NYT writer takes one of those cars of the future for a drive

But he did not know about the not-so-friendly relationship between batteries and cold weather.

“The thermometer read 10 degrees and the display showed 25 miles of remaining range — the electrical equivalent of someone having siphoned off more than two-thirds of the fuel that was in the tank when I parked.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2521080

Linked from maggiesfarm.

Far out car! 416 horsepower, 1,000-lb lithium battery, $101,000 price tag.

The story: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highway.html

Interesting: “The federal government has invested in the effort to find a solution. Three years ago, Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and secretary of energy, proudly announced a $465 million loan to Tesla as part of an advanced vehicles program intended to cut fossil fuel use and address global warming.”

And: “To give those cars family-vacation capability, the company plans to have 90 Supercharger stations built across the country by the end of 2013.”

(With a 265-mile estimated range, will 90 electrical outlets get you every place you want to go? I would like to see a truly affordable electric car run on electricity provided by something other than natural gas, coal, land-covering solar panels or bird-and-bug-killing windmills. It could be called … I don’t know, maybe The People’s Car.)