RE: Chris Harris video: Mercedes SLS Electric Drive

[M3 > 535D]

From a techno geek point of view as you say it's very " back to the future " and impressive but when it comes down to it ....aurally ..... It's a pretty depressing future ....long live the v8 and v10 masterpieces of the combustion age.

[cheddar]

I see a time, not too far away, when we look back at internal combustion engines as fussy old agricultural things.

Range and battery weight appear to be the current limitations - a Nissan Leaf with 100 mile range might be acceptable to some short trip commuters but a supercar with that range just doesn't add up.

Yet......

[FisiP1]

M3 said:

From a techno geek point of view as you say it's very " back to the future " and impressive but when it comes down to it ....aurally ..... It's a pretty depressing future ....long live the v8 and v10 masterpieces of the combustion age.

There has to be something more than just the road and wind noise increasing as the speed increases, whether that happens to be some kind of noise cancelling system or some kind of fake engine soundtrack I don't know, but the road/wind noise combo seems very cheap and tacky, quite aside from the petrolhead argument of needing the engine sound.


I don't think the range is a problem though, many people use their supercars for weekend blasts and it would strike me as fitting that sort of thing perfectly, and you can commute in it too for almost no extra cost, as a bonus.

[AER]

So, now we can buy a machine to be hedonistic and environmentally reckless in a more efficient and environmetally sensitive fashion. Great stuff!

[Terror Factor]

Impressive! Very interesting clip too. I'm very curious to what the future will bring for stuff like this.

I will definitely miss the sound of combustion engines, but if that means I can drive a nearly maintenance free car that costs chips to run, I wouldn't mind that hard to make the sacrifice

No sound would also mean no problems with noise restrictions on circuits, and no angry neighbours

[cheddar]

FisiP1 said:

I don't think the range is a problem though, many people use their supercars for weekend blasts and it would strike me as fitting that sort of thing perfectly, and you can commute in it too for almost no extra cost, as a bonus.

You can only only ever travel 50 miles from home if you intend to return the same day.

That's a massive limitation.

[wildman0609]

it reminds me of a radio controlled car. with a back bone chassis and body that just sits on top. i wonder if the future of electric car will go back to the olden days of buying a chassis from the likes of rolls royce and getting a coach builder to put a body of your choice on top. I kind of like the idea of getting this merc chassis and getting an ally body from zagato maybe a replica of the db4 zagato.

[ItsJustARide]

As long as I'm not banned from driving my combustion engine car then I hope electric cars make huge inroads into the market.

As for battery technology keep an eye out for EEStor:

"It looks pretty certain now that EEStor can deliver a very good storage medium that can charge instantly and would have unmatched price, material and environmental advantages. Charging cycle lifetime is another attribute sure to be important."
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel...