Radical New Car Technologies Are About to Change Your Life (and Our Power Grid)
We're going to need a lot more electricity. Fortunately, that's coming too.
by Nicholas Stehle and Rod D. Martin
November 13, 2015
The attention-grabbing headline from Tech Crunch says it all: Elon Musk Says Tesla Cars Will Reach 620 Miles On A Single Charge “Within A Year Or Two,” Be Fully Autonomous In “Three Years”.
You read that correctly: by 2017 (at the latest), Musk expects his Tesla cars to reach 620 miles on a single charge. For comparison, top-end for current Teslas is about 280, the Nissan Leaf just 200. The average gasoline car manages 450, and doesn't take 20 minutes (or more) to refuel.
Electric Vehicles and Range
So recharge time aside, Elon is promising a car that is actually superior to current technology, and by a pretty wide margin. Range has been the main limiting factor for EVs.
The advantage is about to shift.
Electric cars have come and gone over the years, but conspiracy theories aside, what has consistently killed the electric car is the fact that Americans want to be able to drive further than just across town without worrying they'll get s…