29 March 2021

National Electric Vehicle Festival - Now with Tesla Roadster

| Quintessence
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First filed [Sep 21, 2009 @ 17:24]
[Ed] For those asking about the Tesla Roadster, here it is.

READ ALSO The best places to buy electric cars in Canberra



Come and see the future today in Electric vehicles at the National Electric Vehicle Festival – organised by the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) and Canberra EV.
When: Sunday 4 October, 2009. 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Where: Old Parliament House Lawns, Parkes Place, Parkes, ACT, Canberra, Australia

Entry: Free!

There will be:

    • * Demo runs of the Tesla Roadster electric super car

 

    • * Historical Electric Vehicles such as the Detroit Electric

 

    • * Electric Vehicle converter stalls

 

    • * Electric Vehicle parts suppliers stalls

 

    • * Electric Vehicle Science & Technology stalls

 

    • * Upcoming Production Electric Vehicles

 

    • * Food & Refreshments

 

    * and much more!!!

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captainwhorebags7:27 am 09 Oct 09

Electric cars are all about de-coupling the mode of transport from the energy source. Sure, the power grid is primary supplied by coal now but as more and more renewable energy plants (or even non renewables like nuclear) come online, the car gets “greener” without having to change vehicles.

Fossil fuel cars using ICE will always be fossil fuel cars (without massive re-engineering to replace the engine).

Whilst there are thousands of jobs in coal mining and coal power plants, the government will be loathe to upset that applecart. Peter Beattie pretty much said so when he was QLD premier – he would oppose nuclear power in this country because of the QLD coal industry.

Danman said :

All I am saying is that we need to get rid of the worlds reliance on a limited resource.

Agree 100%

I’d love to see Australia step up and be one of the leaders of new technology in this field, but sadly we’re pouring most of our resources into keeping coal alive.

Thoroughly Smashed11:30 am 08 Oct 09

taco said :

Danman said :

Which reminds me about the prior talk about disposing of batteries. On the Tesla website they discuss how the roadster’s battery pack is compliant with RoHS and is theoretically safe to dispose of in landfill, but that would be a waste of money and they already have a recycling plan in place.

It would be a shame to waste all that Lithium.

Gungahlin Al11:20 am 08 Oct 09

Ah…headphones fixed…but still v quiet – I think my old R/C car made as much noise. Maybe you need a switch that at will turns on some speakers producing the dulcet tones of a screaming Lambo V12?

Danman said :

All I am saying is that we need to get rid of the worlds reliance on a limited resource.

Think of how many things are generated from fossil fuels, and made from petrochemicals… They are a finite source…..we WILL run out eventually – then what ? We’re fuct.

Watch the world crumble when the oil and coal runs dry and we have no redundancy – We could all be selfish and say Who cares, ill be dead, but really… is that the way forward for our grandchildrens grandchildren ?

It’s all one step at a time.

As for running out of oil and coal – we are at risk of running out of known oil and coal deposits that are extractable at current prices in the next few decades, by which time hopefully most of us will have switched to electric or hydrogen (which is really just a storage mechanism for electric)

For things that must use oil and coal still, there will be more sources that will be tapped due to the increased value (oil shales etc) or found because of better technology (deep drilling), or it will be synthetically produced (hydrocarbons are just arrangements of hydrogen + carbon right?)

So it’s not all doom and gloom, peak oil will not destroy humanity etc

And electric vehicles are really fun. The 1st gen Roadster has amazing amounts of power, imagine what the future will hold (the roadster2 has an improved drivetrain = even better acceleration, future advances in battery density could mean that we could get 4x the range etc)

Which reminds me about the prior talk about disposing of batteries. On the Tesla website they discuss how the roadster’s battery pack is compliant with RoHS and is theoretically safe to dispose of in landfill, but that would be a waste of money and they already have a recycling plan in place. The control electronics are also designed to be reused.

They also mention how that after the battery is past it’s usable life in the car (estimated 80% capacity after ~100,000 miles or 5 years) that it could be suitable for re-use as a backup battery for home solar systems which are not as demanding.

Gungahlin Al9:52 am 08 Oct 09

hax said :

Gungahlin Al said :

Was it just me or was the Tesla in the YT club REALLY quiet?

Sitting inside you struggled to hear it, and standing next to it virtually nothing.

As for the ‘dirty electricity’ debate, another thought – think of how much cleaner our cities / streets / heavy traffic areas will be. No more dirty pollution smell and smog 😀

I was making a joke because (at my end anyway) there was no sound on the YT clip.

I would have hoped to see more smoke from the Tesla… from the tyres!

All I am saying is that we need to get rid of the worlds reliance on a limited resource.

Think of how many things are generated from fossil fuels, and made from petrochemicals… They are a finite source…..we WILL run out eventually – then what ? We’re fuct.

Watch the world crumble when the oil and coal runs dry and we have no redundancy – We could all be selfish and say Who cares, ill be dead, but really… is that the way forward for our grandchildrens grandchildren ?

Gungahlin Al said :

Was it just me or was the Tesla in the YT club REALLY quiet?

Sitting inside you struggled to hear it, and standing next to it virtually nothing.

As for the ‘dirty electricity’ debate, another thought – think of how much cleaner our cities / streets / heavy traffic areas will be. No more dirty pollution smell and smog 😀

taco said :

Even if the electricity is generated by coal power stations, there are far less emissions involved by driving electric because the coal power station can be much more efficient than an ICE and have more emissions control systems.

Very much true. I’m pretty sure we’ve had this debate on Riotact before.

Gungahlin Al1:55 pm 07 Oct 09

I had to work. pfftt.

Was it just me or was the Tesla in the YT club REALLY quiet?

Danman said :

Can I just make a point that Electricity is mainly generated by burning fossil fuels.
If the world goes kinetic (Hydro/Wind/Waves/submarine fans (Yes its true)) generated or solar energy this will be a good thing, but replacing one evil with another is not a solution – sure we will not burn as much fossil fuels individually, but per capita it will remain the same, perhaps increase.

There’s a solution for that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power
better still whoever does it first can export it to the world.

Danman said :

Can I just make a point that Electricity is mainly generated by burning fossil fuels.
If the world goes kinetic (Hydro/Wind/Waves/submarine fans (Yes its true)) generated or solar energy this will be a good thing, but replacing one evil with another is not a solution – sure we will not burn as much fossil fuels individually, but per capita it will remain the same, perhaps increase.

Am I right in that Canberra is supplied by the SMHEA ?

By all means embrace electic powered vehicles, but one must remain wary of the soiurce of the energy…and the disposal of the vehicle at the end of its service life…Lots of Lead and Sulphuric Acid to dispose of.

As for torque and power to weight ratio…wow.

Food for thought.

Even if the electricity is generated by coal power stations, there are far less emissions involved by driving electric because the coal power station can be much more efficient than an ICE and have more emissions control systems.

Lots of lead and sulphuric acid to dispose of? the only cars using lead/sulfuric acid batteries are home converted ones. The Tesla runs on Li-ion and the Prius uses NiMH, and most batteries can be recycled.

Can I just make a point that Electricity is mainly generated by burning fossil fuels.
If the world goes kinetic (Hydro/Wind/Waves/submarine fans (Yes its true)) generated or solar energy this will be a good thing, but replacing one evil with another is not a solution – sure we will not burn as much fossil fuels individually, but per capita it will remain the same, perhaps increase.

Am I right in that Canberra is supplied by the SMHEA ?

By all means embrace electic powered vehicles, but one must remain wary of the soiurce of the energy…and the disposal of the vehicle at the end of its service life…Lots of Lead and Sulphuric Acid to dispose of.

As for torque and power to weight ratio…wow.

Food for thought.

Great experience!
It’s pretty clear electric vehicles will play a large role in the (near) future. Tesla is making a right-hand drive roadster in a year or two and they’ve just released a Sedan as well.

I’ve got to hand it to Simon Hackett for giving people rides in his Tesla on the day, what a champ.

MinorityReport4:33 pm 28 Sep 09

The latest on this event, plus a flyer can be found at: http://www.electricvehiclefestival.com.au/

Related is the partner organisation:www.electricvehiclecouncil.com.au

Holden Caulfield4:44 pm 23 Sep 09

Any chance of an Audi e-tron making an appearance? 😛

harryhaller said :

Having said that, I do think electric vehicles can make a contribution to the energy and green house emissions problems in the long run.

Perhaps, Only once we replace our Coal burning powerplants for the much cleaner Nuclear variety….

🙂

I’ll go just to see the Tesla Roadster

I wonder if it’s a right hand drive model?

fnaah said :

there will be a real, live Tesla Roadster there?

omgomgomgomg

+1

Can’t wait to see the demo 🙂

Sounds great and I don’t want to spoil the fun. But when I read about electric vehicles I think to myself “why not do the obvious first, and roll out proper public transport”. Probably cuts down emissions instantly by a magnitude, and doesn’t depend on frontier technologies at all. It’s ridiculous how many cars are on the road in a small place like Canberra.

Having said that, I do think electric vehicles can make a contribution to the energy and green house emissions problems in the long run.

Thanks for listening, you’ve been a great audience.

there will be a real, live Tesla Roadster there?

omgomgomgomg

GardeningGirl6:21 pm 21 Sep 09

Thanks. Sounds interesting. Noted in my calendar, hope I can make it.

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