If you go slower, the trip will take longer, and therefore the A/C needs to be on longer, and thus consume more electricity.

I doubt that the difference will be that big. If the price of oil goes up, electricity will get more expensive too, especially if you consider the electric grid needs to be completely overhauled (at great cost) to allow for mass electric charging.

I'm guessing they already have the designs for the higher capacity pack, so they can make sure it's compatible. With newer technology, between different manufacturers, that may not be so easy.

Why not a hybrid then ? Put your 30HP engine under the hood, and cut the battery pack in half. Charge it at home for 150 mile range, and run the ICE for longer trips.

most people don't drive more than 10 miles each way to work

That number sounds very low. Do you have a source ?

In addition to the problems you mentioned, a swappable battery pack would also make it hard to improve the technology. New tech may not be compatible with old car electronics and form factors.

First of all there is no such thing as a standardized connector for more than fifty or so KW. Sorry.

Tesla could help design one, together with other electric car manufacturers. If you can use each other's charging stations, it would help solve the chicken/egg problem of electric cars, and benefit everybody involved.

Does the 230 mile range include electricity consumed by the A/C system ? In any case, going slower will increase A/C power consumption for the same distance.

Gasoline is also damn safe, despite common portrayal in Hollywood movies of cars blowing up at the slightest provocation.

WHAT connector, and what charging volt/amp/etc

TFA mentions that competitors are already using a standard connector:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/SAE_J1772

Still, at the current rate it takes an hour for a 300 mile recharge. That's quite a long time to be waiting.

Doesn't sound smart to equip these vehicles with a proprietary connector. Why not have a standardized connector, and sell more vehicles ?

Why would have a big asteroid in orbit make any of those things easier ?

And how much fuel would it cost to capture the sucker ?

Why not get a beagleboard, then ? It's already available, has better documentation, and an active group of developers. Or a beaglebone, or one of several other cheap processor boards that are out there.

Especially if you're interested in hooking up other peripherals, and don't need 1080p video output, other boards are probably a better choice.

And the web server you can just run on a regular PC. If you have a dozen PCs, chances are that at least one of them is on 24/7 anyway.

I was just joking of course, but the target audience isn't your average computer programmer. A computer programmer would just buy a regular computer, or, more likely, already own several.