment, and also help our country become less dependent on foreign oil. General Motors (GM) was once a major innovator in the electric car movement. After the company basically announced that its EV1 was ready for market, it won a major lawsuit against California’s ZEV mandate that called for extremely tough standards for fuel efficiency. GM successfully argued that only the federal government can set fuelefficiency standards. The 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? hybrid and fuel cells vehicles, the electric vehicle (EV) field was left open to smaller players like Tesla Motors. The dream of electric cars that don’t require any gasoline is very similar to the original dream of Nikola Tesla, a world-famous early 20th century physicist, who dreamt of a world where electricity would flow to devices without wires. Tesla Motors adopted the Tesla name as its own to reflect its parallel vision of a world where people would drive cars that didn’t use gasoline. Full production of the car in travel on an equivalent amount of gasoline. So Tesla Motors determined its vehicle’s efficiency by using the combined highway and city driving testing procedures developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine fuel efficiency for gasolinepowered vehicles. The combined EPA city and highway testing cycle showed that the Tesla Roadster averages 221 miles on a single charge. The Tesla Roadster is 100 percent electric and still capable of going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds. However, the early production vehicles will have a transmission that will limit their 0 to 60 acceleration to 5.7 seconds. Tesla Motors is building the car from the ground up with an all-aluminum chassis and 100 percent carbon fiber body panels. Alan Pierce, Ed.D., CSIT, is a technology education consultant. Visit www.technologytoday.us for past columns and teacher resources. 10 techdirections ◆ APRIL 2008 http://www.technologytoday.us

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech Directions - April 2008

Tech Directions - April 2008 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology's Past Technology Today Mastering Computers A Bridge to the Future Aeronautics Study Takes Off! Glider Design for Beginners Project Engineer in the Heavy Construction Industry for Renewable Energy Annual Buyers' Guide More than Fun

Tech Directions - April 2008

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