Originally Posted by
msjh
If you get 400 times less energy per kg, how do Teslas manage to work?
I believe this was covered nicely in post 12:
As of today, we produce electricity basically burning stuff. In cars, regen braking and all, you produce the same CO2 with an electric car than with a petrol one. They make a little sense because you take pollution away from city center.
But in planes, where wheels do not happily cancel the weight penalty at constant speed, the idea is crazy beyond belief. Completely derailed.
A Tesla is not a commercial vehicle whose purpose is to carry payload for profit. It only has to meet a (fairly small in comparison) payload threshold to carry it's driver, few passengers and a small bit of luggage.
And it absolutely does not "work" from an economic perspective, judging by Tesla's financials.
But it's a nice way to signal ones green virtue, if you have a hundred grand lying around. Just don't speak too loudly of the environmental horror that li-ion batts on that scale represent.