In an earlier post I mentioned that, sooner or later, we are going to have to get serious about electric cars. Fossil fuels will not last forever and will have to be replaced by an alternative, most likely hydrogen or electricity. GM’s Hy-Wire is an elegant combination of both that may well show the route to the future, but Tesla have the best answer yet from the electricity side of the debate - their roadster is completely electric and powered by their own design of battery.

The electric motor has obvious advantages in that it is clean, light and quiet; but it also presents us with great problems. Power similar to that provided by the internal combustion engine is necessary before we will consider it as a valid alternative; a big problem in the past has been that any practical electric vehicle will have to have a similar range to gasoline-driven cars before we will be persuaded to swap; and the origin of the power that recharges the batteries remains a stumbling block as long as we continue to get most of our electricity from power stations burning fossil fuels.

Tesla have solved the first two of these problems - their roadster accelerates to 60 mph in 4 seconds, surely enough power for anyone, and has a range of 250 miles, which is very close to the average for a standard production car. As for the power stations, I guess that will have to wait until we face the fact that nuclear power is the only viable answer.

If you want to learn more of the technical ingenuity behind the Tesla, visit the engineering page on their website. And, if you want one of next year’s model, get your order in now - the 2007 batch sold out in four months.

Update:

Here is a link to a video of the Tesla being driven. It also has more detail on features of the car but listen to it when in motion - that is the sound of tomorrow!

And another video just for the Brits…

GM Hy-Wire

Although the global warming scare is much more a matter of manipulation of the media for political ends than anything to do with scientific fact, the desire to find a more environment-friendly power source than the internal combustion engine is nothing new. As long ago as the late sixties, there was recognition that such a change would have to come and various alternatives were suggested.

The electric motor appeared then as the most likely solution and this sparked a hunt for lighter and more efficient batteries. The range of new and rechargeable batteries we can buy these days is a result of that but no truly practicable solution for the automobile has been found as yet - in fact, all seems to have gone quiet on the new battery front in recent years and I suspect the researchers may have given up on the idea.

So it was with joy that I discovered that GM have found a better answer than anything we envisaged in my youth. Forget the hybrids that still depend on gasoline for their primary power source, throw your weird batteries away and feast your eyes on the GM Hy-Wire!

This is the car of the future, the answer that makes all the alternatives look silly. In designing and building this car, General Motors’ engineers have shown that they can still think clearly and logically towards an elegant and practical solution to a problem. Be proud, America!

But you don’t have to take me at my word - I am an instant convert and we know how over-enthusiastic one of those can be. See for yourself by clicking on this link. But be prepared to be as besotted with the machine as I am - it is a truly beautiful concept and it works.