The Electric Revolution: A New Era in Transportation

As we gaze out at the vast landscape of American roads and highways, it's hard to imagine a time when electric cars weren't a staple of our automotive future. But that was the case until recently, when innovators like Tesla began pushing the boundaries of what's possible with battery-powered vehicles. Today, as we take a closer look at the latest offerings from the likes of Tesla and others, it's clear that the electric revolution is in full swing.

Designing the Perfect Ride

When it comes to designing an electric car, there are countless variables to consider. From suspension settings to regenerative braking, every detail matters. Take, for instance, the suspension system. Most cars come equipped with standard, low, or high settings – but what if you could adjust all of these parameters to suit your specific needs? That's exactly what Tesla has done, offering a range of suspension settings that cater to everything from comfort-seekers to performance enthusiasts. And let's not forget about the battery pack itself – designed to be versatile and adaptable in any condition.

Convenience Features Galore

But it's not just about performance; electric cars also need to prioritize convenience. That's where features like traction control, regenerative braking, and adjustable suspension settings come in. For drivers who struggle with parking or navigating tight city streets, these features offer a level of reassurance and security that's hard to match. And let's not forget about the absence of engine noise – a feature that's quickly becoming a hallmark of electric cars.

Taking it to the Limit

When it comes to testing an electric car's limits, there are few things more thrilling than a spirited drive on the open road. And as we put our Tesla through its paces, we're amazed by its acceleration and agility. Zero-to-60 in just 4 seconds? Not bad for a car that's also impressively quiet and environmentally friendly.

The Science of Electric Cars

So what makes electric cars tick? At its core, the technology is relatively simple: an electric motor powered by a battery pack, which can be recharged using a variety of methods – including traditional outlets, charging stations, or even regenerative braking. But as we delve deeper into the science behind these vehicles, it becomes clear that there's far more to it than meets the eye.

The Benefits of Electric Cars

So what are some of the key benefits of electric cars? For starters, they offer a level of maintenance and upkeep that's hard to match – with many owners reporting zero issues after years of use. And then there's the environmental impact: by harnessing clean energy from solar panels or wind turbines, electric cars are doing their part to reduce our carbon footprint.

Electric Cars for Everyone

But one of the most surprising things about electric cars is just how mainstream they're becoming. Gone are the days when these vehicles were seen as niche or elitist – today, they're being offered by major manufacturers and appealing to a wide range of drivers. And with features like adjustable suspension settings and regenerative braking, there's something for everyone in this lineup.

The Art of Burnouts

Finally, no discussion of electric cars would be complete without mentioning the age-old ritual of the burnout. But what does the future hold for this classic stunt? As we take our Tesla out for a spin and try our hand at a burnout, it's clear that the answer is: not much. With regenerative braking and traction control in place, even the most enthusiastic drivers will find themselves hard-pressed to coax these cars into a full-on burnout.

A Conversation with an Expert

As we sit down with Tesla engineer and enthusiast [Name], we're able to get a deeper dive into what makes electric cars tick. From the intricacies of battery design to the challenges of scaling up production, this expert has seen it all. With their insights, we gain a newfound appreciation for the science and engineering that goes into creating these incredible vehicles.

A New Era in Transportation

As we wrap up our tour of the latest electric car offerings, it's clear that the future is bright for this segment of the automotive market. From innovative features like regenerative braking to advanced battery technology, there's never been a better time to jump on board the electric revolution. Whether you're a seasoned enthusiast or just looking for a more environmentally friendly option, these cars have something for everyone – and we can't wait to see what's next.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthere you go welcome another episode of Jay Len's garage we're here with the Tesla Model S this is the car they said would never be produced there are a lot of naysayers a lot of negative people out there uh but here it is and uh let's meet the chief designer for Tesla France van Hol there you go I keep tripping over your name good to see you my friend congratulations thanks you know it's interesting it's an electric car that doesn't look like an electric car which I think works to a a tremendous advantage that was the idea yeah yeah you want to scare people away when they Park no it's a goodlooking car as well uh tell us about this car we all know about the Tesla Roadster and that was sort of loosely based on the Lotus whereas this is ground up brand new bespoke everything isn't it absolutely you know the Roadster was great it proved that the technology worked it proved you could have performance and range all in the same breath and then we took all those great attributes and turned them into a sedan that was you know four more people um this car can seat five adults has a jump seat for two kids in the rear you can get seven people in this thing still have luggage in the front uh it's incredibly Innovative but it feels just comfortable and the range is what 300 miles yeah we three battery packs and you know the biggest one is 85 Kow hour it gets you 300 mile range 265 EPA now the uh there's a number of different ways people deal with the battery situation the volt uses a sort of te type Arrangement big lithium ion but this has essentially like 7,000 small is that what it is yeah they're 18650 standard form factor cells same ones that you would get in your laptop computer okay and we arrange them in an array which is like a skateboard basically it's a flat pack beneath the floor of the car in between the wheels so you have a low center of gravity absolutely it's one of the lowest Center of gravities in the marketplace now in testing this car what is the general consensus do the batteries eventually fade as a whole pack or do some fade ahead of others how does that work well we've designed the pack to be to um withstand basically climate issues charging um we have the Chargers on board so you just need a connector to to charge it and um it's liquid cooled so we control the batteries and so their lifespan can be extended because of that control and we we we look after them we will see some degradation over time but really minimal because batteries like to be what 74 degrees fit something like that and even in the winter time you're heating the battery as well as cooling yeah we heat them we cool them you know we just introduced supercharging it it's really awesome because it allows you now to take the trip that you really couldn't take in an electric car um we've put stations up between here in San Francisco between San Francisco and Tahoe between Los Angeles and uh Las Vegas so now it's about 150 miles in between each trip and like I said in 30 minutes you can plug in and get like the old days in the 60s when you bought a Mercedes diesel they gave you a little booklet it showed you where diesel stations were in various States or on various routes and that's basically the same thing where you yeah and we'll actually put those locations on the map in this big screen that we have in the interior so you're never really lost uh well let's let's look at the car itself it's got what 21in wheels on it 21in Wheels you know the car is designed to be like a tuned athlete that was kind of the inspiration behind the car that it felt lightweight and and Nimble it's a you know it's a fairly heavy car at 4600 lb um and what is the coefficient of drag on this the it it's 024 which is amazing that's pretty amazing and we designed it so that it didn't look like it was designed in a wind tunnel you know that was the whole concept so it's attractive but efficient the front we needed to create a really distinctive face for the car and something that could be recognizable as as the brand grew the grill is really about a place to carry the badge and kind of give it some presence right right and create a distinctive face to the car you know well let's take a look let's go all the way around the car I love the uh this is the charging port here here it's got a button on it you press it there you go and then you just plug it right in there and that's uh that's your charge now you're charging when it turns green it means you're charging so so now we're charging at 110 right how about for 240 for 240 this the the charger is on board yeah and it will recognize whatever power you're put putting into it I see so this is just you know it's a connector it's like an extension cord with a nice handle um and you can wherever you can find an outlet 240 110 our supercharger plugs in okay now this has a little different size uh just pull it out yeah so I have a 240 at my house for um all electric cars seem to have a standard plug but this is a different plug correct yeah we wanted to make the experience a little bit more pleasant and also um uh really the car is tuned you know because the Chargers are on board um that you don't get this clunky interface system I mean do you have a 240 adap we do have an ad it would go at the back end though oh I see okay I see how that works all right very cool now this is something kind of cool those of us that grew up in the 60s and sat in the back of Country Squire wagons or even the Chrysler had it too he had the rear facing SE for it was a Ford LTD wag Ford LTD wagon that's kind of cool this is you know it really demonstrates the efficiency of the vehicle you know there's 31 cubic feet of storage space in this car and you know it seats five adults plus two kids in the rear and Luggage in the front of the car so there's very few cars that can get away with that that look like this let's Su over the interior of the car you hop on that side I'll give him a second sure here so I would plug my iPhone and my pen USB connected uh to the car we have uh little USB connectors here as well all we have Bluetooth uh connection for the car we have you know a radio interface a navi interface you can actually you know see this the the navigation screen full size um which is great it's you know pinch and and two finger touch so you can zoom in and out there yeah so the controls really gets you into what you can do here's where you open the the frunk or the trunk what did you call it the front the frunk yeah the front trunk we call it the frunk so here you see one of the the world's biggest sunroofs which is pretty cool and you can open it all the way y you can open it all the way so we have a comfort stop you know so there's no buffeting but here you get I mean it it's a pretty inviting space now tell me about the air suspension is it like a Citroen half pneumatic and air is it full it's all Air okay it's a closed loop air system and it's the the car actually controls its ride height at speed so when we get on the freeway we lower the car increases the Aero efficiency so that's how we also generate more range now does it uh can you you know you're pulling into a gas station or something and it lifts the front end up I so you can lift the whole car up and you can kind of see it move up and you can feel it so there an onboard compressor obviously but when you put it in reverse but you can actually right I turn that on at any moment you know this what's really a unique feature about this car is that we don't have a tunnel cuz the battery p is flat on the floor so in the center console we created this space that was really kind of a space for you to put your stuff and do what you do what you want with it and what is the life of the battery eight years 10 years yeah 10 years let thing for right you know it's interesting almost every electric car that has been brought to the garage by Major manufacturers has usually been truck to the garage on a flatbed and then we drive it around because most of them don't have the power to get to the garage from where they are so that's usually the way we've done it you know you start with a home base with a full charge and go with a charges I'm reading a 254 mile range that's way more than I will drive today I know with my Chevy Vault I'm coming down Coldwater Canyon I take my foot off the gas by the time I reach the bottom I will have another mile or maybe two miles of range same thing with same thing here yeah yeah and you know um we've had people driving from LA to Vegas on you know a single charge right which seems impossible to do in the past and now with you know our supercharger station out of Baro you can plug in there you know use a restroom have plenty of range once you arrive into the does supercharging um that burn up your batteries it because we've you know we've designed the battery pack to be able to um charge or accept a charge in any condition this is unbeliev you can adjust everything here suspension standard low high Comfort now low would be what most comfortable cushy is that actually low drops the car at freeway speed for more efficiency I see high gets you over the know the awkward curb in your driveway or whatever or it doesn't tighten the suspension no no I I got you I got you you have traction control regenerative braking you know a lot of people are turned off by electric cars cuz they're internal combustion guys but you know something the more people have electric cars it's more gas for us to use your Hemi Cuda on the weekend whatever you want to do I mean I use my Chevy Volt during the week and I use no electricity and then I use gasoline vehicles on the weekend for recreation the most amazing thing about electric cars is you have almost zero maintenance even my 1909 Baker Electric I've had it almost 20 years and it requires no maintenance at all other than charging the battery it's a handwound motor all copper wires and it doesn't need anything it's pretty amazing and this is uh obviously that would be the great great great grandfather of this car the amazing is the absence of noise there's no engine noise there's no wind noise and when you have a vehicle like this that doesn't have any engine noise or or you know sport Muffler you've got to make everything in the cabin even more quiet because that'll just accentuate the squeak that might be in the dashboard or something but you don't have any of that here and look how fast it is it goes 0 to 60 around 4 seconds Motor Trend got like 39 and I think the factory says 44 so we'll split the difference at 4 seconds you know the quality is pretty amazing in this car I mean nothing rattles nothing shakes uh and being electric there's no noise at all you know you don't buy the optional sport exhaust if the guy tries to sell you the sport exhaust don't do it because there isn't one uh but let's uh let's take it up in the freeway see how she cruises you know electric cars are fun because you get into that thing of how much how little fuel can I actually use now you notice I'm slowing down now see now I'm putting electricity in and the regen works so well I actually have to give a little more gas to make it up to the light but the only time I ever touch the brakes on this car is when I want to just come to a complete stop we'll show you how this thing accelerates well we'll just blow right past him look at this look at the thing just pulls kind of interesting satellite nav here you're actually getting a satellite picture of where we're going even at 65 M an hour when I take my foot off the gas I'm now putting electricity back in now what we're going to do in a minute here is since I got over with the crest of this hill I'll take my foot off the Gass and coast and see if we can put a mile back in there's one of those oldfashioned Priuses just went by well it's interesting uh I know I have gone four miles but I'm still at 225 because although the regen hasn't given me any more miles it hasn't taken any away right so actually so we were generating range is not really an issue in this car the problem of the electric car has been solved know if you've ever met any of the Tesla employees there's a real enthusiasm with the company you know it's it's a new company it's a young company and I hope they succeed and I think they will I think this car will be a huge success it's very mainstream in in uh in drivability that's not a shock to anybody in terms of oh that's to Outlanders looking for me it's a really goodlooking car it's a nicely styled car and uh it's made right here in America you know some of these other cars are made in other countries and shipped over here this is made in Fremont California by Americans pretty cool and of course I guess we didn't mention this the car is rear wheeel drive which means will it do a burnout electric car burnout seems a little immature let's try and see I think it's safe to say the future of the burnout out is safe no matter what happens with electric cars the burnout will always be there as you can see we've got plenty of talk FR thank you very much thank you and uh this is pretty cool see you next week\n"