If a Nissan leak could beat that Tesla model S off the line than that would be an amazing feat. The Tesla model S can do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds when the conditions are just right.
I remember when I had my modified Toyota Tundra, lot’s of low end torque, and a guy in a Honda Insight destroyed me off the line. You know those tiny little two seat cars with the rear wheel only half exposed. Totally surprised me! That car I believe is a hybrid electric, one of Honda’s first.
1.9 seconds 0-60MPH! Tesla S, fastest production car 0-60MPH in the U.S. right now!
Yep, and that Insight beat you with an ELECTRIC TORQUE CURVE!! Meanwhile your big HEAVY Internal Combustion Engine powered vehicle was too bogged down just getting it's massive BULK of *MASS* moving!! Disgusting!!
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A heat engine (which every internal combustion engine is!) has a maximum theoretical efficiency defined by the Carnot heat engine model which by thermodynamics is always less than 100% and typically much MUCH lower. And cars and truck are not powered by idealized theoretical heat engine models, they are powered by big ugly gasoline drinking inefficient actual realizations of a heat engine.
Wikipedia has a great page on the internal combustion engine, and in particular relating to it's efficiency (or lack thereof):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_combustion_engine#Energy_efficiency
Wherein Wikipedia says "Even when aided with turbochargers and stock efficiency aids, most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18%-20%." So that means out of $100 you put in your gas tank, most is already gone and wasted R/T inherent inefficiency so we have about $20 worth to work with to provide real usable work.
Now lets look at the relative weights between vehicle and passenger. I weigh about 180lbs, and my 1994 Dodge Caravan weighs about 3900lbs:
http://answers.bloglines.com/Car/how_much_does_a_dodge_caravan_weigh
So to make calculation easy lets say I weigh 200lbs and my Caravan weights 4000lbs. A close estimate. 4000/200 = 20, or my Caravan weighs 20 times as much as I do! Or it's gonna take 20 times the energy to push my Caravan around as it will take to push ME around!!
1/20 of $20 is ONE DOLLAR!! One dollar out of my $100 spent on gasoline goes to pushing ME around!! That's 1%!! And while I'm a little overweight and my Caravan's not among the heaviest vehicles out there, you should be able to clearly see that no one in any internal combustion powered vehicle is gonna get much better than 1% or so efficiency out of their DOLLARS SPENT ON GASOLINE!!
QED
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John Kuthe...
And I had to hit my brake very quickly because I was doing about 25 or 30MPH as soon as my Leaf was entering the parking lot I was turning left INTO!
